" NASA
July 28, 2008

SNAPSHOT OF PAST CLIMATE REVEALS NO ICE IN ANTARCTICA =

MILLIONS OF YEARS AGO

A snapshot of New Zealand's climate 40 million years ago =

reveals a greenhouse Earth, with warmer seas and little or =

no ice in Antarctica, according to research published this =

week in the journal Geology.

The study suggests that Antarctica at that time was yet to =

develop extensive ice sheets. Back then, New Zealand was =

about 1100 km further south, at the same latitude as the =

southern tip of South America =96 so was closer to =

Antarctica =96 but the researchers found that the water =

temperature was 23-25 degrees C at the sea surface and 11-13 =

degrees C at the bottom.

"This is too warm to be the Antarctic water we know today," =

said Dr Catherine (Cat) Burgess from Cardiff University's =

School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, and lead-author of the =

paper. "And the seawater chemistry shows there was little or =

no ice on the planet."


        http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/MediaAlerts/2008/20080728=
27309.html

... "

___________________

Soon we'll be seeing pigs on ladders ...


        Russell


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