On Feb 8, 4:53 am, Alastair <[email protected]> wrote:
> I read that PNAS document when it was first published, and it seemed
> to me that they did not know what caused abrupt climate change any
> more that any one else :
Most amusing - the title was Abrupt Climate Change Inevitable
Surprises. What's not to get? The point is that a) abrupt climate
change does happen nonetheless and b)we don't really understand it.
You seem to have a problem with limits to knowledge. Science, as
someone has said, is exploration at the limits of ignorance. It is a
fools game to think we understand even most of what there is to know
about climate.
>
> Nor do you seem to understand that the stability of a ball balanced on
> a pinhead is different from a ball lying in a saucer. The first is a
> repelling point, the second is an attractor. Moreover, the main
> forcing in the climate system is from the Sun, which produces a semi
> sine wave of radiation on a daily basis. Under such circumstance the
> ball on the pin head would not be stable, but the one in the saucer
> could well be.
Climate is not really a ball - it was just a simple mechanical analogy
to help the simple minded understand. The sun doesn't change much on
a daily basis - the planet revolves but the energy from the sun is
pretty constant.
Extending the mechanical analogy to actual climate is again a game for
fools.
>
> You claim to be arguing about what the data can and cannot say, but
> seem to have decided it says nothing. Well in that case I can't be
> bothered arguing with you either.
Expecting paleoclimatic data to say everything about paleoclimatic
conditions is - well - you guessed it.
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