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Re: Global warming/meeting and evidence



In message <961126212900_73652.1202_DHR56-2@CompuServe.COM>
        73652.1202@compuserve.com (Patricia Dines) writes: 

> For your info - P. Dines

> --- FORWARD ---
> From: INTERNET:sf.moderator@sfsierra.sierraclub.org
> To: Patricia Dines, 73652,1202
> To: sc-action@igc.apc.org
> Date: Sun, Nov 24, 1996, 1:57 AM
> Subject: SC-Action #310- Scientists Endorse Ozone Chemical Ban


> ON THE HILL: ENVIRONMENTAL HERO HOSTS GLOBAL WARMING ROUNDTABLE 

> Yesterday, Senator Joe Lieberman hosted a roundtable discussion 
> on global warming.  Scientists from around the nation discussed 
> evidence that global warming is already underway, and its 
> possible impact on our future.  

Records from the Antarctic and Greenland ice drilling show that the 
climate is ALWAYS changing, either warming or cooling. What has been 
surprising in the last 11000 years of the Holocene has been the 
relative stability ... but only relative (Little Climate Optimum, 
Little Ice Age). What most people agree now is that the warming trend 
we see is anthropogenically induced.


> Dr. Tom Karl of the National Climate Data Center was one of the 
> roundtable participants.  He discussed evidence that global 
> climate change is already underway.  Though the average yearly 
> temperature of the US has already risen 1 degree Fahrenheit in 
> the last 100 years, he cautioned that things may be worse than 
> they appear.  Temperatures in many areas of the west, midwest, 
> and northeast are as much as 3 degrees warmer today than they 
> were 100 years ago. The speed with which these changes have 
> occurred is unprecedented.

Not really. The onset and end of the Younger Dryas cold period 
12,000-11,000 years BP was characterised by astonishing hikes in 
temperature: several degrees Celsius in a decade or two.

> <<PD NOTE:  I remember reading that even a few degrees change can have great
> impact - increased algae blooms that do harm, too hot for fish to 
survive, etc.
> I also remember reading somewhere that the ice age was only a few degrees
> different than now - does anyone remember this fact? - maybe in average
> temp....?>>

Probably about 10 degree Celsius (average global temp) less than 
today at the peak of the Weichselian glaciation. The Younger Dryas 
'cold snap' was a little less than this, but sufficient to stabilise 
sealevels worldwide at about 60 metres (!) below present day levels. 
And remember that sealevels during the warm interglacials rose at 
times to about +40 metres. That would get rid of most of our cities 
and much productive agricultural land. Scary isn't it!


-- 
Bry Lynas
Science writer; Science Correspondent for OneWorld Online 
<http://www.oneworld.org/>