Greenhouse gases act like insulation. So global temperatures start to increase when the insulation effect increases, and will eventually reach a stable temperature for any stable increase. The time it will take to stabilise, and the temperature it will eventually stabilise at, are extremely difficult to model but the time-frame will be decades, if not centuries. So the assumption that warming will continue due to a steady state of greenhouse gases is very much closer to the truth, than that the planet will stop warming immediately when greenhouse gases stop increasing. — unenlightened
However, if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases today, the rise in global temperatures would begin to flatten within a few years. Temperatures would then plateau but remain well-elevated for many, many centuries. There is a time lag between what we do and when we feel it, but that lag is less than a decade.
That's new. They used to say the lag was a century or more. :up: — frank
Being a cynical old man I wondered if they made this up because they knew that people wouldn't bother fighting global warming if the effects were centuries away. :scream: — Agree to Disagree
started rethinking this issue. — Agree to Disagree
However, if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases today, the rise in global temperatures would begin to flatten within a few years.
I wondered if they made this up — Agree to Disagree
That's new. They used to say the lag was a century or more. :up: — frank
started rethinking this issue.
— Agree to Disagree
No they haven’t. — Mikie
Are you saying that the climate scientists at NASA are wrong? — Agree to Disagree
Are you saying that the climate scientists at NASA are wrong? — Agree to Disagree
The time it will take to stabilise, and the temperature it will eventually stabilise at, are extremely difficult to model but the time-frame will be decades, if not centuries. — unenlightened
This is the view that most climate scientists believed and they have told the public about this. — Agree to Disagree
Try reading what was said. — Mikie
Our results suggest that as CO2 accumulates in the atmosphere, the full warming effect of an emission may not be felt for several decades, if not centuries. Most of the warming, however, will emerge relatively quickly, implying that CO2 emission cuts will not only benefit subsequent generations but also the generation implementing those cuts.
I had read that climate scientists said that a certain amount of global warming was "locked in" even if we stopped emissions today. — Agree to Disagree
Temperatures would then plateau but remain well-elevated for many, many centuries.
I had read that climate scientists said that a certain amount of global warming was "locked in" even if we stopped emissions today. — Agree to Disagree
Of course the actual picture is more complicated, but does that help in understanding why the two statements under discussion aren't contradictory? — wonderer1
What I want to say to agree to disagree is that we are on the hook, and we won't be getting off the hook through reinterpretation. Only by altogether stopping greenhouse gas production can we avoid getting cooked. — BC
Yeah, so let’s just forget about it and relax. That’s worked wonders so far.
This is an existential issue. We could use more thinking, not less.
Well, this problem (like most problems involving humans) isn't an issue of not figuring out what to do, it is a problem of actually doing it. — LuckyR
Fine, but heat is heat and you can't identify which degree of heat is from water vapor, CO2, CH4, N20 (nitrous oxide), Perfluorocarbons, hydroflurocarbons, or sulfur hexafluoride. My point was that it it practically doesn't matter a lot whether the effect of a GH gas kicks in 10 years from today or 200 year from now. — BC
What I want to say to agree to disagree is that we are on the hook, and we won't be getting off the hook through reinterpretation. Only by altogether stopping greenhouse gas production can we avoid getting cooked. — BC
killing all cows, goats, and sheep — Agree to Disagree
If two idiots agree, that doesn't mean they're right.
— Benkei
Thank you for saying what we’re all thinking. — Mikie
How odd that it’s this one issue — cows — that you want to dwell on, and yet repeatedly get wrong. — Mikie
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