Global Warming?

[belgareth]

This article has a

lot of interesting information and links regarding the climate. Well worth reading and follow up. It's the first on

the topic I've seen for popular release.



http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=96&ncid=96&e=1&u=/space/20050330/sc_space/iceagesblamedont

iltedearth (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=96&ncid=96&e=1&u=/space/20050330/sc_space/iceagesblamedontil

tedearth)
http://www.livescience.com/e

nvironment/050328_arctic_soot.html (http://www.livescience.com/environment/050328_arctic_soot.html)

[DrSmellThis]

Thanks for the informative

post.

"It's the first on the topic I've seen for popular release." -- The first what? Do you mean about the

earth's tilt and black carbon affecting climate in that way?

[belgareth]

The first article on the

variables associated with the climate that we have not been seeing in the media. For example, the relationship of

global temp to axis tilt and the fact that the globe is actually cooler than it has been in similar periods in the

past. There's also the points about where we are in the glaciation cycles. A few have questioned the tie in but it

has never made it to the public venue. The second article also touches on the possiblity that greenhouse gases could

trigger a gobal cooling cycle as the amount of heat reflected is increased tipping the balance of heating and

cooling.

Don't get the idea I am minimizing global warming concerns. If anything, I think we are not covering

the facts sufficiently and need to look much more closely at all the related factors to really understand what is

happening.

[DrSmellThis]

You are absolutely right. We

need to understand more of the big picture of climate, and these are important pieces. It goes without saying that

what humans do to the environment is dangerous. But we need to better understand what the earth does to itself.

[belgareth]

I should expand that a little

further to say 'what the universe does to the earth'. Solar fluctuation is still another variable but important.

[DrSmellThis]

Feel free to share that

information with us! :)

Hey, I love global warming. It is now sunny and 70 degrees in Portland Fawking

Oregon, for chrissakes!

[belgareth]

Simple enough, the sun is not a

steadily glowing ball of hot gases. It's incredibly dynamic and changes constantly. There's the obvious 7 year

sunspot cycle that disrupts radio reception and makes the northern lights spectacular. But there is also a complex

fading/growing cycle to solar intensity. The sun gets warmer and cooler over long periods of time, cycles lasting

thousands or even millions of years. As our major source of warmth even a 1 percent increase or decrease in solar

output can have devastating effects on life on earth. We don't understand all the effects or the cycles but they

are there and do have an effect on global temps.