We are all dimmed....Light's going out!

[James S]

I find it interesting then that the UV radiation getting through our atmosphere is on the increase. Here in Aus, the incidence of skin cancer is still on the rise because the sun is effectively getting harsher.

The one thing that is not in question is that our weather patterns are definitely changing.

I find it amusing that every 10 years or so we get a different theory on what's happening to the global weather patterns. Back in the 80's the popular opinion from atmospheric scientists was we were going to enter another ice age soon. Now the popular opinion is devistation through global warming, but then there's a group of scientists that just think this is media hype being pushed by the media giants who also have large vested interests in manufacturing CFC replacements.
I guess it's whatever theory at the time is popular enough to justify research grants.

- James.

[cube]

Actually the 'new ice age' and 'global warming' theories are the same thing. The overall theory is that global warming will cause a fair amount of the ice caps to melt which will cause a lot of fresh water to enter the oceans reducing the overall salinity.

There are huge underocean currents called the conveyor belt which circulate heat around the planet, they rely on a difference in salinity to work. When the oceans get diluted they will stop moving rather abruptly.

The conveyor currents are responsible for bringing warm water to places like England and Australia, without the warm water coming in they will freeze, resulting in an ice age for most of the planet.

It will take many thousands of years to rebalance the salinity and get the conveyors moving again. If we damage the ocean's currents we're pretty much hosed.


The popular media never explains anything in any detail so it's easy to get the idea that these two ideas are unrelated and just scientific fads rather than a coherent idea that has survived several decades of research.