Warmth, Globally

[Kismet]

The US is not generally well educated about the science of global warming. The common refrain is "It snowed in Tennesee today, therefore global warming is wrong". Because a lot of US citizens don't understand that 'global warming' means an increase in the global average temperature, nor what natural results of such higher global temperatures might mean.

In evolutionary schemes, this foolish disbelief would cause a decrease in survivability of their offspring...except all offspring will survive more or less equally regardless of the beliefs of their parents. Because the causes of global warming are society-wide, it means there's no selection bias towards any belief...

And, considering the human desire to believe the best of your ancestors/predecessors, even victims of future climatic catastrophies will not appropriately blame their elders for the degradation of the common human condition.

[sushi]

Chef you are so right, next the kids will open a discussion regarding this new infernal tech-thingie called the INTERNET!

Btw, guys I am proud of you 3 pages of Global warning discussion without the need of me bringing out the ban hammer. Just keep it that way - no politics and pls do accept the opinion of other members who are of different opinion.

[A Docile Sloth]

-Less glaciers and snowcaps = higher sea levels = less habitable land = Major coastal cities increasingly underwater

The snowcap thing, for the North Pole at least, is a misconception. If all the North ice cap melted, the sea level would remain the same, assuming that the temperature of the sea remains the same. Its the land based glaciers melting (eg most of the South ice cap) that cause sea level rises coupled with rising sea temperatures.

I like the way global warming will cause the UK to cool down as the jet stream is moved away

[Calloutman]

-Less glaciers and snowcaps = higher sea levels = less habitable land = Major coastal cities increasingly underwater

The snowcap thing, for the North Pole at least, is a misconception. If all the North ice cap melted, the sea level would remain the same, assuming that the temperature of the sea remains the same. Its the land based glaciers melting (eg most of the South ice cap) that cause sea level rises coupled with rising sea temperatures.

I like the way global warming will cause the UK to cool down as the jet stream is moved away

Yeah, the big one is Greenlands glaciers.

The US is not generally well educated about the science of global warming. The common refrain is "It snowed in Tennesee today, therefore global warming is wrong". Because a lot of US citizens don't understand that 'global warming' means an increase in the global average temperature, nor what natural results of such higher global temperatures might mean.

Yeah it's the one everyone misses. The difference between weather and climate. Both sides get it wrong all the time tbh. But yes, higher global averages temperatures are the problem. Also a system at a higher energy is naturally more unstable, the atmosphere is no exception, so a higher variation (extreme) of weather is to be expected. This can go from very cold/wet to very hot/dry.

@haruky, great video

[Gwynzer]

late 80s/90s where this was new(ish)

I was also new during the late 80s/90s, just to make you feel old(er).

[Chefcook]

now i have 2 options:

- sit in the corner and cry, because its true

or

- come up with a nice response, guybrush threpwood style

i choose the latter...


funny tha an old fart like myself can keep up with you younglings

[Cheesy]

The snowcap thing, for the North Pole at least, is a misconception. If all the North ice cap melted, the sea level would remain the same, assuming that the temperature of the sea remains the same.

I'm a little confused by that. Why does some melty ice raised sea levels, but other melty ice keeps it the same?

Also, why is "assuming that the temperature of the sea remains the same" a good assumption, if we're expecting everything else to get 4 degrees C warmer?

[StarfisherEcho]

Put an ice cube in a cup of water and let it melt. Water level stays the same. Put an ice cube on a grate above a cup of water and let it melt. Water level increases. Displacement, sir Cheese.

[Calloutman]

The snowcap thing, for the North Pole at least, is a misconception. If all the North ice cap melted, the sea level would remain the same, assuming that the temperature of the sea remains the same.

Also, why is "assuming that the temperature of the sea remains the same" a good assumption, if we're expecting everything else to get 4 degrees C warmer?

As seawater gets warmer it expands, leading to rising sea levels. Sloth isn't saying that the sea temperature staying constant is a good assumption. He's saying that the sea level will stay constant, assuming it's not heating up.
The sea could well be getting warmer, although it's much harder to measure accurately as changes are so small (even small changes could have large consequences though). Water has a much higher specific heat capacity than air, this basically means that it's much easier to heat air than water. So even if we see a 4C increase in air temperatures, the sea would only increase a tiny fraction of that.

... I hope that made sense.

[Fanne]

maybe England or whole EU is lucky if it goes like this:

loosing jet stream -4°
global warming +4°

[Fields]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7UpFMXTmBw[/youtube]

[A Docile Sloth]

I'm a little confused by that. Why does some melty ice raised sea levels, but other melty ice keeps it the same?

Also, why is "assuming that the temperature of the sea remains the same" a good assumption, if we're expecting everything else to get 4 degrees C warmer?

Pretty much as Star and Callout said. The ice at the North Pole is floating in the sea. When that melts, it will fill up the volume of water its displacing. The ice at the South Pole and on Greenland is, more or less, on land. It isn't displacing any sea so when it melts it will cause the sea to rise.

The constant temperature assumption was not ment to be for the sea. I was just using it to say that generally at constant temperature, ice melting will not increase water levels. I guess I'm too used to having to state assumptions for uni.

[Róka]

Although off-topic Just thought I should drop this out here: http://midwayfilm.com/
Rather interesting even if it was obvious already(the whole situation).