Posted on 02/26/2009 1:53:41 PM PST by sourcery
Excerpt:
The earth's climate really is strongly affected by the greenhouse effect, although the physics is not the same as that which makes real, glassed-in greenhouses work. Without greenhouse warming, the earth would be much too cold to sustain its current abundance of life. However, at least 90% of greenhouse warming is due to water vapor and clouds. Carbon dioxide is a bit player. There is little argument in the scientific community that a direct effect of doubling the CO2 concentration will be a small increase of the earth's temperature—on the order of one degree. Additional increments of CO2 will cause relatively less direct warming because we already have so much CO2 in the atmosphere that it has blocked most of the infrared radiation that it can. It is like putting an additional ski hat on your head when you already have a nice warm one below it, but your are only wearing a windbreaker. To really get warmer, you need to add a warmer jacket. The IPCC thinks that this extra jacket is water vapor and clouds.
Since most of the greenhouse effect for the earth is due to water vapor and clouds, added CO2 must substantially increase water's contribution to lead to the frightening scenarios that are bandied about. The buzz word here is that there is "positive feedback." With each passing year, experimental observations further undermine the claim of a large positive feedback from water. In fact, observations suggest that the feedback is close to zero and may even be negative. That is, water vapor and clouds may actually diminish the already small global warming expected from CO2, not amplify it. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at pathstoknowledge.wordpress.com ...
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Someone tell me what the ‘correct value’ of atmospheric CO2 is? Is it now too high, or is it too low? And how would we know?
We face two risks: Too much warming or too much cooling. The consequences of the latter are far worse than the former. So the conclusion is inevitable: It would be wiser to err on the side of too much warming, rather than too much cooling.
It is too high, by the exact amount caused by Americans driving SUVs.
And how would we know?
Nobel Prize/Oscar winner Al Gore says so.
It is the height of arrogance to think we can have any effect either way.
Hey Bambi, ask your climate czar to regulate water and clouds immediately, before it's too late!
There was once a “Normal” setting for the Earth’s thermostat.
And only Al Gore knows what it is......
CO2 levels of up to 2500 PPM are not considered hazardous to life. The earth has had levels this high in its history. Of course zero CO2 would cause all plant life to die, and that would eventually kill everything. I’d say as long as the level is around 200 PPM, plants can adapt. So my answer is somewhere between 200 and 2500 PPM.
Now if a final figure warms the planet from a baseline a few degrees, then I think most life will adapt. Hey if we discovered a planet that had an average temperature 5 degrees warmer than the earth presently is, we’d all want to move there, even if there weren’t any polar caps and polar bears, especially if the real estate was cheap and there weren’t any taxes.
Where did that come from? Is it real? I ask a serious rhetorical question and get real data ... can’t be.
I got it from Dr. Soon.
OK, can you give a link, I would be really interested in reading this.
You have freepmail.
Cool! Thanks!!!
Go here to listen or watch video of last years presentations.
http://www.heartland.org/NewYork08/proceedings.html
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