Global warming?

[classicman]

Originally Posted by piercehawkeye45

These two past cold years could have nothing to do with this, huh?

two?

[piercehawkeye45]

Yeah?? The number isn't important, the fact that people stop believing in global warming after a cold spell is.

No opinions were provided so it is extremely hard to determine how logical the reasoning was.

[Beestie]

I think we should just focus on not polluting the atmosphere. Not because of a concern born of megalomania but because its just the right thing to do.

There is a lot of dissent and disagreement on the causal relationship between our actions and the climate. I think we (earthlings) stand a much better chance of reaching a consensus that we should stop polluting the air.

While the premise of global warming is not unreasonable, it is far from conclusively definitive so its effectiveness as a basis for policy decisions is very limited.

The easiest way to lose an argument even when you are right, is to base your position on a premise that is as easy to disprove as it is to prove.

Manhatten was under a mile-thick sheet of ice 20,000 years ago - that was ten minutes ago in geologic terms. Had a civilized human race been established at the time, I don't think there is anything we could have done to stop the last ice age and there is nothing we can do to stop the next one.

However, I think most reasonable people and nations would agree that we shouldn't piss in each other's water supply nor should we fart in each other's air supply.

[classicman]

outstanding post Beestie!

[classicman]

Me too, actually.

[classicman]

Northeast US to suffer most from future sea rise

WASHINGTON (AP) — The northeastern U.S. coast is likely to see the world's biggest sea level rise from man-made global warming, a new study predicts.

However much the oceans rise by the end of the century, add an extra 8 inches or so for New York, Boston and other spots along the coast from the mid-Atlantic to New England. That's because of predicted changes in ocean currents, according to a study based on computer models published online Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience.

An extra 8 inches — on top of a possible 2 or 3 feet of sea rise globally by 2100 — is a big deal, especially when nor'easters and hurricanes hit, experts said.

"It's not just waterfront homes and wetlands that are at stake here," said Donald Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, who wasn't part of the study. "Those kind of rises in sea level when placed on top of the storm surges we see today, put in jeopardy lots of infrastructure, including the New York subway system."

For years, scientists have talked about rising sea levels due to global warming — both from warm water expanding and the melt of ice sheets in Greenland and West Antarctica. Predictions for the average worldwide sea rise keep changing along with the rate of ice melt. Recently, more scientists are saying the situation has worsened so that a 3-foot rise in sea level by 2100 is becoming a common theme.

But the oceans won't rise at the same rate everywhere, said study author Jianjun Yin of the Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies at Florida State University. It will be "greater and faster" for the Northeast, with Boston one of the worst hit among major cities, he said. So, if it's 3 feet, add another 8 inches for that region.

The explanation involves complicated ocean currents. Computer models forecast that as climate change continues, there will be a slowdown of the great ocean conveyor belt. That system moves heat energy in warm currents from the tropics to the North Atlantic and pushes the cooler, saltier water down, moving it farther south around Africa and into the Pacific. As the conveyor belt slows, so will the Gulf Stream and North Atlantic current. Those two fast-running currents have kept the Northeast's sea level unusually low because of a combination of physics and geography, Yin said.

Slow down the conveyor belt 33 to 43 percent as predicted by computer models, and the Northeast sea level rises faster, Yin said.

So far, the conveyor belt has not yet noticeably slowed.

Now if we could only figure out where to buy property cheap that will be beachfront in 100 years....

[sugarpop]

Who cares? We'll all be dead by then anyway, right?

[classicman]

Shuddupa you face - you're in the Southeast!

[sugarpop]

[classicman]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8008473.stm'Quiet Sun' baffling astronomers

'Still Sun' baffling astronomers

The Sun is the dimmest it has been for nearly a century.

There are no sunspots, very few solar flares - and our nearest star is the quietest it has been for a very long time.

The observations are baffling astronomers, who are due to study new pictures of the Sun, taken from space, at the UK National Astronomy Meeting.

The Sun normally undergoes an 11-year cycle of activity. At its peak, it has a tumultuous boiling atmosphere that spits out flares and planet-sized chunks of super-hot gas. This is followed by a calmer period.

Last year, it was expected that it would have been hotting up after a quiet spell. But instead it hit a 50-year year low in solar wind pressure, a 55-year low in radio emissions, and a 100-year low in sunspot activity.

According to Prof Louise Hara of University College London, it is unclear why this is happening or when the Sun is likely to become more active again.

"There's no sign of us coming out of it yet," she told BBC News.

"At the moment, there are scientific papers coming out suggesting that we'll be going into a normal period of activity soon.

"Others are suggesting we'll be going into another minimum period - this is a big scientific debate at the moment."

I wonder what effect this will/may have on the Earths temperature.

[piercehawkeye45]

Cold winters?

[Aliantha]

The antarctic ice cap is growing...lots.

If this keeps up, Australia is going to become the new Iceland!

[classicman]

Can't be... global warming and all.

[xoxoxoBruce]

It's a trick to sell long underwear.

[Happy Monkey]

Depends on what you mean by "growing". It's getting smaller in area as chunks break off, but thicker as evaporating water falls as snow. Australia is safe from ice.