Harsh realities

Met Office climate change expert Vicky Pope sets out the consequences of temperature rises

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• climate
• change
• environment
• met
• office

[BazzerSpazzer]

This 'climate change expert' says right at the start of the vid that we should see almost 0.8 deg c anomaly by 2014 (0.3 warmer than 2004). We're very close to 2014 and the anomaly is currently 0.4. I say that not only is she going to be wrong, she will be spectacularly wrong.

[Rockyspoon09]

In 3,000 years, the earth will be experiencing another glacial epoch. Obviously, this woman is not a geologist or she'd be making completely different predictions 3,000 or even 1,000 years out. And since the earth has just gone through at least 4 glacial epochs (each ~100,000 years in length intersperced with interglacial epochs of ~10,000 years in length), the next one is inevitable. Natural variations are 3- 4 orders of magnitude (that's 1,000 to 10,000 times) stronger than man can produce.

[gerjanp]

"Do they ever wonder why? Like contemplating a local energy budget?"

I don't know I almost get the impression that they think it's cold there because there is ice rather than that there ice because it is cold. Never mind that much of the light goes sailing past or glancing off the surface without being absorbed or that the optical path is so long that more than 50% is absorbed or scattered before it gets near the surface.

[gufpott]

"What i find amazing is that people in general, and scientists in particular can notice daily that the sting is out of the heat of the sun by the time 6 pm rolls around but can't extrapolate that effect to conditions at the poles."

Even more basic than that gerjanp - it is amazing is that people in general, and scientists in particular, fail to notice that it is cold at the poles.

Do they ever wonder why? Like contemplating a local energy budget?

[gerjanp]

"I'd love to see how she has represented this in her climate models."

What i find amazing is that people in general, and scientists in particular can notice daily that the sting is out of the heat of the sun by the time 6 pm rolls around but can't extrapolate that effect to conditions at the poles.

This does not even take into account the high reflectivity at high angles of incidence.

[gufpott]

Yes gerjanp ... Dr Pope sets out the Flat Earth Theory of Ice Albedo Feedback.

(So called, because it assumes the Earth is flat.)

I'd love to see how she has represented this in her climate models.

[gerjanp]

at the angle of incidence light falls at the arctic albedo changes are not going to be significant.

[s1collin]

That's all these people can do - predict. This will happen if the temps rise by x amount etc. The operative word is "if". Will the temperatures actually rise by these values? "We've seen signs of global warming" Oh yeah the Polar ice melting in summer. That is normal!! Of course this woman is going to make such sensationalist predictions. Her job title is 'Head of the Met Office Centre for climate change research'. If climate change was proven to be false she would be unemployed. Wake up people.

[AGWUK]

That won't help much when sea levels rise...

Move to Greenland.

[776281]

Move to the Hebrides