Sunspot activity has not resumed up after hitting an 11-year low in March last year, raising fears that — far from warming — the globe is about to return to an Ice Age, says an Australian-American scientist.
Physicist Phil Chapman, the first native-born Australian to become an astronaut with NASA [he became an American citizen to join up, though he never went into space], said pictures from the U.S. Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) showed no spots on the sun.
He said the world cooled quickly between January last year and January this year, by about 0.7 degrees Centigrade.
“This is the fastest temperature change in the instrumental record, and it puts us back to where we were in 1930,” Chapman wrote in The Australian Wednesday. “If the temperature does not soon recover, we will have to conclude that global warming is over.”
Interesting. Personally, I would like to see some more facts, as well as trends, to make any conclusion. Over the past 150 years, ever since the end of the Little Ice Age, it seems we have had warmer and cooler trends that seem to last around 30 years. And no one is sure what really brought on the Little Ice Age, the Midevil Climate Optimum, the last ice age, or any of the other big, long term climate ages. There is lots and lots of conjecture, but, nothing truly definitive.
What is climate, after all? The best definition I have seen is that it is simply the averages. What is the average temperature? How about rain fall? Snow? Hurricanes? Tornado’s? They all make up the averages, running from “what is the average high temp in Raleigh on April 23rd?” to “what is the average climate of the Earth for the year?” It is much easier to measure Raleigh then the Earth. Much better, and complete, data then with the Earth, and even with the Urban Island Effect, the date is much more accurate.
Compound this with the largest greenhouse gas being water vapor, which creates clouds, and scientists know probably less about cloud formation and how they act then about global warming.
I asked 2 questions yesterday: ““What is the point of weather, and what role does it play in Climate?†Both directly relate to what the story is about.” The point of weather is to move hot to cold, and cold to hot. Air and water primarily. This is why you get rain. This is why you have circulatory systems in the oceans and the atmosphere. This is why you get cyclonic storms. I think you can figure out how weather plays in to Climate.
How dare anyone present an idea contrary to the official UN consensus. Look for Mr. Chapman to be sleeping with the fishes vary soon.
manbearpig should take a look at what the official NOAA position is on global warming.
Teach at least this post had a bit of sense and logic to it, instead of the usual “it snowed more in Canada this year”
What is happening to the average temps over time? are they going up ? or down ?
of course quoting one scientist in Australia to make a point is pretty lame, try quoting a governmental organization such as NOAA to show that your point is valid.
Well, I post those other types to highlight the silliness of quite a few of the pro-anthropogenic global warming types, such as when it is a little heat wave, it means we are all going to die, the hysterical types.
Believe it or not, I actually know quite a bit about the environment and climate, having read and heard about it for about 20 years (climate change) and longer for the environment. I really do care. But, usually, facts are superfulous to the climate change debate.