In the Northern Hemisphere since 1979, the average temperature rose by about 0.7 degrees Celsius, whereas the global average temperature rose by about 0.45 degrees, Flanner said.
For every 1 degree Celsius rise in the Northern Hemisphere, Flanner and his colleagues calculated an average of 0.6 fewer watts of solar radiation reflected to space per square meter because of reduced snow and sea ice cover. In the 18 models taken into consideration by the International Panel on Climate Change, the average was 0.25 watts per square meter per degree Celsius over the same time period. Flanner points out that the models typically calculate this feedback over 100 yearssignificantly longer than this study, which could account for some of the discrepancy. Satellite data only goes back 30 years. To further put the results in context, each square meter of Earth absorbs an average of 240 watts of solar radiation. These new calculations show that the Northern Hemisphere cryosphere is reflecting .45 watts less per square meter now than it did in 1979, due mostly to reduced spring snow cover and summer sea ice. "The cryospheric albedo feedback is a relatively small player globally, but it's been a surprisingly strong feedback mechanism over the past 30 years," Flanner said. "A feedback of this magnitude would translate into roughly 15 percent more warming, given current understanding of other feedback mechanisms." To avoid the worst effects of climate change, the scientific consensus is that the global average temperature should stay within 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit, of pre-industrial levels. Scientists are still trying to quantify the extent to which the planet will warm as greenhouse gases accumulate in the atmosphere. -----Original Message----- From: Sam [mailto:sammyc...@gmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, February 08, 2011 16:38 To: cf-community Subject: Re: Paul Krugman Blames Egypt Crisis On Global Warming My bad, it's not the only cause of the glaciers retreating and advancing. That we leave to CO2. On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 4:52 PM, Eric Roberts <ow...@threeravensconsulting.com> wrote: > > Lets go with the full quote... > > If the Indian monsoon season is weaker because of global atmospheric > changes such as El Niño, then Central Nepal must primarily rely on > water coming from the seasonal melting of glaciers and the small > amount of snowmelt that is available. > > Notice the key phrase in there is " global atmospheric changes such as > El Niño" not because of El Nino... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:334174 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
