For your interest this was sent to a recent Andy Revkin DotEarth Post in the New York Times.
-gene ------------- January 25th, 2009 3:10 am We have been around the water vapor loop many times on Andy Revkin's DotEarth Posts. Andy knows the drill quite well. Most of us who read his Posts know that water vapor is the dominant greenhouse gas but CO2 and methane do play a role. Water exchange with the atmosphere occurs readily and quickly because of the large expanse of open water on Earth. It accounts for most of the greenhouse effect; for which we must be grateful. Without it the global average surface temperature would be around 0 F instead of near 59 F and the Earth would be one large ice ball with virtually no life. It is the few degrees that CO2 and methane add above the water vapor value that makes life on Earth suitable for mankind. Being a denier is not intelligent. However, believing Gore and Hansen and the IPCC crowd is equally unintelligent. CO2 does make a difference, albeit small, but it is that small difference that makes life bearable for humans and many life forms. So for intelligent observers of the scene, CO2 emissions do increase the global average surface temperature a bit and what we mortals add to increase the concentration does make a serious difference for us. Solar activity, sunspots, also makes a significant difference. So right now, given the extra amount of CO2 in the atmosphere and the absence of sunspots altogether, we are at a global average surface temperature that is about right, but a little on the high side. If the Arctic ice melt could be stopped or just reversed a tiny bit we would be at classic conditions. We would still be experiencing the same variations of the last 1000 years; a major warming from 1000 to 1400 when there were many sunspots and as a result Greenland was free of ice over parts near its shore and a mini ice age from 1500 to about 1750 when there were no sunspots. (Sunspots have been observed for only the past 500+ years, there were no suitable telescopes prior to that; but there is no other known climate factor and the correlation since then has been perfect.) However, we are currently at no sunspots again and instead of a mini ice age we have a condition of Arctic ice melting. That difference can be attributed mostly to the approximately 100+ ppm of CO2 that humans have pumped into the atmosphere as a result of burning fossil fuels. And if we don't stop burning fossil fuels that amount will increase and it will get hotter still. That small increase from extra CO2 is what all the fuss is about. Sure there are Imperial opportunists like Gore and Hansen who lead a rabble of climate scientists feeding at the funding trough; but there are intelligent climate scientists, like Lindzen, who point out that the Emperor is almost but not quite naked, and extreme deniers like Singer. All of this persists and is rational because the science is not yet proven and established and probably won't be for the foreseeable future. Humans, the opportunistic specie, are doing their standard thing in the absence of certainty and controls. However, humans need not be at the mercy of climate variations even in the absence of established science. It is highly likely that one or more of geoengineering methods will allow minor tuning of the global average surface temperature and effectively provide a global thermostat. If humans could agree about the temperature to set the thermostat, not a trivial concern, and fund the experiments needed to establish appropriate and safe geoengineering techniques, global climate could stop being a concern. Unfortunately, people like Gore and Hansen and their followers have been highly effective at starving out the geoengineers, who are having great difficulty to get meager funding to prove in the best and safest techniques for controlling climate. Yes indeed, we want to stop using fossil fuels to produce energy but there are plenty of good economic, security, health/safety and get even reasons to do that. Global warming is back on the list somewhere. I believe it is time to give the reins to the engineers to fix the climate problem. They are the only ones who can do it now while the politicians continue to do their thing; which is talk and do nothing. ------------- --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
