Does NASA photo of Alaska show a troublesome trend ?

[Hum]

A gorgeous ? and rare ? nearly cloudless view of the entire state of Alaska was captured by NASA?s Terra satellite on June 17, 2013.

But is the photo beautiful or a bad sign? Some on the Web suggested that warmer temperatures in the state that have led to less cloud cover could be a sign of global warming.

 

NASA explains on its website that the near-cloudless state is a result of higher-than-normal temperatures:

?The same ridge of high pressure that cleared Alaska's skies also brought stifling temperatures to many areas accustomed to chilly June days. Talkeetna, a town about 100 miles north of Anchorage, saw temperatures reach 96?F (36?C) on June 17. Other towns in southern Alaska set all-time record highs, including Cordova, Valez, and Seward. The high temperatures also helped fuel wildfires and hastened the breakup of sea ice in the Chukchi Sea.?

The photo raises more questions than answers about rising temperatures that may either be a fluke or a longer-term sign of a worrisome trend.

A writer for Slate noted a similar occurrence with a study of rising temperatures in Greenland last summer, when 98 percent of Greenland?s ice surface "experienced melting between July 8-15, 2012."

A change to the jet stream over Greenland could be the explanation, causing ?warmer high-pressure systems to sit and stay in one place in what?s called a blocking pattern.?

So are Arctic weather patterns changing due to global climate change? As Slate points out, we?ll know more in the next few years. Meanwhile, it is a really nice view ? and a potentially worrisome sign.

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[Growled Member]

The photo raises more questions than answers about rising temperatures that may either be a fluke or a longer-term sign of a worrisome trend.

 

My bet would be it's a long term trend. We have seen too much of it in the last few years for it to be a fluke.

[Hum]

Explains all the cold winds down here -- all our heat went North. :/

[Anibal P]

Has to be something else, warming has stopped and been stagnant for around 10 years now, we've had a fairly cool summer so far in the NE but no one is running around claiming global cooling is the reason. 

 

When I was stationed in AK in the 90's before this whole "Global Warming" thing became a fad it was not rare for Fairbanks to sometimes hit 90+ and yet still be in the upper 70's in Anchorage, people forget Alaska is very different weather wise to the lower 48 and that need to be factored in before any realistic reporting can be done 

[Mackster]

Explains all the cold winds down here -- all our heat went North. :/

 

Yeah, there's been a similar pattern over Europe the last couple of years. Cold air pushed down over Europe that normally stays in the north. Meanwhile, the ices are melting like never before in the north... Cold air down, warm air up... 

[MDboyz]

Ummm global warming coming to Alaska, that means prostitution will be increased there too....

[Hum]

^ And bikini sales.

[ShadowMajestic]

Or its just normal and happens every now and then.

We've been documenting the earths weather properly for less than 50 years and we act like we know EVERYTHING about it.

Just ignore the millions...billions of years we have missed.

[MikeChipshop Member]

Or its just normal and happens every now and then.

We've been documenting the earths weather properly for less than 50 years and we act like we know EVERYTHING about it.

Just ignore the millions...billions of years we have missed.

 

Amen brother!

[TPreston]

Has to be something else, warming has stopped and been stagnant for around 10 years now, we've had a fairly cool summer so far in the NE but no one is running around claiming global cooling is the reason. 

Which means jack and **** in terms of climate, Please learn the difference between climate and weather.

 

Or its just normal and happens every now and then.

We've been documenting the earths weather properly for less than 50 years and we act like we know EVERYTHING about it.

Just ignore the millions...billions of years we have missed.

Climate != Weather.

 

No different than creationists ragging on evolution.

[jakem1]

Or its just normal and happens every now and then.

We've been documenting the earths weather properly for less than 50 years and we act like we know EVERYTHING about it.

Just ignore the millions...billions of years we have missed.

 

Thankfully climate scientists base their opinions on more than just a photo and an article posted on a random website the way you have.  Weather statistics have been collected around the world for centuries and there's plenty of climatic evidence available in trees, ice core samples, etc. going back millennia. Nobody suggests that they know everything there is to know (which explains why climate science is a developing field) but that certainly doesn't mean that nothing is known.

 

By the way, the majority of people that share your opinion only think the world is about 6 thousand years old.

[Hum]

^ 6 billion would be closer -- hehe. :laugh:

[ShadowMajestic]

Thankfully climate scientists base their opinions on more than just a photo and an article posted on a random website the way you have.  Weather statistics have been collected around the world for centuries and there's plenty of climatic evidence available in trees, ice core samples, etc. going back millennia. Nobody suggests that they know everything there is to know (which explains why climate science is a developing field) but that certainly doesn't mean that nothing is known.

 

By the way, the majority of people that share your opinion only think the world is about 6 thousand years old.

 

Such a friendly way of calling me a religious nut.

 

I am aware of that we've got reports and details about the climate or weather many, many years ago. Like how it was warmer in the medieval times/dark ages without our industrial polution.

Or that it was colder during periods of medieval times/dark ages.

Even 2 years of total darkness is part of our 'climate'.

 

So okay, even with the limited info we have, we can see a few thousand years of limited climate and weather patterns.

Now bring this to a universe scale. Few thousand years out of millions, billions of years.

Yes we know so much. Cause we know exactly what causes the shifts in climate and weather.

 

Wait we still don't. We don't even know for sure what killed the frigging dinosaurs. Its all just THEORY. not fact, theory.

 

And ignore the thousands of people in the world screaming "HUMANS CAUSES GLOBAL WARMING".  While ignoring that not only earth is warming up, but so is Venus.

Must be us humans and our polution, right?

[Astra.Xtreme]

Wait we still don't. We don't even know for sure what killed the frigging dinosaurs. Its all just THEORY. not fact, theory.

 

Actually we do know what killed the dinosaurs.  There are still some small details that are up-in-the-air, but we know exactly where and when it happened.

 

http://www.blastr.com/2013-2-11/its-official-scientists-figured-out-what-killed-dinosaurs

 

And to be fair, almost everything is technically a "theory". Even gravity is a theory because of some irregularities in quantum mechanics.  But it doesn't exactly make gravity any less factual.  Point being, if all "proof" points towards the same explanation and nothing, so far, has hinted otherwise, then a theory and fact are basically the same thing.  Speculation carries no weight.

[He's Dead Jim]

Well, the general consenus whether  creationist or evolutionist is that all species will either adapt to changing conditions or become extinct :)

[Steven P. Administrators]

Humanity has such a short recorded history of climate change, half the time I think they don't have any idea what they're talking about. We still can't predict earthquakes or mass flooding,, or in most cases even do anything about it!

 

Continents shift, waterways too and unsurprisingly the weather, there's lots of evidence of past ice ages and that there was running water in the driest places on earth, what's so alarming that unusual weather is happening in places it isn't seen before (in recorded history)?.

[He's Dead Jim]

There was a great bbc show which helps give a lay persons view of the way that the climate and weather changes over time,

Heres an extract from the web page;

 

The first episode of Orbit aired on BBC Two, 4th March 9pm, and is now available to watch on iplayer. What did you think?

In the first episode we travel from July - the height of summer in the Northern Hemisphere - to December, and the darkest days of winter. As well as following the seasonal change from summer to winter, the film explores one of the most everyday but significant aspects of our journey around the Sun - the fact that the Earth is spinning on its axis.

We start just inside the Arctic Circle in northern Norway, on a special day. We wanted to film the day when the Sun set for the first time in more than two months - an evocative moment that captures both the seasonal change from summer to winter, and the importance of the Earth's daily 24 hour cycle.

Through this film we wanted to find events which highlighted the importance of the Earth's spin. So Helen goes hurricane chasing to show how the Earth's spin sets weather systems rotating.

Well worth a watch,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/23degrees/2012/03/orbit_episode_one.html

[Hum]

Actually we do know what killed the dinosaurs.  There are still some small details that are up-in-the-air, but we know exactly where and when it happened.

 

http://www.blastr.com/2013-2-11/its-official-scientists-figured-out-what-killed-dinosaurs

 

And to be fair, almost everything is technically a "theory". Even gravity is a theory because of some irregularities in quantum mechanics.  But it doesn't exactly make gravity any less factual.  Point being, if all "proof" points towards the same explanation and nothing, so far, has hinted otherwise, then a theory and fact are basically the same thing.  Speculation carries no weight.

 

 

Speculation, is also based on theories.

 

That's the trouble with so-called Science today -- a few 'experts' get together, examine little physical evidence, then proclaim a particular theory as a fact.

 

Then they scoff at any alternate ideas.

 

A great way to suppress the truth.

 

Science holds many assumptions that will eventually be recognized as wrong.