Re: Global Warming & nitrogen trifluoride
- From: "Flash" <flash60601@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 25 Oct 2008 23:01:16 -0400
"Cliff" <Clhuprich@xxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:3u46g45b276i96cs7k1lk4gl3ja67leeg5@xxxxxxxxxx
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ibwC_yqdCtXd24mBJe6lMkwnUBaAD94148DG0
[
2 greenhouse gases on the rise worry scientists
By SETH BORENSTEIN - 14 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) - Carbon dioxide isn't the only greenhouse gas that
worries
climate scientists. Airborne levels of two other potent gases - one from
ancient
plants, the other from flat-panel screen technology - are on the rise,
too. And
that's got scientists concerned about accelerated global warming.
The gases are methane and nitrogen trifluoride. Both pale in comparison to
the
global warming effects of carbon dioxide, produced by the burning of coal,
oil
and other fossil fuels. In the past couple of years, however, these other
two
gases have been on the rise, according to two new studies. The increase is
not
accounted for in predictions for future global warming and comes as a
nasty
surprise to climate watchers.
Methane is by far the bigger worry. It is considered the No. 2 greenhouse
gas
based on the amount of warming it causes and the amount in the atmosphere.
The
total effect of methane on global warming is about one-third that of
man-made
carbon dioxide.
]
.....
[
It's still early and the data are far from conclusive, but scientists say
they
are concerned that what they are seeing could be the start of the release
of the
Arctic methane.
After almost eight years of stability, atmospheric methane levels -
measured
every 40 minutes by monitors near remote coastal cliffs - suddenly started
rising in 2006. The amount of methane in the air has jumped by nearly 28
million
tons from June 2006 to October 2007. There is now more than 5.6 billion
tons of
methane in the air.
]
....
[
Still, methane and the potential of future increases is a worry, Weiss and
others say.
Its recent increase coincides with anecdotal evidence of more methane
being
released in the shallow parts of the Arctic Ocean. A scientific survey in
late
summer found methane levels in the east Siberian Sea up to 10,000 times
higher
than normal, said Orjan Gustafsson, an environmental scientist at
Stockholm
University who has just returned from the six-week survey.
Prinn's data are consistent with the early results of "whole fields of
methane
bubbles" that Gustafsson said he found last month.
]
So then. The sky is really falling? Again.
I do not think ANYBODY can assemble a model that includes all the necesary
factors, nor do I believe that anybody could manage to collect all the data
required, much less sort out the relationships - forget about extracting
meaningful trends and accurate predictions. (They still can't predict
tornadoes or hurricaines with any degree of acuracy beyond a few days into
the future, can they? And such as they do, they do only after the thing has
formed and made itself apparent.)
Global Warming Denier? Me? No, nor am I a global cooling denier. I just
think that it is far too complex for anyone to state with any degree of
certainty worthy of staking the future of the entire civilized world on an
assumption rendered in a half an hour of computer-time, no matter how highly
the prognosticators think of themselves or of their wizzardry. Show me one
who has absolutely no bias.
Let the flames begin. Please, however, those for whom any discussion cannot
rise above name-calling and profanity --- go make yourself a tall
iced-tea and sit this one out.
Flash
.
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