On Sep 8, 2008, at 8:45 AM, Terry Blanton wrote:
On Mon, Sep 8, 2008 at 8:28 AM, Horace Heffner
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Let's close our eyes, relax, and pretend there is no
problem.
Just as well since, if the cause is CO2, this will be a rapid positive
feedback system which is severly underdamped.
Terry
It's a little early to tell about the damping, and thus how much time
we have. When the arctic ocean is open we may see increased polar
evaporation, cloud cover, snow fall, over summer snow, and thus the
beginning of an ice age. This won't stop the warming globally
though, and other lethal effects like the acidification of the
oceans. Warming of the crust should produce crustal deformation and
thus more earthquakes and vulcanism, adding to global dimming.
Changing weather patterns will create droughts and increased forest
fires, and dust bowls, providing more global dimming. These things
will slow down the warming, but not stop it.
The immediate problem is passing the tipping point where the methane
is released. Methane is 20 times more effective than CO2 at the
greenhouse effect, and is lighter than air. It eventually oxidizes
into CO2, but at high altitude. High altitude water vapor is a very
effective greenhouse gas, and at some point the more you get the more
you get. If we get enough of it we're permanent toast - fully burnt
toast at that. The oceans will boil off and the surface of the earth
will likely end up over 200 deg. C. Welcome to New Venus.
Best regards,
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
