What Triggers Ice Ages? [from 1997]

NOVA ^ | Posted 01.01.97 | Kirk A. Maasch

[hlmencken3]

During the past billion years, the Earth's climate has fluctuated between warm periods—sometimes even completely ice-free—and cold periods, when glaciers scour the continents. In this article, climate scientist Kirk Maasch offers perspective on these historic changes, including the likely causes of the last great ice age—which contrary to common knowledge, we are still in the midst of...

...The globally averaged surface temperature for the Earth is approximately 15 degrees Celsius, and this is due largely to the greenhouse effect. Solar radiation entering earth's atmosphere is predominantly short wave, while heat radiated from the Earth's surface is long wave. Water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and other trace gases in the Earth's atmosphere absorb this long wave radiation. Because the Earth does not allow this long wave radiation to leave, the solar energy is trapped and the net effect is to warm the Earth. If not for the presence of an atmosphere, the surface temperature on earth would be well below the freezing point of water...

[Star Traveler]

Climate Change is real science. It’s the “Anthropogenic Global Warming” (or, if you will ... “Anthropogenic Climate Change”) that is designed to do what you say.

All that we’re doing here is reclaiming the language and terminology for the correct usage.

[abclily]

OK!! Everybody pay attention!

Lesson for today:

1. The sun is 1,300,000 times as big as the earth.

2. The sun is a ball of fire that controls the climates of all its planets.

3. The earth is one of the sun’s planets.

4. The earth is a speck in comparison to the size of the sun.

5. Inhabitants of the earth are less than specks.

Study Question: How do less-than-specks in congress plan to control the sun?

[Star Traveler]

Those like Senator Inhofe don’t intend on controlling the sun ... which is why they said they believe in Climate Change (as I do, too) ... thereby negating the advocacy for “Anthropogenic Global Warming” ... :-) ...

[WhoisAlanGreenspan?]

I'm having a hard time beleiving the last sentence from the article;

Through these mechanisms, then, it has been hypothesized that the tectonically driven uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas is the prime cause of the post-Eocene cooling trend.

I could see that as a local effect perhaps spanning hundreds of miles but not a global effect. And I'm disturbed by the highlighted (staring role) attention to carbon dioxide, while water vapor isn't even mentioned.

[mountainlion]

Study Question: How do less-than-specks in congress plan to control the sun?

Executive order:

[ThePatriotsFlag]

Uh...the sun?

[clearcarbon]

"Solar radiation entering earth's atmosphere is predominantly short wave, while heat radiated from the Earth's surface is long wave. Water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, and other trace gases in the Earth's atmosphere absorb this long wave radiation. Because the Earth does not allow this long wave radiation to leave, the solar energy is trapped and the net effect is to warm the Earth."

The writer needs to do a better job of explaining what keeps the earth from burning up if solar energy is being preventing from reradiating by the atmosphere.

[BCW]

you and I get it...I mean that huge ball of plasma nuclear reaction that we call The Sun is responsible for our climate escapes the feeble mind of the liberal...

but ManBearPig (Half Man, Half Bear, Half Pig) makes perfect sense to the Al Gore types...

[ThePatriotsFlag]

I wonder what these people think when it is cooler in the shade or at night when the sun goes down...hmmm, must be the local coal mine causing it.

[MrB]

Simple - they don’t intend to control the sun,
they intend to control all the OTHER less-than-specks.

[abclily]

You are so right!