Posted by
Rich on Saturday, February 02, 2008 9:31:16 AM
Watch out! Global warming causes more hurricanes, the ocean's are expanding, the sea is rising and we are all going to die!
The editorial board of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune are masters at fear mongering using cherry picked data and studies. They are clearly in the Al Gore global warming camp. In their editorial
Hurricane debate heats up they want us (read government) to "err on the side of global warming".
They describe two studies that present different theories on what affects the intensity of hurricanes. Mark Saunders and Adam Lea of University College London say it is sea warming. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) lab at the University of Miami says it is wind shear.
Guess what - they are both right!
According to
WeatherQuestions.com - "Hurricanes are intense
low pressure areas that form over warm ocean waters in the summer and early fall. Their source of energy is
water vapor which is evaporated from the ocean surface. Water vapor is the "fuel" for the hurricanes because it releases the "latent heat of condensation" when it
condenses to form clouds and rain, warming the surrounding air. (This heat energy was absorbed by the water vapor when it was
evaporated from the warm ocean surface, cooling the ocean in the process.)
Usually, the heat released in this way in tropical thunderstorms is carried away by
wind shear, which blows the top off the thunderstorms. But when there is little wind shear, this heat can build up, causing low pressure to form. The low pressure causes
wind to begin to spiral inward toward the center of the low. These winds help to evaporate even more water vapor from the ocean, spiraling inward toward the center, feeding more showers and thunderstorms, and warming the upper atmosphere still more."
You will note in this description that water vapor is the fuel of hurricanes. Well guess what water vaporizing produces 95% of all green house gasses. CO2 is less than 1% of all green house gasses and the burning of fossel fuels produces less than 3% of all CO2 - 97% of all CO2 is produced naturally. For example, according to the UN IPCC cows cause more CO2 than man.
The Herald-Tribune editorial board needs to get its facts straight and stop the fear mongering. For millions of years we have had the natural cycles of weather events that have created hurricanes, some stronger and some weaker. We will for millions of years to come.
There is nothing we can do or should do that will impact global warming in any way because it occurs naturally primarily from solar activity and ocean currents.
For a rational theory about global warming based upon increases and decreases in our sun's solar activity please visit the
Space and Science Research Center web site and read their scientific study based upon recent NASA data.
Bottom line - the Herald-Tribune has no answer or solution for global warming because it is naturally occurring. Therefore they can only frighten you.
Our solution - chill out, go to the beach, have a glass of wine and relax with your family.