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Monday, February 10, 2020

UK Lake District is suffering from soil erosion at a "dramatic rate" = Bad news = So blame "climate change" ?

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.