[NormsRevenge]

Climate scientists identified a likely new victim of global warming on May 3, 2006, the vast looping system of air currents that fuels Pacific trade winds and climate from South America to Indonesia. This could mean more El Nino-like weather patterns in the United States, more rain in the western Pacific and less nourishment for marine life along the Equator and off the South American coast. This illustration shows Walker Circulation, this system of currents functions as a huge belt stretching across the tropical Pacific, with dry air moving eastward at high altitude from Asia to South America and moist air flowing westward along the ocean's surface, pushing the prevailing trade winds. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY REUTERS/Illustrations by Gabriel Vecchi/UCAR/Handout

[Kenny Bunkport]

Bunch of hot air.

[RightWhale]

The Tripod went out the same time as usual. If there were global warming it would be going out a week or two earlier, but it's not, so there isn't. QED

[Dog Gone]

It's not clear what climate changes might arise in the area or possibly beyond, but the long-term effect might resemble some aspects of an El Nino event, a study author said.

El Ninos boost rainfall in the southern United States and western South America and bring dry weather or even drought to Indonesia, Malaysia and elsewhere in the western Pacific.

Sounds like it might make our deserts a little more suitable for farmland.

[VegasCowboy]

I'm not as versed in this subject as many of you are, but doesn't the following statement imply a couple of things that are in no way certain? 1) Their simulations are 100% accurate, and 2) they fully understand the "natural influences" and have correctly modeled them?

The slowdown was detected in shipboard and land-based data going back to the mid-1800s. It matches an effect predicted by computer climate simulations that trace global warming to a build-up of heat-trapping greenhouse gases, the researchers report. But simulations that consider only natural influences fail to produce the observed slowdown, Vecchi said.

[NormsRevenge]

Inhabitants in the Canadian Arctic settlement of Resolute Bay, Nunavut arrive for church on a snowmobile April 9, 2006. Even in one of the remotest, coldest and most inhospitable parts of Canada's High Arctic, you cannot escape the signs of global warming. REUTERS/David Ljunggren/Files

[olezip]

Global warming has nothing to do with activity by man. Man made effects are zero. Climate change has been taking place for millions of years. It is caused primarily by the Sun's changing energy output, not to mention sunspot activity, our Molten Core, the Earth's Magnetic Field, the Moon, and the timing of the Solar activity, including our orbital relationship to the Sun.

The material presented is just more junk science equivalent to what we learned about when we read "Chicken Little."

[HisKingdomWillAbolishSinDeath]

Maybe if we sacrifice a virgin SUV once a month to the global warming gods, we can appease his displeasure with economic freedom and prosperity.

[Schatze]

An important wind circulation pattern over the Pacific Ocean ...

Must be a planeload of Democrats on their way to endorse the Kyoto Treaty.

[Phsstpok]

You build a computer model to study global warming caused by man.

You plug in numbers and, amazingly, you discover global warming caused by man.

You plug in other numbers and, amazingly, you discover global warming caused by man.

You plug in random numbers and, shockingly, you discover global warming caused by man.

You plug in negative numbers and, suspiciously, you discover global warming caused by man.

You plug in still other numbers and you suddenly don't get global warming caused by man. You regroup and "fix" the numbers, plug them back in and, surprise, surprise, you get global warming caused by man.

You are now happy (because you just got another government grant to study global warming caused by man).

The phrase "grant whore" comes to mind. Fraud is another good one.

[Publius6961]

An important wind circulation pattern over the Pacific Ocean has begun to weaken because of global warming caused by human activity, something that could alter climate and the marine food chain in the region, new research suggests.

It is a serious error to begin a "factual" article by making aan assertion based on a "suggestion". Oxymoron is the kindest comment here, and I certainly won't waste time reading the remainder of the report.

There is something fascinating about [agenda] science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact.
Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, Chapter XVII (Pg 209)

[operation clinton cleanup]

Does this mean there will no longer be a "chill wind" blowing through Hollywood?

[torchthemummy]

"It matches an effect predicted by computer climate simulations that trace global warming to a build-up of heat-trapping greenhouse gases, the researchers report."

If these people were held to their predictions of the last 40 years they would be laughed out of the room. Obviously simulations have become more sophisticated but in the end they are...simulations.

The fact that enviromentalist refuse to conduct blind studies with different sequestered teams to alleviate bias always makes me distrust such results. There can be grains of truth but it is always spoiled by potential/obvious bias.

[stockstrader]

Hey, if 'global warming' helps lower my heating bills in the winter, I say,

"BRING IT ON"!!!!

[Dawggie]

I dono, I kind of like El Ninos. All the extra rain hepls keep my SUV clean.

[VOA]

El Ninos boost rainfall in the southern United States

Last year, The Los Angeles Times had a graph of El Nino activity
and year's rainfall for each year from all the available records for
Los Angeles.

This was done in response to 2005's monsoon (2nd highest rainfall).
There was little El Nino...and Los Angeles GOT SOAKED.

I looked at the bar graphs and just about could see LITTLE correlation
between El Nino activity and rainfall amounts.
When the El Nino activity was high, some years there was high rainfall,
other times, there was moderate or even low rainfall.

And when there was little or no El Nino...nearly the same thing.

Of course, the article still had some sort of title about the how
heavy rainfall was correlated with high El Nino activity.

I was so stunned at how the bar graph refuted this, I even sent a
copy to my very smart cousin, the engineer.
He just laughed when he looked at the graph and the article and
said: the author is an idiot.
To which I said: most of Los Angeles must be too, because they swallow
this bilge.

I do say all this while admitting that the atmospheric scientists NAILED
the previous El Nino (1997? 1998?). They said LA would get soaked and
they were right.