Skeptic used his keyboard to write :
> FromTheRafters <
err...@nomail.afraid.org> wrote:
>
> [...]
>> A better question might be "Do you grow more blankets as the temp gets
>> warmer?"
>
> I'll settle for denialists acknowledging basic thermodynamics.
>
>>> A rising level of CO2 in the atmosphere is like putting
>>> an extra blanket on your bed - you get warmer. This is
>>> elementary school thermodynamics - not magic.
>>
>> The CO2 enhances whatever trend there is. It gets sequestered as it
>> gets cooler, and released as it gets warmer - contributing to the
>> temperature swing in either direction (over and above that which is
>> 'normal' fluctuations due to orbit or tilt.
>
> ᅵquᅵ? The earth's orbit and the sun's power level have little
> to do with atmospheric CO2 levels (at least to first order.)
I said nothing about the Sun's power, nor anything about what order of
magnitude CO2 had over/under what orbit and tilt contributed.
Can you post any scientific evidence that CO2 levels drive the
temperature as opposed to the temperature driving the CO2 levels? My
statement was about your analogy to more blankets making you warmer -
as if the blankets *caused* the warming. The latest things I have read
on the subject has taken the stance that CO2 amplifies the existing
temperature changes which are in turn driven by astronomical variations
and not by atmospheric content.
I'm not weighing in on the whole global warming debate, just
disagreeing with what seemed to me was an overly simplified (and likley
wrong) mental model of a CO2 'blanket' making you warmer.
>
> I'll settle for denialists acknowledging basic CO2 measurements.
Temperature and CO2 levels seem to track, but as yet I haven't seen
where the conclusion is that CO2 levels 'drive' the warming - as your
model seems to suggest - is warranted.
>
>> The problem is that we are releasing previously sequestered CO2 as we
>> burn fossil fuel and we assume that the entire temperature swing is
>> *caused* by our meddling rather than just being enhanced by it. Last
>> years temperature or even the year before tells us *nothing* about the
>> climate.
>
> We already know the steady state climate for a 400 ppm CO2
> atmosphere by studying the Paleocene. This has nothing to
> do with the sources and sinks of CO2.
>
> I'll be happy to discuss the nuances of climate modeling
> and unanswered questions of the current climate changes,
> but the denialists at least have to acknowledge 17th century
> thermodynamics first. All you'll get out of academic
> discussion at this point is more FUD as they seize on
> "yes, but" answers.
I'm perfectly willing to believe that adding CO2 artificially to the
atmosphere during a warming trend is *not* a good idea. I'm unconvinced
that CO2 drives the temperature up as is usually concluded in a simple
blanket model when reviewing geologic records.