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CC3 -- Why I believe that a third option is needed for climate change

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  • Registered Users Posts: 8,219 ✭✭✭Gaoth Laidir


    posidonia wrote: »
    Not according to GoathL. it hasn't. You better put GL right.

    More lies. When did I say it has not warmed? Here are two posts from the past two days where I said the opposite...
    with the baseline having increased in the past 140 years
    Maybe I should repeat my comment again that the baseline started rising 140 years ago and continues to this day.


  • Registered Users Posts: 8,219 ✭✭✭Gaoth Laidir


    posidonia wrote: »
    I don't think farmers in the UK will think this winter has been of much benefit... and likewise the summer in Australia.

    What's the story with this winter and the UK farmers? What's it got to do with climate change? I presume you have a peer-reviewed attribution study to back up your implication? That would be the fastest ever release of a study...:rolleyes:


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,235 ✭✭✭Oneiric 3


    I think Posidonia may be a UK farmer himself, but the UK escaped the worst this winter, and certainly this Feb. The E&W mean Feb total came in around 25% to 30% lower than our mean national total. The UK farmer had it easy!

    New Moon



  • Registered Users Posts: 6,235 ✭✭✭Oneiric 3


    But as I suggested before, I would recommend the works of H.H Lamb to anyone who might have an interest in the actual climate from a more historical perspective. And as he noted, stormy, wet winters over the N. Atlantic are indicative of colder than average Arctic. And again I forget which he referred to, but prior to either the 'Little Iceage' or the last Ice Age, the N. Atantic became dangerously active with storm after storm which were followed on by Summers that were barely any better.

    Bring it on..?

    New Moon



  • Registered Users Posts: 6,235 ✭✭✭Oneiric 3


    My eyes..

    https://twitter.com/XRLondon/status/1236611371854413824

    "for what has been seen cannot be unseen".

    New Moon



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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,431 ✭✭✭Mortelaro




  • Registered Users Posts: 216 ✭✭posidonia


    More lies. When did I say it has not warmed? Here are two posts from the past two days where I said the opposite...


    Calm down and don't accuse me of something I've not accused you of.

    I just noted you said "Yet, much of the planet is still showing no warming and some remarkable cooling." which seemed inconsistent.

    Though I guess it does depend upon what you mean by 'much'.


  • Registered Users Posts: 216 ✭✭posidonia


    Oneiric 3 wrote: »
    But as I suggested before, I would recommend the works of H.H Lamb to anyone who might have an interest in the actual climate from a more historical perspective. And as he noted, stormy, wet winters over the N. Atlantic are indicative of colder than average Arctic. And again I forget which he referred to, but prior to either the 'Little Iceage' or the last Ice Age, the N. Atantic became dangerously active with storm after storm which were followed on by Summers that were barely any better.

    Bring it on..?


    As you've previously noted this winter wasn't actually as stormy as some have been.

    Amongst other things, aren't low pressures also driven by temperature contrast, not absolute temperature, as well? Else why can there be storms in October before the Arctic really cools?


  • Registered Users Posts: 14,326 ✭✭✭✭M.T. Cranium


    Here's a link to that weather journal I sometimes mention, giving detailed accounts of weather at Providence Rhode Island from about 1831 to 1860.

    https://books.google.ca/books?id=oYY_AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA169&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false

    You can scroll all the way up and down the entire journal and get the print size a bit bigger with the mag controls provided. The winters were harsh especially around 1852 to 1857. Otherwise it looks fairly similar to the modern climate.


  • Registered Users Posts: 6,235 ✭✭✭Oneiric 3


    posidonia wrote: »
    As you've previously noted this winter wasn't actually as stormy as some have been.

    Amongst other things, aren't low pressures also driven by temperature contrast, not absolute temperature, as well? Else why can there be storms in October before the Arctic really cools?

    I'll try to root it out again if I still have it but I have posted data (MSLP) on this forum before that suggests that the start of Ireland's 'storm season' is being pushed ever forward from mid to late October to early to mid November (if I recall correctly), which again suggests a warming Arctic is resulting in less frequent and less severe storms, which makes sense given that the 'thermal contrast' between the sub tropics and the poles, of why M.T has spoken of in this very thread, is somewhat lesser than it was in bygone days. Again though, I ask, in what way can this be seen as a negative.. except to storm lovers like me? M.T.C recently spoke of a 'climate blanding' associated with global warming, and quite clearly, he is on to something.

    New Moon



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  • Registered Users Posts: 14,326 ✭✭✭✭M.T. Cranium


    The later onset of mid-latitude autumn and high latitude winter can be clearly seen in every climate study I have done, including arctic Canada locations. The biggest changes in recent years (in particular a warm period 2005-2012) at arctic locations occurs at either end of the summer, such as it is up there. Snow tends to melt away in May now rather than waiting to early June as was frequently the case before 2000. And snow does not reappear as reliably in late August or early September, but waits until mid-September. Then the pace of winter onset is a bit delayed too, using the metric of first -20 C temperature, that has slipped back a week from (ball park) Oct 20th to near end of October. What normally happened before in mid-winter still happens though, and the peak of summer only warmed slightly.

    This same sequence plays out at Toronto, the biggest warmings of the climate there come at either end of their winter season, namely late November into mid-December, then again late February through March. The other parts of the year have shown little if any real change.

    This can be tied to a northward shift in storm tracks which have their greatest differential effect in those seasons (with the effect presumably moving south, I have not studied an intermediate location like perhaps Churchill Manitoba, but I would bet the same thing can be shown there at some intermediate times.

    That all has a knock-on effect to the Atlantic which waits longer for its dose of arctic outflow to generate the stronger autumn storms. Spring would be a different proposition, needs a bit of thought by all of us to reason through what the earlier spring in North America might imply.

    Gotta run as I am at a remote location.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,488 ✭✭✭Hooter23


    As I was saying earlier more co2 and warmer temperatures would lead to bigger forests they confirm this in this news story today...and amazingly they make it out to be a very bad thing as with everything in the media everything that happens is negative...

    They say more trees is now a bad thing and yet we have been hearing them say all along that the disappearing Amazon rainforest would increase global warming I suppose they just twist everything to suit themselves and the clmate change agenda and make it all up as they go along...



    Treeless landscapes are becoming more wooded, which could result in a drastic shift in global temperatures.

    While vast areas of woodland such as rainforests are increasingly under threat from the climate crisis, researchers from the University of Edinburgh have discovered something else is happening in other parts of the world: land that is typically wild and treeless is becoming increasingly wooded.

    In a paper published to the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography, the researchers found that trees and shrubs are spreading across the tundra and savannah, transforming these vast plains and the fragile biodiversity within them.

    The dramatic changes to these regions – which account for approximately 40pc of the world’s land – could alter the planet’s carbon balance and climate system, the researchers said. This is because trees store carbon, provide fuel for fires and influence how much of the sun’s heat is reflected back into space.

    In Arctic tundra, spanning parts of northern Canada, the US and northern Europe, shrub plant cover has increased by 20pc over the past 50 years, the study found. This expanding shrub cover could raise soil temperature in the tundra, leading to the thawing of permafrost. Such an event would release nearly half of the world’s soil carbon.

    Largest study of its kind

    Meanwhile, in the savannah regions of the world such as in Africa and Australia, shrub and tree cover rose by 30pc over the past 50 years, while there was also an increase in rainfall.

    To come to these conclusions, the researchers carried out the largest global woody cover change study of its kind to date. This involved comparing temperature and rainfall data with more than 1,000 records of plant coverage from almost 900 sites across six continents.

    The study also found that wildfires and animal grazing patterns are affecting shrub and tree cover. This adds variables to our understanding of the future of the tundra and savannah regions, showing they are more complex than previously thought.

    “This research indicates the far-reaching effects of climate change across the planet,” said Mariana García Criado, who led the study.

    “Uncovering the ways in which different landscapes are responding requires collaboration among scientists, and cooperation with local peoples to better understand the changes we’re seeing and their impacts from different perspectives.”
    https://www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/trees-spreading-savanna-climate-change


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    A beneficial positive feedback loop does not make good reading for climate alarmists.
    It's really just part of the interglacial oscillation, temperate climates migrate towards the poles while glaciers & sea ice retreat and during cooler periods the reverse happens.
    Historically, climate change has forced the abandonment of cities in the middle East and North Africa when deserts replaced savanna 2-500 years ago.

    There have been studies of the Sahara that have shown up buried cities and evidence of previous civilisations, at the same time tundra in northern Europe was replaced by forests.

    When the next ice age arrives (10k years as a wild guess) these processes will reverse and the Sahara will revert to savanna.


  • Registered Users Posts: 14,326 ✭✭✭✭M.T. Cranium


    I made some progress with the posting of Toronto data and have now finished with the dry spells, moving on to a recalibration of raw temperatures to account for the urban heat island.

    The main conclusion from the dry spells analysis was that one trend faded out and a new one began to emerge, the trend that faded out was a propensity to spring (often April) dry spells being quite frequent in decades from 1870s to 1890s, but the more preferred part of the year recently has been late summer and early autumn. This does not seem necessarily tied to either overall warming, nor does it seem like a negative for agricultural interests if the trend applies more widely to the climate of eastern North America. There is no real evidence for any increase in drought, more of a cyclical ebb and flow.


  • Registered Users Posts: 462 ✭✭oriel36


    The coronavirus and the practical way to mitigate its spread by other countries has exposed the systemic failure known as experimental modeling/scientific method to which the English academics cling due to its origin in Royal Society circles.

    For once, society got ahead of a damaging theory even though there are still others out there like 'climate change' and hypothetical future outcomes rather than dealing with what is in front of people in terms of atmospheric and oceanic pollution as a 'tidy towns' endeavour -

    "But the reason that mathematicians are not perceptive is that they do not see what is before them, and that, accustomed to the exact and plain principles of mathematics, and not reasoning till they have well inspected and arranged their principles, they are lost in matters of perception where the principles do not allow of such arrangement....We must see the matter at once, at one glance, and not by a process of reasoning, at least to a certain degree. And thus it is rare that mathematicians are perceptive, and that men of perception are mathematicians, because mathematicians wish to treat matters of perception mathematically, and make themselves ridiculous, wishing to begin with definitions and then with axioms, which is not the way to proceed in this kind of reasoning." Pascal

    For once a chink of light broke the strangehold of mathematical modeling and its limitations.


  • Registered Users Posts: 21,886 ✭✭✭✭Roger_007


    oriel36 wrote: »
    The coronavirus and the practical way to mitigate its spread by other countries has exposed the systemic failure known as experimental modeling/scientific method to which the English academics cling due to its origin in Royal Society circles.

    For once, society got ahead of a damaging theory even though there are still others out there like 'climate change' and hypothetical future outcomes rather than dealing with what is in front of people in terms of atmospheric and oceanic pollution as a 'tidy towns' endeavour -

    "But the reason that mathematicians are not perceptive is that they do not see what is before them, and that, accustomed to the exact and plain principles of mathematics, and not reasoning till they have well inspected and arranged their principles, they are lost in matters of perception where the principles do not allow of such arrangement....We must see the matter at once, at one glance, and not by a process of reasoning, at least to a certain degree. And thus it is rare that mathematicians are perceptive, and that men of perception are mathematicians, because mathematicians wish to treat matters of perception mathematically, and make themselves ridiculous, wishing to begin with definitions and then with axioms, which is not the way to proceed in this kind of reasoning." Pascal

    For once a chink of light broke the strangehold of mathematical modeling and its limitations.
    Mathematical models only work where there are no ‘unknowns’ and where the assumptions that underlie the calculations are proven and robust. For instance, it is possible to model the solar system and predict with accuracy the position of any planet at any point in the foreseeable future.
    The only way that the models used for climate predictions can be proven accurate is to look at historical models and compare them with accurate observed data collected over a long portion of time.
    It is not possible to directly collect accurate temperature data on a global scale without substantial adjustments being made to the raw data and estimates being made for where no data is available.This is where disputes arise as to what adjustments are being made and how.
    It only takes a minor error in the input data or in assumptions being made to render climate models more and more inaccurate the more you roll them forward in time.
    The claim that if we reduce or increase atmospheric CO2 by x amount, that the average global temperature will be y degrees in 100 years time is simply preposterous.


  • Registered Users Posts: 462 ✭✭oriel36


    Roger_007 wrote: »
    Mathematical models only work where there are no ‘unknowns’ and where the assumptions that underlie the calculations are proven and robust. For instance, it is possible to model the solar system and predict with accuracy the position of any planet at any point in the foreseeable future.

    Rude moderators will cut me off quickly and especially when calling into question how experimental modeling ended up subsuming astronomical predictions -

    "Rule III. The qualities of bodies which are found to belong to all bodies within the reach of our experiments, are to be esteemed the universal qualities of all bodies whatsoever." Newton

    The problem with this is that modeling and conclusions become one and the same so that empirical proponents of whatever stripe, in this case for or against 'climate change', are arguing over the models as if they were conclusions.

    The predictive positions of the planets, Sun and moon within a geocentric celestial sphere framework were based on the 365/366 day calendar framework using the Sun's motion along the ecliptic plane -

    https://community.dur.ac.uk/john.lucey/users/sun_ecliptic.gif

    When accurate clocks emerged in the late 17th century, the framework was altered to RA/Dec in order to permit the use of the 24 hour day within the calendar framework to create more accurate predictions of the positions of planets and Sun -

    https://community.dur.ac.uk/john.lucey/users/solar_year.gif


    While making astronomical predictions more accurate, it was further adrift between cause and effect linking the Earth's motions to terrestrial sciences like climate, geology and biology. You can see this today with the rubbish attempt to explain the Equinox using a hideous pivoting circle of illumination and an Earth with a zero degree inclination -

    https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170319.html


    What matters to the experimental theorists is that observations fit the model hence the backwards manipulation of imaging above to suit a wandering Sun through the background stars.

    Asking contributors to deal with what is in front of them is bypassed for hypothetical future outcomes and that is dangerous, at least when it comes to dealing with the current plague much less 'climate change' modeling. I learned my lesson here before when it comes down to the technical ins and outs but mark well that in terms of the spread of the virus, the action of the Irish people and Government was based on immediate conditions rather than future conditions where the virus is expected to conform to modeling and there is a massive difference and distance between the two perspectives.


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,855 ✭✭✭Nabber




  • Registered Users Posts: 462 ✭✭oriel36


    Nabber wrote: »

    The limitations of modeling also exposes its disruptive nature including today where polar sunrise happens at the North pole for the one and only time this year.

    Like all sunrises, it is due to a surface rotation, however, the polar sunrise event is a function of the orbital motion of the Earth and the fact that when daily rotation and all its effects are subtracted, the entire surface of the planet still turns once each year to the Sun. This includes your location.

    It happens that I have immunity from the empirical herd who are lost in these important matters -

    "My dear Kepler, I wish that we might laugh at the remarkable stupidity of the common herd. What do you have to say about the principal scientists of this academy who are filled with the stubbornness of an asp and do not want to look at either the planets, the moon or the telescope, even though I have freely and deliberately offered them the opportunity a thousand times? Truly, just as the asp stops its ears, so do these scientists shut their eyes to the light of truth" Galileo

    The Earth doesn't tilt towards and away from the Sun, it turns parallel to the orbital plane as a function of its orbital motion hence the weather will warm up in Ireland in the coming months as that orbital induced rotation combines with daily rotation.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okw6Mu3mxdM

    What happens at the South pole in September is about to happen at the North pole presently.


  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 7,145 Mod ✭✭✭✭pistolpetes11


    DONT POST IN THIS THREAD AGAIN or you will banned from the entire forum
    oriel36 wrote: »
    Rude moderators will cut me off quickly and especially when calling into question how experimental modeling ended up subsuming astronomical predictions -

    "Rule III. The qualities of bodies which are found to belong to all bodies within the reach of our experiments, are to be esteemed the universal qualities of all bodies whatsoever." Newton

    The problem with this is that modeling and conclusions become one and the same so that empirical proponents of whatever stripe, in this case for or against 'climate change', are arguing over the models as if they were conclusions.

    The predictive positions of the planets, Sun and moon within a geocentric celestial sphere framework were based on the 365/366 day calendar framework using the Sun's motion along the ecliptic plane -

    https://community.dur.ac.uk/john.lucey/users/sun_ecliptic.gif

    When accurate clocks emerged in the late 17th century, the framework was altered to RA/Dec in order to permit the use of the 24 hour day within the calendar framework to create more accurate predictions of the positions of planets and Sun -

    https://community.dur.ac.uk/john.lucey/users/solar_year.gif


    While making astronomical predictions more accurate, it was further adrift between cause and effect linking the Earth's motions to terrestrial sciences like climate, geology and biology. You can see this today with the rubbish attempt to explain the Equinox using a hideous pivoting circle of illumination and an Earth with a zero degree inclination -

    https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170319.html


    What matters to the experimental theorists is that observations fit the model hence the backwards manipulation of imaging above to suit a wandering Sun through the background stars.

    Asking contributors to deal with what is in front of them is bypassed for hypothetical future outcomes and that is dangerous, at least when it comes to dealing with the current plague much less 'climate change' modeling. I learned my lesson here before when it comes down to the technical ins and outs but mark well that in terms of the spread of the virus, the action of the Irish people and Government was based on immediate conditions rather than future conditions where the virus is expected to conform to modeling and there is a massive difference and distance between the two perspectives.


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  • Registered Users Posts: 21,886 ✭✭✭✭Roger_007


    In reference to the title of this thread, I think that the third option has arrived unexpected and unwelcome. It’s called Covid-19.
    The arrival of this pandemic has opened all our eyes to the real existential threat to humanity. This one may not kill us all but the next one might.
    Where are all those ‘concerned’ young people now with their ‘climate strikes’ and condemnation of the older generations. Where is Greta Thunberg now. Why is she not using her immense influence over the youth of the world to tell young people to behave responsibly to safeguard older people.


  • Posts: 0 [Deleted User]


    Roger_007 wrote: »
    In reference to the title of this thread, I think that the third option has arrived unexpected and unwelcome. It’s called Covid-19.
    The arrival of this pandemic has opened all our eyes to the real existential threat to humanity. This one may not kill us all but the next one might.
    Where are all those ‘concerned’ young people now with their ‘climate strikes’ and condemnation of the older generations. Where is Greta Thunberg now. Why is she not using her immense influence over the youth of the world to tell young people to behave responsibly to safeguard older people.
    From an environmental aspect, the rapid reduction in travel and industrial activity has had quite dramatic affects on the local environment in many areas, if that doesn't wake up people to the damage that human activity is doing, nothing will.


    I am, of course referring to local pollution and nothing else.


  • Registered Users Posts: 22,234 ✭✭✭✭Akrasia


    The current coronavirus is an acute crisis that we had plenty of warning about but still did nothing to prevent it from spreading before it was too late.


    It is now going to cost astronomical amounts of money to deal with and will lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths

    Sound familiar?

    The biggest difference between Covid 19 and Climate change, is that we will have 1 or 2 years of severe economic impact, but it will end. Climate change is unstoppable and cumulative, and when the penny finally drops, we will be faced with a new permanent reality

    All the people who were saying 'it's just a flu' or 'Our health system can cope' or 'we'll have a vaccine before it becomes our problem' are the same as everyone who has, and continues to, deny the reality and seriousness of climate change.

    Covid 19 is an acute crisis, a viral infection that takes weeks to spread around the world. Climate change is a chronic disease, that takes decades to manifest itself, but is incurable and if we don't do enough to limit it, it will have economic, social and environmental consequences that will make this crisis look like a mild runny nose

    The scientific consensus on Covid 19 is that we need to test extensively and isolate carriers as quickly as possible.

    Some countries are ignoring this because they think the science doesn't apply to them. Reality bites and it bites hard, and those countries who delayed and dithered will be the worst affected, ecomically, socially and in terms of loss of life and long term health impacts from lung damage and mental health consequences.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,524 ✭✭✭SeaBreezes


    Akrasia wrote: »
    The current coronavirus is an acute crisis that we had plenty of warning about but still did nothing to prevent it from spreading before it was too late.


    It is now going to cost astronomical amounts of money to deal with and will lead to hundreds of thousands of deaths

    Sound familiar?

    The biggest difference between Covid 19 and Climate change, is that we will have 1 or 2 years of severe economic impact, but it will end. Climate change is unstoppable and cumulative, and when the penny finally drops, we will be faced with a new permanent reality

    All the people who were saying 'it's just a flu' or 'Our health system can cope' or 'we'll have a vaccine before it becomes our problem' are the same as everyone who has, and continues to, deny the reality and seriousness of climate change.

    Covid 19 is an acute crisis, a viral infection that takes weeks to spread around the world. Climate change is a chronic disease, that takes decades to manifest itself, but is incurable and if we don't do enough to limit it, it will have economic, social and environmental consequences that will make this crisis look like a mild runny nose

    The scientific consensus on Covid 19 is that we need to test extensively and isolate carriers as quickly as possible.

    Some countries are ignoring this because they think the science doesn't apply to them. Reality bites and it bites hard, and those countries who delayed and dithered will be the worst affected, ecomically, socially and in terms of loss of life and long term health impacts from lung damage and mental health consequences.

    I beg to differ.
    My views on the seriousness of this virus and its effect on humanity and global economies has been consistent.

    And yet not 3 weeks ago (Feb 25) you said the complete opposite about the seriousness of this virus.. (quote the post below)
    So... if you were wrong about how to manage the virus, could you possibly be misled with your other views too?

    Just saying...

    By the way hope your wife is doing ok. Horrible times.

    Akrasia:
    Nope. It would be completely counterproductive and an overreaction once the virus has already become so widespread that it’s not possible to contain anymore. You want to also close down all businesses, schools, public facilities, restaurants, sporting and recreation facilities.....?

    This is a virus that is 98% non lethal and we will probably have a vaccine for it within 18 months.

    Shutting down the economy will kill many more vulnerable people than this virus would on its own

    If I was dependent on medication right now, I’d be more worried about my meds being unavailable because of restrictions on travel than the risk of me getting Covid 19


  • Registered Users Posts: 14,326 ✭✭✭✭M.T. Cranium


    Just wanted to mention that the data for Toronto are now completely posted with the UHI adjustments made to the temperature series, all months and seasons ranked for that now. I am taking a sort of vacation from the work for a week or two as it has been a grind lasting several months. We had planned a real holiday (before the virus outbreak) but of course that is now impossible to execute as we can't even cross the border let alone get anywhere warm. Oh well, it is what it is.

    I don't think we can necessarily draw parallels between the pandemic and the climate challenge. Presumably governments have generalized plans in place for health emergencies then draw in the details when the exact nature of the threat is better known. In this case it would appear that they weren't very well prepared for the need for specific intervention tools (ventilators the primary example).

    But with the risk of rising sea levels, the threat is already known and understood. I have taken a different approach as to cause and effect, but would not expect a different effect than any standard warminista who might still believe it can be averted through cutting back greenhouse gas emissions. Whether they're right or not, or I'm right or not, sea levels are either going to rise, or stay steady, it seems quite unlikely that they would fall. So for me, it seems like an absolute necessity for governments to draw up plans to cope with rising sea levels. If they want to believe the orthodox theory and participate in schemes to avoid the outcome, I can't really say or do anything that would change such an approach, but I can say with sincerity that I don't think it will work, and it may be worse for the economy than doing nothing would have been.

    Even if they do believe in that, and work diligently towards it, they must be realistic and accept that the intervention could fail (or possibly could be incapable of working). Therefore it remains necessary to have plans in place -- what will happen as and if sea levels do start to rise? Can there be any diversion of any of the surplus water to large-scale desalination and irrigation. I've been told it would be a drop in the bucket, maybe my proposed schemes are a bit larger than what we have thought about in the past, but even so, I could see where a half metre would be about the upper limit of convertible water from the oceans. What about other technological interventions? Increasing the volume of the oceans by taking undersea ridges, possibly, and dismantling them over 20-30 years. Boiling off water into the atmosphere in strategic places to allow the evaporation to seed rainfall that would hit arid land masses. I even thought of this -- and I don't know the consequences, perhaps somebody might -- just pipe a lot of seawater far inland into the Sahara desert and let it loose in selected areas -- most of it would evaporate. If you removed 0.1 metres of ocean surface per year (sounds like a massive amount) how much would return to the oceans through runoff or rainfall created over oceans? My guess is some small fraction of the 0.1 metres, maybe 0.02 metres, for a net gain of 0.08 metres. That's a net drop of 8 cm or a bit over three inches. Would there be any large scale negative impacts from this concept, or any gains, or would it simply be a zero-sum proposition for the arid, desolate Sahara, and a net gain on the sea level front?

    I can't see how this would cost any more than is spent on worthless military misadventures at the present time.


  • Registered Users Posts: 22,234 ✭✭✭✭Akrasia


    SeaBreezes wrote: »
    I beg to differ.
    My views on the seriousness of this virus and its effect on humanity and global economies has been consistent.

    And yet not 3 weeks ago (Feb 25) you said the complete opposite about the seriousness of this virus.. (quote the post below)
    So... if you were wrong about how to manage the virus, could you possibly be misled with your other views too?

    Just saying...

    By the way hope your wife is doing ok. Horrible times.

    Akrasia:
    Nope. It would be completely counterproductive and an overreaction once the virus has already become so widespread that it’s not possible to contain anymore. You want to also close down all businesses, schools, public facilities, restaurants, sporting and recreation facilities.....?

    This is a virus that is 98% non lethal and we will probably have a vaccine for it within 18 months.

    Shutting down the economy will kill many more vulnerable people than this virus would on its own

    If I was dependent on medication right now, I’d be more worried about my meds being unavailable because of restrictions on travel than the risk of me getting Covid 19

    My post was responding to this comment "Originally Posted by Ikozma View Post
    What are the chances of a complete shutdown of air and sea travel around Europe in the coming months, would it be a possibility?"

    We still haven't done this, there has not been a shutdown in all air sea transport around europe. All businesses have not closed, freight and air travel is still happening . We are trying to follow the scientific advice from the epidemiological models, but we are playing catch up.

    The Evidence based recommendations from the expert bodies, are to do testing testing testing, and to target isolation at people who have been tested positive, contact tracing to find people who have been in close contact with confirmed cases

    Our problem is that when the evidence of a pandemic was emerging, we should have spent much more resources on ramping up production on things like testing kits. Ireland and most other countries were too slow to react and thought they could follow the usual pace of action in the face of a crisis that was predicted with confidence but not certainty

    We have the capacity to take emergency measures, but we didn't recognise the emergency quick enough to prevent it

    Now we are delaying the spread and mitigating it's impact. The solution was never to shut down all travel and the entire economy, it is to take appropriate measures to reduce the spread of the disease while still keeping the ability to have enough food and medical supplies and other critical services. Earlier action would have allowed less severe measures later on. And much less severe consequences.

    We are watching two worlds playing out before us. In one world, we have countries who took action early and reduced the spread of the disease, these countries will suffer a much lower cost, economically, and in human suffering compared with the countries who did nothing or pretended it wasn't happening long after the evidence was overwhelming on the need to act.

    In many many ways, this crisis is very very similar to the climate change crisis, except it's happening in a much shorter timescale.


  • Registered Users Posts: 22,234 ✭✭✭✭Akrasia


    There are some important differences however, Coronavirus will have either a vaccine, or good treatments within months (estimates are 18 months for a vaccine, treatments hopefully much sooner)

    Climate change does not have a cure, the damage we are doing now is basically irreversible in human timescales.


  • Registered Users Posts: 22,234 ✭✭✭✭Akrasia


    Just wanted to mention that the data for Toronto are now completely posted with the UHI adjustments made to the temperature series, all months and seasons ranked for that now. I am taking a sort of vacation from the work for a week or two as it has been a grind lasting several months. We had planned a real holiday (before the virus outbreak) but of course that is now impossible to execute as we can't even cross the border let alone get anywhere warm. Oh well, it is what it is.

    I don't think we can necessarily draw parallels between the pandemic and the climate challenge. Presumably governments have generalized plans in place for health emergencies then draw in the details when the exact nature of the threat is better known. In this case it would appear that they weren't very well prepared for the need for specific intervention tools (ventilators the primary example).

    But with the risk of rising sea levels, the threat is already known and understood. I have taken a different approach as to cause and effect, but would not expect a different effect than any standard warminista who might still believe it can be averted through cutting back greenhouse gas emissions. Whether they're right or not, or I'm right or not, sea levels are either going to rise, or stay steady, it seems quite unlikely that they would fall. So for me, it seems like an absolute necessity for governments to draw up plans to cope with rising sea levels. If they want to believe the orthodox theory and participate in schemes to avoid the outcome, I can't really say or do anything that would change such an approach, but I can say with sincerity that I don't think it will work, and it may be worse for the economy than doing nothing would have been.

    Even if they do believe in that, and work diligently towards it, they must be realistic and accept that the intervention could fail (or possibly could be incapable of working). Therefore it remains necessary to have plans in place -- what will happen as and if sea levels do start to rise? Can there be any diversion of any of the surplus water to large-scale desalination and irrigation. I've been told it would be a drop in the bucket, maybe my proposed schemes are a bit larger than what we have thought about in the past, but even so, I could see where a half metre would be about the upper limit of convertible water from the oceans. What about other technological interventions? Increasing the volume of the oceans by taking undersea ridges, possibly, and dismantling them over 20-30 years. Boiling off water into the atmosphere in strategic places to allow the evaporation to seed rainfall that would hit arid land masses. I even thought of this -- and I don't know the consequences, perhaps somebody might -- just pipe a lot of seawater far inland into the Sahara desert and let it loose in selected areas -- most of it would evaporate. If you removed 0.1 metres of ocean surface per year (sounds like a massive amount) how much would return to the oceans through runoff or rainfall created over oceans? My guess is some small fraction of the 0.1 metres, maybe 0.02 metres, for a net gain of 0.08 metres. That's a net drop of 8 cm or a bit over three inches. Would there be any large scale negative impacts from this concept, or any gains, or would it simply be a zero-sum proposition for the arid, desolate Sahara, and a net gain on the sea level front?

    I can't see how this would cost any more than is spent on worthless military misadventures at the present time.
    The problem with climate change is that there are some very plausible low probabilty High Impact scenarios that could take place if we get to certain tipping points, and Nobody knows what those tipping points are

    The only way to reduce the risk, is to reduce our climate change impact by reducing emissions


  • Registered Users Posts: 2,855 ✭✭✭Nabber


    Akrasia wrote: »
    Climate change does not have a cure, the damage we are doing now is basically irreversible in human timescales.

    What damage is that?


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  • Registered Users Posts: 22,234 ✭✭✭✭Akrasia


    Nabber wrote: »
    What damage is that?

    have You been living under a rock?


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