[Steve Van Doorn]

” In case you care, I work for Goddard SFC on MODIS ( http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ) and my fiancee is working on her physics/astro degree. We both have strong interests in the space program.”

A conservative at FreeRepublic that works on equipment to learn about change in the environment? Do I have that correct?

If I am correct what is your take on global warming? I looked through some of your old posts to see if you said anything, I can not find anything on it. Thanks.

[jae471]

Yes, I am a conservative who works on enviromental equipment.

I'm a computer scientist, not an atmospheric scientist, so my opinions on Global Warming don't matter for squat, but since you asked, here are the facts:

The mean global temperature has increased over the last 400 years, and is well off its lows in the 1600s. Although the temperature has increased over the past four centuries, it is still much lower than its peak in the Middle Ages. In 1994 something interesting happened -- the temperature dropped, and has been going down since. Wether this is a burp in the heating cycle, or the start of a cooling cycle, I don't know. (Granted, were talking about changes of a few degrees Celsius.) Although I haven't said so yet, you can probably guess I subscribe to the natural-cycle theories.

That being said, I think it is still important to know which way we're going, because climate change does affect us, even if we're not the cause.