Originally posted by stikkinikki
We have been experiencing a rapid warming trend but that could turn around into a rapid cooling trend and send us into another ice age. It's all
about feedbacks.
"What goes up, must come down", is only true for gravity. Not temperature.
You all have to understand that outer space is super cold. You will turn to ice instantly in the dark of space. However, we are close to the Sun. With
zero protection, the Sun will burn you instantly. It is extreme hot, and extreme cold.
Earth has a system that keeps it from getting too hot, or too cold, and usually equalizes, but if the Earth gets too hot at any point, pressure
differences in the air pressure could destroy certain elements that we need to survive, and it wont be able to equalize back to normal.
ALL important life needs water to survive, and if the pressure of our air changes drastically, all our water could evaporate, and we will never see it
again. Water needs to be at a certain pressure for it to be "liquid".
www.lsbu.ac.uk...
www.stormsurf.com...
Why is temperature important? Because hot air is less dense than cold air, and when hot and cold air collide, the hot air is forced to rise over the
colder air. Cold air typically is dryer than warm air and originates from our planet's poles. Warm air comes from the tropics/equator. Whenever cold
dry air moves away from the poles, it eventually encounters warm wet air moving away from the equator. The warm wet air is forced up and over the cold
air. When the warm air is forced up, it causes surface air pressure to drop, sort of like having a small vacuum develop at the earth's surface at the
boundary between the two air masses. Cold air rushes in to fill the area of lower air pressure, which causes more warm air to be displaced upward, and
more cold air moves in, forcing more warm air upward, and a cycle starts to develop. Also, factor-in that the earth rotates from west to east,
dragging the atmosphere with it. The low-pressure area (also known as a low pressure center or system) starts to rotate, and all this moving air
creates wind, and lots of it. In the north hemisphere, wind rotates counter-clockwise around a storm center, and clockwise in the south hemisphere
(this driven by the Coriolis effect).
So a storm forms in response to an extreme difference in air pressure, driven by the movement of cold and warm air. Eventually either the cold or
warm air dissipates, and equilibrium becomes re-established and calm, less-windy weather prevails.
Pressure is what it is all about, not so much temperature.
There are a million things that can go wrong with our pollution. Right now we are already seeing the start of it, extreme weather changes hot, and
cold. If it gets too hot in a certain area, it could stay that way, and not rebound back. It's not true for the reverse, if it gets too cold, it can
always rebound back, but once it gets too hot, its going to be hell to get it back to normal.
[edit on 24-1-2009 by ALLis0NE]
