Last Time CO2 Levels Were This High, There Were Trees at the South Pole (theguardian.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Trees growing near the South Pole, sea levels 20 metres higher than now, and global temperatures 3C-4C warmer. That is the world scientists are uncovering as they look back in time to when the planet last had as much carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as it does today. Using sedimentary records and plant fossils, researchers have found that temperatures near the South Pole were about 20C higher than now in the Pliocene epoch, from 5.3m to 2.6m years ago. Many scientists use sophisticated computer models to predict the impacts of human-caused climate change, but looking back in time for real-world examples can give new insights. The Pliocene was a "proper analogy" and offered important lessons about the road ahead, said Martin Siegert, a geophysicist and climate-change scientist at Imperial College London. "The headline news is the temperatures are 3-4C higher and sea levels are 15-20 metres higher than they are today. The indication is that there is no Greenland ice sheet any more, no West Antarctic ice sheet and big chunks of East Antarctic [ice sheet] taken," he said.

Comments

Misinformation again

[angel'o'sphere]

Last time the CO2 levels where that high, Antarctica, the continent in question, was not at the south pole ... wow, a no brainer. Firth of all the continent had not drifted so far and secondly the earth axis was different. No idea why "climate researchers" don't know basic stuff like this. (There was even a period where Antarctica already was down there, but the earth axis was in a position that half of it was in tempered zones ... one idea why some people think the mythical Atlantis could have been there before the last "ice age")