How many of you Global Warming theorists who believe that if the northern polar Ice Cap melts we will flood ?
Have any of you ever watched what happens to the water level when a glass of Iced water melts? Why would you think there will be flooding, because Al 'the dope' Gore said so? I can see that the political agendas are really based in hard science!
2007-02-02T11:50:59Z
For those of you who think that I don't understand science, I have 4 advanced degrees and I am a doctor of medicine and my family is all scientists and my brother is a geophysicist and I think I am not the Moron here! The South pole is cooling! pay attention to the data and the sunspots suggest a natural cycle! I am not the one ignoring hard science here. Global Warming is a fact, but it is not man-made from any 'evidence' that has been presented so far. Did you know that Gore fired the Ivy League scientist that Clinton hired to examine Global Warming when he came to the conclusion that Global warming had nothing to do with Man's activities! Go back to school yourselves!
2007-02-02T13:11:05Z
To the voice of... That's very punny of you!
2007-02-03T10:14:30Z
lizardmama: I said that I was aware that global warming exists! Do you know what the scientific method is? Let's give you a lesson since you are obviously uninformed. The first step is called observation.(for you ;the climate is warming) next is called formulating a hypothesis. (again simplified for you;man caused it because of greenhouse gas emissions) the third step is testing that hypothesis through an experiment. (this is the first missing step in your conclusion) next you must repeat the experiment over and over and yield the same results. (again , a missing step in your conclusions) finally, it becomes a theory that is acceptable to science (this step is also missing) the theory stands the test of time by repeated results before it is accepted as scientific fact!( again a missing step) Global Warming being caused by human activity is not past the hypothesis stage and you want to enforce laws to change it and it may not even be true. All you have is observation so far!
2007-02-03T10:22:17Z
Bert T: an ice shelf on the northern polar ice cap breaking off still displaces the same amount of water because it is floating in the first place; see Archimedes, I get your point however. The north polar cap is melting, the south polar cap is freezing more Something besides man made gaseous emissions is going on. Common sense tells you that! Good answer though
Anonymous2007-02-02T08:51:17Z
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If the ice caps are melting, there will be a rise in water levels. Although in parts of Antarctica, the ice cap is INCREASING.
Exactly why is GREENLAND called by that name? Because it used to be GREEN.....
If you look at the report, especially the temperature part you will see it shows only data from the Northern Hemisphere not the whole world. The data prior to 1890 was made up using tree ring readings. It is interesting that they found 1,000 year old trees in Europe, as most of the trees there are not anywhere close to being that old.
Looking at the CO2 data, back in the time of the dinosaurs CO2 levels were 100 to 1,000 times current levels.
The solar data is suspect as well. High sunspot activity means a hotter sun, and we are in a peak sunspot cycle. Also why are Mars's ice caps melting more than they should?
Oh, 30 years ago they were clammering about Global Cooling....so which one is it?
Ok once and for all . When we burn anything to generate heat be it wood , coal , oil , natural gas or the refined gas we use to operate automobiles for the most part the result is carbon is released . The same as forest fires volcanoes and methane gas from the decaying ocean life accumulating on the ocean floors and lakes . Now the only thing that converts this carbon is plant life and trees and some sea life like plankton and kelp all convert carbon to oxygen storing the carbon . We convert oxygen to carbon as we breath . So to breath we need plants and plants need carbon so its a nice balance . The problem is pumping trapped carbon out of the ground and burning it releasing the carbon into the air . SO much carbon that the amount able to be digested and converted by plants is exceeding that conversion ability . Now add in the reduction of rain forests old growth forests and killing of the coral reefs that also convert carbon to oxygen and you can see where we are headed . This is what i call a no brainer . If you have a brain you get it . And as those of us who do get it are begging to say it does not matter if you belief it or not it is happening . Levels have increased higher over the last 100 years to a point that has never been seen before . Average global temperatures have risen like it or not and it is having an effect . In fact we have not been this warm in 3,000,000 years Thats around 2,750,000 more years then anything like man roamed the planet . If we warm up to fast it is not that we will not survive it is that 60% of us will not survive . Starvation and wars may lead to even less then that if China or the Usa say screw you we are taking the food and attack russia who is now growing crops in Siberia .They may launch nuclear weapons . So this is a major world problem and I will be gone by the time the crap hits the fan so listen now and begin to correct this problem . Destroying hemp may have lead to this . The hemp plant converts carbon at a high rate and releases little back in effect scrubbing the carbon from the air . And when burned and inhaled provides a mellowing effect and joyfulness . Keep your head down in the sand and get out of the way and let people with solutions act before it is to late .
Cuban Friend, I don't think your analogy holds up. We're not referring to icebergs floating in the ocean already. You're correct when you state THAT water has already been displaced.
No Cuban, we're talking about glaciers and ice shelfs. These are tremendously huge chunks of frozen FRESHWATER which can tower as much as 1,800 to 10,000 feet ABOVE sea level (not in the water). That polar ice cap is just that: A CAP. If it drops into the oceans, well, I live in Phoenix and I will immediately get in my car and head to the highest elevation I can get to. The splash and resulting tsunami wave could easily kill hundreds of millions of people.
The OTHER big problem is more subtle. That Ice cap is blindingly white. That vast white surface area refects a LOT of the Sun's heat energy away from the planet, helping keep us cool. As pieces of the Ice Cap melt and break off into the ocean, there is less white area to reflect heat away, consequently the earth warms even faster, which in turn accelerates and perpetuates the global warming problem.
People who say "global warming is a naturally occurring phenomena" seem to forget we had better worry whether this is a phenomena (natural or not) we can adapt to, that we can learn to live with, as a species. And we had better hope there are plants and animals which can also adapt to the changes in time to survive.
To use your example, what happens when you take that full glass of water and drop a big cube of ice into it? The water in the glass splashes up and then overflows. Only problem here is, when the ocean overflows, that's goodbye, Florida. Or NYC. Or Holland. Or Venice, Italy. Or Australia. Those old levees which failed New Orelans? The tallest and strongest of what we have now will be underwater and so will Louisiana. Same principle here. At the present rate, most port cities will be mostly underwater by 2100.
Because the ice that is melting was not in the water to start with. You are correct. Water levels go down when floating ice melts. An ice shelf was never in the water. Nice try.
PS - Global Warming is NOT A THEORY! It is a verifyable fact: The temperature is indeed going up as measured around the globe. What IS a theory is the cause of that warming. That is what the debate is about. Get your facts straight and leave the politics out of it, or you will be continually led by the nose by whatever talking head you are listening to.
Perhaps you should check into that science a little deeper. And maybe you should try that glass of water trick at home. Then imagine it compunded by hundreds of thousands of square miles, sometimes miles deep. Nobody has claimed mass global flooding, but the position is that lowlands and coastlines will be flooded. Already, islands are being lost to rising sea levels.
FOLLOWUP: Cooling? Have you not heard the report about the 74-square mile ice shelf that just broke off of Antarctica and fell into the sea? Are you unaware that in Northern Canada, many small villages that rely on over-ice shipments of supplies are cut off because the ice isn't there? Are you unaware that the polar bears were just labeled as a threatened species because they hunt on the edge of the thinned ice and are found drowning by the masses? Are you unaware that sea levels are rising, resulting in the disappearance of islands? Are you unaware that glaciers are melting throughout the earth? You don't have to have a brother whose a geophysicist to observe these widespread reports. They hardly add up to the conclusion of polar cooling.