SUMMARY
Reported by the BBC:
Dr Simon Carr,
programme leader
for geography at the
University of Cumbria,
said extreme weather,
caused by climate change,
is stripping the fells,
by causing soil erosion.
That claim is made about
the Lake District,
England's second largest
( 2,362 square kilometers ),
and most popular
( 23 million annual day visits)
national park, in the
county of Cumbria,
( northwest England ).
The Park includes
England's highest
mountain, and the
deepest and largest
natural lakes.
The mountainous area
has changed little
for thousands of years.
It has survived
warmer periods,
and the cooler
Little Ice Age,
but is now,
allegedly,
falling to pieces
because of
“climate change”.
If soil erosion
really is
a big problem,
then tourism
is responsible.
Millions of pounds
are being spent
to protect overused
walking paths.
Erosion
of peatlands
is actually quite
a serious problem
across the UK,
and there are
many causes,
none of them
climate related
– industrial pollution,
sheep farming,
drainage, tourism,
peat extraction,
construction of
wind turbines
and associated
infrastructure, and
burning of peatland.
Money available
to universities,
for anything
related to
“climate change”,
are corrupting
genuine scientific
research.
I wonder if Dr Carr
would have received
any grant money
for his project
if it had not been
linked to “climate
change” ?
DETAILS:
Dr Carr helped compile
the Lake District’s State
of the Park plan in 2018,
and claims droughts,
followed by devastating
storms, in the
past few years
are the problem.
He said:
"The conditions are
absolutely perfect for
causing degradation
to the landscape.
"They desiccate the peaks,
they dry it, they become
very breakable and
erode very easily
when you have a storm.
"It’s taken 10,000 years
to create the soils we see
in the Lake District, and
the rate of loss is really
quite dramatic.
"Within a few decades
we’re going to see
the areas of bare rock
we see on the mountains
stretching further and
further down slope.
"We’re maybe
talking about 50 years.
It could be less."
Dr Carr said there is
"significant evidence"
of erosion on the fells,
amounting to about
3cm ( 1.2 inches )
per year.
He also
pointed to
a rise in
organic carbon
being found in water,
as a result of peat
being washed
into rivers,
and increased
sedimentation
being found
in lake basins.
Is soil erosion
really caused
by droughts
and storms,
worsened by
climate change ?
The charts
shown below
are a history
of rainfall
in the area
2018 had
a dry summer,
but was only
the 9th driest
in the North West
since records
began in 1873.
The drought,
followed by
storms
argument
falls apart,
because the
winter of 2018/19
was relatively dry.
The driest
summer
was 1976.
Other drier
summers were
in 1887, 1949
and 1955.
The only “devastating
storm” in recent years
was Storm Desmond,
in December 2015.
Storms in 1897 and 1898,
were of similar intensity.
Note on charts below:
Newton Rigg is on
the edge of the
Lake District.
There's no
rainfall evidence
to show that
climate change
has made rainfall
more extreme.
The wettest day
ever in Newton Rigg,
was in 1930.