[Phys-L] Re: global warming

[rtarara at SAINTMARYS.EDU (Rick Tarara)]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bernard Cleyet" <anngeorg@PACBELL.NET>

> "... since there are plenty of historical and fossil records to show that
> the earth has undergone even larger climate swings over the centuries."
>
>
> And in a single 100 years?
In fact yes, but that was due to an ecological (but natural) disaster.
About 11,000 years ago there was a 10 degree (I'm assuming Fahrenheit)
cooling in 1 century due to a large fresh-water inland sea (Canada) being
dumped suddenly into the North Atlantic.  This event, is IMO, a strong call
for caution in the global warming discussion. That is, we have fossil
records that indicate that VERY LARGE swings can happen in VERY SHORT time
periods, so if we are to err, lets do so on the 'safe' side.   OTOH, with
such large swings part of the record, others can argue that 1 degree in 100
years is nothing to worry about and 'probably' just natural noise is the
climatic variation.

Rick

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Richard W. Tarara
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, Indiana
rtarara@saintmarys.edu
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