Re:U.S. has its wettest 12 months on record again
by 6d6b73 on Tuesday July 09, 2019 @06:12PM
(#20397197)
=> more snow in winter => mini ice age
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:U.S. has its wettest 12 months on record again
by chrisco255 on Tuesday July 09, 2019 @06:19PM
(#20397263)
Are some predicting a mini ice age as opposed to warming? A mini ice age worries me more than warming.
Re:U.S. has its wettest 12 months on record again
by plicense on Tuesday July 09, 2019 @06:22PM
(#20397288)
I think humans are pretty good at warming things up. So I would take a mini-ice age over global warming.
Re:U.S. has its wettest 12 months on record again
by mises on Tuesday July 09, 2019 @06:41PM
(#20397460)
Yeah, heating is usually more efficient than cooling, because energy is usually produced with some kind of heat output. All though agriculture is a serious concern; you might starve several million people in africa.
Re:U.S. has its wettest 12 months on record again
by hirsin on Tuesday July 09, 2019 @07:04PM
(#20397650)
Surprisingly this is not true. A watt of energy can only produce a watt of heat, but can remove several watts of heat from a space.
That said, we're much better setup to increase total entropy in the atmosphere than decrease it (via heat sinks eg)
Re:U.S. has its wettest 12 months on record again
by kevin_thibedeau on Tuesday July 09, 2019 @08:59PM
(#20398302)
Those displaced Joules are just moved somewhere nearby and are joined by the energy spent moving them.
Re:U.S. has its wettest 12 months on record again
by hirsin on Tuesday July 09, 2019 @09:23PM
(#20398413)
Yes, hence my second statement and use of "space" in the first.
Re:U.S. has its wettest 12 months on record again
by mises on Wednesday July 10, 2019 @08:21AM
(#20401236)
From a purely scientific view, yes, you can move energy easier than you can cool it. However, people in hot climates usually prefer cold air blowing, which takes more energy to chill.
Re:U.S. has its wettest 12 months on record again
by chrisco255 on Tuesday July 09, 2019 @07:05PM
(#20397668)
Not just Africa. Probably every continent, because yields would tank and growing seasons would shrink.
Re:U.S. has its wettest 12 months on record again
by viraptor on Tuesday July 09, 2019 @06:29PM
(#20397359)
It's weird that they call it "mini ice age" then follow up with - we had one in 17th century, London got temperature below 0 in winter. Not what I imagine from the name.
Re:U.S. has its wettest 12 months on record again
by Smoosh on Tuesday July 09, 2019 @06:46PM
(#20397507)
Humans are bad at distinguishing small but close from large but far away for abstract ideas like climate.
Re:U.S. has its wettest 12 months on record again
by mirimir on Tuesday July 09, 2019 @06:21PM
(#20397279)
No, more rain in winter ;)
Re:U.S. has its wettest 12 months on record again
by mihaifm on Tuesday July 09, 2019 @06:21PM
(#20397281)
=> more water in the air => increased greenhouse effect => rising temperatures => even more water in the air
Re:U.S. has its wettest 12 months on record again
by mirimir on Tuesday July 09, 2019 @06:44PM
(#20397490)
Yes. And the greenhouse effect overall is mostly due to water in the air. But water content is very sensitive to temperature. And when CO2 level increases, that also increases water content. So water is like an amplifier for CO2 changes.
Edit: Maybe someone thinks that this is a GCC-denial argument. It's not. Water vapor is in fact the major greenhouse gas: 36% (in dry areas) to 72% (in humid areas) of total greenhouse forcing.[0]
0) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenhouse_gas#Greenhouse_gase...
Re:U.S. has its wettest 12 months on record again
by Gibbon1 on Tuesday July 09, 2019 @08:49PM
(#20398255)
I think that's what I read. Water vapor amplifies the green house effect of increased CO4 and CH4. And figuring out the exact forcing constant is complicated by weather patterns and cloud cover.
One of the other things that scares me is weather is chaotic. Patterns repeat year over year. But global warming could cause those patterns to change. Possibly permanently as far as human civilization goes.