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Published online 10 June 2008 | Nature 453, 837 (2008) | doi:10.1038/453837e
News in Brief
Senate climate debate suffers death by hot air
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Please note this is News in Brief, and so will be a short article.
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This is a welcomed end to the pseudo-scientific claims that Earth's climate is: a.) Warmed by CO2 from the economic engines of Western economies, and b.) Immune from cyclic changes in the Sun - a variable star! It is fitting that NASA announced yesterday that it still does not understand the Sun. http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/10jun_solarprobe.htm?list1080446
One thing which could have a drastic effect on climate appears to have been totally neglected. That thing is ocean contamination creating turbidity. Turbidity will affect the depth of penetration of IR radiation and thus surface temperature. Turbidity will be caused by a variety of causes including life forms but also by fall out from industrial soot including soot from aircraft. Surface film as caused by oil may cause a change in reflectivity of the ocean water. I think it is urgent that these things be researched Robert Stringer
I got a good laugh out of the title.
The first posting/poster needs a major reality check. There is a large difference between arguing that we don't understand all the mechanisms of climate change (which is true) and arguing for the absurd position that the steady rise in CO2 has absolutely nothing to do with it (which virtually no serious scientist studying this issue would support). It is even more absurd to suggest that someone who believes in carbon mediation of global warming denies cyclical aspects to solar dynamics. I'm sure the current administration is hoping that enough of the population has their head in the sand and agrees with Oliver Manual. Fortunately, that does not appear to be the case. DFW Harvard University
Oliver: If the opponents of the bill had defeated it through intelligent debate then I suppose you could argue that the science behind global warming had suffered a setback. However, as they argued the case on an economical level and were forced to resort to childish delaying tactics, they managed to neatly avoided the whole science aspect as much as possible. So, either they lack your conviction that global warming is some sort of pseudo-scientific conspiracy, or they just don't understand the science behind it enough to argue against it effectively. I've been reading your comments on such articles for a while now and I'm afraid I still don't understand your explanations as to why CO2 has no effect on global temperature, and why we should pay no attention to global warming. Perhaps I lack the specialist vocabulary or something - I'm not a climate scientist, after all. Could anybody help me out?
Dear Isabelle and Doug, Thanks for your comments. You are right, Isabelle, the bill was not defeated by "intelligent debate." That is the missing ingredient. I also agree with Doug that someone certainly "needs a major reality check." By reality, I refer to the real world that well-designed experiments measure quantitatively. These measured quantities and their implication for Earth's climate are summarized here: "Fingerprints of a local supernova," in SUPERNOVA RESEARCH, (Nova Science Publishers, Inc., Hauppauge, NY, in press, 2008). http://www.omatumr.com/abstracts2007/20071202_Manuel_and_Ratcliffe.pdf With kind regards, Oliver K. Manuel, Emeritus Professor of Nuclear and Space Studies, Former NASA PI for Apollo Samples, http://www.omatumr.com/
Doug: Here are the experimental facts -- reality for Earth's heat source: _a.) MEASURED abundances of atoms in the solar wind [over the mass range of 3-136 mass units (mu)] and elements in the photosphere [over the mass range of 25-207 mu] clearly tell us that the Sun is an iron-rich, plasma diffuser that sorts atoms and elements by mass. Both MEASUREMENTS indicate that the interior of the Sun consists mostly of the same elements [Fe, Ni, O, Si and S] as the Earth and meteorites. Solar mass fractionation covers the surface of the Sun with the lightest elements (91% H and 9% He). The particles and heat that continuously pour from the Sun and warm planet Earth CANNOT BE EXPLAINED BY HYDROGEN FUSION. http://www.omatumr.com/Photographs/Suns_surface.htm http://www.omatumr.com/images/Fig1.htm http://www.omatumr.com/Data/1983Data.htm http://www.omatumr.com/archive/SolarAbundances.pdf http://www.omatumr.com/Data/2005Data.htm http://www.omatumr.com/abstracts2005/Oxygen_to_Carbon_Ratio.pdf http://www.omatumr.com/abstracts2005/Fk01.pdf http://arxiv.org/ftp/astro-ph/papers/0609/0609509.pdf http://www.omatumr.com/Photographs/PhotoGallerySolarOutput2.htm _b.) SUPERNOVA DEBRIS FORMED THE SUN and its planetary system before short-lived radioactive nuclei decayed away and before isotopes and elements from different stellar regions completely mixed: http://www.omatumr.com/Origin.htm http://www.omatumr.com/Data/1960Data.htm http://www.omatumr.com/Data/1972Data.htm http://www.omatumr.com/Data/1975Data.htm http://www.omatumr.com/Data/1976Data.htm http://www.omatumr.com/Data/1991Data.htm http://www.omatumr.com/Data/1993Data.htm http://www.omatumr.com/Data/1994Data.htm http://www.omatumr.com/Data/1996Data.htm http://www.omatumr.com/Data/1998Data.htm http://www.omatumr.com/archive/StrangeXenon.pdf http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v277/n5698/abs/277615a0.html _c.) The Sun formed on the remnant supernova core, a neutron star. Solar energy, solar neutrinos, solar cycles of flares and eruptions, and the solar wind arise from repulsive interactions between neutrons in the Sun's dense, energetic core. This is Earth's UNSTEADY HEAT SOURCE. http://www.omatumr.com/Photographs/Suns_core.htm http://www.omatumr.com/Data/2000Data.htm http://www.omatumr.com/abstracts2003/jfe-neutronrep.pdf http://www.omatumr.com/abstracts2003/jfe-superfluidity.pdf http://www.omatumr.com/abstracts2007/20071202_Manuel_and_Ratcliffe.pdf Sincerely, Oliver K. Manuel, Emeritus Professor and Former NASA PI for Apollo Samples, http://www.omatumr.com/