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Is Global Warming occuring and if so why? Is there anything we can do about it? These are the three questions I'd like to examine in a three part journal entry. The first part will examine whether or not Global Warming is occuring. I'll try to put forward some of the evidence (with links) that has influenced me. The second part will a look at CO2 emissions (and other possible causes) and examine if they are truly whats causing Global Warming. Finally the third part will examine if there is anything we can do about it.
Part I
The information below is just a list of data I feel supports the fact that the Earth, whether by man made or natural processes, is getting warmer. The sources at the bottom support the following statements:
1. Glaciers on six continents (Australia doesn't have glaciers on the mainland) are receding at an accelerating rate.
2. Ice Sheets in both the Arctic and Antarctic oceans are breaking up.
3. The frozen tundras of Alaska, Tibet, and Siberia are melting and becoming less hostile for colonizing grass and trees.
4. Coral Reefs and Ocean ecosystems are changing due to increases in ocean temperatures.
So think about it. Ice in every region of the planet is melting at an accelerating rate. If you woke up 100 years from now and all the ice on the planet was gone, wouldn't you assume it meant the Earth was warmer? How else could it be explained? Well today there is less ice on the planet then there was 50 years ago. This must mean the Earth is getting warmer. Now whether its a temporary natural process or a divergence caused by fossil fuel emissions is less clear and will be examined in part II of this blog.
Sources
Antarctic Ice Shelves breaking apart. (ASOC, NewScientist Magazine)
Antarctic Glaciers Melting (Science Magazine)
Glaciers in Africa Receding. (BBC News)
Glaciers in Europe Receding (National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research)
Siberian Tundra Melting (BBC NewsLA Times)
Greening of Alaskan Tundra (Geophysical Research Letters)
Glaciers in Greenland Flowing Faster (BBC News)
Longer Growing Seasons in Northern Latitudes (International Journal of Biometeorology(click twice),Nature Magazine)
Decline in the North Atlantic Ocean Current (Science Magazine)
Increasing Average Global Temperature (Oxford University Centre for the Environment),(Science Magazine)
Arctic Ice Sheet Breaking Up (Geophysical Research Letters)
Ocean Current Changes (Oceans 2003 Conference)
Tibet Tundra Permafrost Melting (China.org,NASA)
Peruvian Glaciers Melting (BBC News)
Rocky Mountain Glaciers Melting (Bioscience Journal)
Increasing Tree Cover in Siberia (Geophysical Research Papers)
Bering Sea Warming (EOS Transactions)
Bleaching of Coral Reefs (Reef Educational Network,Coral Reefs Journal(Click Twice),NewScientist Magazine)
Sea Level Rising (BBC News)
You may notice that I didn't mention any global mean temperature data to support global warming. It's not because I couldn't find any, there are a ton of articles that talk about "mean global temperature" and how it has risen over the past 100 years. However I have a serious issues with how global mean temperature is measured today, much less in the past. I think the idea of a global mean temperature to an accuracy of a tenth of a degree is wishful thinking, so data based on it isn't going to convince me. To be clear though, again, I do believe the Earth is warming and at an accelerated rate base on local phenomenon.
Stay tuned for Part II, where I examine the plausablility that man is responsible for the recent global warming trend.
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