Climate forecasters say that 2015 could be the warmest year ever, Raw Story Reports. The study, presented at the National Academy of Sciences Monday, built on other work to show that we have a 76% chance of an El Nino event happening sometime later this year. The potential consequence, combined with the phenomena of man-made global warming, could be the warmest year on record since we started keeping track back in the 1800's.
Although they occur in the equatorial tropical Pacific Ocean, the effects of El Niño events can reverberate around the globe, wreaking havoc with typical weather patterns. El Niños increase the likelihood for California to be pummeled by Pacific storm systems, for example, while leaving eastern Australia at greater risk of drought. Because they are characterized by higher than average sea surface temperatures in the equatorial tropical Pacific Ocean, and they add heat to the atmosphere, El Niño events also tend to boost global average temperatures.
By acting in concert with manmade greenhouse gases, which are also warming the planet, calendar years featuring a strong El Niño event, such as 1998, can more easily set all-time high temperature records.
So instead of the extreme drought that is affecting California right now, we could see them getting extreme rain next year. In the light of these forecasts, it is irresponsible of our politicians to cut back on funding for long-range weather research. Our research needs to be expanded and improved so that we can better understand the weather patterns of this planet.
Larry Bell, writing in Forbes, claims that we are on a path to global cooling. He quotes a Russian scientist as follows:
But if you thought global warming was scary, here’s an alternative to consider. Some really smart scientists predict that Planet Earth is now entering a very deep and prolonged cooling period attributable to 100-year record low numbers of sunspots. Periods of reduced sunspot activity correlate with increased cloud-forming influences of cosmic rays. More clouds tend to make conditions cooler, while fewer often cause warming.
Dr. Habibullo Abdussamatov who heads Russia’s prestigious Pulkovo Observatory in St. Petersburg predicts that: “after the maximum of solar Cycle-24, from approximately 2014, we can expect the start of the next bicentennial cycle of deep cooling with a Little Ice Age in 2055 plus or minus 11 years” (the 19th to occur in the past 7,500 years).
Dr. Abdussamatov points out that Earth has experienced such occurrences five times over the last 1,000 years, and that: “A global freeze will come about regardless of whether or not industrialized countries put a cap on their greenhouse gas emissions. The common view of Man’s industrial activity is a deciding factor in global warming has emerged from a misinterpretation of cause and effect.”
While solar output typically goes through 11-year cycles with high numbers of sunspots seen at their peak, we are currently approaching the peak of “Cycle-24” with numbers running at less than half of those observed during other 20th century peaks.
The two patterns, however, are not mutually exclusive. It could well be that the solar activity could be accounting for the record cold and snowfall that we see in the eastern half of this country as well as other parts of the world. And it could well be that man-made climate change is responsible for the record flooding in the UK as well as the extreme drought in California, among other events. Assuming both scenarios are true, then we are entering a period of extreme climate havoc over the next several decades.
Speaking in Indonesia, John Kerry blasted Climate Change deniers as follows:
Climate change may be the world's "most fearsome" weapon of mass destruction and urgent global action is needed to combat it, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday, comparing those who deny its existence or question its causes to people who insist the Earth is flat.
In a speech to Indonesian students, civic leaders and government officials in Jakarta, Kerry laid into climate change skeptics, accusing them of using shoddy science and scientists to delay measures needed to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases – at the risk of imperiling the planet. He also went after those who dispute who is responsible for such emissions, arguing that everyone and every country must take responsibility and act immediately.
"We simply don't have time to let a few loud interest groups hijack the climate conversation," Kerry said, referring to what he called "big companies" that "don't want to change and spend a lot of money" to act to reduce the risks. He later singled out big oil and coal concerns as the primary offenders.
"We should not allow a tiny minority of shoddy scientists and science and extreme ideologues to compete with scientific facts," Kerry told the audience gathered at a U.S. Embassy-run American Center in a Jakarta shopping mall. "Nor should we allow any room for those who think that the costs associated with doing the right thing outweigh the benefits."
"The science is unequivocal, and those who refuse to believe it are simply burying their heads in the sand," Kerry said. "We don't have time for a meeting anywhere of the Flat Earth Society."
But if John Kerry is serious about his remarks, then let him back up his words with action by recommending denial of the Keystone XL Pipeline to President Obama. Should he fail to do so, that will mean that he does not believe his own rhetoric and that he is simply pandering to those of us who are concerned about our impact on the planet and the climate.