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To: cogitator
Claim: Ice core data shows that carbon dioxide levels rise after temperatures go up, not before

Fact: This is correct, but climate scientists have a good explanation. There is a substantial feedback effect – initial small rises in temperature lead to substantial release of carbon dioxide from natural reservoirs in the oceans, which then produce much steeper warming later on.

This implies an unstable system. Positive feedback will result in never-ending increases in temperatures unless some other unknown process stops and reverses it.

Since this has never happened in the past the explanation appears bogus.

24 posted on 03/21/2007 8:27:56 AM PDT by Donald Rumsfeld Fan ("Fake but Accurate": NY Times)
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To: Donald Rumsfeld Fan
Positive feedback will result in never-ending increases in temperatures unless some other unknown process stops and reverses it.

Actually, the systems that contribute to the glacial-interglacial change (temperature and CO2) are known; quantification of their total effect is still being worked on. But since in the glacial-interglacial period atmospheric CO2 has been between a minima of ~180 ppm and a maxima of ~280 ppm, there are negative feedbacks that restrain the entire range (and also therefore keep temperature in defined range -- speaking only about the natural system here).

32 posted on 03/21/2007 8:46:27 AM PDT by cogitator
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