Global Warming, two opposing views

[Lost User]

Here is the scpetics view preprsented by two scientists, Drs Christie and Spencer of the University of Alabama: Recent studies show sea conditions in the Arctic today are similar to conditions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, while average Arctic temperatures are rising almost to their levels of the 1930s. (3)(4)(5) Climate studies in the Antarctic report long-term cooling trends on scales ranging from 30 to more than 1,000 years, and that the ice cap there is growing.(6)(7)(8) Studies of severe weather events in North America found no evidence that extreme weather events, including tornadoes, are more common or more violent now than they were in the late 1800s. (9)(10) An analysis of hurricane and tropical cyclone data found those storms are not becoming either more frequent or more violent. (11)(12) A study of mean global sea level found the approximately 3 mm/y rise of the past 150 years has not accelerated during the 20th century. (13) [^] And here is the opposing viewpoint, a film about "an incredible story of a handfull of GW messengers speaking out in a time of disinformation" a group of global warming messengers are on a high stakes quest to find the iconic image, the magic language, the points of leverage that will finally create the political will to move the United States from its reliance on fossil fuels to the new clean energy economy - AND FAST [^] For a really lucid explanation of their position look at this clip off the film; http://everythingscool.org/article.php?id=51[^] Great isnt it? Really says a lot that guy, and so, inteligently too. So on the one hand we have serious scientists and on the other we have GW 'messengers' out spreading the good word.

Truth is the subjection of reality to an individuals perception

[Tony Wesley]

fat_boy wrote:

Here is the scpetics view preprsented by two scientists, Drs Christie and Spencer of the University of Alabama:

An expert in microwave sensors, Spencer teamed with Dr. John Christy from The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) to analyze the data.[...] Although global climate models predicted global warming due to increased CO2 in the atmosphere should show up first and strongest in the troposphere, the first ten years of satellite data showed no sign of warming in that layer of the atmosphere. Through the years, that result has changed. The atmosphere is warming From Nov. 16, 1978, through June 30, 2007, the global lower troposphere has warmed about 0.4 Celsius (about 0.72° Fahrenheit), or global warming at the rate of approximately 1.4 C (about 2.52° Fahrenheit) per century. Most of the warming that accounts for that trend, however, has happened since January 1998 in the northernmost third of the globe. There has been little or no net warming in the tropics over the past 28+ years, while there is very slight warming in the southernmost third of the globe. While this warming is within the range of natural climate variation, some of the warming is consistent with human effects — especially warming in the coldest air over the Northern Hemisphere, according to Christy. "That cold air has very little water vapor in it, so if you add another greenhouse gas you have an opportunity to trap more heat. "When you go to the tropics, where there's lots of water vapor, the extra carbon dioxide doesn't have as much effect. As a greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide's greatest effect is in the driest, coldest places." [...] Global" surface thermometer networks show a warming trend of approximately 1.7 degrees Celsius per century — about 3° Fahrenheit. The satellite data show a warming trend of 1.4 C or about 2.52° F per century. [...] Finally, we recognize that climate change is real and that human activities are probably contributing to that change. [...] — Dr. John R. Christy & Dr. Roy Spencer [^]