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Spring has Sprung!!
"D Kat" wrote in
et: I'll try this again (I should write a book called "Global Warming for DUMMIES"... I don't mean that as an insult by the by). Most of the earth is covered in water. The oceans and great lakes are heat sinks and it is the large bodies of water that drive our weather. For all practical purposes ALL of our weather. If you have heard of El Nino (unusual weather for the year because part of the Pacific is warmer than usual), think of it in those terms only think SUPER El Nino that never ends. The last ice age occurred because of just a 5-9 degree weather change. Having your yearly average temperature drop only a few digress is not going to give you massive glaciers if all you're talking about is the earth's air temperature dropping a few degrees. It is the change in the oceans that change the climate. What keeps the West coast so much warmer than the East coast is the pattern of the ocean's currents. The storms we get are from high and low pressure, water in the atmosphere, etc. - all of which come from the ocean. Scientist from several different fields (geology, paleontology, biology, etc.) all concur that the earth is warming at a faster rate than seen before and that it is due to man's production of chemicals that he is putting in the air. At this point you are not seeing anyone disagree with the data or the theory (none that have gone through peer review that is.... those papers are all most all coming from the industries that will be hurt if we ever get the balls to put things right or by nuts that say the earth is flat). I have no vested interest in supporting the theory. I in fact don't care much that it is happening. Life in geological time frame will do just fine. For humans it will mean more disease of the tropical form, plants and animals will go extinct which is already happening at the fastest rate since Dinosaurs because we are destroying their habitat, we will more than likely have to give up eating meat (I already have), etc. I will find it sad to see animal types disappear but others will take their place..... they just may be all of the cockroach, rat, tumbleweed, etc. variety (those that thrive under adverse conditions..) Yeah... we need spring soon before I continue with these long winded monologs.... Well most of what you said sounds reasonable, but I guess my point about water is probably more or less your point without the geologic scale. I'm guessing the ridiculously high specific heat of water will moderate the temperature extremes of any local climate a lot better and therefore someone (like me) who lives in a coastal region is more likely (but not like me) to say "global warming? what global warming" even though the weather is nutty, but because of the moderating effect of the ocean, not as nutty as it could be. The only things I would disagree with are, it's not just the pumping up of CO2 and other chems, that are screwing things up, it's also the deforestation. I imagine forests not only act as a significant heat sink on land but also have the added benefit of locking away any excess CO2 and maybe even some chemicals. The other thing is why the west coast is warmer. Maybe the ocean currents have something to do with it (and the larger surface area of the Pacific), but having the Rocky Mountains to block warm ocean air from moving east has got to have some effect, too. |
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