Which, coincidentally, requires more government funding. Funny how that works.
- Bob On Feb 7, 2007, at 2:45 PM, Leland F. Jackson, CPA wrote: > Computers are being used to help better understand the causes and > effects of Global Warming, and the role that human interferance > with the > planets envrionmental system causes or contributes to global warming. > > #-------------------------------------------- > > > *Global Warming Studies Demand More Compute Power* > > With the release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change > <http://www.ipcc.ch/> 4th Assessment Report, even skeptics are > acknowledging that global warming is heating up. > > According to the 4th Assessment Report > <http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/docs/WG1AR4_SPM_PlenaryApproved.pdf>, we > can expect rising oceans, warmer oceans, sea ice reduction, warmer > winters, and the like, all thanks to human-derived greenhouse gases > that > are playing havoc with our climate. The 2007 report will be > presented in > four phases during the year, with the first phase focusing on physical > evidence of global change > > "We are now seeing, not merely predicting, effects of greenhouse > warming > on a scale and in ways that were not observable before," said Gabriele > Hegerl, associate research professor at Duke University's Nicholas > School of the Environment and Earth Sciences > <http://www.nicholas.duke.edu/>, who also co-authored a summary of the > report for policymakers. Hegerl, a coordinating lead author of the > IPCC > report's chapter on "Understanding and Attributing Climate Change," > goes > on to say that "We've studied improved observations from land, sea and > space, as well as better temperature reconstructions covering the last > 1,000 years. Understanding the observations is really what this all is > about. For instance, looking at the patterns of change in 20th-century > temperatures, we can now distinguish between changes caused by > greenhouse gases, man-made aerosols, variability in solar radiation > and > major volcanic eruptions." > > As you might expect all of this obervation and modeling requires > computing power -- and lots of it. To that end, the National > Oceanic and > Atmospheric Administration <http://www.noaa.gov/> (NOAA) has activated > its newest weather and climate supercomputers, increasing the > computational might used for climate and weather forecasts by 320 > percent. The IBM machines process 14 trillion calculations per > second at > maximum performance and ingest more than 240 million global > observations > daily. These computers also will process data from Constellation > Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate > <http://www.cosmic.ucar.edu/> (COSMIC) satellites, a series of six > satellites launched in 2006. > > "Better physics, better models, better data, and faster and more > powerful supercomputing are the foundation for making better > weather and > climate forecasts," said Conrad C. Lautenbacher, undersecretary of > commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator." > > "One of the most fascinating things is that we see that changes have > already happened or are happening now in more climate variables than > just temperature," says Hegerl. "For instance, there have been > observed > changes in ocean temperatures, global rainfall and in circulation > of the > atmosphere. We now are beginning to understand that these changes > occur > at least partly in response to anthropogenic influences on climate. > This > allows us to better evaluate model simulations, which do simulate > aspects of these changes, although not as successfully as they > simulate > changes in temperature." > > http://www.ddj.com/blog/portal/archives/2007/02/global_warming.html > > or > > http://tinyurl.com/3yma5v > > #------------------------------------------- > > Regards, > > LelandJ > > [excessive quoting removed by server] _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
