What climate indicators do you think are most useful in assessing the dangers of global climate change?

Question

What best represents the fingerprints of human-induced climate change to you? The harbingers?

Answer 1

The rise of CO2 levels, average yearly temp, hurricanes and other tropical storms, and the rise of other greenhouse gases.

Answer 2

There are so many different species of animals that are on the brink of extinction because of changes in there climate due to the human footprint. to say global warming isn't real is just ignorant and block headed. I do believe everyone has a right to their own opinion but if you are serious about learning about the effects humans have on the climate I would suggest that you watch "An Inconvenient Truth" and similar media to get a better understanding of global warming. It is a serious issue and I hope you learn more about it and make simple changes to your life to improve the earth. One easy thing to change is any light bulb you have in your house or apartment can be changed to a fluorescent, it uses less energy and lasts longer the only downside to it is that it takes maybe a few milliseconds longer to turn on.

Answer 3

The dent in the ozone layer is only one of many indicators in climate change.  Also rising sea levels, more hurricanes and other natural disasters. Climate change affects all of weather system.

Answer 4

melting ice

Greenland's receding ice

too much fresh water from the melting ice introduced into the oceans

Warmer than average temperatures. Spring is coming an average of about 2 weeks earlier than it did 50 years ago.

That allows a kind of worm to live longer and eat the bark of a tree from the inside out, killing hundreds of thousands of trees, which is where we get our oxygen.

Un-recycled plastics which emit CO2 into the atmosphere causing a greenhouse effect(raises temps) which causes more major storms. More major hurricanes/typhoons of category 4 or 5...... There are quite a lot. If you have time watch Last Days on Earth on the History Channel. It gives a very detailed look at Global warming or rent An Inconvenient Truth by former Vice President Al Gore.

Answer 5

1) Glaciers are recognized as being among the most sensitive indicators of climate change. For the last century, however, glaciers have been unable to regenerate enough ice during the winters to make up for the ice lost during the summer months.

2) Total ice in the ice sheets is another sensitive indicator.

3)  Ocean currents drive long-term climate changes.

Those are system indicators.  What about for humans?

The biggest factors of present concern for evaluating human induced climate change is the increase in CO2 levels due to emissions from fossil fuel combustion, followed by aerosols (particulate matter in the atmosphere), which exert a cooling effect, and cement manufacture. Other factors, including land use, ozone depletion, animal agriculture and deforestation, also affect climate.

There can be positive feedback from a variety of these sources which could create a spiral of effects.  The earth is too complex to put it all on one thing.  I think the interplay of all the effects feeding on each other will best show the human induced effects.

Harbingers?  Glaciers disappear, the total ice in the poles declines and if the ocean current cycle of water sees a systemwide breakdown (essentially one big massive El Nino).

Answer 6

How about the temperature of the earth for BILLIONS of years and not just little snippets of time to make their theories fit.

"Scores of scientific papers show that the medieval warm period was real, global and up to 3C warmer than now. Then, there were no glaciers in the tropical Andes: today they're there. There were Viking farms in Greenland: now they're under permafrost. There was little ice at the North Pole: a Chinese naval squadron sailed right round the Arctic in 1421 and found none.

The Antarctic, which holds 90 per cent of the world's ice and nearly all its 160,000 glaciers, has cooled and gained ice-mass in the past 30 years, reversing a 6,000-year melting trend. Data from 6,000 boreholes worldwide show global temperatures were higher in the Middle Ages than now. And the snows of Kilimanjaro are vanishing not because summit temperature is rising (it isn't) but because post-colonial deforestation has dried the air. Al Gore please note.

In some places it was also warmer than now in the Bronze Age and in Roman times. It wasn't CO2 that caused those warm periods. It was the sun. So the UN adjusted the maths and all but extinguished the sun's role in today's warming."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jht...

Answer 7

I would say that if the earth's climate systems or weather patterns were to reorganize themselves to different patterns or systems, we would have the potential for catastrophic agricultural failures. For instance if temperate regions were to migrate to other parts of the earth and deserts were to expand arable land might disappear. The hard part is distinguishing what might be considered as evidence for global warming and what is normal weather patterns given the history of earths everchanging climate.

Answer 8

I think if you are looking for the truth, you should look at eveything not just the indicators that support your favourite theory.

This would include historical anecdotal evidence and historical temperature reconstructions from geologists.

Answer 9

Well,  we can assume there is global warming when we see January tempertures and weather conditions in Calgary in April. Right Calgary?

We also know there is global warming and the seas are rising because New York City is under water.

Global Warming is BS.

Answer 10

none http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AmdazwAc...

Answer 11

Contrary to what many may think and scientists say, (although Al Gore has made millions from faux alarmist science) scientists still do not have any conclusive evidence, fingerprints or otherwise, to back up their claim of "human induced" climate change of earth. However, NATURAL fingerprints of global cooling and warming are being found that has helped us better understand the climate history of the planet. To put it quite simply, check out the natural effects of both "sun, sea and wind" upon the earth's climate. Please note that I firmly believe humans should be held responsible for environmental land, air and sea pollution. Before some of you keep your minds closed and just love to blame humanity for all of the Earth's woes, check these links out for fun and recent studies about climate change:

http://www.scotese.com/climate.htm

http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/2...

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008...

Answer 12

This is a tough one - the indicators are easy enough, but the causal link to human-induced a bit more tricky - hence all the debate... Trends don't seem to be enough for folks.  Taking earth core samples and looking over the ages isn't convincing enough to skeptics who probably think fossils are manufactured nonsense... so what do we have?  

Chemical data?  We know how chemicals and toxics react and we know where they come from - there is a lot of research (sorry I don't have the time to find it all) on that type of thing.

Hmmm... I wish we had a climatologist, a geologist, a toxicologist, a physicist and a molecular biologist in the same room together so we could ask them!

Of course there will always be those who won't believe them anyway... sigh.

Shout out to JELLO - Ok, now I am confused - since you don't allow contact- maybe you read the answers... now you seem in support - though I bashed you in another question.  You are a person of intrigue!

Answer 13

Longitude

Answer 14

I echo the views of both Rev. Al Po and Mytur Bin-Stirty.

The people who are trying to scare everyone are doing just that. They are just trying to find facts to make their theories valid.  

That is a bunch of bunk.

Good Luck

Answer 15

You have to look very carefully at the canaries in the coal mine.  If they step on the tipping point at the wrong time, that's a serious indicator than man has his fingerprints on the button of global warming.