From: "Gary Britt" 

Don't confuse the libs with reality based questions and thought Glenn. 
They won't be able to take it.

Gary

Ask Geo about global warming in Ohio this spring. 

"Glenn Meadows"  wrote in message
news:427b8712$1{at}w3.nls.net...
> Hmm....so global warming is a NATURAL thing?  We'd warm faster without
human
> intervention?  Methinks that it's possible that our contribution to global
> warming might be an insignificant factor, and we might have actually
slowed
> it for a time?
>
> --
>
> Glenn M.
> "Rich Gauszka"  wrote in message
> news:427b7a5c{at}w3.nls.net...
> > Clean air enhances global warming? Al Gore in shock at news? 
> >
> > http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050502/full/050502-8.html
> >
> > Our planet's air has cleared up in the past decade or two, allowing more
> > sunshine to reach the ground, say two studies in Science this week.
> >
> > Reductions in industrial emissions in many countries, along with the use
> > of particulate filters for car exhausts and smoke stacks, seem to have
> > reduced the amount of dirt in the atmosphere and made the sky more
> > transparent.
> >
> > That sounds like very good news. But the researchers say that more solar
> > energy arriving on the ground will also make the surface warmer, and
this
> > may add to the problems of global warming. More sunlight will also have
> > knock-on effects on cloud cover, winds, rainfall and air temperature
that
> > are difficult to predict.
> >
> > The results suggest that a downward trend in the amount of sunlight
> > reaching the surface, which has been observed since measurements began
in
> > the late 1950s, is now over.
> >
> > The researchers argue that this trend, commonly called 'global dimming',
> > reversed more than a decade ago, probably following the collapse of
> > communist economies and the consequent decrease in industrial
pollutants.
> >
> > The widespread brightening has remained unnoticed until now simply
because
> > there wasn't enough data for a statistically significant analysis, says
> > Martin Wild, an atmospheric scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of
> > Technology in Zurich and an author on one of the reports.
> >
> > Sunny days
> >
> > Wild and his team looked at data on surface sunshine levels from
hundreds
> > of devices around the planet. They found that since the 1980s there has
> > been a transition from decreasing to increasing solar radiation nearly
> > everywhere, except in heavily polluted areas such as India and at
> > scattered sites in Australia, Africa, and South America1.
> >
> > A second study, led by Rachel Pinker from the University of Maryland,
> > College Park, found a similar trend by looking at satellite data,
although
> > their research suggests the extent of the brightening is smaller2.
Unlike
> > ground stations, satellites can sample the whole planet, including the
> > oceans. However, satellite data are difficult to calibrate, and so are
> > considered less accurate than measurements from the ground.
> >
> > Surprisingly, Wild's study shows a brightening trend in China, despite
the
> > fact that there is a booming, fossil-fuel-intensive industry in that
> > country. Wild says he can only speculate that the use of clean-air
> > technologies in China might be more widespread and efficient than has
been
> > thought.
> >
> > In contrast, India's vast brown clouds of smog, which result from
> > wildfires and the use of fossil fuels, have reduced the sunlight
reaching
> > the ground.
> >
> > Researchers will now focus on working out the long-term effects of
clearer
> > air. One thing they do know is that black particulate matter in the air
> > has been contributing a cooling effect to the ground. "It is
clear that
> > the greenhouse effect has been partly masked in the past by air
> > pollution," says Andreas Macke, a meteorologist at the
Leibniz Institute
> > of Marine Sciences in Kiel, Germany.
> >
> >
>
>

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