> I must admit that I do not find that explanation convincing, > particularly the bit about water vapour from melting ice. But you may > have phrased things poorly. Could you give a link to a more detailed > explanation of what you are trying to say?
Here's a link that explains the runaway effect of water vapour http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Study/WaterVapor/ It is also a copy here, which may be easier to print or read: http://www.intute.ac.uk/sciences/worldguide/html/883_articles.html It concludes with one of my mantras - "There is a certain sense of complacency that water vapor feedback is understood. And that comes from the fact that a lot of these global climate models agree with each other," Folkins observes. "But just because they agree, doesn't mean they are all right." But don't confuse a runaway greenhouse with what is happening on Venus. When water vapour runs away it generates cloud which prevents the Earth reaching > 400C :-) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_effect#Runaway_greenhouse The above concludes "the Earth is far from this runaway condition, as is also self-evident from the stability of the climate through geological time." That statement is false because there was a violent change in climate at the end of the Younger Dryas only 10,000 years ago, and many more before that. For the effects of melting ice especially the Greenland ice sheet see: Sea Level, Ice, and Greenhouses -- FAQ by Bob Grumbime of NOAA http://www.radix.net/~bobg/faqs/sea.level.faq.html Then put 2 and 2 together and get the 4 which I summarised. Cheers, Alastair. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups Global Change ("globalchange") newsgroup. Global Change is a public, moderated venue for discussion of science, technology, economics and policy dimensions of global environmental change. Posts will be admitted to the list if and only if any moderator finds the submission to be constructive and/or interesting, on topic, and not gratuitously rude. 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/globalchange -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
