Global warming

[Jackrat]

Saw a program about global warming on TV the other night.
So,if the sea level raises 100 meters over the next 100 yrs like these experts reckon it will.Where is your current home going to be?
Where I live now will be under about 80 meters of wet stuff,but where I own will be sweet.Probably worth millions to,pity I won't be here to take advantage of it.

[myvice]

Didn’t catch the program, was it 100 meters straight up or 100 meters closer?
As in going to the beach is now a shorter drive by 100 meters?

[SixPackBack]

Global warming is still widely debated, just what is going to happen and more importantly why is a long way from agreed upon.
Want something to worry about...Earth polarity changes, yup its a biggie!:thud:

[Jackrat]

Didn’t catch the program, was it 100 meters straight up or 100 meters closer?
As in going to the beach is now a shorter drive by 100 meters?

100 meters straight up.
An sixpack,I'm not worried just found it interesting is all.
The guy on TV had just come back from a confrence in Asia and said that they'd come to the conclusion that it was happening and to late to do anything about.
Like I said,I'm not going to be here anyway.
Bugger:corn:

[Skyryder]

Global warming is still widely debated, just what is going to happen and more importantly why is a long way from agreed upon.
Want something to worry about...Earth polarity changes, yup its a biggie!:thud:

Soundl like all the scientific community are in agreament with this. Just like global warming polarity reversal is measured over thousands of years.
http://www.nasca.org.uk/Strange_relics_/reversal/alternative/alternative.html

You may be thinking of tilting. If this happens then we all are in deep shit.
http://www.nasca.org.uk/Strange_relics_/reversal/Unbalanced_world/unbalanced_world.html

Skyryder

[sedge]

http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/2005/

I will have beach front property in 30 years... Then I'll sell it and buy a boat... I've seen waterworld... I know what happens...

Sedge.

[myvice]

Better go get me some of them gills...
More worried about a big cosmic rock screwing us all!
That’s not too true, I'm more worried about my wife finding out what my account at the bike shop is but that will only kill a couple of people.
But it will be a slower death...
HEEERRRRREEEE ROCK, ROCK, ROCK, COME GET THE PLANET!!!

[What?]

When I were a lad in school, we were told the world was heading for another ice age. No money in that, though, so the scientists turned the theory on its head and, hey presto!, a gravy train was built.

[Karma]

The world is turning to gravy?

[Motu]

Same colour....but I think it's something else.

Looks like I might need to lift my place a tad......

[SixPackBack]

Soundl like all the scientific community are in agreament with this. Just like global warming polarity reversal is measured over thousands of years.
http://www.nasca.org.uk/Strange_relics_/reversal/alternative/alternative.html

You may be thinking of tilting. If this happens then we all are in deep shit.
http://www.nasca.org.uk/Strange_relics_/reversal/Unbalanced_world/unbalanced_world.html

Skyryder

Polarity Reversal has been measured through archaeological evidence at up to 6 degree's in a day...this will cause...problems!
Have not previously heard of 'tilt'

[myvice]

Polarity Reversal has been measured through archaeological evidence at up to 6 degree's in a day...this will cause...problems!
Have not previously heard of 'tilt'
Think of pinball...
Not nice to think of the earth going into a big tank-slapper, could mess with my long term plans.

[bluninja]

global warming pah!! It snowed when I was waiting for a train in Southampton this morning.

According to some research we receive 3% less sunlight at the surface cos the pollution is bouncing it back into space. So we should be cooling by 3%, but we don't cos the same pollution is trapping heat.

If future medical research enables me to live to 1000 I'll start learning to ride a fuel cell powered jetski and live on a luxury yacht.

[Posh Tourer :P]

I have some serious doubts about global warming. True, the temperature might be rising quite fast recently, but it always spikes before an ice age. Also, there is a n ever increasing effect of cities trapping heat. Bigger cities and the effect of that on temperature readings around the world cannot be discounted. Temperature readings get more accurate the closer they are to today, and thus we can't be sure this hasn't happened before, because we just don't have the resolution.

All very interesting. Read Bjorn Lomborg's Skeptical Environmentalist in the chapters relating to global warming and such problems - comes at it from a statistician's perspective

[Drunken Monkey]

The problem isn't really 'global warming' as such, its that some scientists are being paid off the scare-monger us into thinking humans are the cause.

We live in a particularly unusual state of the Earth in geological time, an inter-glacial, which is partway between a total ice-age and a 'global' tropical environment. Throughout most of the the Earth's 4,600,000,000 years in this solar system the Earth was 'quite' warm and didn't have frozen polar caps - as far as the Earth is concerned, that is the 'normal' state. The melting of the polar ice-caps are inevitable (unless we really stuff around with the Earth's weather systems).

On top of this, don't you think it seems odd that the same people who tell us our cow's farts, cars and hairspray are causing these effects, yet simultaneously tell us Mt Pinatubo pumped out more 'greenhouse' gasses in 91/92 than man's entire history since the start of the industrial revolution. This much greenhouse gas was only able to make global weather changes that balanced back to 'normal' in less than 3 years. This is only a 'blip' in the grand scheme of weather patterns, hardly doom impending stuff.

Also, did you see the article a couple of weeks ago about the satellite imagery and study that showed trees produced methane - the largest methane concentrations were over the South American and African rainforests. They conveniently skimmed over the fact the chart indicated there was less concentration over industrial Europe and USA.

A damn conspiracy, I say!

Climate history: http://www.scotese.com/climate.htm

Global warming: http://predictweather.com/global_warming/index.asp
(Ok, Ring has an agenda, but his basic principles are sound, just cross-reference them against any high-scool or varsity science text books)

No agenda, just data: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change

[Drunken Monkey]

...
http://www.nasca.org.uk/Strange_relics_/reversal/alternative/alternative.html

...
http://www.nasca.org.uk/Strange_relics_/reversal/Unbalanced_world/unbalanced_world.html

Skyryder

hahahahahahahaha those Nasca guys are funny. Have you seen some of those other articles! I haven't had such a good laugh for...well since Tennis on Wednesday night, but you get the drift...

[thehollowmen]

The world has dealt with huge changes in tempreture before.

Think about if we increase the sealevel, we get a huge mass more of photoplankton due to the increased surface exposed to the sun which acts as a massive carbon sink.

Now, lets think about this nicely. Does anybody remember what happened in 1739? (Come on, some of the cruiser rides must be this old :Pokey: )

The Thames froze over in summer.
Nothing grew until 1742.

And it is believed that the "global conveyer" the gulf stream was changed forever by the cold tempretures.

If the world can survive that and bounce back without any ill effects (asside from the mass graves) I'm not too worried about it.

[Skyryder]

Polarity Reversal has been measured through archaeological evidence at up to 6 degree's in a day...this will cause...problems!
Have not previously heard of 'tilt'

Never heard of tilt untill I came across a site on it. Sure is scary if that happens. Has it happened? What evidence is there.

The general consensus in scientific community is that polarity reversal takes a few thousand years. I'ts not something that happens overnight. There is some speculation that the evolutionary cycle of both plant and animal life occurs at a time when the magnetic poles are paralell with the equater. At this point the van Allen belts dissapasitae allowing radiation to reach the earth and altering genetic material. I don't have an opinion on this one way or the other but it may explain the abrubt changes in plant and animal life from one epoch to another.

Skyryder

[MisterD]

The general consensus in scientific community is that polarity reversal takes a few thousand years.

Actually it can happen really quickly, there's lava flows where they can see that the polarity has changed within the days/weeks it has taken for the molten rock to cool.

[Skyryder]

For those of you who don't believe in gloabal warming how come all the ice is melting or is that just cock and bull too.

Skyryder

[Jantar]

Where is all this ice that's melting? Some facts rather than just repeating emotive hysteria would be appreciated.

There has been a significant ice melt in the Antartic Peninsula, however this only accounts for 5% of the Antartic ice mass, and the remainder of the antartic continent is cooling and the ice is thickening.

Globally, surface temperature records are showing a significnant rise in average temperature, but this rise is not duplicated by radio-sonde balloon and MSU atmospheric temperature records.

Sea levels are forever changing on a local level, but on average are remaining constant. Have a look at http://www.john-daly.com/deadisle/index.htm for an analysis of sea level changes at Tasmania.

Or have a look at http://www.john-daly.com/ for another side to the global warming story.

[Winston001]

For those of you who don't believe in gloabal warming how come all the ice is melting or is that just cock and bull too.

Skyryder

I don't think most posters are saying exactly that. There is evidence of some sort of global warming. What does need to be debated is whether it is a trend, a blip, manmade, or part of the Earths cycle. Or the suns cycle. Afterall, the sun has a far greater effect every minute in terms of energy pushed into the biosphere.

The time scale we operate on is infintesimal compared to geologic time. As above, I well remember scientists predicting an iceage, back in the 1960-70s. So a 180 degree change in 30 years merely points to how little we really know.

There is no conspiracy of scientists. In fact the idea is laughable. If you know scientists, they can't even agree on tea or coffee for afternoon tea. The whole ethos of science is to challenge and test data - and then disagree with each others theories.

The one thing which can be good about the global warming issue is that we will be scared into cleaning up our environmental destruction. No more dumping chemicals carelessly into water and the atmosphere. That has got to good for our kids.

[Jantar]

I should have mentioned the main reason for the surface temperatures to be rising like they are when the atmospheric temperature is changing very slowly.

Most surface temperature records are taken in large towns and cities. As these urban areas grow, so does the amount of concrete, tar, steel and other heat absorbing materials. Vehicles burn most of their fuel in cities, and electricity generated in rural areas is consumed in cities. So city temperatures rise. This is called the Urban Heat Island effect or UHI.

Then some cities councills want to show their area in a more favourable light to attract tourists, and they will move their temperature guages from cooler areas to warmer areas to show higher temperatures. eg Dunedin moved their recording thermometer from Mussleborough where it is between the ocean to the south and the Otago harbour to the north (always cold) to Momona airport on the Taieri where it is almost always 3 degrees warmer.

Wanganui is trying to do something similar, but wants to move the thermometer away from the airport. See http://xtramsn.co.nz/news/0,,11964-5323968,00.html

[Winston001]

Or have a look at http://www.john-daly.com/ for another side to the global warming story.

Which brings us to another point on the issue. The media seem to seize onto dramatic stories and drive them by competing for the worst case. Global warming has grabbed the medias attention and there are articulate environmentalists whom they can turn to for quotes.

Reporting the other side of the story isn't on the agenda. "Steady as she goes" or "we just don't know" doesn't make very good copy - so the astonished opponents of global warming don't get a mention in the popular press.

There was a study done last year that showed warming stories totally dominated news and conferences. And yet there were copious scientific publications and articles arguing other points of view which were never picked up by politicians or the media. Basically all these other guys were ignored because they didn't conform to the "disease of the decade".

[oldrider]

The sky is falling, the sky is falling! I know because chicken little said so.
In 30yrs they will be concerned with global cooling. What next? :sick: Cheers John.

[Pixie]

The problem isn't really 'global warming' as such, its that some scientists are being paid off the scare-monger us into thinking humans are the cause.

We live in a particularly unusual state of the Earth in geological time, an inter-glacial, which is partway between a total ice-age and a 'global' tropical environment. Throughout most of the the Earth's 4,600,000,000 years in this solar system the Earth was 'quite' warm and didn't have frozen polar caps - as far as the Earth is concerned, that is the 'normal' state. The melting of the polar ice-caps are inevitable (unless we really stuff around with the Earth's weather systems).

On top of this, don't you think it seems odd that the same people who tell us our cow's farts, cars and hairspray are causing these effects, yet simultaneously tell us Mt Pinatubo pumped out more 'greenhouse' gasses in 91/92 than man's entire history since the start of the industrial revolution. This much greenhouse gas was only able to make global weather changes that balanced back to 'normal' in less than 3 years. This is only a 'blip' in the grand scheme of weather patterns, hardly doom impending stuff.

Also, did you see the article a couple of weeks ago about the satellite imagery and study that showed trees produced methane - the largest methane concentrations were over the South American and African rainforests. They conveniently skimmed over the fact the chart indicated there was less concentration over industrial Europe and USA.

Heresy!
How dare you speak lies against the Green Religion?

News Flash- Euro greens force legal requirements that diesel be blended with Biodiesel.
The price of canola and palm oil rises and becomes very attractive cash crops.
Farmers in S.E. Asia and Sth America increase destruction of rain forests to plant palm and rape.
-New Scientist.

[terbang]

Whew safe by about 100M..

[Drunken Monkey]

Heresy!
How dare you speak lies against the Green Religion?


...because I formed my opinions after studying marine and environmental sciences at University and a general interest in all scientific research; I don't base it on media hype and agenda-funded rot.