Antarctic Temperatures Disagree With Climate Model Predictions | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 192603 United States 02/17/2007 01:39 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | This is interesting, but still does not get us off the hook as far as carbon emmissions and such. The best guess is that we DO have solid global warming, so we need to act on this. To do otherwise right now, is imperitive. To wait, if it IS happening, is suicidal. |
anime eyes User ID: 108959 United States 02/17/2007 01:46 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 167430 United States 02/17/2007 02:18 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 53226 United States 02/17/2007 04:01 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 192603 United States 02/17/2007 04:48 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I don't think it really means death for most people. Things are going to get interesting, sure, and if we don't start working to make changes NOW things will get harder before long... But some of the changes needed are simply things that need to change anyway! We all need to get away from using oil for power. Right now it is a messy, politically charged power source that is in control of people that really don't like us. This is NOT a good place to be! Even IF nothing is going to change(and I think that we have far more info that things are getting warmer rather than not just now...) these are good enough reasons to break away from these fuel sources ASAP. Getting polution out of the air in general is just common sense, even if it is only to cut the high rate of Asthma. But doomed? Not likely! We are survivors faced with a survivable situation, not a world ending problem...Unless the phytoplankton go of course, then our problems are far more dire... :) |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 60359 United States 02/17/2007 05:56 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | [link to www.hindustantimes.com] Experts question theory on global warming Anil Anand New Delhi, February 11, 2007 Believe it or not. There are only about a dozen scientists working on 9,575 glaciers in India under the aegis of the Geological Society of India. Is the available data enough to believe that the glaciers are retreating due to global warming? Some experts have questioned the alarmists theory on global warming leading to shrinkage of Himalayan glaciers. VK Raina, a leading glaciologist and former ADG of GSI is one among them. He feels that the research on Indian glaciers is negligible. Nothing but the remote sensing data forms the basis of these alarmists observations and not on the spot research. Raina told the Hindustan Times that out of 9,575 glaciers in India, till date, research has been conducted only on about 50. Nearly 200 years data has shown that nothing abnormal has occurred in any of these glaciers. It is simple. The issue of glacial retreat is being sensationalised by a few individuals, the septuagenarian Raina claimed. Throwing a gauntlet to the alarmist, he said the issue should be debated threadbare before drawing a conclusion. However, Dr RK Pachouri, Chairman, Inter-Governmental Panel of Climatic Change said it’s recently released fourth assessment report has recorded increased glacier retreat since the 1980s. This he said was due to the fact that the carbon dioxide radioactive forcing has increased by 20 per cent particularly after 1995. And also that 11 of the last 12 years were among the warmest 12 years recorded so far. Surprisingly, Raina, who has been associated with the research and data collection in over 25 glaciers in India and abroad, debunked the theory that Gangotri glacier is retreating alarmingly. Maintaining that the glaciers are undergoing natural changes, witnessed periodically, he said recent studies in the Gangotri and Zanskar areas (Drung- Drung, Kagriz glaciers) have not shown any evidence of major retreat. "Claims of global warming causing glacial melt in the Himalayas are based on wrong assumptions," Raina, a trained mountaineer and skiing expert said. He rued that not much is being done by the Government to create a bank of trained geologists for an in-depth study of glaciers. The agencies such as the GSI are not getting fresh talent simply because of the measly salaries offered by the Government. Consider this. During one of his visits to Antarctic, to his utter dismay, Raina discovered that the cook of a Japanese team was getting a bigger pay packet than him. If he is to be believed, currently only about a dozen scientists are working on Indian glaciers. More alarming is the fact that some of them are above 50. How can one talk about the state of glaciers when not much research is being done on the ground, he wondered. In fact, it is difficult to ascertain the exact state of Himalayan glaciers as these are very dusty as compared to the ones in Alaska and the Alps. The present presumptions are based on the cosmatic study of the glacier surfaces. Nobody knows what is happening beneath the glaciers. What ever is being flaunted about the under surface activity of the glaciers, is merely presumptions, he claimed. His views were echoed by Dr RK Ganjoo, Director, Regional Centre for Field Operations and Research on Himalayan Glaciology, who is supervising study of glaciers in Ladakh region including one in the Siachen area. He also maintained that nothing abnormal has been found in any of the Himalyan glaciers studied so far by him. Still, he wondered on the Himalayan glaciers being compared with those in Alaska or Europe to lend credence to the melt theory. Indian glaciers are at 3,500-4,000 meter above the sea level whereas those in the Alps are at much lower levels. Certainly, the conditions under which the glaciers in Alaska are retreating, are not prevailing in the Indian sub-continent, he explained. Another leading geologist MN Koul of Jammu University, who is actively engaged in studying glacier dynamics in J&K and Himachal holds similar views. Referring to his research on Kol glacier ( Paddar, J&K) and Naradu (HP), he said both the glaciers have not changed much in the past two decades. Email Anil Anand: [email protected] |
Jammer User ID: 196885 United States 02/17/2007 06:06 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Best advice on this entire thread It doesn't matter: human induced or climatic cycle, you're STILL GOING TO DIE. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 53226MORONS. Your VILLAGE called, their IDIOT is missing. Your IDIOT called, their VILLAGE is missing. |
anonanon User ID: 62642 United States 02/17/2007 06:25 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I read that there was an 8% increase in the ice surrounding the antarctic. The shrinkage is mostly in the northern hemisphere. I also read that 500 years ago Greenland was not under ice and all kinds of crops were grown there which is how it got the name Greenland. Twenty or thirty years ago scientists were claiming we were entering the beginning of a new ice age. Now it is a global meltdown and we are all going to starve to death. The planet changes from time to time. We are in such a period of change. No doubt we have accelerated that change in the northern hemisphere and it makes good sense to clean up the atmosphere - especially in Asia where the pollution is so bad that people have to walk around with face masks. Considering the winter this country has had with crops freezing in California, two feet of snow or more in the east, high winds and deep cold in the midwest, and now freezing into Florida, I would say we could all use a little more global warming. |
anime eyes User ID: 108959 United States 02/17/2007 01:07 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Unless the phytoplankton go of course, then our problems are far more dire...:) Quoting: Anonymous Coward 192603Another canary in the coal mine, or just another natural phenom of rare occurrence? [link to news.bbc.co.uk] The delicate interplay between the oceans and atmosphere is changing with catastrophic consequences. Entire marine ecosystems have been wiped out, devastating populations of sea birds and larger marine mammals. These "dead zones" occur where there are disturbances to the nutrient-rich ocean currents, which are driven by coastal winds. Extreme marine suffocations have occurred off the west coast of the US every year for the last five years. The most intense event, which left the ocean floor littered with the carcasses of crabs, happened in 2006. Climate models predict increasing uncertainty with wild fluctuations. We should expect more surprises - Dr Jane Lubchenco, OSU It was unlike anything that we've measured along the Oregon coast in the past five decades," said Dr Francis Chan, of Oregon State University (OSU). Other coastal countries including Chile, Namibia and South Africa have also been affected. Plant bloom The common factor between all of the areas is that marine currents off the coast rise from the deep ocean. These upwelling zones bring nutrient-rich water up from the deep, triggering plankton blooms that underpin the coastal food chain. Nearly 50% of the world's fisheries are in these areas. The currents are driven by winds that move surface water away from the coast, drawing more up from the deep. But now, observations along the west coast of the US suggest that the upwelling is being disrupted, changing its timing and intensity. For example, in 2005 the upwelling was delayed which meant that the plankton blooms did not occur, leading to a collapse in fish populations. This particularly hit migrating salmon, which pass along the coast in April and May every year. "In 2005 they found nothing to eat," said Dr Bill Peterson of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa). "By the time upwelling started, they were dead." Huge graveyard An even more catastrophic event occurred in 2006 when the amount of upwelling doubled, leading to a huge influx of nutrients and a supercharged plankton bloom. When these sank to the ocean floor they stripped the water column of oxygen, creating a 3,000 sq km (1,150 sq miles) dead zone, where creatures unable to swim away suffocated en masse. Changes could be long lasting Dr Francis Chan used underwater cameras to survey the area two months after the event. "We were shocked to see a graveyard," he said. "Frame after frame of carcass, carcass, carcass." Crabs, worms and sea stars all perished in the anoxic water. The event was so severe that the researchers fear that marine life cannot return to the area. "In previous years, fish that have escaped the low-oxygen area appear to have returned once the oxygen was renewed," said Dr Jane Lubchenco, also of OSU. "This year may be different, however, because unlike earlier years, the living habitat was also suffocated." Uncertain future The researchers believe the cause of these events was changes in the intensity of the coastal winds, perhaps brought about by global warming. "What we know from the climate change models is that the land will warm more than the sea," colleague Jack Barth told the BBC News website. It is this difference in temperature and pressure that drives the winds. Scientists used underwater cameras "As you intensify that gradient - that will drive the stronger winds." To confirm this link to climate change, the researchers say they need another 10 to 15 years of data. In the meantime, they say, we must change our approach to managing and using these ecosystems, particularly for fish stocks. "The most prudent course of action is to begin to think differently about what is happening," said Dr Lubchenco. "Climate models predict increasing uncertainty with wild fluctuations. We should expect more surprises." The research was presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in San Francisco, US. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 52939 United States 02/17/2007 01:17 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | It's a mis-nomer to call it Global Warming. It should be called Earth Changes. It will become warm where it was cold and cold where it was warm. A block of ice doesn't melt all at once. At first it is slow. But as it begins to melt, the melting accelerates. The more it melts, the faster the melting becomes. The melting at the poles are at that point of the curve where it is alamingly apparent. It was in the 7o's in December in the Northeast, wish I went back to visit the family in New York for Christmas. But now, they recieved record snowfalls. Weather models are great, but not 100%. There is always a fudge factor. Some fudge is thicker than others. So, you can always fudge data. N'est Pas? |