31–40 of 88 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yup, it's a dangerous runaway train rolling down a parabolic slop
Yet the rich keep buying waterfront properties.
Insurers and the Pentagon seem to be treating it as a real threat, which is probably more indicative than the purchasing habits of people who tend to love rapidly depreciating status symbols.
I believe this same dynamic will apply to the oceans as they warm. They're like a can of Coke. Heat it up and the carbonation goes away. It's a horrifying positive feedback loop of global warming.
And then the whole melting of sea ice thing. Sea ice is pretty much the whitest/most reflective surface on the planet. It then melts into the darkest/most absorbent surface on the planet. Are there any stabilizing forces we know about? I only ever hear about these types of positive feedback loops, and it scares the hell out of me.
increased temp > increased evaporation > increased cloud coverage which reflects more sunlight
increased co2 > increased tree growth
increased co2 > increased algae, plankton growth to absorb co2... other marine animals will also feed on these, increasing their mass, and when they die, they'll sink to the bottom, where they'll mostly remain.
increased co2 > increased diffusion into seawater.. clams, oysters, etc combine this carbon with calcium to produce shells.. and when they die, they accumulate on the sea floor eventually turning into rock.
Unfortunately, the fact that co2 in the atmosphere is growing indicates we're overwhelming these.. I take zero comfort in the fact that these exists.. it actually makes me nervous because once they reach their maximum, co2 will start growing even more rapidly.. and then it'll be so much worse.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yup, it's a dangerous runaway train rolling down a parabolic slop
Yet the rich keep buying waterfront properties.
I don't know about you, but I don't sweat what happens to my investments after myself and my children are long gone. Honestly, most of the time I have trouble just planning ten years out.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
And then the whole melting of sea ice thing. Sea ice is pretty much the whitest/most reflective surface on the planet. It then melts into the darkest/most absorbent surface on the planet. Are there any stabilizing forces we know about? I only ever hear about these types of positive feedback loops, and it scares the hell out of me.
Here are a few: increased temp > increased evaporation > increased cloud coverage which reflects more sunlight increased co2 > increased tree growth increased co2 > increased algae, plankton growth to absorb co2... other marine animals will also feed on these, increasing their mass, and when they die, they'll sink to the bottom, where they'll mostly remain. increased co2 > increased diffusion into seawater.. clams, o…
increased co2 > increased diffusion into seawater - isnt acidity of the ocean increasing, making it more difficult for the shelled sea life to even develop?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
And then the whole melting of sea ice thing. Sea ice is pretty much the whitest/most reflective surface on the planet. It then melts into the darkest/most absorbent surface on the planet. Are there any stabilizing forces we know about? I only ever hear about these types of positive feedback loops, and it scares the hell out of me.
Here are a few: increased temp > increased evaporation > increased cloud coverage which reflects more sunlight increased co2 > increased tree growth increased co2 > increased algae, plankton growth to absorb co2... other marine animals will also feed on these, increasing their mass, and when they die, they'll sink to the bottom, where they'll mostly remain. increased co2 > increased diffusion into seawater.. clams, o…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
And then the whole melting of sea ice thing. Sea ice is pretty much the whitest/most reflective surface on the planet. It then melts into the darkest/most absorbent surface on the planet. Are there any stabilizing forces we know about? I only ever hear about these types of positive feedback loops, and it scares the hell out of me.
Here are a few: increased temp > increased evaporation > increased cloud coverage which reflects more sunlight increased co2 > increased tree growth increased co2 > increased algae, plankton growth to absorb co2... other marine animals will also feed on these, increasing their mass, and when they die, they'll sink to the bottom, where they'll mostly remain. increased co2 > increased diffusion into seawater.. clams, o…
Also increased evaporation > increased latent heat transport to upper atmosphere where it can more easily escape to space. According to the numbers in Kiehl & Trenberth's global energy budget, total latent heat transport is about 80 W/m^2, which means a 5 percent increase in it would entirely cancel out the increased radiative forcing from a doubling of CO2. This is a negative feedback that I don't see discussed much at all.
> the fact that co2 in the atmosphere is growing indicates we're overwhelming these
No, it doesn't, it just indicates different timescales for CO2 emissions vs. uptake.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Here are a few: increased temp > increased evaporation > increased cloud coverage which reflects more sunlight increased co2 > increased tree growth increased co2 > increased algae, plankton growth to absorb co2... other marine animals will also feed on these, increasing their mass, and when they die, they'll sink to the bottom, where they'll mostly remain. increased co2 > increased diffusion into seawater.. clams, o…
increased evaporation - water vapor is a potent green house gas increased co2 > increased diffusion into seawater - isnt acidity of the ocean increasing, making it more difficult for the shelled sea life to even develop?
But its lifetime in the atmosphere is very short; the evaporated water vapor condenses in the upper atmosphere into clouds and precipitation.
What longer term numbers I have seen indicate that the average water vapor content of the atmosphere has been roughly constant during the warming of the last half century or so.