marx@phy.ilstu.edu wrote:
> There has been a flattening and perhaps a slight decline in
> global temperatures, depending on the dataset you look at. One
> could draw the conclusion that there is not a direct connection
> between increased CO2 and global temperatures or that there are more
> parameters that need to be considered. The modelers claim that the
> influence of the Sun is minimal. However, it is curious that the
> flattening and slight decrease are coming at a time when solar
> activity is at a century minimum.
These "flattenings" and "slight decreases" are nothing unprecedented at
all, in the last 35 years. See the second chart on:
If you're going to emphasize the temperature plateau of last few years,
you'd have had to do the same between 2002-2004, 1999-2002, and (esp)
1993-1998.
Yet warming resumed after all these plateaus.
CO2 is a GHG. Period. This is essentially a theorem. Natural and
statistical factors will cause its overall factor to fluctuate -- this
is a nonlinear system, after all -- but anthropogenic GHGs are bound to
win in the end, unless we put up some serious pollution.