tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867343265106830137.post6609636264024981263..comments2023-07-19T05:26:41.766-07:00Comments on RYviewpoint: Is Earth Headed Into a Maunder Minimum?RYviewpointhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06689453255540643963noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867343265106830137.post-34237730407667030732010-09-19T21:02:51.020-07:002010-09-19T21:02:51.020-07:00Thomas: You are right. It should be simply a scien...Thomas: You are right. It should be simply a scientific issue. But political types have seized on it. The environmentalists love it because it creates a doomsday scenario which justifies an all out commitment (fanatics never like partial commentments or the recognition that life requires us to divide our attention and rank our responses).<br /><br />As for scientists, even they are guilty of fanaticism. The fight between England and the continent over the creation of the calculus is a good example. England spent 300 years teaching calculus using the awkward notation of Isaac Newton. The European continent held Leibnitz to be the inventor and ignored Newton's contribution. But Leibnitz's notation is far superior for learning and using the calculus. So the fanaticism mean students in the English speaking world spent 300 years with a difficult and unnecessary notation. Sad.<br /><br />Oh... by the way, I did enjoy the material you pointed out on the American southwest. I was aware of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anasazi" rel="nofollow">Anasazi</a>. Back around 1970 I remember walking through an abandoned Anasazi village in New Mexico. Beautiful stone work. I understand that the modern Pueblo are the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pueblo_Indians#History" rel="nofollow">descendants of the old Anasazi</a>.RYviewpointhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06689453255540643963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867343265106830137.post-79569942923017577372010-09-19T20:11:35.610-07:002010-09-19T20:11:35.610-07:00RY;
What is sad is that it should be a scientific...RY;<br /><br />What is sad is that it should be a scientific discussion or debate, not a political issue or something involving skepticism or fanatical delusion; Factual data should be the only "ammunition" and not propaganda spread by people with something to gain. If tree rings, for instance, indicate previous periods of dry hot weather then that should be part of the discussions and theories. Of course humans always have ulterior motives and ambitions, so I don't know if we can ever have the truth in any matter. I have my prejudices and emotions that cause me to believe certain things that may not be supported by fact. I guess its a good thing I am not in any sort of position of authority.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18066585661702469034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867343265106830137.post-74573635921821845182010-09-19T18:02:40.392-07:002010-09-19T18:02:40.392-07:00Thomas: The mania about "global warming"...Thomas: The mania about "global warming" likes to tell a tale of Goldilock's weather that suddenly over the last 40 years has become "runway global warming" due to CO2 emissions. But you are right, there are lots of studies that show great climate swings in the past. That's why a number of scientists -- a minority, but a thoughtful minority -- question whether current warming is AGW (Anthropogenic Global Warming) or just another cycle in a varying climate.<br /><br />The discovery of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENSO" rel="nofollow">ENSO (El Niño/La Niña-Southern Oscillation)</a> that periodically affects weather around the globe was made a century ago <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_Walker" rel="nofollow">Gilbert Walker</a>.<br /><br />Walker also discovered the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Atlantic_oscillation" rel="nofollow">NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation)</a> about 90 years ago.<br /><br />There is also an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Atlantic_oscillation" rel="nofollow">Arctic Oscillation</a> which was only discovered a dozen years ago.<br /><br />These are all cycles in weather which contribute to larger climate cycles. There are surely many more of these weather cycles of lesser extent just waiting to be discovered. Along with cyclic phenomena such as:<br /><br /> - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milankovitch_cycles" rel="nofollow">Milankovic cycles</a><br /><br /> - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henrik_Svensmark#Cosmoclimatology_theory_of_climate_change" rel="nofollow">oscillations in solar intensity</a><br /><br /> - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleoclimatology#Long_term_.28108_to_109_years.29" rel="nofollow">the solar system entering/exiting regions of galactic cosmic rays</a><br /><br />These create the varying climate which isn't purely cyclical or predictable, but which has shown great variation in the past. Distinguishing the recent warming from the natural cycles is a challenging task. And on top of that is the fact that human alteration of the earth (our mini-terraforming by forest destruction, irrigating deserts, release of dust, urban heat island effects, etc.) and you have more factors that confuse any "signal" in the weather. Those who confidently assert that CO2 "causes" global warming reduce great complexity to a single cause. It is just a bit too incredible for my taste.<br /><br />I think the article "<a href="http://www.drroyspencer.com/2010/07/my-global-warming-skepticism-for-dummies/" rel="nofollow">My Global Warming Skepticism, for Dummies</a>" by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Spencer_(scientist)" rel="nofollow">Roy Spencer</a>, climatologist and Principal Research Scientist for the University of Alabama in Huntsville, the U.S. Science Team Leader for the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on NASA’s Aqua satellite. and senior scientist for climate studies at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is a good antidote to simplistic reasoning about global warming. I heartily recommend his book <i>Climate Confusion: How Global Warming Hysteria Leads to Bad Science, Pandering Politicians and Misguided Policies that Hurt the Poor</i>. It is written with no special prerequisite for a science education. It is directed at the average intelligent general reader and will give you pause and prevent you from being caught up in "global warming" hysteria.RYviewpointhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06689453255540643963noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6867343265106830137.post-91163204464969202342010-09-19T11:06:28.079-07:002010-09-19T11:06:28.079-07:00This is very interesting research and theory espec...This is very interesting research and theory especially in light of discussions we had recently in our home about the southwest indians; the Hohokam, Anasazim and Mogollon. I was, in that conversation, trying to recall what I had been taught in my high school southwest history class and we started googling around on the topic.. I found <a href="http://cpluhna.nau.edu/Change/climate.htm" rel="nofollow">this one</a> plus some other ones that led me to still believe that changes in climate led those peoples to abandon their homes. Here is the paragraph from that article that concerns what I was looking for at that time:<br /><br />"The climate of the past 2,000 years includes several notable global events including the Medieval Warm Period from 1000 to 1350 A.D. and the Little Ice Age from about 1450 to 1850 A.D. Both are implicated in the mystery of the Anasazi collapse at the close of the thirteenth century. In the Southwest, higher average summer temperature and precipitation persisted from 950–1130 A.D. and prolonged summer droughts occurred from 1130–1180 A.D."<br /><br />In other articles higher temperatures and then very erratic weather are cited for the people leaving the area in the late 1300's to 1400 A.D.. I think if not for the technologies of today; very few people would be living in southern AZ.<br /><br />Anyway I have felt for many years that much of the weather or climate that we see these days is cyclical, but that does not mean that we should not be concerned or at least aware of the climate, but we should realize that in the current cycle that there could be very erratic weather, but how would you be prepared for it even if you knew this but didn't know what specifically was coming? <br /><br />There are several different studies and theories (some crackpot prophecies) about the coming weather conditions... Maybe the indians of the southwest who disappeared into mystery had these in their day and believed or did not believe?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18066585661702469034noreply@blogger.com