Monday, June 24, 2013

Global Warming is about more than cherry picked surface temperatures!

{edited 6/12/2013 noon}

Global warming is about a Global Heat Distribution Engine that is being super-charged with more heat and energy and moisture. { I've linked to some interesting back up information in the next two paragraphs, check it out.}

This reality is reflected in the Arctic where the millennia old ice cap is continuing it's death spiral.  Which in turn is disrupting atmospheric circulation patterns and our jet stream  And in the Antarctic where some areas are gaining snow due to increased atmospheric moisture (from a warmer ocean) causing never before observed snow fall rates, while the millennia old Ice Sheets are melting at an alarming rate.

The warming is also reflected in the drum beat of extreme weather events.  Just in the past month we have witnessed unprecedented floods in Calgary and Europe and Asia.  A 2.6 mile wide tornado at El Reno, Oklahoma.  
This is what global warming looks like.

But, we still find folks like James Taylor at Forbes, Anthony Watts at WUWT (and too many others to count) hollering at the top of their lungs there's no warming.  Yes there is!  
Stop pretending our planet isn't an actual entity that we depend on and that regular people need to start to understand.

We have a real situation that needs pragmatic honesty rather an entrenched political warriors dedicated to policy rather than learning about this planet we depend on.

For those with a sincere curiosity and desire to learn about our planet and what global warming actually means here's a start with some videos.  

First, a recent lecture about the state of climatological understanding by Professor Howard Spero.  It includes a good question and answer session.  Following by a short NASA video about our cryosphere based on satellite images.

Then a link to a tour de force of our planet's "global heat distribution engine" using the latest satellite data and state of the art computer graphics, it's a hour and a half long, but worth every minute... if you want to get a sense of what climatologists are talking about.

Enjoy !
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Our Changing Seas

UCTVSeminars  |  Published on Jan 8, 2013  |  1:40:35

(Visit: http://seminars.uctv.tv/) 
The study of climate change through Earth history has produced a wealth of information on the operation of the ocean-atmosphere system during climate transitions as well as the feedbacks that impact the magnitude and rate of climate change on the planet.  
Although the understanding of the science of climate is built on a firm foundation, much confusion exists regarding the potential and rate of change in the modern world. In this talk, Dr. Howard Spero will explore the basic science of the Earth's climate system and examine the natural cycles of climate change in Earth history that have been discovered through the study of glacial ice sheets and deep ocean cores.  
Utilizing the lessons learned these studies, Dr. Spero will attempt to demystify the realities of phenomena such as ocean (and Lake Tahoe) acidification and the potential for a warmer Earth in the not too distant future. [Show ID: 24674]
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Tour of the Cryosphere
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVJttlGP10o
spaceship990  |  Apr 27, 2013  |  5:12

The cryosphere consists of those parts of the Earth's surface where water is found in solid form, including areas of snow, sea ice, glaciers, permafrost, ice sheets, and icebergs. In these regions, surface temperatures remain below freezing for a portion of each year. Since ice and snow exist relatively close to their melting point, they frequently change from solid to liquid and back again due to fluctuations in surface temperature. 
Although direct measurements of the cryosphere can be difficult to obtain due to the remote locations of many of these areas, using satellite observations scientists monitor changes in the global and regional climate by observing how regions of the Earth's cryosphere shrink and expand. 
Video credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio The Blue Marble Next Generation data is courtesy of Reto Stockli (NASA/GSFC) and NASA's Earth Observatory. Historic calving front locations courtesy of Anker Weidick and Ole Bennike, Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland
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For something even more informative here's a great hour and half tour that describes this entity I like calling our Global Heat Distribution Engine:

Earth From Space (HD)

Published on Aug 20, 2012
Earth Playlist- http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=...

Venture on an epic quest to discover the invisible forces and occurrences that sustain life on this planet and - for the first time - see these processes in action in EARTH FROM SPACE. This sweeping two-hour special reveals the Earth's deepest mysteries, captured in breath-taking detail, and raises profound questions and challenges the old assumptions of how it all works. Using the latest CGI technology, and joining NASA and the world's foremost Earth scientists, EARTH FROM SPACE transforms raw satellite data into a visible spectrum, offering viewers authentic, high-definition moving images that vividly illustrate these processes at work.

In consultation with more than 220 scientific experts from 18 international Earth sciences research agencies and academic institutions, highlights from EARTH FROM SPACE reveal:

A hurricane - observed from the inside - is an intricately-organized structure. See how it bonds water to atmosphere, and releases heat into space, cooling parts of the Atlantic by 4C.

The Amazon produces 20% of the Earth's fresh water. Where does all this water go and what is its effect on air circulating around the planet and life across the globe?

See how solar storms puncturing great holes in the magnetic field raise new questions about the disruptive effect they have on life on a microscopic level.

Data shows that the top three meters of the ocean stores more heat than the entire atmosphere - overturning the long-held assumptions about how the ocean controls weather and climate.

1 comment:

econnexus said...

Since you mention "cherry picked surface temperatures" I wondered if you and your readers might be interested in this recent blog post of mine, on the topic of cherry picked imaginary surface temperatures?

How to Upset a Global Warming Sceptic