Earth may be at warmest point in 1 million years

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Topic:	Religions > Atheism
User:	"johac"
Date:	26 Sep 2006 01:44:08 AM
Object:	Earth may be at warmest point in 1 million years

The last time it was this hot, only Homo erectus was around to complain
about the heat.
---
Earth may be at warmest point in 1 million years
By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent
Mon Sep 25, 4:58 PM ET
Earth may be close to the warmest it has been in the last million years,
especially in the part of the Pacific Ocean where potentially violent El
Nino weather patterns are born, climate scientists reported on Monday.
This doesn't necessarily mean there will be more frequent El Ninos --
which can disrupt normal weather around the world -- but could well mean
that these wild patterns will be stronger when they occur, said James
Hansen of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City.
The El Nino phenomenon is an important factor in monitoring global
warming, according to a paper by Hansen and colleagues published in the
current Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
El Ninos can push temperatures higher than they might ordinarily be.
This happened in 1998 when a so-called "super El Nino" helped heat the
Earth to a record high.
What is significant, the scientists wrote, is that 2005 was in the same
temperature range as 1998, and probably was the warmest year ever, with
no sign of the warm surface water in the eastern equatorial Pacific
typical of an El Nino.
The waters of the western equatorial Pacific are warmer than in the
eastern equatorial Pacific, and the difference in temperature between
these two areas could produce greater temperature swings between the
normal weather pattern and El Nino, they wrote.
They blamed this phenomenon on global warming that is affecting the
surface of the western Pacific before it affects the deeper water.
EL NINO AND GLOBAL WARMING
Overall, Earth is within 1.8 degrees F (1 degree C) of its highest
temperature levels in the past million years, Hansen and the others
wrote. They noted a recent steep rise in average temperatures, with
global surface temperatures increasing about 0.4 degrees F (0.2 degrees
C) for each of the last three decades.
Scientists attribute this rise to human activities, notably the release
into the atmosphere of greenhouse gases -- notably carbon dioxide --
which let in sunlight and trap its heat like the glass walls of a
greenhouse.
Human-caused global warming influences El Ninos much as it sways
tropical storms, the scientists wrote.
"The effect on frequency of either phenomenon is unclear, depending on
many factors, but the intensity of the most powerful events is likely to
increase as greenhouse gases increase," they wrote. "Slowing the growth
rate of greenhouse gases should diminish the probability of both super
El Ninos and the most intense tropical storms."
Weak El Nino conditions were present this month in the tropical Pacific,
and could strengthen to a moderate event by winter, according to the
U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which monitors the
phenomenon.
In the United States, private forecaster WSI Corp. predicted
warmer-than-normal weather over the Northeast and Midwest for the rest
of this year, spelling sluggish energy demand for the start of the
heating season.
The warm outlook, after the mildest winter on record last year, is due
to uncertainty over the El Nino -- a warming of Pacific waters around
the equator that can drive weather patterns around the globe, WSI Corp.
said.
---
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060925/sc_nm/environment_warming_dc
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
.

User: "R. Pierce Butler"
Title: Re: Earth may be at warmest point in 1 million years	26 Sep 2006 08:47:09 AM

johac <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in news:jhachmann-
0A3146.23440825092006@news.giganews.com:

The last time it was this hot, only Homo erectus was around to complain
about the heat.

Earth may be at warmest point in 1 million years

What i find intersting is that the article says "...may be ...". One would
think that with the advances into ascertaining climatic events based on the
records stored in the antartic ice, one could be a little better at stating
historic events with certainty.
.

User: "Enkidu"
Title: Re: Earth may be at warmest point in 1 million years	26 Sep 2006 08:58:21 AM

"R. Pierce Butler" <nospam@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:Xns984A596067B1Enospamyahoocom@10.232.1.1:

johac <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in news:jhachmann-
0A3146.23440825092006@news.giganews.com:

The last time it was this hot, only Homo erectus was around to
complain about the heat.

Earth may be at warmest point in 1 million years

What i find intersting is that the article says "...may be ...". One
would think that with the advances into ascertaining climatic events
based on the records stored in the antartic ice, one could be a little
better at stating historic events with certainty.

If it were this warm for very long, there would be no antarctic ice to
study. The ice only begins to accumulate *after* the temperature drops.
--
Enkidu AA#2165
http://www.thoughts.leaddogs.org/
EAC Chaplain and ordained minister,
ULC, Modesto, CA
To know a person's religion we need not listen to his profession of faith
but must find his brand of intolerance.
-- Eric Hoffer
.

User: "johac"
Title: Re: Earth may be at warmest point in 1 million years	27 Sep 2006 12:06:54 AM

In article <Xns984A46F7B7DF7255229@130.133.1.4>,
Enkidu <ox_qljjor@trashmail.net> wrote:

"R. Pierce Butler" <nospam@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:Xns984A596067B1Enospamyahoocom@10.232.1.1:

johac <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in news:jhachmann-
0A3146.23440825092006@news.giganews.com:

The last time it was this hot, only Homo erectus was around to
complain about the heat.

Earth may be at warmest point in 1 million years

What i find intersting is that the article says "...may be ...". One
would think that with the advances into ascertaining climatic events
based on the records stored in the antartic ice, one could be a little
better at stating historic events with certainty.

If it were this warm for very long, there would be no antarctic ice to
study. The ice only begins to accumulate *after* the temperature drops.

Thats a good question. How far can they go back with the ice cores, or
the mud cores from sea bottoms?
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
.

User: "R. Pierce Butler"
Title: Re: Earth may be at warmest point in 1 million years	27 Sep 2006 11:19:18 PM

johac <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in
news:jhachmann-CE5445.22065426092006@news.giganews.com:

In article <Xns984A46F7B7DF7255229@130.133.1.4>,
Enkidu <ox_qljjor@trashmail.net> wrote:

"R. Pierce Butler" <nospam@yahoo.com> wrote in
news:Xns984A596067B1Enospamyahoocom@10.232.1.1:

johac <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in news:jhachmann-
0A3146.23440825092006@news.giganews.com:

The last time it was this hot, only Homo erectus was around to
complain about the heat.

Earth may be at warmest point in 1 million years

What i find intersting is that the article says "...may be ...".
One would think that with the advances into ascertaining climatic
events based on the records stored in the antartic ice, one could
be a little better at stating historic events with certainty.

If it were this warm for very long, there would be no antarctic ice
to study. The ice only begins to accumulate *after* the temperature
drops.

Thats a good question. How far can they go back with the ice cores, or
the mud cores from sea bottoms?

at least 650,000 years.
Keep in mind that man has only been around for the last 100,000 years.
.

User: "johac"
Title: Re: Earth may be at warmest point in 1 million years	27 Sep 2006 11:48:36 PM

In article <Xns984BED3DB13D6nospamyahoocom@10.232.1.1>,
"R. Pierce Butler" <nospam@yahoo.com> wrote: