It must be "Global Warming"

by Warlock 93 Replies latest social current

  • FreeWilly
    FreeWilly
    Abbadon: "will you be annoyed at me ....or annoyed at the people who have actually mislead you?"

    If I hadn't known better I'd think you were asking me a religious question. In a scientific dialog over data I find it difficult to enlist emotion. I'd recommend the same lest they betray you.

    Now, on to the discussion.

    Does this mean you have no comment on how billions of tons of stored CO2 have been released in such a short space of time?

    Yes, that is correct. I do not dispute a human contribution to rising CO2 levels in our atmosphere. Although I believe it naive and presumptuous to attribute all of the ~80 ppm CO2a increase (pre-industrial/post-industrial age) to human activity, humans, nonetheless bear at least some of that responsibility. My comments to this point have been that of proportion and relavance. If this is not sufficient, or you would like me to elaborate more please ask.

    With that understanding.....

    Yes, but if water vapour (which you bought up) is NOT changing (which means you bringing it up was another way to avoid the actual issue), and CO2 is, the effect of the extra CO2 is what is important, not the fact water vapour plays a larger role.

    Again, viewing the "extra CO2", or as you put it the "billions of tons" of CO2, in their proper proportion we understanding of the size of any human contributions. Were we to go on you words a person would likely view the human contribution as a dispproportionately large component of our atmosphere or of the Greenhouse total. CO2 is a trace gas which represents a mere 0.038% of our atmosphere. It's role as a "Greenhouse Gas" is best view in relation to it's peers. CO2 is dwarfed as a Greenhouse Gas (~3%) compared to Water Vapour (~95%) and other gasses. Only then can we best discuss it's effects.

    So then, how much is the additional ~80 ppm (arguably attributed to humans) in the grand scheme of things? It represents a atmospheric change of ~0.008% of out atmospheric makeup. It constitutes a <1% change in the makeup of greenhouse gasses. From these points we need not draw any conclusions about CO2, only bear them in mind when considering the sensational, catastrophic effects that are being attributed to this fractional change.

    In a time period where known forcing (orbit, solar variation, etc.) does not explain sudden average temperature rise, and masses of CO2 has been released by man (let alone agricultural inputs of greenhouse gasses), saying that in the past CO2 levels were higher means we can doubt the role of CO2 in the current temperature rise....Please let me know if I mis-state your case

    You have. "In a time period where known forcing (orbit, solar variation, etc.) does not explain sudden average temperature rise" would be your position, if i read it correctly - not mine. For a clear, known driver, please see below.

    The above graphs show 2 things. First off there is a clear coorelation of Solar irradiance to Glabal temperatures. Secondly it explains the paradoxal decrease in Global temperatures in the middle 20th century, a time when Human source CO2 dramatically increased. It further explains the ~0.5* increase in the first Part of the 20th century when Human contributions of CO2 were relatively small. So far from there being "no known forcing" we have a clear indication. Is this the end-all answer ? No. Is CO2 an amplifier of Global temperature? Possibly - even likely to a degree. Is it a driver of climate change? Well that is the subject we are debating isn't it? Time will tell. But I can tell you that the Alarmist predictions place an aweful lot of power on this trace gas.
    you have simply had a number worked on you by people who are very good at what they do

    You sound like my Mom who wonders why I won't fall in line with the JW's. She cook's up consiracies too! Don't drink the cool-aid!

    You cite a paper which is becoming infamous on account of the spectacularly bad science

    I love your paste of a rebuttal to the findings of Khilyuk and Chilingar. I cannot be sure if your objections to the article are shared or borrowed. For example, is the cause of Earth's internal heat germane to our discussion? Or are you likewise dismayed that some of the references were not translated from Russian? And while the objection the the temperature graph is related to our discussion, I specifically cited this article to show - yet again - the size of the human contribution of CO2 relative to other sources. Although you concede 0.00022% you are nonetheless unmoved by what you otherwise describe as nothing more than fodder for the oil lobby. (BTW specifically which lobby is behind this one?)

    The amount of Alarmism the accompanies this debate is disturbing. There are real threats to the environment that we CAN do something about. All of them require resources. This IMHO has not yet been established as the most important. The human contribution is relatively very small and comparitively insignificant as a Greenhouse constituent. CO2's role as a climate driver is woefully unsubstantiated and IMO presumpteous. Earth's temperatures HAVE increased 5*C since the last Ice age. Our Oceans HAVE risen 300 feet since then as well. The trend will likely continue. The glaciers will all melt and oceans rise as they have before. But fear not we will again retreat from this brief period of warm only to sink into another long predominant period of ice and cold that Earth is most accustomed to. All of this until our dear sun expires. Climate stasis is a fallacy. Just look at the graph......:) -FW PS For the flip-side of the funding arguement consider http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110008220 If you want to likewise paste rebuttals of Mr Lizden and this article look here: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2006/04/lindzen-point-by-point/ Do you see how much time I'm saving you?
  • Abaddon
    Abaddon

    FreeWilly

    If I hadn't known better I'd think you were asking me a religious question. In a scientific dialog over data I find it difficult to enlist emotion. I'd recommend the same lest they betray you.

    LOL. Maybe I am just used to people getting pissy when they find they have cited material that shows either they didn't read the quoted material properly, and/or failed to check its validity, and/or based their selection on whether it agreed with a preconception as distinct from agreeing with facts.

    I'm glad you are immune to such behaviour. You seem instead to ignore the fact you have quoted a paper which has more holes in it than swiss cheese.

    I do not dispute a human contribution to rising CO2 levels in our atmosphere. Although I believe it naive and presumptuous to attribute all of the ~80 ppm CO2a increase (pre-industrial/post-industrial age) to human activity, humans, nonetheless bear at least some of that responsibility. My comments to this point have been that of proportion and relavance. If this is not sufficient, or you would like me to elaborate more please ask.

    Is doubting the 80ppm increase being wholey due to human activities the result of data analysis, if so, what? If not, how do you support your position?

    Again, viewing the "extra CO2", or as you put it the "billions of tons" of CO2,

    Don't do that. You yourself say it is "6 billion" tons a year. Thus using quotes around the above is making it appear as if you are quoting something that you maybe don't agree with, and you do.

    Were we to go on you words a person would likely view the human contribution as a dispproportionately large component of our atmosphere or of the Greenhouse total.

    Please quote anything I have said which could lead to either supposition. This, for example;

    Total human-released CO2 of 1 x 10~18 g of CO2 in 200 years IS significant in light there is less than 3 × 10~18 g of
    CO2 in the atmosphere.

    ... seem to be very clear on the proportions, far more so than the deceptive calculations of Khilyuk and Chilingar. They compare 4.5 billion years of CO2 outgassing to 200 years of human activity to make the percentage impressively small (0.00022%) but totally deceptive as regards the current situation. Human activity is currently responsible for 25% of all atmospheric CO2. They cook the figures (or are big enough idiots) to make it seem that human produced CO2 is 113,636 times less important than it is today. Your attempts to put CO2 "in context" are red herrings to avoid actually getting down to the nitty grity, or a result of simply not getting how the figures are being manipulated.

    CO2 is a trace gas which represents a mere 0.038% of our atmosphere.

    Preaching to the choir, no one is disputing CO2 being a small constituent part of the atmosphere. Time and time again you state facts which are not disputed as though you were setting matters straight; is this because you have so little facts to support your solar variation argument you have little else to do? You are still avoiding discussing the effect of the billions of tons of extra CO2 (and other greenhouse gases) in the atmosphere over and above what would be there without human activity.

    I think this may be because of where you did your research; most climate change cynics do this so you doing the same is not really a surprise.

    It's role as a "Greenhouse Gas" is best view in relation to it's peers. CO2 is dwarfed as a Greenhouse Gas (~3%) compared to Water Vapour (~95%) and other gasses. Only then can we best discuss it's effects.

    You are repeating yourself. So I will be equally tedious and do the same.

    No one says the increase in temperature is caused by water vapour, even if it is the major greenhouse gas. The fact that water vapour plays a larger overall role is irrelevent when it's role is more-or-less stable or responsive to other trends.

    CO2 increase is NOT a response (on any significant scale) to other trends, it is a caused by human activity.

    It has changed concentration, from c. 280ppm (pre-industrial) to c. 380ppm now. That is a 35% increase in 200 years or less, currently around 0.4% per year. It hasn't been that high in 20-25 million years, and it would not be that high now if it were not for human activity.

    So then, how much is the additional ~80 ppm (arguably attributed to humans) in the grand scheme of things?

    35% more CO2, = c. 0.48 Wm-2 extra forcing, with an additonal 0.29 Wm-2 forcing from CH4 increasing by 249%, 0.024 Wm-2 from N2O increasing by 16%, 0.0015 Wm-2 from CF4 doubling, and 0.326 Wm-2 from other gases produced soley by human activity. That is 1.1215 Wm-2 extra forcing from greenhouse gases due to human activity, excluding aerosols and particulates.

    Thus total extra forcing due to human activity changing the concentrations of greenhouse gases is 114% more than it was before the Industrial era. The EFFECT is far more important than playing with small numbers to make-out the effect is small like this;

    It represents a atmospheric change of ~0.008% of out atmospheric makeup. It constitutes a <1% change in the makeup of greenhouse gasses. From these points we need not draw any conclusions about CO2, only bear them in mind when considering the sensational, catastrophic effects that are being attributed to this fractional change.

    Look you do realise discussions have a sort of format, a kind of flow? Assertion, rebutal? Ring any bells?

    You asserted various facts about water vapour large role and CO2's low concentration; I rebutted this by saying such facts have no bearing on the incease in CO2 and increase in temperature that is happening at the same time. You just repeat your original point with no modification; it doesn't even 'evolve'. LOL.

    You look at the mix of atmospheric gases and say, "Pwah, it's only 0.038% of the atmosphere". Yes, and, so, what? Look at iron; iron can have very different properties depending on tiny variations in the % of various additives or contaminents present in it. Saying; "Pwah, it's (say carbon) only a tiny percentage of the steel" is irrelevent if increasing that tiny perentage by 35% means the steel has a new set of properties.

    You sound like my Mom who wonders why I won't fall in line with the JW's. She cook's up consiracies too! Don't drink the cool-aid!

    LOL. I love reading comments like this. If someone starts with this it is a sure sign they have run out of relevent things to say. Miaow back at you.

    I love your paste of a rebuttal to the findings of Khilyuk and Chilingar. I cannot be sure if your objections to the article are shared or borrowed.

    Ah, so you come here with original science "what you thought up yourself"? LOL. Why don't you just address the faults pointed out? I know you grab at the extra paragraphs I stuck in for amusement value ("For example, is the cause of Earth's internal heat germane to our discussion?") as it then looks like your responding to the main points when you're actually not.

    So, what have you got to say about their seeming to think there is 150,000 times more CO2 in the atmosphere than there actually is? I say this as they compare ALL CO2 from outgassing (4.5 billion years with no calculation of re-absorbtion) with 200 years of human activity, thus uder estimating current proportion of human activities on CO2 levels by over 100,000 times! That is spectacularly bad science, but I'm not sure if you understand it...

    What comment have you about their major conclusions being unsupported allegations, e.g. “the major causes of currently observed global warming are: rising solar irradiation and increasing tectonic activity"?

    Anything to say about them using superceded data? Failing to cite relevant literature in the fields they cover? Or refering to www.junkscience.com (are you gonna tell me that's peer-reviewed? Oh, hang on, that's where you get YOUR stuff from too! LOL)?

    Now let's get down to the sun. Do you check to see something that agrees wih your opinion has been refuted before you use it? Or does your excitement get the better of you? I have to ask as citing Khilyuk and Chilingar could have been an honest mistake, but not knowing the concensus of opinion on solar variation when this is the kernal of 'your' theory make it look like your research is sloppy.

    Variations of this magnitude are too small to have contributed appreciably to the accelerated global warming observed since the mid-1970s, according to the study, and there is no sign of a net increase in brightness over the period.

    http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Changes_In_Solar_Brightness_Too_Weak_To_Explain_Global_Warming_999.html

    This article makes it clear there is no smoking gun where the sun is involved. The temperature change is greater than the influence the sun could have had using known models or measurements. Of course, there have been studies with different results. This wiki is a good discussion of the topic, highlights mine;

    In 1991, Knud Lassen of the Danish Meteorological Institute in Copenhagen and his colleague Eigil Friis-Christensen found a strong correlation between the length of the solar cycle and temperature changes throughout the northern hemisphere. Initially, they used sunspot and temperature measurements from 1861 to 1989, but later found that climate records dating back four centuries supported their findings. This relationship appeared to account for nearly 80 per cent of the measured temperature changes over this period (see graph. [22] Damon and Laut, however, show that when the graphs are corrected for filtering errors, the sensational agreement with the recent global warming, which drew worldwide attention, has totally disappeared. Nevertheless, the authors and other researchers keep presenting the old misleading graph. [21] Note that the prior link to "graph" is one such example of this.

    I suggest you read the whole of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming#The_solar_variation_theory as a starting point; it contains many references and is not nearly as partisan as your choice of information, junk science. Taking your references from a source that appears to determine its opinion at the start of its analysis (just like Creationists who use Creationist websites) does not seem the best way of ensuring accuracy.

    This is one such reference http://stephenschneider.stanford.edu/Publications/PDF_Papers/DamonLaut2004.pdf detailing the strange persistance of known errors, and convenient mathmatical errors.

    CO2's role as a climate driver is woefully unsubstantiated and IMO presumpteous.

    On the contrary, to the best of our knowledge rising CO2 levels is the cause of recent temperature increases.

    The evidence of this increase, its cause, and the physical effects of this are well known and not subject to dispute. CO2 levels have risen by c. 100 ppm is a FACT. This is largely due to fossil fuel use is a FACT. Average global temperatures have risen is a FACT.

    Unlike solar variance where there is no clear evidence of changes large enough to drive current temperature increases; most figures cluster around 25% of temperature change prior to the '70's and 15% thereafter, if that, due to solar variation.

    Earth's temperatures HAVE increased 5*C since the last Ice age. Our Oceans HAVE risen 300 feet since then as well. The trend will likely continue. The glaciers will all melt and oceans rise as they have before. But fear not we will again retreat from this brief period of warm only to sink into another long predominant period of ice and cold that Earth is most accustomed to.

    All of this until our dear sun expires. Climate stasis is a fallacy. Just look at the graph......:)

    Do you realising you have a habit of mentioning arguments the person you're in discussion with has not advanced, Who says tempoeratures have not risen 5 C or sea levels 100m? Who says that there will ot be aother ice age? Who says there is such a thing as climate stasis? You talk about fallacies when your argumentative style seem to depend on fallacies such as ad hom and saw man.

    All of these points over which there is no disagreement or straw man arguments have NOTHING to do with the current human-caused trend. It just evades the centre issue; that a 35% increase in levels of CO2 is changing the climate rapidly (the sun alone can't explain the change) and that the climate is warmer than it would be without such changes. These changes will in the next few decades have real impacts on humans, chiefly the poorest of the poor, but also including the prime areas for certain crops moving. We can make these changes less severe if we moderate our behaviour, but there will still be changes.

    Now, will the predictable happen, or will I be pleaently surprised?

  • FreeWilly
    FreeWilly
    Is doubting the 80ppm increase being wholey due to human activities the result of data analysis, if so, what? If not, how do you support your position?

    Atmospheric CO2 concentraions can (rather simplistically) be stated as the balance of CO2 sources and sinks. The effectiveness of the ocean as a CO2 sink deminishes with temperature. This reduced capacity as a sink can result in more atmospheric CO2.

    http://www.john-daly.com/ahlbeck/ahlbeck.htm

    See also http://www.strom.clemson.edu/becker/prtm320/commons/carbon3.html Table 2 list 3 plausable variations.

    So, what have you got to say about their seeming to think there is 150,000 times more CO2 in the atmosphere than there actually is? I say this as they compare ALL CO2 from outgassing (4.5 billion years with no calculation of re-absorbtion) with 200 years of human activity, thus uder estimating current proportion of human activities on CO2 levels by over 100,000 times! That is spectacularly bad science, but I'm not sure if you understand it...

    What comment have you about their major conclusions being unsupported allegations, e.g. “the major causes of currently observed global warming are: rising solar irradiation and increasing tectonic activity"?

    Anything to say about them using superceded data? Failing to cite relevant literature in the fields they cover? Or refering to www.junkscience.com (are you gonna tell me that's peer-reviewed? Oh, hang on, that's where you get YOUR stuff from too! LOL)?

    Oh dear.... Did I quote this article? If I remember correctly you were supposed to show their alleged tie to oil money. Has your borrowed outrage over the underlying paper displaced this notion? Regardless, comparing 4.5 billion years to 200 yrs to draw any related conclusion is meaningless. Great find!

    Oh, hang on, that's where you get YOUR stuff from too!

    I have provided links... maybe you should review them? What are you referring to?

    More to come....

  • RAF
    RAF

    Why is it so unbelievable that the global warming is coming from human activities? Why?
    Actually every scientific studies proves that we actually have a real problem anyway that we will have to face because we won’t be able to stop it but that we can only take care to not having the worse happening too quickly. (working on it is worthy - just not taking care about it is a real danger)

    The problem with public studies (promoted by govs) is that they are made to make people feel comfortable. The purpose is to make sure you will not worrying (and asking the gov to work on it) about things which any would have to worry about. Why? Because govs are not ready to fight against those things, they have another agenda (their popularity, their investments … Their fortunate friends – NOT US – they take the easy road and they will be able to avoid being those who’s going to suffer from the troubles – so why would they care? They won't going to jail because of that anyway ... and the supporters are also responsible by ignorance sure but still responsible by the fact they should have care about it and not buy anything just because public studies credited by govs stated something). It's always worthy to check both sides when 2 scientists do not state the same things.

    We should care and have scientists working on it (full time and for good) to tell us what we are supposed to do, what we are supposed to support (economy / habbits) ...

    Anyway ... Time will tell anyway, but when it's too late it's too late.

  • Zep
    Zep

    Is the additional c02 in the atmosphere ours?

    Very simply YES!. Atmospheric c02 was essentially stable prior to the industrial revolution at 280ppm. The carbon cycle was in balance. Yes, lots & lots of carbon gets cycled through the various sinks but the key is that it was in balance. Carbon going into the atmosphere was balanced by carbon going out and so it was stable at 280ppm. Along comes the industrial revolution and low and behold atmopheric c02 increases. We have in fact pumped enough c02 into the ATMOSPHERE (thats where we put it) to raise its concentrations to about 500ppm. Nature has absorbed some of this obviously, because concentrations are only around 370-380 ppm. We have also cleared land. Yknow, TREES, they like c02.

    Could the oceans be a source of all that atmospheric c02. Currently NO. Yes its possible in the future that they might start to fail as a sink, thats very concerning. However, at the moment, they are becoming more acidic. You know, like fizzy cordial, like coke. You makes them acidic. They are not releasing more c02 they are absorbing it.

    Furthermore, we know that the carbon in the atmosphere is ours because of chemical signature analysis of the c02 in the atmosphere. Here is further reading thats discusses isotopes etc: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php?p=87

    As far as im aware denialists produce no alternative. Its either maybe this or maybe that, or maybe we aint found it. Maybe its underwater volcanoes. Others (scientists) say that a source large enough to increase atmospheric c02 by 20% shouldnt be too hard to find - and we essentially have found it.

    Could the sun be cooking everything?

    This graph is from the Max Plank Institute for solar system research:

    http://www.mps.mpg.de/en/projekte/sun-climate/

    There has been no increase in solar forcing since 1940. Satellites (those things in the sky what china was shootin at the other day) measuring the sun since late 1978 show no increase in solar forcing. This is consistent with the IPCC that says the sun accounted for about half of temperature increase prior to 1940 but has not played a role since. If you want that satellite data you should go here:

    http://www.pmodwrc.ch/pmod.php?topic=tsi/composite/SolarConstant

    www.junkscience.com (from which one of the graphs above are derived) is run by non-climatologist and, until very recently, former oil and tobacco lobbyist STEVE MILLOY. I believe he a little problem with FOX news in 2005 for non disclosure (he was being paid by philip morriss). But heres a more thorough link:

    http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Steve_Milloy

  • FreeWilly
    FreeWilly

    Zep,

    First off awesome graph. It incorporates not only irradiance, but amplitude as well.

    One (non threating, sincere question). I'm just curious regarding your statement "There has been no increase in solar forcing since 1940. "

    A few posts back I quoted an article from the Telegraph. In it Dr Solanki (the director of the project at Max Plank, responsible for the graph) made a couple of observations.

    "The Sun has been at its strongest over the past 60 years and may now be affecting global temperatures."

    "The Sun is in a changed state. It is brighter than it was a few hundred years ago and this brightening started relatively recently - in the last 100 to 150 years."

    And is represented as finding the Sun at it's brightest in over 1000 years.

    I found this significant. So the Sun's intesity NOW is at it's highest. What effect do you believe this exceptional solar activity could be having on the climate?

    Additionally, are you aware of his work with Cosmic rays and magnetic activity and their affects on Global temperature? (Usoskin et al, 2003)? Great side-show here

  • BrentR
    BrentR

    I suppose us humans are also responsible for the shrinking ice caps on mars?

    http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/mars_snow_011206-2.html

    Is Al Gore going to do another movie called "An inconvenient martian truth"?

    Panic of the week:

    1970's The comming ice age

    1980's The disapearing ozone layer

    2000's Global warming

    Around 2020 the global warming fad will have run it's course and people will have grown bored with it. Right now a small group of panic mongers is debating what the next apocalypse is going to be. I can't wait. Sounds like an organization we know about.

  • SWALKER
    SWALKER

    BrentR...what are you smoking????? Here's some info I found at the link you posted:

    "The odd shapes -- circular pits, ridges and mounds -- were first photographed in 1999. Since then, the features have eroded away by up to 50 percent.

    The pits are growing, the ridges between them shrinking.

    Caplinger and Malin caution that a year's worth of data does not reveal when this erosion began or how long it will continue.Yet they speculate that the features could have been created in a Mars' decade and may erode away completely within one to two decades.

    "We know that the pits we see at the surface today are not very old, and that they will not last very long," Malin said.

    The newly observed melting, if it is part of a trend, could pump enough carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of Mars to increase its mass by 1 percent per decade, the scientists said. Already, the atmosphere of Mars is roughly 95 percent carbon dioxide .

    Caplinger said no one knows for sure what effect the extra carbon dioxide might have on the climate. "Not much," he figures.

    But he said many scientists assume that Mars undergoes climate change. Photos of the surface suggest water may once have flowed on Mars, implying that it would have been warmer. And Earth's ice ages offer the lesson that change is inherent in a climate."

    You read that and are comparing it to EARTH???????????

    Swalker

  • BrentR
    BrentR

    Well I am not smoking anything, just reading about the solar system and find it interesting that two planets that are both experiencing shrinkage of thier ice caps. Some additional reading also shows that Pluto is warming.

    http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200607/s1697309.htm Maybe our entire solar system is warming? I understand that this info tends to skewer alot of people's sacred cows and will not be the lead story on all of the news networks.

    I left one cult so I am going to be very careful before joining another one.

  • Zep
    Zep

    freewilly (gday)

    The sun has increased in intensity. The IPCC reflects this fact in its assessment that the sun accounted for some warming prior to 1940. It may well be at its strongest for some considerable time. However there has been no increase in solar forcing since 1940. I think your graph shows this too BTW. Yes there are 11 yr cycles but there has been no increase in intensity. Even allowing for significant thermal inertia (something milloy seems first to be rather ignorant of, and later dismisses) temperature should have flatlined also. It hasnt, so you require another forcing to explain the continual rise in temerature.

    Cosmic rays. I know milloy is on the bandwagon over at junkscience. Realclimate has discussed it here: http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2006/10/taking-cosmic-rays-for-a-spin/

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