I also know that for most of the last 100,000 years, the northern hemisphere has been covered with ice, and that the current state of moderate temperature and decreased ice is more of an anomally than it is a norm.

It seems to me, a bigger concern is when does the panet revert back to it's natural state of an arctic northern hemisphere?

What is the big driver of ice retreat and advance, is it SUV's (no pun intended) or is it the relative oscillation of the tilt of the planet during it's travels around the sun?

I have read a ton about this topic , both sides , and the only conclusion I can come 2 is it is just another way to sap Americans of there income and maintain diversity and keep people in a you against me mode.

How many of you will buy the latest phone ? Computer ? Car ? Tool ? toy ? How many will not and claim it is for the health of a planet ?

How many realize oil has gone from 62 a barrel before gore spoke up with his movie to 125 a barrel in less then 18 months ? How many realize Africa is starving because bio fuels have made the cost of staple foods , wheat and corn become investment opportunities because they cost so much ?

How many know Arctic ice grew by 2 million KM last winter ? How many know This April was the coolest in 117 years ?

How many know a weather person , is only right part of the time ? How many realize there so called experts are the very same who teach and write the text books for there weather forecasters ? How many realize we can not predict where a hurricane will make land fall , a tornado will strike or when a earth quake or volcano will erupt ? Let alone when it will rain , snow , or be sunny ?

You are trusting science , I understand our willingness to do so , but remember science fails us every day , people die as a result of science and yet for some reason millions of us tend to side with a scientist and TOSS AWAY COMMON SENSE available to us through reading and simply waking out side IN MAY needing a leather jacket !

The argument is senseless , the earth is not in danger , but because so many have bought into this global warming , we are putting ourselves in danger , Africans are dieing as we argue from starvation , oil is rising because we think it is rare , running out and killing the earth,, and our economy , gas and food prices are rising at alarming rates .. Who are WE HELPING ? I want to know ? My grand kids ? really How so ?

It is time to stop , this joke is getting dangerious , we need to wake up and use common sense ..

Mars!!!…. Let's go for a fresh new start….

I've been a weather watcher all my life and find solace in listening to nature. I'm fascinated by climate change and strongly believe (as an observer and prophet) that we'll see a climate collapse in the next few years. We're in for an ice age, absolutely. It's happened before in cycles and it's happening again. Whether or not humans are responsible is the human ego trying to be involved, like the dysfunctional drunks we all are, dry or not. We're an egocentric, destructive species who's addiction to pain and suffering has not only polluted the planet but poisoned the minds, bodies and souls of almost every other species, including our own on the planet. If you consider the Earth as a soul of her own you must see that she knows how to heal herself. It's time to shake the fleas from her coat. An ice age is a perfect remedy for the Human Virus.

So, scientifically educated people….where do we go start a self sustaining commune to survive?
Arizona?

I am a chemical Engineer but I am certainly do not qualify as an expert. I cannot judge the quality of the scientific work done (you would have to be really an expert) but I trust the peereview process and the overwhelming evidence presented over the years.

I guess it's a case of more wanting to believe the reassuring story some scientists tell ( most of them cannot even be called experts )

I also heard that. That is why I suggest going to the references.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_scientists_opposing_the_mainstream_scientific_assessment_of_global_warming

P.S. Skepticism has been the savior of man kind for years. If we believe everything that the media says we would all be worried out of our minds. And roits would go on in all the citys.

George,
Happy to give you a good laugh..

Cheers..

Al Gore can come and shovel my sidewalk.

Damn! If this new 'theory' pans out, the environmental alarmists are going to have to find another way to trick millions of people that humans are bad.. and have no right to live instinctively, as all of the other animals do. … Okay, finished knee-jerking..

Our “contribution” to global warming is negligible from an atmospheric sense if you analyze the numbers. Our atmosphere contains less than one percent of CO2. True that in the past 100 years or so, we have helped to increase it by more than 30 percent, but it is still less than one percent of our atmosphere. Hence the term “trace gas”. Does our contribution really affect the rate of climate change? Maybe… Maybe not. Each time our planet goes through an ice age (which we are currently in, I might add) and a warming trend, it doesn’t happen at the same rate or severity.
To those ‘believers’: Say what you will about us being the cause of accelerating the warming trend, but please don’t call it “fact”. There just isn’t enough proof to say it is factual (it could be true, it really could be). But for now, it is just speculation. It really is.
Here is a thought: Maybe because we are protecting more and more plant and animal life as the years go on, that that is contributing to global warming! Plants and animals are the primary source of CO2 emissions, you know.. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
Sorry in advance if I irritated any of you staunch supporters of the global warming theory. Environmentalists and animal rights activists too. Try not to scream at me too much.
I am more apt to be a believer when I am presented with facts. Dark matter and dark energy are interesting theories and sound if they could be possible. Or the Higgs boson. Looks like there could be some evidence. Possibly… Same goes for us being the cause of accelerating global warming. Looks like there could be some evidence of it, but I would prefer facts before jumping on the band wagon.

> So doesn't this study counteract the whole Co2 theory?

No. CO2 is still a greenhouse gas, and it is still resulting in an upward trend in temperatures (the study authors are very clear about this). The authors of this study are simply stating that for a relatively short period of time, the global warming signal will be masked by this periodic change in ocean circulation.

It really is amazing that people are quite happy to jump on the 'cooling' component of the article, and completely ignore the accompanying message of the authors of that same article that says global warming isn't going away.

In fact, given that the authors still think that temperatures will rise over the next decade, just not by as much as would be expected in the absence of such a circulation trend, perhaps the message you should be taking from this is that an event that would ordinarily LOWER temperatures over the same period, will not do so…. further evidence for the anthropogenic impact on climate perhaps?

Some years ago, Scientific American reported about the huge, but slow moving underwater current flowing between Newfoundland and Greenland. It is a bottom flow about 200 feet deep and covers most of the complete stretch of water between the two land masses and flows at about 4 feet per second. The depth of the water is about 800 feet.

We see much of the edge ice on Greenland is melting. The ice on Greenland is, in some places, 10,000 feet thick.

What if the melt accelerates sufficiently to bring enough ice down at one time to block that flow?

There would be nothing to stop the ice.

There would be no energy source to melt it fast enough.

It would bring the global conveyor to an immediate dead halt. The worlds ocean flow would STOP.

THAT would start a new Ice Age.