Study Warns of Rapid Rise In Earth's Temperature

Wall Street Journal ^ | September 26, 2006 | Gautam Naik

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

A study warns that the Earth's temperature is approaching a level not seen in a million years, implying that we are getting close to "dangerous" levels of human pollution.

The study finds that, while the world warmed slowly during the century to 1975, it has warmed at a more rapid rate of about 0.2 degrees Celsius (0.36 degrees Fahrenheit) per decade thereafter. The researchers say the global mean temperature is now within one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) of the maximum mean temperature of the past million years. Based on a 0.2-degree-Celsius increase per decade, that high point could be reached within 50 years.

The authors' conclusion: Further warming of one degree Celsius could suggest a critical level after which potential consequences -- such as higher sea levels and species extinction -- might be especially hard to manage.

"If further global warming reaches two or three degrees Celsius, we will likely see changes that make Earth a very different planet from the one we know," said James Hansen, lead author and head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, in a prepared statement. "The last time it was that warm was in the middle Pliocene, about three million years ago, when sea levels were estimated to have been 25 meters (80 feet) higher than today."

The researchers also suggest that an increased temperature difference between the Western and Eastern Pacific could increase the likelihood of strong El Niños, such as occurred in 1983 and 1998. An El Niño is a large climactic disturbance rooted in the tropical Pacific Ocean that recurs every few years and is linked to extreme weather patterns of rainfall and drought.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

PING!

[ChuckShick]

I had better not put away the beach umbrella.

[NRA1995]

Further warming of one degree Celsius could suggest a critical level after which potential consequences -- such as higher sea levels and species extinction -- might be especially hard to manage.Liberals extinct....pleasant thought!!

[RightWhale]

Little bit of rain today. Not verified, but there was a sighting of a snowflake among the raindrops.

[mountainlyons]

Just some guy trying to scare up some research money!

[for-q-clinton]

I'm hoping my house gets ocean front property when it's all over ;-)

[Patrick1]

This crap again.

[Bean Counter]

If "Global Warming" ever becomes so severe that it requires some sort of intervention, just hit Yellowstone with a bunker-busting nuke, and we'll cure global warming for at least the following Century...

[ancient_geezer]

 

Oh dear, we're gonners for sure!!!!

 

"On the one hand, as scientists we are ethically bound to the scientific method, in effect promising to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but - which means that we must include all the doubts, the caveats, the ifs, ands, and buts. On the other hand, we are not just scientists but human beings as well. And like most people we'd like to see the world a better place, which in this context translates into our working to reduce the risk of potentially disastrous climatic change. To do that we need to get some broadbased support, to capture the public's imagination. That, of course, entails getting loads of media coverage. So we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubts we might have. This 'double ethical bind' we frequently find ourselves in cannot be solved by any formula. Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest. I hope that means being both."
(Steven Schneider, Quoted in Discover, pp. 45-48, Oct. 1989; see also (Dixy Lee Ray in 'Trashing the Planet', 1990) and (American Physical Society, APS News August/September 1996).

 

 

Ice Ages & Astronomical Causes
Brief Introduction to the History of Climate
by Richard A. Muller

Origin of the 100 kyr Glacial Cycle

Figure 1-1 Global warming

 

Figure 1-2 Climate of the last 2400 years

 

 

Figure 1-3 Climate of the last 12,000 years

 

Figure 1-4 Climate of the last 100,000 years

 

Figure 1-5 Climate for the last 420 kyr, from Vostok ice

 

[84rules]

Mediaeval Warming Period. About 800 to 1300 AD. Temperatures then were higher than they are today. Why didn't the Earth suffer dire consequences back then?

Because there are no consequences. It is part of a natural cycle. We have been coming out of a mini ice-age since 1800.

[84rules]

Mediaeval Warming Period. About 800 to 1300 AD. Temperatures then were higher than they are today. Why didn't the Earth suffer dire consequences back then?

Because there are no consequences. It is part of a natural cycle. We have been coming out of a mini ice-age since 1800.

[PeaceBeWithYou]

Wow, Has James(Shill)Hansen already burned through that 25 million dollar grant he got from Theresa Hienz-sKerry in 2004?

[w1andsodidwe]

Welcome. Did you notice the Spell checker button? Try it before posting and it really cleans up misspellings

[facedown]

I don't think you're going to be here long. Just a hunch.

[w1andsodidwe]

I'm hoping my house gets ocean front property when it's all over ;-)

Well good luck on that. I would like that too, but it just isn't going to happen. I know because I filled a glass with ice cubes and waited for the ice to melt and overflow the glass. It just didn't happen.

[Eagles Talon IV]

"Based on a 0.2-degree-Celsius increase per decade, that high point could be reached within 50 years.

The authors' conclusion: Further warming of one degree Celsius could suggest a critical level after which potential consequences -- such as higher sea levels and species extinction -- might be especially hard to manage."

This guy is nothing but a fear mongering asswipe. How about this Mr Climate Specialist. Further uninformed and mostly guess work bird cage medium such as you produce MIGHT cause my bird to experience distress that COULD lead to unexplained consequences that MAY POTENTIALLY lead to his demise, do to the POSSIBILITY I may not be able to control them. Geez, what a schmuck!!

[for-q-clinton]

Quit trying to rain on my ignorance of science. If I say it often enough and loud enough I'm sure it will become true. At least that's what I learned from the latest batch of doom and gloom "scientists".

[PeaceBeWithYou]

You guys are idiots. This is not a right or left side issue. Ya Nassa is a lib. All of sience is liberal, ya thats it. Science is all Liberal. Get your heads out. This has nothing to do with the party lines.

Ya? Riight.

"Political campaign funding by environmental groups to promote climate and environmental alarmism dwarfs spending by the fossil fuel industry by a three-to-one ratio. Environmental special interests, through their 527s, spent over $19 million compared to the $7 million that Oil and Gas spent through PACs in the 2004 election cycle." Link