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To: saganite

I will preface this by saying that Global Warming, and in particular anthropogenic GW, is utter hooey. Having said that, it is consistent to say that Antarctica is both warming and seeing increased ice/snow coverage. By and large, Antarctica is a desert, and receives almost no precipitation. This is due in large part to the atmosphere: it is so cold there that the air simply can’t hold moisture. Warmer air will contain more moisture, and consequently will produce more precipitation, thus boosting the ice coverage. It seems counterintuitive, until you understand that there is a lower bound to the temperature at which snow can occur.


17 posted on 11/10/2008 12:05:10 PM PST by Little Pig (Is it time for "Cowboys and Muslims" yet?)
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To: Little Pig
This is from one of the linked articles Much of Antarctica has been cooling for the last 35 years ______________________________  Excerpts: “Thirteen researchers, who work with the National Science Foundation's McMurdo Dry Valleys Long-term Ecological Research program, report in the Jan. 13 online edition of the journal Nature on both the cooling and its effects in the Dry Valleys, an a little larger than Rhode Island on the west coast of the Ross Sea. “Dry Valleys’ temperatures dropped an average of 1.23 degrees Fahrenheit per decade from 1986 to 2000, with the greatest cooling during the December through February Antarctic summer, they report. “Complicating the problem is the fact that all of Antarctica isn't cooling. The Antarctic Peninsula, which looks on maps like an arm reaching from the continent to grab South America, has been growing warmer. In fact, reports in recent years that Antarctica is warming have been based on data from the Peninsula.” Did you catch that? Read it again. “Reports in recent years that Antarctica is warming have been based on data from the Peninsula.” We’ve been getting distorted data! The Antarctic Ice Sheet is twice as big as the continental United States. The Antarctic Peninsula is only a small portion of that. If the entire United States were cooling but Oregon was warming, would you trust someone who told you that “the United States is warming”? That's the kind of misleading information that I've been yelling about. Thank you Jack Williams for telling the truth. http://www.iceagenow.com/Much_of_Antarctica_has_been_cooling_for_%20last_35_years.htm
18 posted on 11/10/2008 12:09:39 PM PST by saganite (I for one welcome our new Socialist masters /s/)
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To: Little Pig

You got it. It ain’t the heat it’s the humidity that gets ya! :)


19 posted on 11/10/2008 12:11:07 PM PST by mc5cents (Show me just what Mohammd brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman)
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To: Little Pig
While I will not doubt your reasoning that warmer air can possibly hold more moisture the recorded temperatures do not show warmimg but instead show alarming cooling except for the peninsula. Temperatures for the last year are as much as 30°F below normal. With temperatures that cold every drop of moisture is squeezed out of the air and deposited on already growing glaciers. Those growing glaciers mover under their own weight and flow into the ocean cooling it. This cooling of the southern oceans will have an effect on the rest of the world.

For a long time I have not worried about the current solar minimum. It happens every eleven years, but this one has gone on a year longer than normal. There was a small sunspot a few days ago that looked like it was high enough in the upper hemisphere to be a sunspot for a new cycle, no one knows. If the sunspots don't get back to normal soon I am afraid that we will be worrying about dramatically lower temperatures. In the 1820’s when this happen there were frosts in July and August in NY. If we don't have a growing season we won't be able to feed ourselves. I'm afraid that cold is much worse than hot.

23 posted on 11/10/2008 1:56:28 PM PST by JAKraig (Surely my religion is at least as good as yours)
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