Comments on: The Scientific and Social Challenges of Global Warming http://litablog.org/2007/10/the-scientific-and-social-challenges-of-global-warming/ Library and Information Technology Association Wed, 09 May 2012 13:58:30 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: John http://litablog.org/2007/10/the-scientific-and-social-challenges-of-global-warming/comment-page-1/#comment-40710 John Tue, 09 Oct 2007 15:40:17 +0000 http://litablog.org/2007/10/06/the-scientific-and-social-challenges-of-global-warming/#comment-40710 What did this talk have to do with Library and Information Technology? Why not use this valuable time to talk about LIBRARIES? This is the Library and Information Technology Association after all! What a waste of my time, dues, and registration fees. Please LITA, have sessions about Libraries, not political issues that have nothing to do with why we went to Denver! Do they talk about library technology as a keynote at a global warming conference? I doubt it. LITA only has about two days worth of content (spread over 3) to begin with, why dilute it like this? What did this talk have to do with Library and Information Technology? Why not use this valuable time to talk about LIBRARIES? This is the Library and Information Technology Association after all! What a waste of my time, dues, and registration fees. Please LITA, have sessions about Libraries, not political issues that have nothing to do with why we went to Denver! Do they talk about library technology as a keynote at a global warming conference? I doubt it. LITA only has about two days worth of content (spread over 3) to begin with, why dilute it like this?

]]> By: Genny http://litablog.org/2007/10/the-scientific-and-social-challenges-of-global-warming/comment-page-1/#comment-40699 Genny Tue, 09 Oct 2007 07:12:53 +0000 http://litablog.org/2007/10/06/the-scientific-and-social-challenges-of-global-warming/#comment-40699 So the question then would be, what set up that unusual pattern of atmospheric pressure at the beginning of the 21st century -- within the past decade? Was this another effect of carbon dioxide levels created by human activity (i.e., increased global warming effects) or was another cause identified for these unusual winds suddenly occurring now? This sounds like yet another of the understated scientific communications that the speaker was referring to. The scientists don't want to say things that sound soppy like, "The polar bears are going to die because global warming created new weather patterns that destroyed their ice." Instead, the more "scientific" communication observes that wind levels have become "unusual." From the NASA page: "The Arctic Ocean's shift from perennial to seasonal ice is preconditioning the sea ice cover there for more efficient melting and further ice reductions each summer. The shift to seasonal ice decreases the reflectivity of Earth's surface and allows more solar energy to be absorbed in the ice-ocean system." I interpret this to mean: The polar ice cap we were all taught about in school is disappearing, and since its white ice can no longer reflect the sun's rays out into space, our atmosphere will warm up. In other words, a cascade effect of global warming causing ice melt causing more global warming. I must admit that until this talk at LITA I'd been under the impression that a permanent 4-degree change in temperature really was no big deal. I've read virtually nothing on the subject. The conventional wisdom is Global Warming Bad, but what does that mean? Jeffrey's point about it being a rate of change that ordinarily would be in the millions of years, happening in mere decades, made an impression. Although I would say his use of too many charts and graphs made him a little too much of the scientist (think librarian) dumping too much information at the audience (think library patrons). How often do we overwhelm our customers with too much information and not enough affect? So the question then would be, what set up that unusual pattern of atmospheric pressure at the beginning of the 21st century — within the past decade? Was this another effect of carbon dioxide levels created by human activity (i.e., increased global warming effects) or was another cause identified for these unusual winds suddenly occurring now?

This sounds like yet another of the understated scientific communications that the speaker was referring to. The scientists don’t want to say things that sound soppy like, “The polar bears are going to die because global warming created new weather patterns that destroyed their ice.” Instead, the more “scientific” communication observes that wind levels have become “unusual.”

From the NASA page: “The Arctic Ocean’s shift from perennial to seasonal ice is preconditioning the sea ice cover there for more efficient melting and further ice reductions each summer. The shift to seasonal ice decreases the reflectivity of Earth’s surface and allows more solar energy to be absorbed in the ice-ocean system.”

I interpret this to mean: The polar ice cap we were all taught about in school is disappearing, and since its white ice can no longer reflect the sun’s rays out into space, our atmosphere will warm up. In other words, a cascade effect of global warming causing ice melt causing more global warming.

I must admit that until this talk at LITA I’d been under the impression that a permanent 4-degree change in temperature really was no big deal. I’ve read virtually nothing on the subject. The conventional wisdom is Global Warming Bad, but what does that mean? Jeffrey’s point about it being a rate of change that ordinarily would be in the millions of years, happening in mere decades, made an impression. Although I would say his use of too many charts and graphs made him a little too much of the scientist (think librarian) dumping too much information at the audience (think library patrons). How often do we overwhelm our customers with too much information and not enough affect?

]]> By: Ron http://litablog.org/2007/10/the-scientific-and-social-challenges-of-global-warming/comment-page-1/#comment-40580 Ron Sat, 06 Oct 2007 18:28:46 +0000 http://litablog.org/2007/10/06/the-scientific-and-social-challenges-of-global-warming/#comment-40580 Have you seen this latest NASA report? http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/quikscat-20071001.html "Nghiem said the rapid decline in winter perennial ice the past two years was caused by unusual winds. "Unusual atmospheric conditions set up wind patterns that compressed the sea ice, loaded it into the Transpolar Drift Stream and then sped its flow out of the Arctic," he said. When that sea ice reached lower latitudes, it rapidly melted in the warmer waters. "The winds causing this trend in ice reduction were set up by an unusual pattern of atmospheric pressure that began at the beginning of this century," Nghiem said. " Have you seen this latest NASA report?

http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/quikscat-20071001.html

“Nghiem said the rapid decline in winter perennial ice the past two years was caused by unusual winds. “Unusual atmospheric conditions set up wind patterns that compressed the sea ice, loaded it into the Transpolar Drift Stream and then sped its flow out of the Arctic,” he said. When that sea ice reached lower latitudes, it rapidly melted in the warmer waters.

“The winds causing this trend in ice reduction were set up by an unusual pattern of atmospheric pressure that began at the beginning of this century,” Nghiem said. “

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