Heating Up the Planet-What is Global Warming?

My personal diatribe on the facts and fictions of Global Warming. I moved this here from an earlier post at another website. It may be a bit dry, but its quite factual.

Global warming is one of the hot button issues in today's society complete with debates, conferences and Save Our Planet concerts. The root cause of this warming trend has been attributed to the carbon emissions generated by industrialized mankind. Activists , musicians, actors and politicians all citing scientific evidence have made this their cause celebre. What exactly is global warming and what effect does the greenhouse effect have on it? Is it truly time for radical action or are we experiencing a natural phenomena?

 

The Greenhouse Effect was first recognized in the early 1800's as a natural and necessary condition that acted to keep Earth temperate enough to support terrestrial life. Trace gases in the atmosphere; water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, have the ability to trap radiant heat from the planet's surfaces and re-radiate it into the atmosphere. If not for the greenhouse effect, the side of our planet away from the sun would cool rapidly. The Goldilocks Principle applies to our world: Mars' atmosphere is too thin making it much too cool, Venus' atmosphere is too thick trapping too much heat and Earth's is just right. If not for the Greenhouse Effect, there would be no life as we know it. Scientists measure something called the Albedo Effect-the percentage of solar energy reflected back into the Earth's atmosphere from the surface. This measurement is critical to our understanding of the overall global warming trend. Land use is the biggest factor in Albedo measurement. As the surface of the land changes, so to does its radiant properties. Cities have been shown to have higher mean temperatures than the surrounding countryside. Much of this is due to the radiant properties of roads and buildings as compared to fields and forests.

 

All weather is said to be local, but long term trends should hold true as regards climate change. How then, do we explain that from 1820 to 2000, New York City has had a mean temperature increase of approximately 4 degrees F while West Point has stayed at virtually the same temperature and Albany has experienced a slight decrease? (Data from United States Historical Climatology Network) Worldwide? Alice Springs, Australia, Christchurch, NZ, Kamenskoe Siberia, Rome, Paris and Goteburg, Germany all have held even over the last 130 years with a few cities showing mean temperature decreases. Asia has several cities that show distinct or even dramatic temperature increases. (source: giss.nasa.gov).

 

Carbon dioxide emissions are the most frequently mentioned of the man-made trace gases in discussions of global warming. CO2 measurements of the atmosphere have increased from 280 parts per million to about 365 ppm since 1800. This is a rise of 85 ppm or less than 1/10th of 1% over the 200 year period that has seen the greatest increase of industrialization in our history. Most would agree that between 1940 and 1970 we were producing increasing amounts of CO2 emissions, and there was an increase from around 305 ppm to 330 ppm: however, mean global temperature deceased by about .17 degrees Celsius in that same period of time (source: giss.nasa.gov).

Perhaps the most dire consequence attributed to global warming is a rise in sea levels due to the melting of Arctic and Antarctic ice. Many experts and environmentalists cite the melting of Antarctic sea ice. The Antarctic Peninsula retreat is well documented but the fact is that Antarctic sea ice has been shown by side looking radar to be increasing by approximately 26.8 gigatons/year reversing the melting trend of 6,000 years (Joghlin, I. And Tulaczyk, S., 2002 "Positive mass balance of the Ross Ice Streams, West Antarctica" Science 295: 476-80).

 

What does all of this mean? Do the computer models really show a devastating warming trend with catastrophic consequences to our world? Bear in mind that no one feels confident predicting the weather more than 10 days in advance and all computer models are developed from the knowledge and input of humans. The world has experienced climatic change since it first coalesced from the dust of the cosmos. The factors that contribute to that change are beyond our understanding. It is in our own best interests and those of future generations to be good stewards of our little planet Earth. We need to find better alternatives to meet our energy needs while decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels, but we need to do this responsibly. Remember that Chicken Little did nothing to benefit the barnyard.

 

Sources:
www.ucar.com
giss.nasa.com
The United States Historical Climatology Network

Author's Note

I can take it!

Reviews

[Melissa]

I hope you can, because I found this piece factual, informative and full of details it would be wise for us all to consider. Ah we should believe Chicken Little who proclaimed the sky is falling and not turn deaf ears until it's to late and actually realize what he was saying was the truth eh. Great analogy :)

[J. Marc]

I was afraid that you would be saying something dreadful about global warming� The most important point is that everybody is aware of this global common destiny about our planet. And beleive me, despite all the hullaballoo, many people still do not believe in anything but continuing their old practices, believing that the earth will correct everything by itself!!

[mick weller]

`Remember that Chicken Little did nothing to benefit the barnyard.` ???
...this is an obscure reference at the close of such a convincing piece! It's meaning is lost on me so I'm thinking I'm thick... or is this something that lacks international appeal?
Thing is - can we afford to err?