Things that make you go hmmmm…
Another interesting article:
http://www.dailytech.com/Temperature+Monitors+Report+Worldwide+Global+Cooling/article10866.htm
Over the past year, anecdotal evidence for a cooling planet has exploded. China has its coldest winter in 100 years. Baghdad sees its first snow in all recorded history. North America has the most snowcover in 50 years, with places like Wisconsin the highest since record-keeping began. Record levels of Antarctic sea ice, record cold in Minnesota, Texas, Florida, Mexico, Australia, Iran, Greece, South Africa, Greenland, Argentina, Chile — the list goes on and on. No more than anecdotal evidence, to be sure. But now, that evidence has been supplanted by hard scientific fact. All four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA’s GISS, UAH, RSS) have released updated data. All show that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped precipitously.
A compiled list of all the sources can be seen here. The total amount of cooling ranges from 0.65C up to 0.75C — a value large enough to wipe out nearly all the warming recorded over the past 100 years. All in one year’s time. For all four sources, it’s the single fastest temperature change ever recorded, either up or down.
Scientists quoted in a past DailyTech article link the cooling to reduced solar activity which they claim is a much larger driver of climate change than man-made greenhouse gases. The dramatic cooling seen in just 12 months time seems to bear that out. While the data doesn’t itself disprove that carbon dioxide is acting to warm the planet, it does demonstrate clearly that more powerful factors are now cooling it.
Let’s hope those factors stop fast. Cold is more damaging than heat. The mean temperature of the planet is about 54 degrees. Humans — and most of the crops and animals we depend on — prefer a temperature closer to 70.
Historically, the warm periods such as the Medieval Climate Optimum were beneficial for civilization. Corresponding cooling events such as the Little Ice Age, though, were uniformly bad news.
Gee…what happened to the “Inconvenient Truth”?
Janice,
David pointed out the other day that we are in the solar cycles of solar minimum right now and we will return to solar maximum in 2012. Many factors contribute to our climate mostly these causes come from nature and what man does is quite small.
I am fed up with hearing how MAN is the sole cause of Global warming. In 1983 Kilauea, in Hawaii, began to erupt and it has not stopped since. How many parts per billion of Sulfur Dioxide are pumped into our atmosphere each day from Kilauea? In the atmosphere sulfur dioxide becomes sulfuric acid, or better known as “Acid Rain”. Why don’t we hear any figures on that?
In terms of human history the climate records on hand is only a drop in the bucket. I feel that this article further proves that our climate is subject to change at any time and our society is powerless in stopping any of these changes.
Yes Bill. I think it’s important to show both sides of this story. I am a little tired of the “other side” getting more press…the tide may turn - especially after this winter!
Janice,
Check out these two images and by just eyeballing the charts one cae see a corrilation between sunspot activity and global temps. Right now we are in solar min which I think equals lower temps. In 1998-2003ish we were in solar max and during that time we saw an increase in global temps.
http://www.globalwarmingadvisor.org/Global_Warming_Definition.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sunspot_Numbers.png
I hate wikipedia but it was the best image I could find.
Take care,
Awesome David. Thank you for the added info. (as usual!)
Good info to have since I have NEVER believed that the period of global warming that the planet has been experiancing was man made. Don’t get me wrong I am a firm believer in protecting the environment but to many powerful people and wanna be power brokers turned an interesting scientific anomoly into a political agenda that would only harm the US economy and probably do more harm than good for the environment they want to protect eg the new light bulbs that have traces of mercury in them, also the proposal to reduce or even eleminate logging will possibly lead to bigger fires in our national forrests.
Hi Retread! Thank you for your well informed opinion. Yes, I agree we need to take care when it comes to our environment…but the fear factor that is being pumped into our heads about GW is driving me a little crazy.
The term Global Warming is not the main point. The point is that MAN is bad and Global Warming is just the most convenient term to explain why MAN is bad and we need the government to save us from certain demise. If we now get Global Cooling, it is certainly caused by the MAN as well and we need the government to bail us out before we all turn into ice cubes.
Heaven forbid if we turn into chilly willy!
I do believe we are going through a long-term cyclical perturbation, but it should not take away from the fact that air pollution is a very real threat to the planet.
USGS had a study a few years ago which looked at the paleohistory of various sediment layers, which determined that this past century or so has been in a long term drought ( North America), and that we are headed back into the norm for more periodic and greater floods.
It is proving to be true here. Two 100 year flood exceedances on the Black River in the 90’s for example. Steadily increasing flood levels on Lake Ontario ( 248 stillwater in the 70’s, to 249.7 in the 80’s).
Absolutely Carl. We need to do as much as we can to take care and be good to our earth - you have no argument from me there. And weather cycles are inevitable.
Tell you what Janice… it’s sure cold up here in the north country right now. Get out the linsey-woolsey’s!
Twenty Items of Interest (v.
1. Sweet photo, not doctored - read the story.
HT: Stephanie
2. House Democrats obviously don’t give a rip about our National Security.
HT: Stix
3. Conservative herald William F. Buckley, Jr. dies at the age of 82 …