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Study Links Rapid Ice Sheet Melting With Distant Volcanic Eruptions (upi.com)

schwit1 quotes UPI: New research suggests volcanic eruptions can trigger periods of rapid ice sheet melting... "Over a time span of 1,000 years, we found that volcanic eruptions generally correspond with enhanced ice sheet melting within a year or so," Francesco Muschitiello, a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, said in a news release. The volcanoes of note weren't situated next-door, but thousands of miles from the ice sheet, a reminder of the unexpected global impacts of volcanic activity.

The new research -- detailed this week in the journal Nature Communications -- suggests ash ejected into the atmosphere by erupting volcanoes can be deposited thousands of miles away. When it's deposited on ice sheets, the dark particles cause the ice to absorb more thermal energy and accelerate melting... Some scientists have even suggested melting encouraged by volcanic eruptions could trigger even more eruptions, a positive feedback loop. As glaciers and ice sheets melt, pressure is relieved from the planet's crust, allowing magma to rise to the surface.

117 comments

  1. Let's bury that one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    It contradicts climate change "science"...

    1. Re:Let's bury that one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      But we have to get rid of this anthropogenic volcanic activity. Without some solid science to stop it, the liquid magma keeps on rising.

    2. Re:Let's bury that one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not necessarily. If you mix the ice with salt, you'll get melted ice, it'll just be colder than the usual freezing point of water (you may have used this to make ice cream in a highschool science class or something). So depending on the chemical composition of the ash, it could both darken the sky (causing a mini ice age) and cause localized melting in regions where ash lands.

    3. Re:Let's bury that one by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      How exactly does it contradict it?

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    4. Re:Let's bury that one by The123king · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      I think if anything, it proves it. Large quantities of greenhouse gases (sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide) are emitted with every eruption. If these gases are making ice melt when there's a volcanic eruption, it doesn't take a genius to realize the CO2 coming out the back of your car is probably going to have the same effect.

      --
      If you gave me a choice between a printer and a giraffe with explosive diarrhoea, i'll get my ladder and my raincoat
    5. Re:Let's bury that one by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 3, Interesting

      It's a different pathway, though. Extra heating of the atmosphere by increased GHG concentrations is a different way of making the ice melt faster than decreasing its albedo through fine particles, and volcanoes could be effecting both. On that note, though, I'm wondering about other aspects of human activities such as emitting coal ash. Certainly past local effects of our coal plants involved dirtying up everything around. Volcanic CO2 output is negligible compared to recent fossil CO2 release from human activity, though. Not sure about SO2 effects.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    6. Re:Let's bury that one by Jzanu · · Score: 1

      Environmental problems are absolutely interconnected. Technological change solving one allows the evidence of another to be collected. So it was with the particulate problem from soot and the phenomenon of global warming. The chemical basis of both is easily understood, but the environmental interaction was such that the warming effect of CO2 emissions was partly masked by the sunlight reduction from coal ash and other particulates in the atmosphere.

    7. Re:Let's bury that one by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

      So by scrubbing the coal ash, but keeping the CO2 in "cleaner" coal plants, we've actually exacerbated the warming impact of fossil fuel electricity? It looks like there's always something next waiting to bite us.

      --
      Ezekiel 23:20
    8. Re:Let's bury that one by nedlohs · · Score: 1

      I think if anything, it proves it. Large quantities of greenhouse gases (sulphur dioxide, carbon dioxide) are emitted with every eruption. If these gases are making ice melt when there's a volcanic eruption, it doesn't take a genius to realize the CO2 coming out the back of your car is probably going to have the same effect.

      Yes, most people far short of being genius all the way up to being a genius can see that that makes no sense at all. Just because something does X and Y, and X causes Z, doesn't mean that something else that does Y will cause Z. That really should be obvious.

    9. Re:Let's bury that one by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

      In this case, the suggested mechanism is the significant amounts of particulate literally darkening the ice sheets. Of course, that doesn't mean we need to disregard the other stuff coming out.

      --
      There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
    10. Re:Let's bury that one by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Sulfur dioxide is not a greenhouse gas.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    11. Re:Let's bury that one by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What a cool word that is: "magma".

      Ferret

    12. Re:Let's bury that one by The123king · · Score: 1

      I think your getting mixed up here. X does Z, Y does Z. Z causes N. Therefore both X and Y are doing Z which causes N.

      --
      If you gave me a choice between a printer and a giraffe with explosive diarrhoea, i'll get my ladder and my raincoat
    13. Re:Let's bury that one by omnichad · · Score: 1

      Exacerbated? No. Made it more easily observable because there wasn't something with a bigger impact overshadowing it. It was just harder to collect data before.

  2. Says someone who discards the fingerprints of AGW by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And instead goes blamestorming democrats "and their scientist"....

  3. Re:The problem with climate science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    PEAT

    (facepalm so hard it hurts)

  4. Re:Mini Ice Age? Krakatoa? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    You know, you might be right, except for the question not being climate patterns, but the melting of glaciers, which are not entirely the same thing.

  5. Re: Mini Ice Age? Krakatoa? by LifesABeach · · Score: 0

    Thatâ(TM)s fFUNNY! An A/C thinking itâ(TM)s aware!

  6. The problem with climate change deniers... by hyades1 · · Score: 1

    Aroint thee, troll.

    --
    I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
  7. Re:The problem with climate science by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    What if Pete is a really fat boy?

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  8. Re:The problem with climate science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Troll

    What's absurd is that people have to use Anonymous Coward on a tech/science site for fear of being labelled a DENIÈR. Any deviation from the church of Al Gore is punished with name calling and humiliation.

  9. Soviets tried this. by Bright+Apollo · · Score: 1

    An open shipping lane across the top of the world would unlock the Siberian landmass for the Russians, and then who knows what happens next...

    http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/wa...

    --#

  10. Re:The problem with climate science by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 4, Informative
    The problem here is "because something is complex, we cant model it" is a new and improved kind of terminally stupid.

    Rocket science is complex, but we (maybe not you) model it adequately.

    Pete and Bogs* may be Bart Simpson's school mates for all I know, but it is clear as hell you do not understand the concept of science, and need to investigate that before you go on to find what science tells you.

    *The stuff that forms boggy ground is called peat.

    --
    Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
  11. Not surprising by WindBourne · · Score: 2

    China's particle emissions from their coal plants are reaching the arctic and causing faster melting. THis is on top of their massive CO2, lead, mercury, uranium, etc. etc. etc.

    --
    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    1. Re:Not surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      retard

    2. Re:Not surprising by 0123456 · · Score: 1

      "China's particle emissions from their coal plants are reaching the arctic and causing faster melting"

      That can't be right. In the 70s, the West's particle emissions were causing cooling that would lead to a New Ice Age if we DON'T BAN FOSSIL FUELS NOW!

    3. Re:Not surprising by WindBourne · · Score: 1

      That is only true if you buy off on fake news.
      OTOH, if you don't, then nope. It is just fake news.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
    4. Re: Not surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was alive then and remember it exactly like that. Fossil fuel burning would freeze us all. I don't need old Newsweek articles to remember.

      It's always the same shit. There's some made up problem that can only be solved with higher taxes and greater government control leading to shittier lives for normal people while the elite continue to do as they will.

      Why do you love the ultra wealthy so much?

    5. Re: Not surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was alive then and you're talkng bollocks. Easily refuted bollocks too, look at greenman's Crock of the Week if reading is too much for you to remember, grandpops.

    6. Re:Not surprising by ElizabethGreene · · Score: 1

      Your post may be in jest, but you are pointing at one of the real problems in taking action on climate change.

      India and China have between them 1/3 of the Earth's population, and far to many of them live in energy poverty. These two countries have to raise their people's standard of living, or their people will revolt and install a government that will. If you stopped all CO2 and thermal emissions outside of these two countries it would only be a rounding error in global CO2 emissions over the next 50 years. Any climate solutions that don't address this issue are "feel good" ideas that ignore the real problem.

    7. Re:Not surprising by WindBourne · · Score: 0

      yes, but china adding 35-50 GW more coal plants EACH year, is not a rounding error, esp since they are not turning on emissions controls on these.
      And china's particulates DO hit the arctic ice. They have so much pollution and of course, if flows not only west to east, but also northwords. Then top that with CHina adding another 100 GW around the globe to other nations.
      Likewise, India is adding more.
      What needs to happen is it needs to be a combination of nuke, along with AE.

      Until we stop adding more coal plants, things will only get worse.
      America has stopped adding new coal, while Germany, Poland, S. Korea, and Japan continue to add more coal. Thankfully, these have emissions controls, but it is still doing a lot of damage WRT CO2, lead, mercury, etc.

      --
      I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  12. If the shoe fits... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The accusation is accurate. Deal with it, cupcake.

  13. Yellowstone by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What's being done about Yellowstone? It's the real danger here and everyone is dancing around car emissions and other crap.

  14. Re: The problem with climate science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Shit I read that as A.I. gore. Which would be amazing.

  15. Feels like stupid...or stale by HiThere · · Score: 2

    Of course volcanic eruptions can cause ice sheet melting. Put soot on snow and it's more likely to melt. They also cause temporary warming. Hydrogen Sulfide is a green house gas. And they can add lots of CO2 to the atmosphere.

    BUT The "year without a summer" was caused by a volcano eruption. So don't try to make this a global statement. It depends on the particulars.

    If you go back a few centuries volcano eruptions were one of the big driving factors behind temporary climate changes ... temporary meaning they didn't last more than 20 years, except for trailing effects, like a lake flooding or a grassland turning into a desert, which tended to persist. Even today there *are* volcanoes that could swamp everything people do. Yellowstone is an example, but not the only one. And that isn't new knowledge.

    The feels like somebody rehashed things that everybody knows, and got a reporter to call it news.

    Actually, when I read the article it sounds as if they do have some no findings, but nothing that wouldn't have been predicted ahead of time. It sounds as if the actual research is valid, but the write-up is hyperbolic shit.

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    1. Re:Feels like stupid...or stale by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Hydrogen Sulfide is not a greenhouse gas.
      It actually has the opposite effect, like most sulfur compounds.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    2. Re:Feels like stupid...or stale by HiThere · · Score: 1

      You sure about that? I thought it could act either way depending on exactly where it ended up, and how it bound to water. But if not, that just makes my point stronger, because it doesn't persist.

      I'm rather sure though that I've read that it could cause clouds to turn into rain and clear the air...temporary cooling, but longer term warming.

      --

      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    3. Re:Feels like stupid...or stale by hey! · · Score: 1

      Hydrogen sulfide is a reactive gas that normally has a half-life in the atmosphere measured in days -- too short to be a long-term greenhouse gas. The reaction is as follows

      H2S + OH HS + H20.

      Sulfanyl (HS) is highly reactive and converts mainly to sulfur dioxide (SO2), which carries the sulfur out of the atmosphere as acid rain. So again the total half life of sulfur in the atmosphere is a matter of days or weeks at most. This precludes it H2S being a greenhouse gas concern.

      In comparison the half-life of CO2 is centuries; methane has a half-life in decades (and decomposes to CO2). Chlorofluorocarbons have half lives that run from under a year to thousands of years depending on the compound. The most common CFC, freon (dichlorodifluoromethane) has a half life of about 100 years.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    4. Re:Feels like stupid...or stale by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Even if it causes warming over some side effects, it is not a green house gas.

      Green house gases are gases that absorb the IR light that is reflected from the earth surface.

      I'm rather sure though that I've read that it could cause clouds to turn into rain and clear the air...temporary cooling, but longer term warming.
      This would not be a long term warming, why would it?

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  16. FIX: Re:Feels like stupid...or stale by HiThere · · Score: 1

    Change:
    Actually, when I read the article it sounds as if they do have some no findings, but nothing that wouldn't have been predicted ahead of time. It sounds as if the actual research is valid, but the write-up is hyperbolic shit.
    to:
    Actually, when I read the article it sounds as if they do have some new findings, but nothing that wouldn't have been predicted ahead of time. It sounds as if the actual research is valid, but the write-up is hyperbolic shit.

    --

    I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
    1. Re:FIX: Re:Feels like stupid...or stale by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      Nope you completely missed what it is about, why it seems hyperbolic to you. This is not about climate, this is about weather, there is a huge difference between the two. When you start trying to forecast weather extremes, compounding negative probability outcomes can become quite severe when expressed. Than the decision is whether or not to and to what extent to protect against those forecast severe weather outcomes. So how strong does a building need to be to survive a measured risk over time for a weather event. Now think about that, that pick the worst probable storm for a fifty year average (they have had worse but in any fifty year average, the likely worse will be this guess, what ever it is), so you build accordingly, move it, get hit by an average 1,000 year weather event, the day after you move in and you all die, kinda sucks, killed by probability gambles.

      So they are trying to forecast weather extremes, that can be generated under new climate conditions. So a typical band one, is what happens if a high temperature heat wave settles over the Russia perma frost, with very low wind for a long time, mass thawing out methane. Can enough methane be collected so as to become a fuel air explosion over tens of cubic kilometres, probably, how likely, hmm, well you'll have to do a whole bunch of measuring and calculations and climate modelling to 'guess' that with a reasonable degree of probable accuracy. Is it worth spending money on, well the risk, a fuel air explosion containing cubic kilometres of an explosive mix would be extraordinary destructive, so evaluating, working out likely warning signs and coming up with emergency techniques to diffuse the mix and push it bellow flammability would be wise. Because if that bomb went of just once, it would very likely trigger a series and do some pretty fucked up things with out atmosphere. This is a real risk because of changing climate and a build up of methane over thousands and thousands of years, even hundreds of thousands of years and that methane is now climatologically accessible to atmosphere and potentially a series of bloody big, really, really big, booms tied to weather extremes.

      You start looking at weather extreme to manage risk and that is a whole lot more difficult and is about real potential outcomes, that could occur next year, a decade from now, many decades away or never. Don't know until you do the research that Republicans really hate because no profit, you are just mitigating losses, extreme losses but greed driven stupidity never looks beyond it's own greed. So you say the risk is low but what happens when a methane cloud drifts over a major town and blows up destroying the town and killing most of the population and they say the risk was known and you did nothing, NOTHING (the survivors will probably want to kill you). So risk and probabilities, want to know, you need to do the research and all sorts of extreme will come out and you will tackle the most probable of the worst outcomes because the risk is so extreme (unlikely to happen but if it does totally catastrophic, so just in case).

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
  17. 29 comments. 14 at -1. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    So there are 29 comments. It looks like 14 are currently at -1.

    I think it really highlights how far this site has fallen. There's so little discussion to begin with, and a good chunk of the comments aren't even visible by default because of the atrocious moderating.

    I don't see why people asking legitimate questions about the role, or rather the lack of the role, of humans in climate change should be downmodded here.

    Questioning theories, claims, observations and evidence is the very foundation of science. It's shameful to see the practice of proper science being shunned here through this terrible downmodding.

    Whoever is responsible for modding all of those comments to -1 isn't engaging in science, and this stifling of perfectly fine discussion is destroying this site.

    I wouldn't be surprised if it's the editors themselves who have done this bad modding. Regardless of who is doing it, it's seriously ruining this site when 50% of comments are at -1 and most of the others are at 0, effectively making them invisible.

    1. Re:29 comments. 14 at -1. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sarcasm is a difficult art to master, sarcasm detection seems to be even more difficult.

    2. Re: 29 comments. 14 at -1. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As long as the modding here remains atrocious, all we'll see are shitty one or two line YouTube-grade comments. Anyone intelligent enough to make worthwhile comments will also be smart enough to not waste too much time making quality comments here, knowing that they'll likely end up at -1. Modding directly encourages and rewards low quality comments.

    3. Re: 29 comments. 14 at -1. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Pretty much summed up my past 3 years at slash dot... I rarely read the comments anymore. Not like it was 10 -15 years ago.

      Is there an alternate slash dot sight. You know where all the nerds with a weird but funny sense of humor actually have real discussion or did it just fade like winter.

      Thanks
      Drew

    4. Re:29 comments. 14 at -1. by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

      Yours would join them if I hadn't already commented. Offtopic, too meta.

      --
      There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
    5. Re:29 comments. 14 at -1. by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

      The answer to the problem is to step up your game and engage in discussion about the topics at hand, rather than rip on the venue where the discussion would otherwise be taking place.

      --
      There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
    6. Re: 29 comments. 14 at -1. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      SoylentNews was almost a replacement for /., but somehow the fools running that site managed to make it worse than /. in most ways, based on what I've seen. They often post stories long after /. reports them. It's also a small community, with an even smaller pool of users who get mod points. So a really pathetic leftist group-think developed, since anyone who posts a moderate or right-wing idea often gets downmodded, and thus nobody else gets mod points, which just causes the incestual modding to continue. The worst part, in my experience, is how the people running the site often participate in the discussion. It takes away any sense of impartiality when the fools who are selecting the submissions end up arguing with the commenters. It boggles my mind how SoylentNews can so often be worse than /.!

    7. Re: 29 comments. 14 at -1. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem is that any article about climate is rapidly filled with inane posts. I know because I've done plenty of trolling. They're probably not paid trolls, but people who are looking for amusement by denying that humans are responsible for most of the present global warming. Those comments are being modded down because they're intentionally polluting the discussion. They're arguing the false dichotomy that the presence of natural variability refutes that humans are causing global warming. Of course there's natural variability, and it hasn't stopped because of humans. However, human contribution is probanly one to two orders of magnitude larger than the natural variability.

      If you don't like all the comments at -1, stop making idiotic posts. The problem isn't that the comments are being modded down, but that there are so many lame posts and a lack of worthwhile comments. Let's be honest, most Slashdot readers are smart enough to understand science, and they know that humans are responsible for most of the recent warming. The comments at -1 are trolls, not paid ones, but posted for the purpose of deriving amusement from negative responses.

      You're not happy about the trolls being at -1 because they are correctly labeled without providing you the pleasure of the argumentive replies you desire. That means the moderation is doing its job.

    8. Re:29 comments. 14 at -1. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The fact that you got modded down to 0 says everything about the "SCIENCE IS SETTLED" crowd.

      At this point it's practically a cult.

    9. Re:29 comments. 14 at -1. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      BUT THE SCIENCE IS SETTLED

      Humans are to blame
      Huge taxes are the solution
      Bill Bye wants to imprison deniers

    10. Re: 29 comments. 14 at -1. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, your post provides some insight on who is being truthful. Anonymous posts start with a score of zero. The post you referenced is an anonymous post that hasn't been moderated at all. Nobody has modded it down, but that didn't stop you from concocting the lie and posting it. Your post is a lie for the purpose of inciting people, and such lying is representative of global warming denials. How does it feel to be a liar and a worthless piece of garbage?

    11. Re: 29 comments. 14 at -1. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He was at 0, someone modded him to 1.. that's why his post got replied to, everyone else was at 0 or -1.

      Then someone modded him down to 0. That's when I replied.

      Now he is at -1, meaning people voted him down. A perfectly valid point voted down.

      AGW is a friggin religion.

    12. Re: 29 comments. 14 at -1. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The people who run Soylentnews are a splitted quite equally between hardcore Ayn Rand styled libertarian (TheMightyBuzzard) and Marx styled leftist (Martyb). The moderation is more diverse than it is here... But you are right about the speed of publication being way worst than it is here.

    13. Re: 29 comments. 14 at -1. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Again, you're a liar. The post was at 0 when you posted your comment. It's now at +1. Repeating the same lie doesn't make it true. You have no interest in telling the truth. You have no interest in an honest discussion about global warming. You are a liar. It's impossible to have an honest discussion about global warming here because there are so many liars like you. The post you keep referencing should be at -1. It's at +1. Outright lying should be modded to -1. That's where your posts belong.

      It's definitely important to question science and identify problems with theories. There's a well-established way to do this. Theories make definite predictions that are tested by experiments. If the experiments generate observations that contradict the theory, then it's time to replace the theory. But that requires observations.

      Absolutely nobody denies that natural climate variability occurs and continues to occur. The presence of natural variability does not refute that humans are causing global warming. They are not mutually exclusive. The original post in this thread pretends that is, with a one line comment designed to invite arguments. It's a false dichotomy and it's intellectually dishonest. Global warming deniers are rarely actually providing observational evidence to question global warming. It's almost always attacking the character of climatologists and spreading lies like you continue to do. Your lying is old and tired.

      You are a piece of human excrement to continue to spread lies. Some people will believe you, and they will make decisions based on your lies that are harmful to them and to society. You're basically a terrible, evil person. I just hope that the people you interact with offline are aware of what an awful person you are. You are the scum of the earth.

    14. Re: 29 comments. 14 at -1. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      " It's almost always attacking the character of climatologists and spreading lies like you continue to do."

      Read up on Bjorn Lomberg then say that again.

    15. Re:29 comments. 14 at -1. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So there are 29 comments. It looks like 14 are currently at -1. I think it really highlights how far this site has fallen.

      I just had a look at all the comments at -1, and they were mostly the single-line, trash comments that deserved to be ignored. None asked "legitimate questions" as you claim, but instead make unsubstantiated claims like "the models are all inaccurate" (even though that has been shown to be pretty good), "it is too complex to model the climate" (see the first comment), and "the evidence has been corrupted by [the usual denier whipping boys like] Michael Mann" (even though all the research matches what those "bad guys" have published).

      If you want to propose new ideas to explain the levels of warming that we are seeing then go for it, but simply regurgitating the same vague, decades-old, denier talking-points that have been debunked years ago just is not worth reading. Those who have modded them down did the site a service.

  18. Re:The problem with climate science by chipschap · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The problem here is "because something is complex, we cant model it" is a new and improved kind of terminally stupid.

    Yes, we can model complex systems, however that doesn't mean it's an easy task by any means, or that correct model predictions can be assumed. I spent years modeling and simulating the power grid, which is arguably less complex than climate, and that modeling was always a matter of constant tuning, refinement, and working toward making the models accord with known results so that we would have at least some confidence about predictions.

    By all means we need to model climate and climate change and attempt to make rational predictions. We should be able to continuously refine our models and get better and better results. But the purpose of such modeling, similar to what we did with the power grid, is to make predictions that have reasonable credibility so that appropriate corrective actions can be taken.

    What I describe is honest science and engineering, which should be completely independent of politics and generating headlines or supporting viewpoints, whether "denier" or "supporter."

    It's like that dictum, "Don't tell me what I want to hear, tell me what I need to hear."

  19. Denier complains voice isn't heard. Nobody cares by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you want to discuss "the lack of human involvement" you're pretty solidly ignoring 95+% of the evidence we have. Just because your grandpappy died of natural causes doesn't mean murder isn't possible. Nor does it mean we should not do anything about deaths caused by avoidable actions.
    But that's all you want to do: avoid looking at the problems so they don't exist.

  20. We're all gonna die! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Lol

  21. Re: Denier complains voice isn't heard. Nobody car by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you're against people asking questions then you aren't doing science. You're doing religion.

  22. Comparing a fully testable system to one that is i by SuperKendall · · Score: 0, Troll

    It is utterly insane to compare modeling a rocket, which is complex and all variables can be directly measured and tested in practice, with the climate where it is impossible to test anything - only to come up with models to try and explain what is happening.

    Since as stated, the models have all been drastically wrong, the huge problem you face is WHAT is wrong about the models? You cannot change one aspect of the Earths climate twenty years ago to test. You can't even measure a specific subset of the Earth to get a more focused view because changes even very far removed can have impacts on any one region of the world, as moisture and upper air currents travel vast distances, and seasonal differences utterly swamp overall change.

    I'll start believing climate science is a real science, when they start acting like scientists. Until then I'm a lot more prone to consider a physicists opinion on the matter, because at least they understand fundamental forces in a way climate scientists do not seem to.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  23. Re:Lets pretend science is wrong by 0123456 · · Score: 1, Troll

    None of the 'Global Warming!' computer models have come close to predicting the temperature changes (or lack thereof) of the last twenty years or so. In what sense is so-called 'science' whose predictions don't match reality not blatantly, utterly wrong?

  24. We see that with snow by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

    When snow sticks temperatures drop 15 degrees or 7 for those on the Celsius scale as the snow reflects the heat of the sun back into space. Air is not heated by the sun. It is heated by the surface of the ground.

    If black ash were on the snow it would warm up rather than reflect the heat back into space.

    It also explains why Antarctica is so much colder than the northern equivalent which is ice free in the summer. Alaska can get warm in the summer and is the same latitude as the shores of Antarctica which never gets above freezing.

  25. Re:Mini Ice Age? Krakatoa? by Billly+Gates · · Score: 1

    These are ice sheets not glaciers. If an ice sheet is already stressed with summer heat a large mass of heated water will be enough to set the dominoes of pushing the ice out to sea with the heavy water pushing against it and melting it in the process.

  26. Entirely wrong, yet being proven never stops you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Here is proof you're entirely and utterly wrong, repeating BS from the echo chamber of denial:

    http://skepticalscience.com/comparing-global-temperature-predictions.html

  27. Re: Lets pretend science is wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    The last ten years were on average warmer than the previous ten, which were warmer than the previous ten. Where on earth do you get the idea that there hasn't been any warming? The trend agrees well with the models from the 1980s, let alone more recent one

  28. Re:The problem with climate science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Rocket science is trivial in comparison to climate. Even predicting with moderate confidence what specific temperature a specific geographic point will be in single-digit hours is harder than getting a human being into space and back safely.

    The history of science tells us that.

    Perhaps you ought to study science instead of treating it like a religion. Some of us have terminal degrees in the field and have become ambivalent towards it's efficacy.

  29. Re:Entirely wrong, yet being proven never stops yo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    1. Make 100s of climate models
    2. Pick out the ones that correspond to current temperatures
    3. Tell everyone how well you predicted the future
    4. Profit

  30. Re: Denier complains voice isn't heard. Nobody car by 0123456 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Bingo. Anyone who uses the world 'Denier!' to refer to people who dispute a scientific point is no scientist.

  31. Re: The problem with climate science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Having met someone who models the effect of changes on peatland on climate about five years ago, I can state that yes, it is taken into account in models. Most models are actually a series if interlinked models covering aspects such as the atmosphere, oceans, geography, and land use. CESM is open source and available if you want to take a look.

    No, I'm not a climate scientist.

  32. Re: Comparing a fully testable system to one that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Climate models have been largely correct, not drastically wrong, for the last thirty years. What wasn't modelled well initially was particularly regional detail, and the detailed effects of clouds, aerosols, and land coverage, but all are somewhat improved, but haven't much changed projections on a global scale. If you look at Hansen's projections against BAU emissions (broadly RCP 8.5 from the IPCC), the agreement with current temperatures is good. Year-to-year variations in detail cannot be predicted, as the system is chaotic, but annual variations from models look like the ones seen in practice.

  33. Re: The problem with climate science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Modeling climate isn't an easy task, but that isn't a reason to discredit the models. The same modeling techniques used to forecast weather are also used to model climate. In some cases, they're the same models. Although the skill in forecasting weather rapidly diminishes after a few days, the statistical properties are valid over much longer time scales. Weather and climate models are numerical solutions of fundamental equations governing the behavior of the atmosphere, such as the Navier-Stokes equations.

    If you're forecasting weather, your model needs to simulate incoming and outgoing radiation. These aren't directly simulated, but are parameterized with increasingly complex and more accurate schemes. The parameterizations have to account for aerosols and greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. If your model poorly simulatedls incoming solar radiation and outgoing longwave radiation, it won't accurately predict the temperatures. The validity of those parameterizations are demonstrated by forecasting weather. Some longer-term processes like changes in the cryosphere don't really apply to weather models, but understanding how aerosols affect the cryosphere can improve those predictions. Also, just because the models are still being improved doesn't mean the predictions should be ignored.

    Weather models are also continuously being improved. Shall we ignore their predictions because they're imperfect? That's absurd, because they have a lot of skill in predicting the weather. Likewise, the need to improve climate models is not a valid excuse for altogether rejecting their predictions.

  34. Re:Lets pretend science is wrong by KeensMustard · · Score: 1

    None of the 'Global Warming!' computer models have come close to predicting the temperature changes (or lack thereof) of the last twenty years or so. In what sense is so-called 'science' whose predictions don't match reality not blatantly, utterly wrong?

    1. So, was there a temperature rise in the last 20 years?

    2. If so, what caused that temperature rise?

    3. Did your modeling predict that rise accurately? If not, according to your own terms, you are completely, and utterly, wrong.

  35. Re:The problem with climate science by KeensMustard · · Score: 3, Interesting
    If the grid is unpredictable, then that triggers a need to invest heavily in making it predictable, since an unpredictable grid is dangerous.

    The same applies to climate. If the modeling is good, then we have an accurate representation of the future direction which is between the best and worst case scenario. If the modeling can't be trusted, then the worst case scenarios become possible, which means we need to mitigate against those as well - some unpredicted secondary effect that causes runaway warming, for example. That means immediate, and drastic, and expensive, action.

    If the models are bad, then this should be proven, and then we'll move on to immediately closing down all our sources of emissions.

  36. Re:Non-skeptics are entirely right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    The climate models by 4 of the "non-skeptics" (the only exception is Kellogg) match the data to within 0.25C or thereabouts. The climate models by 5 of the "skeptics" don't match the data at all - even the trend is wrong. Despite being rebased or having a shorter end prediction, their mean error is more than 0.5C.

  37. Re:The problem with climate science by KeensMustard · · Score: 2, Insightful

    "The problem here is "because something is complex, we cant model it" is a new and improved kind of terminally stupid. " There are numerous 'climate' models. They all vaguely agree with each other. But not one of them agrees with, you know, actually observed reality.

    Really? So how did your own modeling perform?

    So clearly we can't model climate. But Climate Changers are demanding that politicians destroy the lives of billions and burn trillions of dollars because 'Muh Science!'

    No: thats you.

    You are the one saying "The climate is changing rapidly but we don't know why or what's going to happen next". In your scenario, anything could happen. The climate could keep warming until we reach Venus like conditions.

    Talk about panic inducing!

    If you truly believe your own assertions, you should be advocating that all our funds be immediately diverted to climate science:

    1. To find the cause of the recent, rapid change

    2. To identify and model what will happen next

    3. To identify and implement the fix, which we can assume will be far more expensive than replacing our emitting technologies (which we were going to replace anyway, given how inefficient they are).

  38. Re: Denier complains voice isn't heard. Nobody ca by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm happy when a lefty 'climate scientist' calls me a Denier. Yes, it's true, I do deny that their faux-science religion has any basis in reality. I am a Denier.

  39. Make claim all were wrong by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Then when shown wrong in that claim insists "there are hundreds of others, so they're wrong, you cherrypicked".

    Nope, not only is your claim about unstated others wrong (I will provide as much evidence as you did: ), but the original claim was proven wrong. Oh, and you denier retards downvoted to -1, so much for your persecution by "the man", amirite?

  40. Trump's fault nig4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Trump is Volcano god

  41. "Unexpected" global impact of volcanoes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I call bullshit.

    Not unexpected at all. Just inconvenient... an inconvenient truth.

  42. Dr Evil by EEPROMS · · Score: 1

    Proof finally that evil people in their volcanic lairs are causing global warming.

  43. All real Irishmen/slashdotters! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Seriously? You're going to use the "all real Irishmen" argument?

    No. They post anti-sky-is-falling-crap because the sky isn't falling. AGW is a religion. The very wording you nutballs use to describe real scientists (deniers) speaks volumes. Science doesn't require belief. That's the realm of religion.

  44. Re:The problem with climate science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You couldn't even model turning on a pixel phone without installing Now Playing on it. Now were supposed to believe you can model this?

  45. Re: The problem with climate science by chipschap · · Score: 1

    Likewise, the need to improve climate models is not a valid excuse for altogether rejecting their predictions.

    I agree completely, and the goal is to continuously improve the models so that the predictions become more accurate and provide a better basis on which to base corrective action. As the poster below points out, poor models leave us at the mercy of everyone; we may need to plan for the worst-case scenario, because we can't rule it out, yet the opposition can easily build a case against it by saying the models are unreliable. But the option of just doing nothing until the models are proven to everyone's satisfaction doesn't seem very good.

  46. Hmmm by argStyopa · · Score: 1

    ...it's almost like we have a feedback system in which there are infrequent but regular 'spikes' of temp and CO2, which are then almost equally counteracted* by a comparable more-or-less sudden drop thereafter?

    You know, like this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... (look at the 'pulse' beat of spikes every 120k years or so, for certainly the last million years, more like 2-3 million).

    *curiously, nobody seems to be talking/studying this mechanism - how or why it happens? Personally my bet is on cloud cover and albedo: warming atmosphere drives higher % of water vapor aloft, increasing clouds, and raising the planets apparent albedo significantly. PARTICULARLY as the IPCC reports have mostly ignored both water vapor (acknowledged as really the main driving factor in warming, but considered too short-term and variable to be successfully and reliably modeled) and cloud cover (although more recent IPCCs may have included it, it was basically absent from everything before 2013).

    --
    -Styopa
  47. Makes General Sense by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's nothing whatsoever to do with global warming of course, just the normal ebb and flow of the planet. Good to see some confirmation for what seemed to be a reasonable hypothesis.

    Ferret

  48. Re:The problem with climate science by romisa7007 · · Score: 1

    "The problem here is "because something is complex, we cant model it" is a new and improved kind of terminally stupid. " There are numerous 'climate' models. They all vaguely agree with each other. But not one of them agrees with, you know, actually observed reality.

    Really? So how did your own modeling perform?

    So clearly we can't model climate. But Climate Changers are demanding that politicians destroy the lives of billions and burn trillions of dollars because 'Muh Science!'

    No: thats you.

    You are the one saying "The climate is changing rapidly but we don't know why or what's going to happen next". In your scenario, anything could happen. The climate could keep warming until we reach Venus like conditions.

    Talk about panic inducing!

    If you truly believe your own assertions, you should be advocating that all our funds be immediately diverted to climate science:

    1. To find the cause of the recent, rapid change

    2. To identify and model what will happen next

    3. To identify and implement the fix, which we can assume will be far more expensive than replacing our emitting technologies (which we were going to replace anyway, given how inefficient they are).

    I believe this , E- learning methods are developed nowadays more than any time they help you to learn every thing as soon as possible for example i used these mobile apps for learning English Doulingo,memrsie http://oxinchannel.com/

  49. I;m happy you're labelled correctly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And no matter how mean "the other side" are to you, this proves NOTHING other than those people are mean. Not that they're wrong. Just mean. But ad hom is all youv'e got: you're wrong because you called me a deneir1!!!1!".

  50. Re:The problem with climate science by omnichad · · Score: 1

    first they come up with the conclusion, and then try to find evidence to back it up. That's not how science works.

    That's actually exactly how science works. Except the proper term is hypothesis.

  51. Re: Denier complains voice isn't heard. Nobody car by ranton · · Score: 1

    If you're against people asking questions then you aren't doing science. You're doing religion.

    No one is against people asking questions. We are against people ignoring the science which disputes the concerns raised by those questions and people asking irrelevant questions. Let's look at every single modded -1 comment I found without going too deep into each comment hierarchy. Where are the suppressed insightful comments you are concerned about?

    1. Let's bury that one. It contradicts climate change "science"...
    2. Just tax the volcanoes. More taxes solve all problems, according to leftists.
    3. Lets pretend science is wrong. By using science that looks elsewhere for more causes and insists it will be buried (despite hearing about it) by science you want to pretend is wrong.
    4. Why fingerpoint when you can BLAMESTORM? Democrats and their "scientist" (as if) accomplices are scrambling to figure out a way to blame this on "anthropogenic global warming".
    5. You know what else erupts? MY BALLS!!! Suck 'em, nerds!
    6. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the ice melting. You can't blame anyone else and we can now kill them all. ae911truth dot org
    7. Climate Racism! The guy who wrote this paper is a climate racist! He is trying to mansplain away climate change caused by the sexist men of the rape culture. He is just trying to smut-shame volcanoes for his own sexual assault and rape of mother earth.

    --
    -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
  52. Re:The problem with climate science by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 1

    Because something includes unknown variables from poorly-understood inputs, we can't model it with precision greater than X.

    You might know what direction it's going and the general order of magnitude, but not the precise number. The order of magnitude may be based in channels of 30 or 40 width--30, 900, 27,000 and so forth. So maybe you point somewhere up and to the right and say it's out there somewhere, but not out way straight up, and not out more horizontally.

    That's the difference between not knowing what you're doing and not having the greatest scientific understanding of the whole system.

  53. Re:Entirely wrong, yet being proven never stops yo by erapert · · Score: 1

    You posted as AC but then signed your post????

  54. Re:The problem with climate science by ElizabethGreene · · Score: 1

    >> my major complaint is that it is impossible to get correct information from anywhere ... they come up with the conclusion, and then try to find evidence to back it up. That's not how science works.

    AC, I agree with you entirely. It's a real problem. I've found one person who speaks about this in an honest data driven way, that is willing to cut through the hype and hyperbole. His name is Dr. Richard Muller at http://berkeleyearth.org/

    Here's why I find his arguments compelling.
    1. He disassembles the "97% of scientists agree" argument as the BS it is.
    2. He exposes and calls out legitimate and questionable data fiddling.
    3. He calls out BS not-based-in-science predictions.
    4. He calls out the politicking in the IPCC report.
    5. He, and team, went back and redid analysis without data fiddling and came back with reasonable results.
    6. He's willing to talk about what we don't know.

    His presentation "How to convert a climate skeptic" is absolutely worth watching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

    The good bit starts about 6:00 in with the quote: 'The skeptic says "What about data selection bias?" You have to have an answer for that. You can't just say the data is overwhelming, because as it turns out the evidence is not overwhelming. I'll show you that.'

  55. Re: Denier complains voice isn't heard. Nobody ca by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Anytime somebody uses the term "lefty", it usually confirms my suspicion that I'm reading something written by a troll who is using their own faux-science opinions to lie and dissemble about the subject.

    That someone may have a liberal political philosophy seems to bring out the pathological nature of many ill-informed knee-jerking conservative pundits who need no other evidence to shut off their critical thinking skills.

  56. Wait a minute... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've just been told in another thread that the difference between now and what was happening 800,000 years ago is the rate of change, and what we're doing doesn't occur without us being responsible for it.

    And now this article is telling me volcanoes can throw everything massively out of whack within a year?

    No wonders the skeptics keep doubting everything that's being said, no matter what evidence is being presented.

  57. Re:The problem with climate science by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "5. He, and team, went back and redid analysis without data fiddling and came back with the same results as the IPCC."

    Fixed that for you.

  58. Re:The problem with climate science by ElizabethGreene · · Score: 1

    FTFY, "5. He, and team, went back and redid analysis without data fiddling and came back with the same results as the IPCC."

    Actually, no, you didn't FTFM. The last IPCC report, the one that was marched into the Paris Accords, makes a number of claims that are not based in scientific fact, and he debunks them quite thoroughly. Mr. Muller asserts, and I agree, that you will not convert climate skeptics by lying to them or throwing out doomsday scenarios with million-to-one odds against them happening. The facts are what they are; trying to make them look worse only hurts your credibility.

    He speaks about this specifically here:
    https://youtu.be/VbR0EPWgkEI?t...

    The entire presentation is worth watching, whichever side of the fence you are sitting on.

  59. More lies from windy wack by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You fucking retard, again with this bullshit.
    China is using less coal. They are closing down old coal plants faster than they are opening new ones. The new ones are more efficient. Chinese coal plants are more efficient than American ones. American people emit far more CO2 than Chinese people.
    Is your Google not working or something? Or is it your brain that fails to understand simple facts?
    American use of coal is increasing and it's mining of coal by 19% in the first half of the year!!

  60. You entitled fuckwit !! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    What makes you entitled to pump out twice as much CO2 as a Chinese person?
    Why do you get free pass? You make more pollution even though they make all your stuff !!