What are physicists view on global warming?

Question

What are physicists view on global warming?

Answer 1

The American Institute of Physics agreed with the statement of the American Geophysical Union, which says (in part):

The Earth's climate is now clearly out of balance and is warming. Many components of the climate system—including the temperatures of the atmosphere, land and ocean, the extent of sea ice and mountain glaciers, the sea level, the distribution of precipitation, and the length of seasons—are now changing at rates and in patterns that are not natural and are best explained by the increased atmospheric abundances of greenhouse gases and aerosols generated by human activity during the 20th century. Global average surface temperatures increased on average by about 0.6°C over the period 1956–2006. As of 2006, eleven of the previous twelve years were warmer than any others since 1850. The observed rapid retreat of Arctic sea ice is expected to continue and lead to the disappearance of summertime ice within this century. Evidence from most oceans and all continents except Antarctica shows warming attributable to human activities. Recent changes in many physical and biological systems are linked with this regional climate change. A sustained research effort, involving many AGU members and summarized in the 2007 assessments of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, continues to improve our scientific understanding of the climate.

Answer 2

http://www.aip.org/gov/policy12.html

Answer 3

Real, mostly caused by us.

"Human activities are increasingly altering the Earth's climate. These effects add to natural influences that have been present over Earth's history. Scientific evidence strongly indicates that natural influences cannot explain the rapid increase in global near-surface temperatures observed during the second half of the 20th century."

That and more here:

http://www.aip.org/gov/policy12.html

Answer 4

Depends on the physicist, but the ones doing actual field work seem to view AGW as a lie.

Answer 5

Generally the same as climate scientists - that humans are causing it.  For example, Stephen Hawking.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13485170/

And the American Institute of Physics.

http://blogs.physicstoday.org/newspicks/...

http://www.aip.org/fyi/2004/042.html

http://www.aip.org/history/climate/timel...

And solar physicists like Lockwood and Froehlich.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/scienceshow/sto...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/62902...

And Scafetta and West, who concluded that at the very most, "the sun may have minimally contributed about 10 to 30 percent of the 1980-2002 global surface warming."

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/climate-0...

And me (Master's degree in physics).

Answer 6

What will it matter?...The agenda has been established, that CO2 drives the universe. Even if the world goes through another ice age...it's still going to be called GW? Most validation of major discoveries have came about by accident. Such as the Big Bang or primal atom concept among many others.