Dear David‹Your comment on the situation regarding sea ice merits some comment. Please take a look at the latest newsletter from the National Snow and Ice Data Center at http://nsidc.org/pubs/notes/65/Notes_65_web.pdf . They make very clearly that we should indeed still be quite alarmed about the meltback of Arctic sea ice.
Mike MacCracken On 1/3/09 11:13 AM, "Ken Caldeira" <[email protected]> wrote: > The following email to <[email protected]> was deemed more > appropriate for <[email protected]> > > John: > > I have no science to confirm or dispute your concerns. The most recent > graphs on sea ice I've seen shows things are returning toward the > mean. I'm not prepared to increase alarms based on what I've seen. > Further, the environmental groups have chosen to focus on only those > subjects that avoid geoengineering. So, I really can not help the > community in any useful manner. The necessary institutional structures > are not in place and absent funding for that, I do not see a rapid > flow of resources into research on geo. > > Good luck. > > David Schnare > Center for Environmental Stewardship > > On Jan 2, 2009, at 6:45 PM, John Nissen <[email protected]> wrote: >> > >> > >> > Thanks, Stephen. >> > >> > Although the Arctic tipping points and sea ice are specifically >> > mentioned by Chris Rapley and Neil Wells, we have the situation that: >> > (a) none of the other experts seem aware both that the sea ice is a >> > potential tipping point for the Earth system - and (b) most >> > importantly, none of them recognise that emissions reduction is >> > useless to halt the retreat of the sea ice in the necessary >> > timescale. Indeed it is not conceivable to halt the sea ice retreat >> > without geoengineering to cool the region - and stratospheric aerosols >> > and marine cloud brightening are probably the only two feasible >> > techniques for cooling the region quickly enough to have a good chance >> > of halting the sea ice retreat. >> > >> > BTW, I am really disappointed that neither David Schnare nor Albert >> > Kallio made this point - I know Albert is as concerned as anyone >> > about the speed of sea ice retreat and repercussions thereof. >> > >> > This is really bad news to begin 2009, as it was a chance missed. >> > >> > We can do better, and we must >> > >> > John >> > >> > >> > >> > On Jan 2, 1:18 pm, Stephen Salter <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >> . . . . and one more at >>> >> >>> >> http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/what-can-we- >>> >> d... >>> >> >>> >> Stephen >>> >> >>> >> -- >>> >> Emeritus Professor of Engineering Design >>> >> School of Engineering and Electronics >>> >> University of Edinburgh >>> >> Mayfield Road >>> >> Edinburgh EH9 3JL >>> >> Scotland >>> >> tel +44 131 650 5704 >>> >> fax +44 131 650 5702 >>> >> Mobile 07795 203 195 >>> >> [email protected]http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~shs >>> <http://www.see.ed.ac.uk/~shs> >>> >> >>> >> The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in >>> >> Scotland, with registration number SC005336. >> > > ___________________________________________________ > Ken Caldeira > > Carnegie Institution Dept of Global Ecology > 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA 94305 USA > > [email protected]; [email protected] > http://dge.stanford.edu/DGE/CIWDGE/labs/caldeiralab > +1 650 704 7212; fax: +1 650 462 5968 > > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
