I guess the AGW hypothesis implies that the energy of Earth system is relentlessly increasing.
It might be nice to have a measurable proxy parameter for that energy that is relentlessly increasing year after year. Such a parameter could become like the Dow Jones Industrial Average of AGW, it might be more convincing to the general public to focus attention on a relentlessly increasing parameter. The thermal expansion of the oceans might be a suitable parameter of this sort. I have the impression that denying or explaining away of the thermal expansion of the oceans is difficult, but I am not sure about this. I don't want to underestimate the creativity or PR prowess of the deniers. The general characteristics of this parameter: 1. Captures a good bit of the Earth's AGW-induced energy increase relatively quickly 2. Easy to explain to the public and hard to deny or explain away. 3. Increases relentlessly year over year (assuming a big volcano or something does not cause a temporary halt to warming, if that is possible.) Of course, there are a lot of ocean-related parameters of interest (runoff, ice extent, sea-level rise). To paraphrase James Carville: "It's the oceans, stupid" Coined from Carville's "It's the economy, stupid": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It's_the_economy,_stupid -- 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
