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I think the more preferred question is, "What's causing global warming?" global warming is occurring. The average overall temperature of the earth is rising, but not evenly. The recent drops of temperature in certain areas, specifically regions near the Atlantic is due to the melting of the north polar caps into cold melt-water flowing towards those regions near the North Atlantic ocean of the that interrupts oceanic circulations.
I think the more preferred question is, "What's causing global warming?" global warming is occurring. The average overall temperature of the earth is rising, but not evenly. The recent drops of temperature in certain areas, specifically regions near the Atlantic is due to the melting of the north polar caps into cold melt-water flowing towards those regions near the North Atlantic ocean of the that interrupts oceanic circulations.
In both cases, it doesn't take unparalleled genius to tell the difference between "up" and "down". It's currently moving UP. As in, warming. And has been for some time. At an alarmingly rapid pace.
What happened in the 1000 year? It seemed to go up then but there were no vehicles or factories?
Earth is still recovering from its last Ice age from 10,000 years ago.
This arguement is about man-made GW correct?
Back in the 1800s a volcano blew and surrounded the entire atmosphere in ASH you name one man made thing that can harness/duplicate the power of a volcano?
Comparison of CO2 emissions from volcanoes vs. human activities.
Scientists have calculated that volcanoes emit between about 130-230 million tonnes (145-255 million tons) of CO2 into the atmosphere every year (Gerlach, 1991). This estimate includes both subaerial and submarine volcanoes, about in equal amounts. Emissions of CO2 by human activities, including fossil fuel burning, cement production, and gas flaring, amount to about 27 billion tonnes per year (30 billion tons) [ ( Marland, et al., 2006) -
Ok look, it's rather clear you don't understand any of the basic science involved here.
Fist of all "that number is small, therefore it isn't important" is the kind of thinking one would expect to see from someone who simply has very little exposure to science in general. FYI, small amounts of certain things have very very large effects.
Second, you got the concentration wrong. It's ~0.04%
Third, yes... water vapor is also a factor in warming calculations, but just because there's more of it that doesn't mean it's more important. We have a much less pronounced relative effect on atmospheric water vapor levels than we do on atmospheric Co2 levels so we focus on where we're causing the largest impact. That tiny little 0.04% of Co2 in the atmosphere? It's responsible for up to 25% of greenhouse effects. So just try and imagine what happens if it goes up to, say, 0.06%. A 0.02% increase in atmospheric water vapor levels on the other hand would do almost nothing at all.
And your last sentence is just gibberish. I don't know what the heck you think you mean by "doesn't do anything to radiation waves" but when Co2 in the atmosphere is bombarded by solar radiation it has a very strong absorbtion band in the infrared spectrum... which means it collects and traps HEAT in the atmosphere.
Dude, you just linked to a "how greenhouses work" article that has nothing at all to do with atmospheric science. Here's a tip, the next time you want to cite an article saying it proves your position, make sure you are capable of reading and understanding what it says first so you know if it actually says what you claim it says.
And where is my evidence of what exactly? The absorbtion band of Co2 in the infrared spectrum?
Ironically, the notorious "greenhouse effect" really does work the way a gardener's greenhouse was (inaccurately) thought to operate: carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor and other such gasses in the atmosphere let the solar radiation pass to the earth's surface but impede the reradiation of thermal infrared wavelengths back to space.
Do you understand what the words "really does work" mean? And once again, this isn't an article about the greenhouse effect just because it contains one offhand mention of the greenhouse effect while it's talking about how little glass enclosures help you grow plants.
The heat trapping effects of the earth's atmosphere are analogous to the heat trapping effects of a greenhouse. That doesn't mean they trap heat in the same way, or that anyone ever claimed they did it in the same way. To do that we would have had to think the earth was surrounded in a big glass dome.
Ok, note to self... Sultih doesn't know what the word "analogous" means.
Saying the heat trapping effects of greenhouses and the greenhouse effect are analogous means they are SIMILAR. Not that they are nothing like each other.
They are similar in the sense that THEY BOTH TRAP HEAT. There, the great mystery of why they called it the "greenhouse effect" explained. Do you feel enlightened?
While they act in a similar manner however, they do not work in a similar manner. Actual greenhouses trap heat with big clear glass (or glass-like) domes... and the earth does not have a big clear dome over it. Get it?
Exactly so the heat in the earths atmosphere is in fact escaping and the earth is not in danger of "Global Warming".
What the hell are you talking about? That is the OPPOSITE of everything we just finished discussing.
Are you forgetting how COLD space is? Space cools down the atmosphere tremendiously! How come this is never mentioned?
Because it's irrelevent and people who know what they're talking about know that.
Yes, some heat loss to space is constantly occuring, but that's not the point. What matters is the relative rates of heat loss to heat input. If you're radiating heat and receiving heat at the same rate, the average temperature remains constant. If you radiate heat faster than heat is input then you cool, and if you radiate heat slower than heat is input you warm.
Adding things like Co2 to the atmosphere SLOWS DOWN the radiation of heat back into space. Which raises freaking temperatures because the rate at which heat is being pumped into the atmosphere isn't changing.
A person asked me, what kind of question is this, um... i read some paragraphs and some say the earth is going to be cold like ice age, because people in earth are having longer winter than year before
and like a lot of people say the earth is going to be warmer
there are some possible ways so that i wanted to see other people's opinions
So the dinosaur us caused their own global cooling...........
Anyway, have you read the recent evidence how the ice is not melting when in fact its increasing? How about the scientists who tried to cover up the evidence that proved there was no global warming? They were going to get a lot of money for lying about global warming, they went and deleted all the evidence.
Who said anything about the world warming evenly? no one did.
Notice that both Washington & Atlanta are both located near the Atlantic ocean.
Like i said earlier, melt-water from glaciers North of Atlantic disrupting the Thermohaline circulation causing the buildup of melt-water near North Atlantic oceans causing a temperature drop. And since the ocean plays a major role in controlling weather systems, that temperature drop leads to the intense snow in Washington & Atlanta......
I think what we need to focus on is how we can control global warming, look at what are happenings in some part of the globe that really affected by this climate change. Everyone of us need to participate and do our share to let this control. Solution are minimizing our footprint, food and industrial waste, garbage and other source that trigger global warming. We need to be more productive, creative and idealistic, we need to make unique ideas like proper waste presorting and converting waste to energy.
the thing we all have to remember with global warming is that part of the cycle is a period of global cooling when the greenhouse gases reach a predetermined amount.then the cycle changes back to global warming as a natural part of the same process.It is simple physics but the average person is not aware of this and sais "oh well its cooler now than five years ago so global warming is over".how it works is initially the greenhouse gases keep more of the heat from the sun in and cause warming .then as the greenhouse gases increase they actually block much of the heat from the sun from reaching the surface of the earth.then we have a period of global cooling.then again as the greenhouse gases increase still further they eventually lock most of the heat in and eventually we get "runaway greenhouse effect".
I'm not saying that the climate doesn't change. It's done that since the beginning of Earth. What is a problem is how people so firmly believe that WE are responsible without any sufficient evidence. For everything they bring to the table, we come up with a contradiction. They ignore the contradiction. I'm not saying that the contradiction makes their argument invalid, but it does show that we still do not have enough evidence to suggest that we must drastically change our way of life because of some skyfalling scares.
What I will say is that a lot of the environmental arguments are fueled by politics and a Liberal money trail.
"What is a problem is how people so firmly believe that WE are responsible without any sufficient evidence"... hmmm i do believe there is more than enough evidence to prove we are causing GLobal Warming. (http://www.global-greenhouse-warming.com/climate.html) just take a look at charts and graphs of the climate temperatures over the past 1000 or so years, and u will see a sharp rise starting in the 20th century. Also the scientists get these facts from tree ring data, ice cores, climate models etc... And what is this "contradiction" you speak of? There have been some errors but nothing even close to contradiction. And whether environmental argument are fueled by politics is irrelevant, because Global Warming is happening according to science which means if we dont take action, our children will be screwed.
Or Jack Eddy who found a strong correlation between the sun and climate change.
The founder of the Weather Channel found that while our carbon emissions have ONLY increased for the past decades, the climate has gone up and down in the same pattern as the sun spot radiations.
But even if we minus the sun, 97% of carbon emissions are natural and can not be stopped by just removing our own carbon emissions.
Methane, a natural gas, is more damaging to the environment, and while it does not last as long as carbon emissions, it does way more damage.
A Volcanic eruption destroys much more than we can possibly do with carbon emissions.
At most, what we do only speeds up (slightly) the effects of global warming by a few years. If the Earth is going through another cycle, it is going to get there no matter what. If we can eliminate ALL man made carbon emissions only to buy us a couple more years, do you really find it worth it? Maybe we should focus more on survival methods due to Global Warming (if it truly reaches a state of crisis).
Maybe the consequences of global warming are exaggerated by some, but it's virtually certain that humans are responsible for a lot of it.
"Two questions were key: have mean global temperatures risen compared to pre-1800s levels, and has human activity been a significant factor in changing mean global temperatures.
About 90 percent of the scientists agreed with the first question and 82 percent the second."
You make a complete fallacy by suggesting that the fact you and others attempt to contradict solid scientific evidence means that we do not have enough evidence...its non sequitur.
Environmental arguments come first from scientific research, not politics. Similarly, just because liberal politicians supposedly make money from the idea of anthropogenic global warming does not mean that it is not happening...if Stalin got £1000 for every time he said "1+1=2", that does not mean 1+1=2 is not true...
Neither, it's called climate change. The earth has been changing temperatures for billions of years. It naturally cools and heats, its not just one thing. When you look at global temperatures, there really is no just heating or just cooling, both are occurring.
The earth has always gone in a type of ``mood swing`` of temperatures.
And just as you guys have said there`s scientific evidence some places in the world are getting warmer, there`s other that states other spots are getting colder and colder.
Last year, we had a fall like summer, wich`s 15C for over here. When, in years before, we had an average of 32C. And this year`s looking to be the same, but colder then the others.
I know that`s just a look of this area, but other areas have been having the same effect, even places across the world from myslef.
By the by, depending on the effect on the water cycle, the current warming trend caused by the carbon cycle (human?) could lead to a positive feedback loop of global cooling through increased albedo.
More cloud cover = more albedo = cooling trend = more ice = more albedo...
i am sorry for couldn't put a website that says this winter, some countries had longer winter than usually so that they could assume we are going to have global cooling, because i don't remember what that website is
It's global warming. As in, the average temperature of the entire planet is rising over time. The fact that some parts of it at some times are colder doesn't change that.
I've actually heard people make the argument that the earth can't be really getting warmer because it's unusually cold outside their house today. It's stunning.