Are we heading for Colder or Hotter times?

Question

Since the artic ice is melting are we heading for cooler times? More melting ice means cooler waters but yet we see a hurricane that might be heading to the northern Atlantic. And if the Antlantic conveyor belt collapse we might be heading to a Artic winter (no wonder we gain weight so easily). Given that temperature will no longer be stable and constant and weather fluxuations a norm. Example, Dryer regions in California has resulted in more moisture in the mid-eastern plains. However, we have seen an increase in heatwave activity as well (El Ninio, metling Ice, California, etc). While, one degree in temperature range may not seem enought. Its obvious that it can have major impact. One degree in our oceans is alot when you realize that your talking about more liquid mass than our land. There is more water than visible land mass. Thus concluding, visibly we can see that heat might be a dominant factor however we should not rule out a convection overide to colder weather.

Answer 1

Well as our earth continues to heat up due to global warming we will continue to get hotter temporarily but after a period of time our heat will escape the earth like it does on Venus. It may be a long time from now and my science may be skewed but again if we look at what happens on Venus we can clearly see that we will have a slow moving roller coaster of temperatures.

Answer 2

This is where the whole BS of consensus is thrown out the window.   There has never and never will be a consensus on what is changing the climate or how it is changing.   Science doesnt fall in line like jack booted n***s.   Yahoo answers people do however as I have seen some nice ad hominem attacks against those who do not toe the Global Whor-ming line.   The earth has gone through more changes in climate than we can imagine.  It has existed for 4 billion years and has had worse things thrown at it than we could do in a period of 100 years.   Some say the ice caps are expanidng again, others not so much.   Some suggest that they are shifting due to high winds and expanding out in odd directions.  Glaciers have come and gone and will do so until we are all dead.   I want to know when carbon, the basis of life and something needed to sustain life all of a sudden became such a horible thing.    There are 6 billion people, multitudes of species of animals both land and sea and insects.  They all emit carbon dioxide everytime they breath and emit methane when they f**t.   Cars are shut off for periods of time as are many factories.   People and other forms of life are not.   We emit carbon dioxide 24/7/365 and unless someone plans on killing off a few billion of us there is nothing to stop that.    Active volcanoes emit carbon and ash into the atmosphere at rates higher than anything we are capable of as well. Even our sun likes to throw decades or even centuries long heat waves at us.   Somehow the planet is still here and life has thrived.   Plants need carbon dioxide to create oxygen.   The more CO2, the more oxygen.   Clouds trap and then rain down CO2 out of the sky in storms across the planet and CO2 is trapped in water and then released in kind.    There is nothing you can do to stop the emitting of CO2.   If you think making everyone go back to living in grass huts and using spears to catch food again will solve the "problem" then you are sadly mistaken.   We are not the ones who decide which species will live or die in one given day to the next.   It is called natural selection and when certain species of bug, animal or even man cannot adapt to their changing surroundings, they die and new forms take their place.   Always was, always will be.  To me, this whole mess is nothing more than a way to make a new form of industry grow exponentionaly wealthier after having lobbied congress to enact draconian measures to curb emissions of a gas you cannot escape on any life supporting planet.  As George Carlin once said, "The planet is fine, the people are f-u-c-k-e-d".

Answer 3

In the short run, we are looking at a hotter climate. In the long run, we are looking at a potential ice age.

I'm going to try to put this in the simplest terms:

Hotter temperature- ice melts.

Ice melts- more freshwater.

Still with me? As the ice melts and more freshwater input (rain) is being put into our ocean, the salinity (amount of salt) drops. So, what does this mean? Well, the salinity in our ocean is what keeps our conveyor belt moving. The conveyor belt controls the coastal temperatures. As the salinity drops, the conveyor belt slows, creating colder temperatures. The area that well be hit first and hardest is Europe - which starts the feedback loop of an ice age.

This was all poorly depicted in "The Day After Tomorrow." The movie offers a vague idea of what will happen, only an ice age is said to hit slowly, after thousands of years- not in a period of two days.

Answer 4

Since 2006 it's getting cooler.

The suns activity is way down so that I believe is why.

Answer 5

it has always been getting hotter. History says it. Why would it stop? The ice caps were bigger, and now they're smaller. It's not going to stop.

I find the Global Warming people to be stupid. Nobody has ever cared about it before, so why should we now? It's not nessasary for us to care for something out of our control. What are you going to do? Dump liquid nitro in the ice caps? No! Stop breating! That might do it!

Answer 6

Given a long enough timeline....both (and they'll both natural events).

Answer 7

http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0oGkkyzhXZIoz...

This link shows the results of a study by the University of Oregon which completely shows the fallcies of this whole Global Warming movement.  This link will answer every one of those statements in your answer.

Answer 8

We are headed for both a warmer and a colder earth.  It just depends on the time period that you consider.  There are those that say it will be warmer first and those that say it will be colder first.  I will not be here 100 years from now to see who is correct.

Answer 9

Jimz is right, there wouldn't be 6+ billion of us without the climate cooperating over the last century.

Answer 10

winter is coming, so i`ll cooler times

Answer 11

well what i've heard, is that it's supposed to get hotter, then drop really cold...for sooooome reason. i don't know why, but we could actually be going into another iceage

Answer 12

Both.  It all depends on the time frame to which you are referring.  Short term, warming.  It will then change to cooling and  once again switch to warming.  I refer you to the sea surface temperature chart on page 1 of the report referenced in the answer below.  It's called cycle and goes up and down.  Chicken Little would be proud of the environmental extremists.

Answer 13

Are we heading for Colder or Hotter times?

Probably.

Your assumption that temperatures used to be stable is in error.  Did you know there is more vegetation on the planet than ever before (at least since we have been measuring it with a satelite).  There was never a time when droughts or hurricanes didn't exist.  There is nothing special about today except that it is remarkably moderate and liveable. Instead of looking for gloom and doom around every corner, maybe you should see the good things that are happening.

Answer 14

Hmmm... this looks like the mother lode of bad science - there's no way I can tackle all the nonsense that has been spewed out in the answers before mine so I'll stick to your question!

The easy answer is 'hotter'- the planet is warming.

However, reading the rest of your question it becomes clear that by 'we' you don't mean 'we humans', just a small portion of them, specifically (from what I can tell), those living in north America...

And the answer to that is, we don't know. Will the atlantic conveyor shut down, decrease, remain the same? What will the jet stream do? Will melting antarctic ice change el nino/nina patterns?

Basically, you are asking for a weather forecast for one country for the next few decades - no one can do that with any accuracy; forecasting the range of changes to the overall climate due to global warming is hard enough - localised weather forecasts... no.

BUT... the one thing we can say is that it's going to CHANGE!

Answer 15

umm i think it might be hotter but i don't really know

Answer 16

I believe man has accelorated it. However, I just wish the politicians would suffer with us rather than live lavish lifestyles. Even if they are wrong at least they would be highlighting they were doing what they believed to be best for their countries rather than their pockets.