Topic 91 of 92: global warming
Thu, Jan 1, 2004 (03:18) |
Paul Terry Walhus (terry)
Global Warming. Is it real? What is the evidence?
5 responses total.
Topic 91 of 92 [Geo]: global warming
Response 1 of 5: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Thu, Jan 1, 2004 (03:18) * 53 lines
global dimming is not a plague of stupidity: Goodbye sunshine
Each year less light reaches the surface of the Earth. No one is sure
what's causing 'global dimming' - or what it means for the future. In
fact most scientists have never heard of it. By David Adam
David Adam
Thursday December 18, 2003
The Guardian
In 1985, a geography researcher called Atsumu Ohmura at the Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology got the shock of his life. As part of
his studies into climate and atmospheric radiation, Ohmura was checking
levels of sunlight recorded around Europe when he made an astonishing
discovery. It was too dark. Compared to similar measurements recorded
by his predecessors in the 1960s, Ohmura's results suggested that
levels of solar radiation striking the Earth's surface had declined by
more than 10% in three decades. Sunshine, it seemed, was on the way
out.
The finding went against all scientific thinking. By the mid-80s there
was undeniable evidence that our planet was getting hotter, so the
idea of reduced solar radiation - the Earth's only external source of
heat - just didn't fit. And a massive 10% shift in only 30 years?
Ohmura himself had a hard time accepting it. "I was shocked. The
difference was so big that I just could not believe it," he says.
Neither could anyone else. When Ohmura eventually published his
discovery in 1989 the science world was distinctly unimpressed. "It was
ignored," he says.
It turns out that Ohmura was the first to document a dramatic effect
that scientists are now calling "global dimming". Records show that
over the past 50 years the average amount of sunlight reaching the
ground has gone down by almost 3% a decade. It's too small an effect to
see with the naked eye, but it has implications for everything from
climate change to solar power and even the future sustainability of
plant photosynthesis. In fact, global dimming seems to be so important
that you're probably wondering why you've never heard of it before.
Well don't worry, you're in good company. Many climate experts haven't
heard of it either, the media has not picked up on it, and it doesn't
even appear in the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC).
"It's an extraordinary thing that for some reason this hasn't
penetrated even into the thinking of the people looking at global
climate change," says Graham Farquhar, a climate scientist at the
Australian National University in Canberra. "It's actually quite a big
deal and I think you'll see a lot more people referring to it."
....
"
continued at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4821493-111414,00.html
Topic 91 of 92 [Geo]: global warming
Response 2 of 5: Marcia (MarciaH) * Tue, Feb 10, 2004 (21:20) * 1 lines
I still don't drive nor do I smoke,and I am freezing at the moment. Hmmm. It is not as easily solved as most think, and we are very tiny beings on avery big planet. I suspect we will do eachother in before we kill the climate.
Topic 91 of 92 [Geo]: global warming
Response 3 of 5: Cheryl (CherylB) * Fri, Feb 27, 2004 (16:36) * 1 lines
Even if we do "kill the climate" we basically only suceed in killing ourselves, or at least many of us, off. The Earth will survive. We may not be able to survive the consequences of our actions, but the Earth will survive.
Topic 91 of 92 [Geo]: global warming
Response 4 of 5: Marcia (MarciaH) * Fri, Mar 19, 2004 (13:02) * 1 lines
Precisely!
Topic 91 of 92 [Geo]: global warming
Response 5 of 5: Paul Terry Walhus (terry) * Sun, May 16, 2004 (14:48) * 6 lines
NPR's "Morning Edition" interviewed three climate scientists about
their views on global warming.
This page contains links to all three interviews:
http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=1893089
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