Global warming VS Global cooling, which is it..?

With Global temperatures going down, and solar radiance going down, and sunspot activity the lowest since 1913, is the planet cooling down ? Are we in for another Maunder minimum or maybe even an ice age? Or on the other hand, with excessive greenhouse gasses being pumped into the air, are we still warming the planet up? Are we looking at an overheated planet ahead? This inquiring mind wants the right answer to the question. All evidence for either is welcomed.

It takes HEAT to build the ice caps. Heat to evaporate and transfer that moisture to the poles.

The northern cap is shrinking.

What does that suggest?

This summer is the coldest summer so far i have encountered and i live in western NY. I didnt think summer around me could have ever gotten colder but it has... It seems in past years it was 95 everyday, but this year its near 75 or lower and raining for weeks on end and then bright and warm for a week and then back to drearyness

I agree that the trend is towards an Global Cooling, it was even mentioned on a tv show advertisement blurb I saw today.

If it's a cooling that affects crops in a very bad way then we're all screwed depending on where you live.

Learn how to grow cold season crops and how to keep them growing longer, like having a big compost bin inside your greenhouse in the middle and people should be able to ride out an ice age without too many losses

Too bad most don't know how, and I know little.

[edit on 7-7-2009 by star in a jar]

it really isn´t warming, it is that climates are getting to be more extreme, where it is cold, it will be colder, and where it is hot it will be hotter, for longer periods of time, weather as a whole will be harder on man, but I guess we will adapt.

Want to see all seasons in one day?, come to the andes, and you will get a chance to feel winter, spring, summer and fall in one day.

To find the answer.....one must first determine how much money is to be made with the cooling vs. warming. THEN and ONLY then will you find your answer!

Global worming is not really warming, just a much higher rate of temature fluctuation

The term Global warming is a misnomer. The misunderstanding is that when we talk of global warming we are talking about the average global temperature from across the globe. Some places will get hot other places will get colder as the extra heat one area will have is taken from another area which will make that area cooler.

Global cooling is the very possible result of global warming (ironic isnt it?) as the ice caps melt increasing the surface area of water. That in turn will act like a sponge soaking up the carbon dioxide. Also this large amount of fresh water it will lessen the saltiness of the seawater and therefore the gulf stream which conveys warm water from the equator up to the northern hemishpere will start to work less and less and may altogether stop. If that happens ICE AGE TIME

[edit on 7-7-2009 by loner007]

Originally posted by Fromabove
With Global temperatures going down, and solar radiance going down, and sunspot activity the lowest since 1913, is the planet cooling down ? Are we in for another Maunder minimum or maybe even an ice age? Or on the other hand, with excessive greenhouse gasses being pumped into the air, are we still warming the planet up? Are we looking at an overheated planet ahead? This inquiring mind wants the right answer to the question. All evidence for either is welcomed.

There is clear evidence that the Earth is warming. Although the Earth's mean temperature doesn't consistently go up every year, it's mean temperature does rise over time spans (like decades).

The graph shows the long-term trend in surface temperatures since 1880. The annual average temperatures are shown in light orange, and the jaggedness of the line indicates how much the average global surface temperature varies from year to year. Because climate is so variable form year to year, it can be easier to spot long-term trends through multi-year averages. The dark red line shows the five-year running average, which is an average of five years of annual temperatures centered on a given year. Even this five-year average shows that climate has ups and downs, but the long-term increase in global average surface temperatures is obvious. The gray “barbells” indicate the range of uncertainty. Not surprisingly, the uncertainty is larger for older measurements than for more recent ones.

Graph and article

To address the much-touted "the Earth has been cooling since 98" thing:

Wehner, who works at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif., says that the long-term trend really is toward a warmer planet, but that a single year, 1998, has temporarily thrown off the overall upward march in temperature.

El Nino and other weather factors can cause a short reversal in the warming trend for a year. A 10-year reversal is less likely, but still possible. Just as in throwing a coin, seven heads in a row is unexpected, but it does happen now and then.

From FOX News

There's also a lot of nay-say about the instruments that record mean temperatures. Here are some videos showing mean temperatures and an article that explains how recording instruments are adjusted to compensate from heat sources (such as urban areas).

Videos and article

If you're really interested in looking over some boring numbers, here's a month-by-month breakdown of the temperatures from 1880 to 2009.

Chart

Don't be fooled by sites with transparent agendas and people with a political agenda. If you don't like cap and trade, then lobby against it. However, to try and twist science into making global warming a hoax is, well, disappointing.

[edit on 7-7-2009 by Avenginggecko]

Double Post

[edit on 7-7-2009 by Avenginggecko]

reply to post by Camilo1


No living in NY gives us all four seasons in a day. The north east gets Canada's biggest export nor'easters! Weather here can be extremely fickle. 70's in Dec., snow up to your eyeballs the day after. Global warming doesn't seem to reach here!

Originally posted by loner007
The term Global warming is a misnomer. The misunderstanding is that when we talk of global warming we are talking about the average global temperature from across the globe. Some places will get hot other places will get colder as the extra heat one area will have is taken from another area which will make that area cooler.

Global cooling is the very possible result of global warming (ironic isnt it?) as the ice caps melt increasing the surface area of water. That in turn will act like a sponge soaking up the carbon dioxide. Also this large amount of fresh water it will lessen the saltiness of the seawater and therefore the gulf stream which conveys warm water from the equator up to the northern hemishpere will start to work less and less and may altogether stop. If that happens ICE AGE TIME

[edit on 7-7-2009 by loner007]

Yep. All correct.

Originally posted by Camilo1

Want to see all seasons in one day?, come to the andes, and you will get a chance to feel winter, spring, summer and fall in one day.

No #!! Photos?

That's the kind of weather I would like to experience only ONCE in my life! Nothing more!

My gut feeling says "cooling.."

The last three winters have been the worst in 100 years according to the weather people for our area. I can believe it because each year there seems to be more cold and more snow. I think cooling is more convincing than warming. Plus this summer is a washout as well. It's July and only 60 degrees here today.

Umm...it can be either or both depending on where you are and when, no?

Here's one take on it...

How Global Warming Can Chill the Planet www.livescience.com... (this one won't link...sorry.

and here's another...

Global WarmingL A Chilling Perspective

Am I wrong in thinking (along with many others) that global warming was perhaps a poor choice of term to describe what is happening? I think it's distracted many people from seeing that something unusual is happening...be in human-caused, human-contributed, or totally natural. In any case, we have to figure it out and deal with it, whether that means changing our habits or just our habitats.



[edit on 8-7-2009 by ~Lucidity]

Originally posted by ~Lucidity
Here's one take on it...

www.livescience.com..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow">How Global Warming Can Chill the Planet

and here's another...

Global WarmingL A Chilling Perspective

Am I wrong in thinking (along with many others) that global warming was perhaps a poor choice of term to describe what is happening? I think it's distracted many people from seeing that something unusual is happening...be in human-caused, human-contributed, or totally natural. In any case, we have to figure it out and deal with it, whether that means changing our habits or just our habitats.

Only time will tell how much of a role we have all played in climate change. On the other hand, it can also be shown that low solar radiance and sunspot activity, as well as a weak solar wind can have quite an effect on the planet in helping to cool it down. Less sunlight means less warming.

Global - meaning planet-wide

Warming - heating up

As usual, those with an agenda have taken this and used it to "prove" an argument when it does nothing of the sort.

If global warming causes some parts of the planet to cool, then it isn't GLOBAL warming

BTW, the term is now "climate change" since there was little evidence for sustained warming, they decided to move the goal posts so they could keep collecting those nice fat research grants.

Speaking of nice fat cheques, have a look at 2 things;

1) How much the biggest AGW or ACC proponents are making out of this

2) How much extra taxes you are paying in the name of being green, then compare that amount to how much is actually spent by government on green projects.

The bottom line is that we need to look beyond this current fad, stop polluting, stop chopping down vast amounts of forest and stop doing our best to screw up the planet.

One of the major reasons CO2 has risen is because of deforestation.

All this does is distract for real issues which we could actually do something about - if only people didn't want that nice new dishwasher/TV/Washing macine/Tumble drier/Car

etc etc etc

The single biggest cause of pollution and harm being done to the planet is our western throwaway society which consumes vast amounts of resources.

I would suggest that until people can live a more frugal life, with much less waste, they should get off their damned high horse.

When they can stop wasting for the sake of waste, we might see some progress, but until then it's all just hot air.

And before anyone asks, my energy consumption is minimal, my waste is minimal, I recycle everything I can and buy local produce wherever possible, I don't own a car, a dishwasher or a washing machine (prefering to use the laundrette) and my appliances are the most energy efficient I can buy.

If everybody starts doing the same, we might get somewhere.

reply to post by KarlG


Visit Bogotá in Colombia or Quito in Ecuador. In the early morning spring, at mid day summer, in the afternoon fall and at night winter. You can see fluctuations in temperature of +25 degrees celsius in one day. I`m not an expert but I think it has to do with being near the Equator and being 2500+ meters above sea level.

C.

The question is whether is whether man is causing it. Climate change is always happening.

Man is not causing climate change, so there is nothing we can do with controling emissions.

This is the questions that we are being conned on.