Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Saturday 24 September 1949, page 9


The Earth Is Getting

Warmer

By DR. EVERHUIS

SCIENTISTS are gathering

more and more proofs that a climatological revolution is going on around our globe. Very slowly but surely the earth is

getting warmer.

Until recently the scientific world has kept quiet about this, but now the phenomenon has even penetrated to the political

field.

Talking of Greenland, the largest island in the world, the Prime Minister of Denmark stated

"During the past generation changes have taken place which will have a decisive influence on the entire social life. The climate is changing, and with that the economic outlook. This change has already been observed in several parts of the world."

The changes in Greenland have been very noticeable. About six centuries ago, at the time of a change for the worse often referred to as the "small ice-period," man and beast had to withdraw from the advancing masses of ice. Even the Eskimos had to give in when at the beginning of the 19th century - the height of the cold period - Green-land became practically uninhabit-

able

During the present century, however, this largest island of the world has become milder. Glaciers have retreated and the landscape has changed completely.

For the first time for centuries some agriculture is possible while more and more species of fish are being caught. Following the warmer streams the cod has made its appearance off Greenland's shores and has become part of the island

Dr Everhuis, a Dutch scientist here reviews evi-dence which suggests that instead of cooling-off, the earth is growing warmer. One result of this is to change the climates of several countries, with potential benefit to some and disaster to others.

diet. During the past 27 years this fish has advanced about nine degrees to the north. Herrings also are moving northward, while Greenland now knows many birds which hitherto remained far to the south.

These changes are of the greatest strategical importance. Norway's most northern harbour of Spitz-bergen, where at the beginning of this century coal could be loaded only for a period of three months, is now ice free for seven months of the year. The average winter tem-perature of Russian harbours such as Kola and Archangel has risen steadily too.

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The entire Northern Ice Sea is

becoming softer. When Friedjor Nansen ploughed his way through the ice with the Fram towards the end of the last century, the average thickness of the ice was 145 inches. Members of the crew of the Soviet icebreaker Sedow not long ago found that the ice was only 85 inches thick and that floes have become considerably less.

The greatest changes have taken place on the American side. The huge Muir glacier in Alaska has withdrawn 14 miles in the past half

century-at the rate of about 406 yards a year.

These changes would be of the greatest importance in a future war. Permanent ice-free harbours and a reasonable passage through the ice sea would, for instance, give the Soviet Union a tremendous advan-tage.

*

CHANGE of climate is not only

noticeable near the poles. Near the equator conditions are becoming hotter. This may prove disastrous.

For example it has been proved that the Sahara is creeping towards the south as well as towards the north at the rate of a mile a year. If this continues, the African natives will have to move to another con-tinent eventually, for the coastal areas will become over-populated. It was the "drying out" of Central Asia, after all, which moved Asiatic peoples in the past to invade Europe.

And so it appears that the world is leaving the so-called small ice-period, which started around 1300. In Holland, the first European coun-try to register weather and climato-logical conditions at the beginning of the 18th century it is shown by records that the average winter tem-perature has been rising con-tinuously.

The reason is that the sun has apparently opened a new "warmth

offensive."

It has been known for a long time that the sun has its whims. Other-wise it cannot be explained how

under the masses of ice which cover . Greenland and Spitzbergen, black coal should be found. Obviously there was a time when jungle forests grew in that zone.

Not many icebergs have been sighted in the North Atlantic this year.