Question- Weather/Environment compared to Ice Cubes

[dapper]

This is probably more to educate myself, Please don't view it as an attack on Global Warming.


You have a glass with ice, the longer it is left out, the more the ice melts and the more the water warms. As the water warms, the ice melting accelerates. Why is this not viewed as what is going on with our weather?

I know we have years of weather data so a sudden acceleration in temperature disproves the ice cube theory.(?)

I would appreciate your responses on this.

Dapper

[meegbear]

1. SELF-DELETE

[napi21]

2. Did you watch "An Inconvenient Truth"? I believe that's exactly what

is happening. If you haven't seen the movie, it's available on Utube. That's where I watched it.

[dapper]

4. Yes, great movie

Maybe I didn't explain it right. Aside from CO2, could it be that the earth is just warming?

I know in the movie, they state the cause is that the greenhouse gases are holding in the warm air, causing the earth to get warmer.

Dapper

[bloom]

6. "Aside from CO2"

What do you mean "Aside from CO2". The connection that is proven shows the rate of temperature increase corresponds with the increase in CO2.

The model show that the increase is explained by human-generated pollution. That it is not a natural effect.

So what are you talking about?

[dapper]

12. talking about...

I was asking about other reasons why we could be having global warming.
Aside from CO2, could the earth just be warming - Gradually over time. Could there be other causes that are also contributing. I'm not trying to take away the importance of CO2.


Dapper

[Virginia Dare]

14. Yes, the earth goes through cyclical climate changes...

however, in this case global warming is contributing to, actually accelerating the natural cycle. Nobody is quite certain exactly how this will ultimately effect us, but my bet is that we are essentially hastening the extinction of the human species, as we will not have the time to evolve our way through it.

Of course, the Yellowstone caldera could erupt tomorrow, and we can kiss our asses goodbye anyway.

[Virginia Dare]

3. As I understand it, that's essentially what is happening...

and eventually it will send us into another ice age, as the oceans rapidly cools once all the ice melts. Weird.

[dapper]

5. See, that's strange

How can the globe warm up and then go through an ice age? Unless the sun's energy is blocked from entering the atmosphere. We go through an ice age, which?!?! The Greenhouse gases are absorbed into moisture and gets trapped down on earth (ie like the methane in Russia)?

I'm just tossing that out there.

Dapper

[ToolTex]

7. It is all a hoax. Now go finish reading "My Pet Goat" and be quiet.

[dapper]

9. Do you have a copy?

I hope your not getting offended. I'm not asking these questions to offend anyone.


Dapper

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. The main theory for what drives Ice Ages is the Milankovitch theory

see eg http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Giants/Milankovitch/milankovitch_3.html , which proposes that long term variations in the Earth's orbit and axis cause the changes in the amount of sunlight reaching the earth, and what parts of it. But the Earth is a complex system, and effects of carbon dioxide, water vapour, snow/ice cover and more affect its response.

The response of the Earth is such that it can operate as positive feedback - so an increase in carbon dioxide, and the warming that causes, has the potential to increase other things that also cause warming (eg it melts some snow or ice, which means less sunlight is reflected into space, which means more warming).

There is a hypothesis that global warming could cause the thermohaline circulation to stop, or radically decrease - which would mean that, although the Earth overall would have warmed up, the North Atlantic, and perhaps North Western Europe, would have colder temperatures. But that is still quite speculative - it's an even more complex situation, and there's relatively little data to test the models people have constructed.

I don't think anyone has proposed that man-made global warming will cause a global Ice Age.

[Virginia Dare]

11. see post #10...n/t

[Virginia Dare]

10. Here's a link...

it's a couple of years old, but it's similar to other things I have read recently.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8398

[dapper]

13. Thanks Muriel &Virginia

I believe Gore covered something similar in the movie in regards to Ocean currents. The earth axis? was also an interesting read (although I read it quickly and bookmarked it so I can review in more detail later.)

Thanks!

Dapper