RE: Global Warming: Long term observations yield unsurprising results
March 4, 2015 at 6:45 pm
(This post was last modified: March 4, 2015 at 6:52 pm by Thumpalumpacus.)
(March 4, 2015 at 12:33 pm)popeyespappy Wrote: The physics behind global warming are simple. When energy in is greater than energy out things warm up. Even professional climate change skeptics like Roy Spencer admit as much. Likewise the theory behind anthropic climate change is equally as simple. Increasing the amount of greenhouse gasses such as CO2 cause our planet to radiate less energy back into space which results in energy in being greater than energy out. Therefore warming.
CO2 does absorb energy. This is an observable, testable scientific fact verified by many experiments. A recently released study, Observational determination of surface radiative forcing by CO2 from 2000 to 2010, has confirmed the amount of energy absorbed by atmospheric CO2. The unsurprising part is that the conclusion that an increase of 22 parts per million results in an energy absorption equivalent to .2 watts per meter squared falls within the assumptions used for most climate change models. What would be a surprise is if this new nail in the coffin lid of climate change denial made a bit of difference to the nuh-uh crowd.
The scary part is that water vapor is a much more potent greenhouse gas. What will happen when the polar ice caps melt, reducing albedo (meaning more heat will be absorbed directly) and making more water available for heat retention -- and subsequent evaporation?
(March 4, 2015 at 4:04 pm)CapnAwesome Wrote: I don't really think climate change denial is going anywhere. It's like the opposition to evolution, it's just not grounded in fact so no matter how many facts are presented, the opposition just isn't going to change it's mind.
It will be one fact that will kill it: starvation due to crop failure.
