My former employer brought in a climatologist to explain weather patterns
over Africa, suggesting that we will always have to include the continent in
our fundraising efforts for hunger relief. We already knew that, if not the
precise reasons. Of more interest was his comments on global warming. It
has been a few years and I no longer have the notes so I'll just go for the
gist of the comments. In a nutshell, he said that as far back as we have
recorded temperatures [and even back to the stories of Joseph in Egypt if
you go for such things] there are short 15 - 18 year cycles of 'good' then
'bad' weather. This has held until sometime in the last century, when the
cycles have become much less predictable. According to this just retired
climatologist the only pattern match he finds historically is at the leading
edge of an ice age. He says he is much more concerned that we are entering
into an ice age than he is about global warming. Water temp in the
Caribbean during the last ice age was four degrees lower than today; a
slight increase in the polar snow cover would cause enough reflected energy
to start us into a very very long cold spell.
I neither know the research nor necessarily endorse his comments, but an
interesting page in the learned discussion of the issue.
BillR
Jacksonville FL 904-707-0404
1981 300SD 'EM' 266K / @201K engine
2001 I30 'hers' 72k
1996 Sentra @255k @90k engine
