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sonofghandi
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14 Nov 2013, 3:23 pm

eric76 wrote:
Increases in CO2 have been found to lag increases in temperature.

There is some legitimate thought that the increases in CO2 may largely be the result of increases in temperature rather than the cause of increases in temperature.


This has been fairly widely accepted that increased CO2 leads to increased temperatures and that increased temperatures in turn lead to higher CO2 levels.
This is similar to what methane can do. In all actuality, methane is a much more potent greenhouse gas than CO2. With global warming, there will be thawing permafrost (which releases trapped methane) and increased methane release from the seabeds, which will in turn increase temperatures much more rapidly than CO2 ever could.

Some interesting bits from an abstract on this subject (I read the full a while back, but can only find the abstract right now):
They estimate at least 1,400 Gt of Carbon is locked as methane under the Arctic submarine permafrost, and 5-10% of that area is at risk of release currently. They conclude that "release of up to 50 Gt of predicted amount of hydrate storage highly possible for abrupt release at any time". That would increase the methane content of the atmosphere 12X.

http://www.cosis.net/abstracts/EGU2008/ ... -01526.pdf


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eric76
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14 Nov 2013, 3:31 pm

From http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/3/035014/:

Quote:
Climate change and permafrost thaw have been suggested to increase high latitude methane emissions that could potentially represent a strong feedback to the climate system. Using an integrated earth-system model framework, we examine the degradation of near-surface permafrost, temporal dynamics of inundation (lakes and wetlands) induced by hydro-climatic change, subsequent methane emission, and potential climate feedback. We find that increases in atmospheric CH4 and its radiative forcing, which result from the thawed, inundated emission sources, are small, particularly when weighed against human emissions. The additional warming, across the range of climate policy and uncertainties in the climate-system response, would be no greater than 0.1 ° C by 2100. Further, for this temperature feedback to be doubled (to approximately 0.2 ° C) by 2100, at least a 25-fold increase in the methane emission that results from the estimated permafrost degradation would be required. Overall, this biogeochemical global climate-warming feedback is relatively small whether or not humans choose to constrain global emissions.



mikassyna
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14 Nov 2013, 3:35 pm

The_Walrus wrote:
mkassyna- we can measure past temperatures and CO2 levels using things like ice core records, tree rings, coral growth, and sediments in lakes and oceans. Ice cores are particularly useful, allowing us to examine 800,000 years of temperature and CO2 records- there's potential for these to go back even further.

It amazes me that lay people think they have realised something incredibly simple that climate scientists have overlooked. We have long temperature records. We know how greenhouse gases cause temperature changes in great detail. We have thought this through in great detail. It's just like with evolution- we know why there are still monkeys.


Walrus, scientists can use the methods but there is no proof that the methods are entirely accurate. There are flaws in the methods, as I've pointed out in previous posts. Yes, there are merits but there are flaws. Unless someone can provide first-hand account of what happened 100,000 years ago (which they can't), it's pure theory/conjecture. Yes, there are tree rings, ice cores, coral growth and sediments. Humans can only interpret data that they know of. Computer simulations are only as good as the people who put in the data, and that data cannot account for everything. We cannot say with any certainty what living conditions were like at any point of time where humans did not exist and live to tell about it.

What are the temperature records based upon? Methods that have shown to have flaws.

We like to piece things together like puzzles, but the image on a puzzle is only a picture, which is only a representation of something else--not the thing itself. And some things can be Photoshopped :-) And not only that, but 98% of the puzzle pieces are missing LOL

As to the issue of evolution--well, creature evolve, yes. We have fossils and have excavated human remains. There is proof of something else that existed but human interpretation creates the story, and oftentimes stories get revised when more evidence is unearthed, so to speak. There are people who scream (mostly crazy environmentalists) that some animals are going extinct and it is a disaster, while in other scientific articles I read in similar proportions of new fascinating species that have been discovered. Unfortunately I did not keep a log of such articles, or else I would provide them to you ;-) Humans cannot be everywhere, monitoring everything all the time.

Case in point, how can the true effect of volcanoes be taken into account accurately if many have not even been discovered until recently, with more yet to be discovered:
http://news.msn.com/science-technology/ ... ific-ocean
http://www.livescience.com/15006-underw ... ctica.html

In the case of global warming, there is a gigantic political agenda behind it. I would be interested to see the actual numbers but I'd venture to guess that more government money is being thrown into this fiasco than researching a cure for cancer (although I could be wrong).



Last edited by mikassyna on 14 Nov 2013, 3:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

AspE
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14 Nov 2013, 3:56 pm

In science, a theory is not the same thing as a guess. So you lose credibility there.

Yes, it's a political issue, because it's going to take politics to address it. But the overwhelming profits are on the side of denialism, and it pays to fund climate (and science) ignorance.



mikassyna
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14 Nov 2013, 4:00 pm

AspE wrote:
In science, a theory is not the same thing as a guess. So you lose credibility there.

Yes, it's a political issue, because it's going to take politics to address it. But the overwhelming profits are on the side of denialism, and it pays to fund climate (and science) ignorance.


My error. Then I should have used "hypothesis." I used the term "theory" in conversational sense.
http://ncse.com/evolution/education/def ... tific-work



mikassyna
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14 Nov 2013, 4:29 pm

AspE wrote:
Yes, it's a political issue, because it's going to take politics to address it. But the overwhelming profits are on the side of denialism, and it pays to fund climate (and science) ignorance.


Disagreeing with a scientific conclusion does not equate to ignorance. Nor does agreeing with a majority opinion equate to intelligence.

I have read no smoking gun proof that humans are causing global warming. If I had read some undisputable proof, I would in fact be arguing on its side.

It seems to me you from your comment above, that you probably would think I'm a conservative, Republican or Tea Partier. Does it surprise you that I'm not? I also find the sociological and political aspect of this dynamic fascinating.



sonofghandi
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14 Nov 2013, 4:35 pm

eric76 wrote:
From http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/3/035014/:
Quote:
Climate change and permafrost thaw have been suggested to increase high latitude methane emissions that could potentially represent a strong feedback to the climate system. Using an integrated earth-system model framework, we examine the degradation of near-surface permafrost, temporal dynamics of inundation (lakes and wetlands) induced by hydro-climatic change, subsequent methane emission, and potential climate feedback. We find that increases in atmospheric CH4 and its radiative forcing, which result from the thawed, inundated emission sources, are small, particularly when weighed against human emissions. The additional warming, across the range of climate policy and uncertainties in the climate-system response, would be no greater than 0.1 ° C by 2100. Further, for this temperature feedback to be doubled (to approximately 0.2 ° C) by 2100, at least a 25-fold increase in the methane emission that results from the estimated permafrost degradation would be required. Overall, this biogeochemical global climate-warming feedback is relatively small whether or not humans choose to constrain global emissions.


Excellent article! (if you go to the link for the abstract, there is also a link to show the full article).
This study only evaluates permafrost thaw and its possible contribution of methane to further warming. It does not take into account submarine methane clathrate hydrate concentrations (which are much larger). I personally don't think that some sort of cataclysmic release imminent (and few climate scientists do), but I do see it as possible. Since methane is vastly more effective at increasing global temperature, I think it something that should be addressed. Focusing only on man-made CO2 emissions seems awfully risky to me.
Just to put it in perspective, agriculture (primarily cattle) is the source of an estimated 14 percent of all greenhouse gases being produced. Most of that is methane, which is 23X more powerful than CO2. Current projections for permafrost methane release is much smaller than that, but do not take into account the long term risk of a permanent dethawing of the antarctic (which is only applicable if the absolute worst case scenario climate scientists are right).


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14 Nov 2013, 4:36 pm

It never ceases to amaze me what people can rationalize their way around.

The climate data is there. There is no way to interpret it other than that we are experiencing man-made global warming.



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14 Nov 2013, 4:41 pm

MyFutureSelfnMe wrote:
It never ceases to amaze me what people can rationalize their way around.

The climate data is there. There is no way to interpret it other than that we are experiencing man-made global warming.


If you are inclined to panic about nothing, that is true.



MyFutureSelfnMe
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14 Nov 2013, 4:53 pm

I feel no emotion about it.



eric76
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14 Nov 2013, 5:30 pm

An interesting article from September about efforts to hide the lack of temperature increases from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2425775/Climate-scientists-told-cover-fact-Earths-temperature-risen-15-years.html:

Quote:
Scientists working on the most authoritative study on climate change were urged to cover up the fact that the world’s temperature hasn’t risen for the last 15 years, it is claimed.


A leaked copy of a United Nations report, compiled by hundreds of scientists, shows politicians in Belgium, Germany, Hungary and the United States raised concerns about the final draft.

Published next week, it is expected to address the fact that 1998 was the hottest year on record and world temperatures have not yet exceeded it, which scientists have so far struggled to explain.

...

Germany called for the references to the slowdown in warming to be deleted, saying looking at a time span of just 10 or 15 years was ‘misleading’ and they should focus on decades or centuries.

Hungary worried the report would provide ammunition for deniers of man-made climate change.

Belgium objected to using 1998 as a starting year for statistics, as it was exceptionally warm and makes the graph look flat - and suggested using 1999 or 2000 instead to give a more upward-pointing curve.

The United States delegation even weighed in, urging the authors of the report to explain away the lack of warming using the ‘leading hypothesis’ among scientists that the lower warming is down to more heat being absorbed by the ocean – which has got hotter.

...

The report is expected to say the rate of warming between 1998 and 2012 was about half of the average rate since 1951 – and put this down to natural variations such as the El Nino and La Nina ocean cycles and the cooling effects of volcanoes.



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14 Nov 2013, 5:33 pm

mikassyna wrote:
Disagreeing with a scientific conclusion does not equate to ignorance. Nor does agreeing with a majority opinion equate to intelligence.

I have read no smoking gun proof that humans are causing global warming. If I had read some undisputable proof, I would in fact be arguing on its side.

It seems to me you from your comment above, that you probably would think I'm a conservative, Republican or Tea Partier. Does it surprise you that I'm not? I also find the sociological and political aspect of this dynamic fascinating.


I don't know, don't care. I'm just talking about the political forces, driven by profit, that intentionally mislead the public and promote ignorance. Science rarely works by having indisputable proof. But the evidence is there, and it's overwhelmingly compelling.



mikassyna
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14 Nov 2013, 6:41 pm

AspE wrote:
Science rarely works by having indisputable proof. But the evidence is there, and it's overwhelmingly compelling.


I would love to agree, but alas I can't.



ruveyn
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14 Nov 2013, 7:10 pm

None of the current models can account for either the Medieval Warming Period or the "Little Ice Age" 1300-1715

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14 Nov 2013, 7:52 pm

MyFutureSelfnMe wrote:
GregCav wrote:
You're using something written on Desmogblog as as accurate?
I'm sorry, these guys are seriously confused.

Here is a true scientific paper that shows the opposite.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm? ... id=1871503

Professor Dan M. Kahan and his team surveyed 1540 US adults and determined that people with more education in natural sciences and mathematics tend to be more skeptical of AGW climate science. Of course this means that people will less education are more apt to be duped by it.

Please don't believe anything on Desmog, they are lunatics.


What 1540 US adults think is about as useful as a hole in the head.

I only care what 1540 climate scientists think. That's the beginning and the end of it.


Since your using colourful language instead of your brains, I shall return in kind.

The original OP statement said "Cliamate Deniers Have No Scientific Credibility".
I pointed to a STUDY, not some jibberish writtin my a nut-job, that said that climate deniers do, in fact have more scientific knowlage than those who willfully accept, like yourself.



Kurgan
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14 Nov 2013, 8:26 pm

A whopping 13% of all third world deaths are because of manmade environmental issues not related to CO2. Which is more important--baby seals who won't notice if the temperature increases by two degrees or actual people in the third world?