Scientists Warn of Perilous Climate Shift Within Decades, Not Centuries

Famed climate scientist Dr. hansen, and his colleagues have released a new paper on the state of the environment in lieu of climate change and the consensus from them and even those scientists which disagree is that more needs to be done. The only other known time in history when there was a dramatic change in the climate was the Younger Dryas event where global temperatures dropped dramatically. However, this time around, scientists are claiming that the drastic change in temperature(s) might take place in a matter of decades.

The paper, written by Dr. Hansen and 18 other authors, dwells on the last time Earth warmed naturally, about 120,000 years ago, when the temperature reached a level estimated to have been only slightly higher than today. Large chunks of the polar ice disintegrated then, and scientists have established that the sea level rose 20 to 30 feet. Climate scientists agree that humanity is about to cause an equal or greater rise in sea level, but they have tended to assume that such a large increase would take centuries, at least. The new paper argues that it could happen far more rapidly, with the worst case being several feet of sea-level rise over the next 50 years, followed by increases so precipitous that they would force humanity to beat a hasty retreat from the coasts. “That would mean loss of all coastal cities, most of the world’s large cities and all their history,” Dr. Hansen said in a video statement that accompanied the new paper. The paper identifies a specific mechanism that the scientists say they believe could help cause such an abrupt climate shift. Their idea is that the initial melting of the great ice sheets will put a cap of relatively fresh water on the ocean surfaces near Antarctica and Greenland. That, they think, will slow or even shut down the system of ocean currents that redistributes heat around the planet and allows some of it to escape into space. Warmth will then accumulate in the deeper parts of the ocean, the scientists think, speeding the melting of parts of the ice sheets that sit below sea level. In addition, a wider temperature difference between the tropics and the poles will encourage powerful storms, the researchers contend. The paper cites evidence, much of it contested, that immense storms happened during the warm period 120,000 years ago.

From what I gather about the Younger Dryas event, it happened over a period of many decades; roughly over a period of a couple hundred to a thousand years. Man made climate change is happening much more rapidly and I think it will take place over a much shorter time period. Is the reason for the political inaction is because it's too late to do anything? I want to hear your opinion.........What says ATS?

www.nytimes.com...

Yes, the scare is on. If they can't convince us with fake data, skewed graphs, and false consensus, the next step is to try to scare us to death. And all the "news" sites, ATS and Drudge included, march along in lock-step helping these guys out.

a reply to: lostbook

For those of us that survived the 90`s "end of the world global warming" I say: Who cares? Bite me

I am going to drive an 8 cylinder while spraying hair spray into mother earths face. Not really, but I am done with LIARS calling wolf.

Oh no, the world is ending again,.....sigh

a reply to: lostbook

So does this mean the UK will finally start getting some interesting weather ?

I can't wait, seriously, I hate our weather, I'm all for climate change if it means we finally get a different climate

a reply to: lostbook

10 reasons I bet this is bullish*t

freedom-articles.toolsforfreedom.com...



Numbers 11, 12:

Agenda 21, the "carbon tax", etc. it seems like a great way to scare the masses into giving up either other freedoms or having to pay more for daily living


Reason Number 13:

reminds me of this www.collective-evolution.com... (ATS thread - www.abovetopsecret.com... )

Im really skeered. I grew up fearing an ice age, and a russian nuke attack. Duck and take cover! They taught us this in school. Hide under the desk and you will be ok if the ruskies nuke us. Ok, now its global warming that will cause a new ice age? FTW!

Everything in the article sounds very feasable. And I do believe that man has exacerbated the issue extensivly with the production of carbon emmision in lieu with the green house gas effect. However such an even was going to happen anyway if not in a few hundred years or a few thousand regardless of our actions. Such events have happend and will always happen.

Now is the time to develop forms of climate control via terraforming, in order to maintain our current ecological state.

For that we need to invest in more powerful forms of renewable energy, intigrated with massive weather manipulation on a massive scale.

My main concern is not the loss of land due to the rise in sea level, its the oceanic ecological impact we've seen happen with the rapid increase in ocean temperatures. Not to mention the super cells they produce.

originally posted by: tadaman
Oh no, the world is ending again,.....sigh

In decades. S# ... I was hoping I'd be around long enough to see it.

My truck will blow your doors off. And, pass me that can of hairspray when you're done with it. I wanna see if I can make my head look like Trumps.

a reply to: lostbook

Also in regards to sea level rises, we keep putting more boats into the ocean, boats displace water, therefore the more weight we add to the water the higher it rises. So the solution ? Remove the boats

Seriously though using Archimedes principle, if the Ice is floating on the water, then how does the melting of the ice increase sea levels because using Archimedes principle the mass of the ice would equal the mass of the water so in theory when the ice melts there is no difference in mass, the mass has just changed form from solid to liquid ?

What I mean is, if I place an ice cube into a glass of water the water level rises, when the ice cube melts, the water level remains the same level when the ice cube was intact, so why does ice melting in the ocean cause a rise in sea level when the ice itself rests on the ocean ?

The bigger the lie, the more people will believe it.

I also cite Godwin's Law...

Global Warming/Climate Change is all crap, being sold to us to line someone else's pocket...

They really should start tossing this crap in the Hoax bin...

a reply to: lostbook

Yes, they've been making these predictions for decades and they are consistently wrong. Whats makes these guys any better than a jesus doomsday cult?

wow even the science forums now. my last bastion of reason on this site. this site is doomed now. years and years, its sad to see it come to this.

originally posted by: lostbook
Famed climate scientist Dr. hansen, and his colleagues have released a new paper on the state of the environment in lieu of climate change and the consensus from them and even those scientists which disagree is that more needs to be done. The only other known time in history when there was a dramatic change in the climate was the Younger Dryas event where global temperatures dropped dramatically. However, this time around, scientists are claiming that the drastic change in temperature(s) might take place in a matter of decades.

The paper, written by Dr. Hansen and 18 other authors, dwells on the last time Earth warmed naturally, about 120,000 years ago, when the temperature reached a level estimated to have been only slightly higher than today. Large chunks of the polar ice disintegrated then, and scientists have established that the sea level rose 20 to 30 feet. Climate scientists agree that humanity is about to cause an equal or greater rise in sea level, but they have tended to assume that such a large increase would take centuries, at least. The new paper argues that it could happen far more rapidly, with the worst case being several feet of sea-level rise over the next 50 years, followed by increases so precipitous that they would force humanity to beat a hasty retreat from the coasts. “That would mean loss of all coastal cities, most of the world’s large cities and all their history,” Dr. Hansen said in a video statement that accompanied the new paper. The paper identifies a specific mechanism that the scientists say they believe could help cause such an abrupt climate shift. Their idea is that the initial melting of the great ice sheets will put a cap of relatively fresh water on the ocean surfaces near Antarctica and Greenland. That, they think, will slow or even shut down the system of ocean currents that redistributes heat around the planet and allows some of it to escape into space. Warmth will then accumulate in the deeper parts of the ocean, the scientists think, speeding the melting of parts of the ice sheets that sit below sea level. In addition, a wider temperature difference between the tropics and the poles will encourage powerful storms, the researchers contend. The paper cites evidence, much of it contested, that immense storms happened during the warm period 120,000 years ago.

From what I gather about the Younger Dryas event, it happened over a period of many decades; roughly over a period of a couple hundred to a thousand years. Man made climate change is happening much more rapidly and I think it will take place over a much shorter time period. Is the reason for the political inaction is because it's too late to do anything? I want to hear your opinion.........What says ATS?

www.nytimes.com...

Well he's famous alright.
As for political action, they are pulling a bob or two into government coffers.
As for man made climate change, that's AGW btw, not climate change or Global warming per se, could you enlarge on that just a little bit. Then sort out why just back in 2009 why a dedicated satellite was launched to measure the global temperatures of the Earth from space in a more accurate way than ever before.
Who needs that, if the science was already irrefutable, and not a matter of discourse....blah blah.
For the OP, to add in explanation, this is how to discuss the science between two scientists, Roy Spencer and Gavin Schmidt, climate modeller....just like your man! ( Schmidt is now head of GISS, and a key figure in the climategate e-mails)

Yes, it's always going to happen years from now and when it doesn't nobody will even remember this guy. Rise several feet over the next 50 years? unless it happens over night, I'm sure mankind will adapt.

originally posted by: Discotech
a reply to: lostbook

Also in regards to sea level rises, we keep putting more boats into the ocean, boats displace water, therefore the more weight we add to the water the higher it rises. So the solution ? Remove the boats

Seriously though using Archimedes principle, if the Ice is floating on the water, then how does the melting of the ice increase sea levels because using Archimedes principle the mass of the ice would equal the mass of the water so in theory when the ice melts there is no difference in mass, the mass has just changed form from solid to liquid ?

What I mean is, if I place an ice cube into a glass of water the water level rises, when the ice cube melts, the water level remains the same level when the ice cube was intact, so why does ice melting in the ocean cause a rise in sea level when the ice itself rests on the ocean ?

Jesus H! Talk about a little knowledge being a dangerous thing....dangerously deluded!

Greenland (land not floating) is covered in ice that is 1.2 MILES THICK and it is melting, total loss would raise sea levels by 7.2m
Antarctica (land not floating) has 28 cubic KILOMETERS of ice and total loss would raise sea levels by 58m. Antarctica is warming faster than world average.

Right now I can hear the skeptics frantically typing away: but but but all BS because Antarctica sea ice is expanding. This is true and is due to melting fresh water, cold air (weather) etc etc. However the sea ice is metres thick whereas the warming main body of ice is kilometers thick.

So folks stick your fingers in your ears, hands over eyes and sing lah lah lah loudly and hope it's all BS and goes away....oh hang on all contributors so far are doing just that and yet it's not going away. Ignorance is bliss I suppose.

All people, even scientists, want to see their predictions come true in their lifetime. My mother-in-law has been saying for 40 years that the second coming of Christ is at hand. Now that she's 88 and somewhat senile, she's becoming increasingly agitated that the rapture hasn't happened yet.

The sad truth is that there is very little "pure" science anymore... There was a time when scientists tried to understand natural systems. Today most "science" is either government funded or corporate funded... agenda driven science... MONEY driven "science"... how can we take what they are shoveling, without questioning the source is absolutely beyond me. It was on the National Geographic channel, and THEY said it was so. The scarier they can make it, the better. Never let a good crises go unexploited... even better if you create the crises with "scientific backing"... paid for by us.

Wake up...

a reply to: lostbook

This kind of crap is a lot like what the Y2K people and 2012 end of the world people said and we are still here. I can't believe people still spout this end of the world crap. Maybe we will get hit by and Asteroid tomorrow. Maybe a super volcano will erupt. We are all going to die someday and I am not going to worry about it...life's too short.

a reply to: lostbook

If this is true, it is already too late to change things now and we should prepare to adapt. All research should be redirected toward rebuilding coastal infrastructure, genetically engineering crops for different conditions, preparing to pipe large amounts of water around the country, and preparing for ecological shifts over the next century. The melting of ice sheets that drain into the Atlantic could actually stop the Atlantic Conveyor and GB and northern Europe could get a lot colder.