Institute for Creation (Credulous) Research (Retards), PO Box 2667, El Cajon, CA 92021 Voi
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Institute for Creation Research, PO Box 2667, El Cajon, CA 92021
Voice: (619) 448-0900 FAX: (619) 448-3469
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No. 254 "Vital Articles on Science/Creation" August 1994
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Out of Whose Womb Came the Ice?*
by Larry Vardiman, Ph.D.**
Copyright (c) 1994 by I.C.R.
All Rights Reserved
* Job 38:29
** Dr. Vardiman is Chairman of the Physics Department and Administrative
Vice President of ICR.
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Introduction
Recent reports of ice-core drilling in Greenland have raised anew the
question for young-earth creationists -- How could so much ice
accumulate in polar regions in only a few thousand years? Corings
through the ice in central Greenland have reached depths of almost two
miles, and ice at the bottom has been estimated to be as old as 250
thousand years.[1,2]
In a previous Impact article,[3] I suggested that thick ice sheets
could be explained if high precipitation rates occurred immediately
following the Flood. The "annual" layers of ice near the bottom of the
ice sheet should be thicker than that expected by the uniformitarian
model and contain unusual excursions of [SMOW]{18}O, acidity, and
particulates. I further suggested that the "annual" layers deep in the
Greenland ice sheet may be related to individual storms rather than
seasonal accumulation.
Since my earlier article, two major advances in creationist research
have led to greater confidence in the young earth model of ice-sheet
formation. First, the suggestion by Oard[4] that the oceans may have
been warmer at the end of the Flood seems to have been strengthened by
an analysis of sea-floor sediment data. Second, numerical modeling
studies at the Institute for Creation Research show that warmer oceans
would produce very high precipitation rates in polar regions in patterns
required for the formation of ice sheets.
Warm Oceans After the Flood
Evidence for warm oceans in the past cooling to the temperatures
observed today, has been found in the chemical analysis of sea-floor
sediments. Corings of sea-floor sediments have been made at almost 1000
sites on the bottom of the oceans, from the equator to the poles.
Analysis of the ratio of the concentration of {18}O to {16}O in the
skeletal remains of various ocean organisms in sea-floor sediments has
allowed estimates to be made of the temperature of the ocean in the
past. If a particular organism lived near the upper surface of the
ocean, the measurement of its ratio allows an estimate to be made of the
surface temperature during its lifetime. If a particular organism lived
on the bottom, the ratio estimates the bottom temperature.
Figure I shows estimated temperature as a function of time for
polar-bottom water, derived from the {18}O/{16}O ratio of benthic
foraminifers. Benthic foraminifers are marine microorganisms which live
on the ocean bottom and deposit calcium shells on the ocean floor when
they die. The time scale is shown according to the Ussher Chronology,
in which the Flood is calculated to have occurred about 4,500 years ago.
A major assumption in constructing this plot from the original data[2,6]
was the location of the appropriate level in the sea-floor sediment for
the end of the Genesis Flood. It has been assumed that the Flood ended
at the interface between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods. According
to the long-age, evolutionary time model, this so-called K/T boundary
occurred about 65 million years ago.
The standard long-age view holds that the oceans were warmer than 20'C
some 65 million years ago and have cooled slowly since then to the
temperatures we observe today. According to this view the dinosaurs and
other prehistoric creatures lived in a much warmer climate. As the
oceans cooled, a series of "Ice Ages" occurred, modulated by the orbital
cycles of the earth's orbit around the sun. We are currently in an
interglacial period, according to this model.
The young-earth, creationist view suggested by Figure I is that the
oceans were warmer at the end of the Flood and cooled over the past
4,500 years to the temperature we observe today. Only one "Ice Age" has
occurred and was, in fact, caused by the residual heat in the oceans
left over from the Flood. The compression of the data from some 65
million years to only 4,500 years results in a plot which has the
appearance of a standard Kelvin cooling curve, i.e., rapid cooling at
first when the temperature gradient is the greatest, to slower cooling
later when the gradient is less.
High Precipitation Rates in Polar Regions
In an attempt to show that warm ocean temperatures will result in
heavy precipitation rates in polar regions a numerical simulation of the
atmosphere was conducted on the Community Climate Model developed at the
National Center for Atmospheric Research. The model, which has
previously only been run on a mainframe computer like the CRAY-YMP, was
adapted to a 486 personal computer and validated with a standard
simulation run for a perpetual January condition in today's atmosphere.
The standard simulation run was found to match today's atmospheric
conditions well.
Uniform 30'C sea-surface temperatures were then entered into the
model, oceanic ice shelves removed, and the model started again with all
other initial conditions the same. A short simulation run was
completed. The conditions seem to force the model so strongly that
equilibrium appears to have been achieved rapidly. However, the model
will continue to be run in order to be certain. The model behaved
significantly different for the warm ocean than for today's conditions.
Figure 2 shows the precipitation rates over the entire globe for 100
days of simulated time, assuming seasoned conditions remain uniform. The
precipitation rates are extreme in the polar regions and along the
continental boundaries of the northern hemisphere. Rates exceed 8
inches/hr over Greenland, Antarctica, southeastern Asia, northeastern
North America, northwestern Europe, and western Africa. The center of
Asia and North America appear relatively dry. Of special interest is the
relatively dry region from the eastern end of the Mediterranean eastward
across the continent of Asia. This pattern may have been of particular
value to Noah and his descendants as they left the Ark on Mt. Ararat and
emigrated south and east.
Conclusions and Recommendations
The estimates of paleotemperatures from benthic foraminifers seem to
strengthen the suggestion by Oard[4] that the oceans were originally
warm at the end of the Flood and gradually cooled to the temperature
observed today. Although this result is encouraging, more indicators of
oceanic temperature change should be explored.
The numerical simulation of a global climate with warm oceans
produces high precipitation rates in polar regions and along continental
boundaries. High precipitation rates in these locations would probably
have produced the necessary conditions for the rapid formation of ice
sheets in Greenland, Antarctica, and North America. Numerous additional
computer simulations and comparisons with historic data should be
conducted to ensure that these findings are valid. These two results,
if confirmed, will go a long way toward bolstering the creationist model
of the "Ice Age." The ice in the polar regions can then be considered a
residual effect of the Flood, which was a judgment by God on the earth
for the sins of man. Out of whose womb came the ice? It can be
attributed to God, not to some impersonal natural process which occurred
by chance over millions of years.
Acknowledgments
The Climate and Global Dynamics Division of the National Center for
Atmospheric Research is gratefully acknowledged for providing a copy of
the Community Climate Model used in this study. Mr. Steve Low and his
colleagues at Hewlett Packard donated the personal computer. Mr. Herman
Daily donated his time and expertise to modify the model, designed to
run on a CRAY.
References
1. Alley, R.B., D.A. Meese, C.A. Shuman, A.J. Gow, K.C. Taylor, P.M.
Grootes, J.W.C. White, M. Ram, E.D. Waddington, P.A. Mayewski, and
G.A. Zielinski, 1993. "Abrupt Increase in Greenland Snow
Accumulation at the End of the Younger Dryas Event," _Nature_,
362, 527-529.
2. Dansgaard, W., S.J. Johnsen, H.B. Clausen, D. Dahl-Jensen, N.S.
Gundestrup, C.U. Hammer, C.S. Hvidberg, J.P. Steffensen, A.E.
Sveinbjomsdottir, J. Jouzel, and G. Bond, 1993. "Evidence for
General Instability of Past Climate from a 250-Kyr Ice-Core
Record," _Nature_, 364, 218-220.
3. Vardiman, L., 1992. "Ice Cores and the Age of the Earth," ICR
_Impact_ article, No. 226, Insti tute for Creation Research, San
Diego, CA, April.
4. Oard, M.J., 1990. _An Ice Age Caused by the Genesis Flood_, ICR
monograph, Institute for Creation Research, San Diego, CA, 243 pp.
5. Kennett, J.P., R.E. Houtz, P.B. Andrews, A.R. Edwards, V.A. Gostin,
M. Hajos, M. Hampton, D.G. Jenkins, S.V. Margolis, A.T.
Ovenshine, and K. Perch-Nielson, 1975. "Site 294," in _Initial
Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project_, J.P. Kennett, and R.E.
Houtz, et al., editors, 29, 403-445.
6. Shackleton, J.J., and J.P. Kennett, 1975. "Paleotemperature History
of the Cenozoic and the Initiation of Antarctic Glaciation: Oxygen
and Carbon Isotope Analysis in DSDP Sites 277, 279, and 281," in
_Initial Reports of the Deep Sea Drilling Project_, J.P. Kennett,
and R.E. Houtz, et al., editors, 29, 743-755.
________________________________________________________________________
Please note some scientific symbols and notation have been replaced or
representated in another form in this electronically distributed copy.
What follows is a description of changes:
1. Superscript notation is indicated by: {}.
2. The temperature degree symbol has been replaced by: ' (apostrophe).
3. The SMOW symbol (deviation in oxygen 18 from standard mean ocean
water) has been replaced by: [SMOW].
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This "Impact" was converted to ASCII, for BBS use,
from the original formatted desktop article.
Comments regarding typographical errors
in the above material are appreciated.
Don Barber, ICR Systems Administrator
Fax: (619) 448-3469
All ICR staff members adhere to a Statement of Faith
in the form of two documents:
"Tenets of Scientific Creationism"
and "Tenets of Biblical Creationism."
(see Impact No. 85)
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