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Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Defining "Denial"

I have no problem accepting that in theory adding CO2 to the atmosphere will warm the planet. I have no problem admitting that people put CO2 into the atmosphere. What I "deny" is that we know that humanity affects the climate more than natural factors as the models assume.

Really, if mankind's contributions dominated the real world (as opposed to the models), the planet's temperature would have risen over the last decade and a half rather than remaining flat.

And no, this trend is not countered by saying that the last decade and a half are the warmest on record. Even if true (and there is reason to doubt that), it still doesn't explain why the temperatures haven't risen over the last decade and a half despite much more CO2 in the atmosphere.

So this science is interesting:

Between 1900 and 2012 temperatures have increased by about one degree Fahrenheit in coastal areas along the Pacific Ocean. ...

But a new study carried out by researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Washington concluded that this was not caused by a build up of greenhouse gases.

Instead, they found it was mainly due to changes in ocean and wind circulation patterns which could affect temperatures over periods lasting longer than a century. When the winds drop less water evaporates and temperatures rise.

Most of the warming actually took place before 1940 when concentrations of greenhouse gases were lower, the study found.

As the researchers hasten to add, this doesn't deny the greenhouse effect. I'd never say that.

But what is does say is that over more than a century on our west coast (no mere weather there), factors other than mankind have a greater effect on our climate than the global warming believers insist.

Tip to Instapundit.