Global Warming Report
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February 8th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
Without a doubt, global warming has had an impact on Central New York and the world beyond. Mile thick ice sheets have melted, leaving behind the Great Lakes, the Finger Lakes, the Drumlins in Syracuse, the moraines along Long Island’s North Shore, the outwash plain along its south shore and the Island’s Magothy Aquifer. Sea level has risen over 300 feet, moving the east coast of North America inland perhaps 100 miles and drowning the land bridge between N America and Siberia. Species like the mammoth and saber tooth tiger have gone extinct. All this in just the last 18,000 years.
Take the 300 ft rise in sea level, divide by 180 centuries, and you get a rise of 20” per century.
Against this backdrop of primarily geological information, observed climactic changes (if they are indeed discernible) seem less than ordinary.
February 8th, 2007 at 9:19 pm
At this point, if you are still in denial, I fear nothing I say will convince you otherwise.
But as an Earth Scientist, I am baffled by the implication that Climate Scientists are not fully aware the climate history of the Earth and the impact of the Ice Ages on North America. It is in fact that natural variablity that Climate Scientists have grappled with over the last few decades to arrive at these unequivocal conclusions. To imply that this climate history is some sort of “evidence” against global warming is preposterous. Do you sincerely believe that thes glacial advances are some sort of conspiratorial “secret”? My god!
The fact that we live in a dynamic fluctuating climate system is itself a relatively new concept (which is why our understanding of anthropogenic drivers are only now being understood). The Ice Ages DO NOT contradict global warming theory, rather these cyclical changes in climate CONFIRM the contemporary observations you are attempting to deny, not the least of which with regard to correlations to global temperature and CO2 levels (past or present).
You are absolutely correct that 18,000 years ago the sea levels were hundreds of feet lower; of course this is because of the LARGE AMOUNTS of WATER locked into the “mile thick ice sheets” that you spoke of. Talk about cherry picking your data.
The fact that we are in an interglacial period should make this MORE alarming, not less so.
Against this backdrop of scientifically, vetted geological information the last 50 years of eveidence of human-induced global warming seems extraordinary in comparison to the last 18,000 years (or say 12,000 years after the Younger Dryas event).
March 6th, 2007 at 12:41 am
No implication was made that Climate Scientists are not fully aware of the Earth’s climate history. I said pretty directly that the Climate Scientists have not distinguished the current warming from the warmings of the past. When the present is compared to the past, it does not look so different. What is so hard to understand about that?
March 7th, 2007 at 7:42 am
“When the present is compared to the past, it does not look so different.”
Well thats a major sticking point, isn’t it? The current levels of atmospheric CO2 are at unprecendented levels – you’d have to go back over 400,000 years or so (through 4 glacial cycles I believe).
But let me state that the purpose of this blog is not to debate global warming. That said even if you’re still a skeptic, it should be clear that the conclusion of human-induced global warming is based on an ever-increasing, scientifically credible body of evidence. So I will continue to report the science esp. as it pertains to our region.