www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Global warming could be twice as bad as previously forecast.

A new study by MIT shows that global warming could be twice as bad as previously forecast. The study shows that Earth temperatures are likely to increase between 3.5C and 7.4C (6.3F and 13.3F) in this century. An increase of 5.2C (9.4F) this century would double the previous forecasts. And that would prove catastrophic for millions of people, especially (but not limited to) coastal areas.

I'm not trying to start a fight about global warming. I just want to share the news of this new study.

Here is the news article about the study.

-- John




Global temperatures could rise by more than 7C this century
By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent
Last Updated: 10:48PM BST 20 May 2009
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/ea...7C-could-kill-billions-this-century.html


The study, carried out in unprecedented detail, projected that without "rapid and massive action" temperatures worldwide will increase by as much as 7.4C (13.3F) by 2100, from levels seen in 2000.

Previous estimates have concluded that the likely increase this century would probably be 2.4C (4.3F).

However the new study by scientists at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology included projected economic growth in developing countries and new information on the affect increased carbon emissions will have on biological processes, such as the capacity of the ocean to absorb greenhouse gases.

The results are based on 400 trials of the new system, each time using slightly different variations in data at the start to try and iron out errors.

Study co-author Ronald Prinn, Professor of Atmospheric Chemistry and director of MIT's Centre for Global Climate Change, said all the results resulted in an increase in temperatures.

The projections average out at a likely Earth temperature increase of 5.2C (9.4F) this century, and conclude there is a 90 per cent chance the temperature change will be between 3.5C and 7.4C (6.3F and 13.3F).

"Overall they stacked up so they caused more projected global warming. There is significantly more risk than we previously expected," he said.

"This increases the urgency for significant policy action. There is no way the world can and should take these risks."

Friends of the Earth climate campaigner Tom Picken said that if the new research by MIT is accurate the results for the planet would be catastrophic.

He called for the world to try and reduce the chance of such an increase in temperatures by committing to reduce carbon emissions at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen at the end of this year.

"The consequences of such changes would be off the known scale. They are unthinkable," he said

"A 7.4C rise would mean severe ecosystem collapse worldwide, with total economic collapse in many parts of the world.

"The planet would face resource wars between people, and you can safely say many, many hundred of millions of people would die," he said.

This is all hype and not based in factual science.

THERE IS NO SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE OF MAN-MADE GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE (or global warming, or global cooling, or whatever you want to call it).

Please do not post junk science. The global warming nutties have more to do with false religion then they do with science. In the 1970s and 80s it was "global cooling would cool the earth by 10 degrees Celsius by the year 2000". It didn't happen. In the 1990s Al Gore & friends claimed that by 2000 we'd see massive global warming and New York & Los Angles threatened by rising sea levels. It didn't happen. Now to get attention the religion of global warming is making dire predictions and ignoring hard science. Thank the Lord most people are sensible and ignore this! The fact is that that the earth has not been warming since 1998, and in early 2009 was colder than in earlier years. It's cooling. This is not anecdotal. It's scientific, from temperature research surveys. We are actually cooling. Solid science has not determined whether man has anything more then a minor, transitory effect on climate. The larger consensus is that that there are patterns within patterns (trends over centuries combined with the equivalent of 5, 25, 50 and hundred year floods).

If you come up with a real scientific analysis that provides irrefutable evidence (measured, not calculated) you may post it.

Scientific Approach to Climate Change [drroyspencer.com]