Photos of climate change from BBC site

[Thinker]

They have a shot of Mt Hood there, but it's difficult for me to make a conclusion based on these 2 data points. What do those of you who know the mountain a little more intimately think?

web page

 

"This image shows Mount Hood in Oregon at the same time in late summer in 1985 and 2002."

[skeletor]

This is silly. You can't tell anything from two random snapshots even if they were taken at the same time of the year. Who's to say that in 2003, there wasn't twice as much snow on Hood as in 1986 in June. Conditions can change drastically from year to year. In another 20 years somebody will pull up a pic from 2005 with our low snowfall totals and submit it as proof of a coming ice age.

 

There is solid evidence that glaciers are receding all over the world, but these two snapshots prove nothing.

[Ireneo_Funes]

I don't think you can draw any conclusions from those 2 shots of Hood alone. Like Skeletor said, there's better evidence out there than a couple random photos.

 

The pictures of the Argentine glacier from 1928 and 2002 were pretty dramatic, though.

[JayB]

Wasn't 2002 also the driest, hottest summer in history in the PNW? Or was that 2003? Alzheimer's is taking its toll -already...

 

Anyhow - agreed. It'd be just as valid to show a photo of a snowman built in February 1985 and February 2002, and contrast these shots with photos of the said snowman a month after completion.

 

But then again - I feel the same way about the retards who chime in every there's a new single temperature/weather data point that deviates significantly from the mean and uses that to argue for or against climate change. Nothing like a hot day in January or a snowstorm in late June to asses long term, global cycles...

[tivoli_mike]

The glacier shots from this site are pretty good

 

global climate

[tivoli_mike]

Paleoclimate data like this though is a little more informative.

 

[rbw1966]

Jesus its warm outside! Goddam global warming.

[Ducknut]

the sky is falling, the sky is falling, or is it the temperature is falling or is it rising. Never mind the Simpson's are on, you are returned to your regularly scheduled program.

[JayB]

Paleoclimate data like this though is a little more informative.

 

 

Any data on what caused the variation in carbon loading back before the internal combustion engine? I can see cooler temps leading to less abundant plant life/algal proliferation and carbon fixation dropping in response - but its not clear to me what would cause an increase in CO2 emissions over time cycles like that. The trough-to-trough interval seems like about 100,000 years.

 

Interesting data though.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

 

Also, note that the data only goes up to 1950. I'm wondering if the slope steepens between 1950 and 2005, or if it continues at roughly the same rate of increase. The question is whether the C02 concentrations are increasing irrespective of man, or whether man is accelerating an already-occurring natural phenomenon.

[tivoli_mike]

True, I am really curious as to what causes the drops in CO2 concentrations over time, it appears they peak shy of 300ppm and then there is a rapid decrease...farting cows being wiped out

[AlpineK]

I don't know if this is the specific cause but the oceans are a big sink for CO2. In fact if it weren't for tectonic processes which cause limestone to be uplifted and then weather the atmosphere would have a very high concentration of O2 and it would be really cold here.

 

There's a good book on the subject by UW Prof. Peter Ward called The End of Planet Earth (or something like that) It's not some alarmest thing he is just talking about natural processes on the planet that wii eventually lead to the earth becoming lifeless. (Don't worry we've got a while)

[scottk]

It's been a few decades since I took paleoclimatology, but the best theory at the time was that changes in the earth/sun orbit changes the amount of solar radiation, which changes the amount of photosynthesis, which changes absorbtion of CO2. The first proponant of the theory was Milankovic and his theory has been validated by John Imbrie and others. See the link below:

 

http://www.copernicus.org/EGU/egs/milankovic.htm

[jmace]

or here

 

http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/s...true#Post399110

[Alpinfox]

Paleoclimate data like this though is a little more informative.

 

 

Any data on what caused the variation in carbon loading back before the internal combustion engine? I can see cooler temps leading to less abundant plant life/algal proliferation and carbon fixation dropping in response - but its not clear to me what would cause an increase in CO2 emissions over time cycles like that. The trough-to-trough interval seems like about 100,000 years.

 

Interesting data though.

 

The average CO2 concentration recorded at Mauna Loa (climate observatory station) in 2003 was 375ppm. That is well above the top of the scale of the graph shown above. Click HERE for all CO2 data from 1959 to 2003.

 

Interesting indeed.

[iain]

i think michael jackson's nose is responsible.

[MATT_B]

Oregon Field Guide will be airing something tonight on shrinking glaciers on mount hood. Could be intresting. Here is a link to some more info:

 

http://www.opb.org/programs/ofg/episodes/1611/index.php

[wayne]

What youre seeing in those photos is a loss of glacier on a wholesale level. Some wont know the sky is falling untill it actually hits them on their stupid fucking heads!