[ RadSafe ] RE: extremism (article referencing scientists on global warming effect on Australia)

Fri Mar 23 13:58:20 CDT 2007

That warming period is not exactly applicable to today's situation.  The
CO2 concentrations then were at about 50-70% of what they are now.  So,
until we can understand the reason for the warming in terms of the
operable parameters when it occurred,  we will not know how to properly
devise a mechanism to explain it.   If we postulate that the brief
warming period were due to increased solar output, then the warming
effect would be greater this time around due to the higher atmospheric
CO2 concentration.  Another consideration is the effect of "freshening"
the ocean with glacial water.  Changing the currents due to an influx of
fresh water could lead to erosion of oceanic sediments off the East
Coast.  There are tons of methane trapped in the sediments there.  Also,
warming the Arctic can release the vast amount of methane stored in the
'frozen tundra."  With CH4 having 16x the greenhouse forcing of CO2,
this global warming feedback looks really bad.  As they used to say on
Star Trek, the weather will be "going where no man has gone before."

Kjell Johansen
Point Beach

All opinions express are absolutely my own and my not be those of my
employer.

________________________________

From: howard long [mailto:hflong at pacbell.net] 
Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 6:55 PM
To: Flood, John; Sandy Perle; Johansen, Kjell; radsafe at radlab.nl
Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] RE: extremism (article referencing scientists
on global warming effect on Australia)

When there WAS "global warming" a thousand years ago (when Greenland was
green), was England "like Greenland' (frozen?) or like Robin Hood
stories of life in Sherwood Forest?

Theory vs History.

Howard Long

"Flood, John" <FloodJR at nv.doe.gov> wrote:

	Interesting that this phenomenon was just "discovered" - the
influence
	of fresh water from melting glaciers on the three-dimensional
large
	scale ocean currents was a topic covered in a climatology class
I took
	in college. And I won't be admitting how many decades ago that
was.

	The example used in class was to show how large scale melting of
the
	northern hemisphere ice cap would probably move the Gulf Stream
enough
	to turn England into something more like Iceland.

	John R. (Bob) Flood
	Acting Manager
	Radiological Health
	Nevada Test Site
	(702) 295-2514 

	-----Original Message-----
	From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On
	Behalf Of Sandy Perle
	Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 11:26 AM
	To: 'Johansen, Kjell'; radsafe at radlab.nl
	Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] RE: extremism (article referencing
scientists
	on global warming effect on Australia)

	Kyell, 

	Interesting article today.

	Southern Ocean current faces slowdown threat 
	By Michael Byrnes 
	Thu Mar 22, 2:03 AM ET

	HOBART (Reuters) - The impact of global warming on the vast
Southern
	Ocean
	around Antarctica is starting to pose a threat to ocean currents
that
	distribute heat around the world, Australian scientists say,
citing new
	deep-water data. 

	Melting ice-sheets and glaciers in Antarctica are releasing
fresh water,
	interfering with the formation of dense "bottom water," which
sinks 4-5
	kilometers to the ocean floor and helps drive the world's ocean
	circulation
	system.

	A slowdown in the system known as "overturning circulation"
would affect
	the
	way the ocean, which absorbs 85 percent of atmospheric heat,
carries
	heat
	around the globe.

	"If the water gets fresh enough ... then it won't matter how
much ice we
	form, we won't be able to make this water cold and salty enough
to
	sink,"
	said Steve Rintoul, a senior scientist at the Australian
	government-funded
	CSIRO Marine Science.

	"Changes would be felt ... around the globe," said Rintoul, who
recently
	led
	a multinational team of scientists on an expedition to sample
deep-basin
	water south of Western Australia to the Antarctic.

	Water dense enough to sink to the ocean floor is formed in polar
regions
	by
	surface water freezing, which concentrates salt in very cold
water
	beneath
	the ice. The dense water then sinks.

	Only a few places around Antarctica and in the northern Atlantic
create
	water dense enough to sink to the ocean floor, making Antarctic
"bottom
	water" crucial to global ocean currents.

	But the freshening of Antarctic deep water was a sign that the
	"overturning
	circulation" system in the world's oceans might be slowing down,
Rintoul
	said, and similar trends are occurring in the North Atlantic.

	For the so-called Atlantic Conveyor, the surface warm water
current
	meets
	the Greenland ice sheet then cools and sinks, heading south
again and
	driving the conveyor belt process.

	But researchers fear increased melting of the Greenland ice
sheet risks
	disrupting the conveyor. If it stops, temperatures in northern
Europe
	would
	plunge.

	Rintoul, who has led teams tracking water density around the
Antarctic
	through decades of readings, said his findings add to concerns
about a
	"strangling" of the Southern Ocean by greenhouse gases and
global
	warming.

	Australian scientists warned last month that waters surrounding
	Antarctica
	were also becoming more acidic as they absorbed more carbon
dioxide
	produced
	by nations burning fossil fuels.

	Acidification of the ocean is affecting the ability of plankton
--
	microscopic marine plants, animals and bacteria -- to absorb
carbon
	dioxide,
	reducing the ocean's ability to sink greenhouse gases to the
bottom of
	the
	sea.

	Rintoul said that global warming was also changing wind patterns
in the
	Antarctic region, drawing them south away from the Australian
mainland
	and
	causing declining rainfall in western and possibly eastern
coastal
	areas.

	This was contributing to drought in Australia, one of the
world's top
	agricultural producers, he said.

	----------------------------------------------------------------
	Sandy Perle 
	Senior Vice President, Technical Operations 
	Global Dosimetry Solutions, Inc. 
	2652 McGaw Avenue
	Irvine, CA 92614

	Tel: (949) 296-2306 / (888) 437-1714 Extension 2306 
	Tel: (949) 419-1000 Extension 2306
	Fax:(949) 296-1144

	Global Dosimetry Website: http://www.dosimetry.com/ 
	Personal Website: http://sandy-travels.com/ 

	-----Original Message-----
	From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl
[mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On
	Behalf
	Of Johansen, Kjell
	Sent: Thursday, March 22, 2007 10:51 AM
	To: radsafe at radlab.nl
	Subject: [ RadSafe ] RE: extremism

	Therefore, I conclude that the extremist position is the one
taken by
	the person who sits around wanting more conclusive proof before
taking
	any action to lower the consequences of global climate change. 

	Kjell Johansen
	Whitefish Bay, WI

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