Who'd A Thunk' It???
5/27/00
Reuters 'reports' below.
Forgot to mention all the press releases they
put out for the oil companies that have bought off
our govt. and enslaved us to the fossile fuel economy.
May 24 7:58 PM ET Great Lakes Experiencing
Early Spring-ScientistMADISON, Wis. (Reuters) -
The seasonal rise and fall of the U.S. Great Lakes, collectively the world's largest body of fresh water, are occurring earlier in the year in a sign that global warming is shifting the seasons, a scientist said on Wednesday.
The effect was most noticeable in the two smallest of the five lakes, Erie and Ontario, which are reaching their highest levels in spring about a month earlier than they have in the past, University of Wisconsin climatologist John Lenters said.
He theorized that global warming -- the much-debated phenomenon tying rising average temperatures to a buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels -- has quickened the annual melting of winter snows feeding the lakes and hastened evaporation from warmer lake waters in the fall and winter.
``What I am finding is a shifting of the seasons,'' Lenters said.
He presented his study, based on lake levels dating back to 1860, to a meeting of the International Association of Great Lakes Research in Cornwall, Ontario, Canada.
The study also found a widening gap between the seasonal peaks and valleys in lake levels since record keeping began. The difference between Lake Ontario's lowest yearly level and its highest has widened 29 percent to 22 inches, which is equivalent to 90 billion cubic feet of water.
Meanwhile, the lakes have fallen to levels not seen in 30 years in a separate phenomenon that runs in longer cycles.
Scientists have said years of mild winters have left the lakes' surface free of ice, increasing evaporation rates. Only a few years ago, the lakes, which contain 20 percent of the world's supply of fresh surface water, had risen to record high levels, swallowing beaches and undermining beachfront homes.