Global Warming Photos

[MentalAvenger]

Post your Global Warming photos here. :)

[Noclevername]

Didn't we already have a thread for GW pics?

[MentalAvenger]

Just for Global Warming photos? I couldn’t find one.

[Neverfly]

Didn't we already have a thread for GW pics?

They are beautiful pictures though. I miss the snow- downside of being in Texas. Did you take those pictures MentalAvenger?

[EndeavorRX7]

Post your Global Warming photos here. :)


I've noted the sarcasm, however, is it possible that the snow would be completely covering everything if not for global warming? GW's effects are gradual. Snow is not going to suddenly disappear from one decade to the next because of increasing GW. If that was the case I think we'd better really worry, if we're not already. I also think that if GW continues at current rate (with compounding) you may not have any snow all year at the very location you shot those photos 100 years from now.

[MentalAvenger]

Did you take those pictures MentalAvenger?I took them this morning around my house just after I shoveled the walks for the fourth time this week.

[MentalAvenger]

I've noted the sarcasm, however, is it possible that the snow would be completely covering everything if not for global warming? Now way to tell.

GW's effects are gradual. Snow is not going to suddenly disappear from one decade to the next because of increasing GW. Actually, the snow has only been accumulating like this within the last 2-3 years. Before that, there was a long period where there was very little snow or even cold weather. Back in the 50’s and 60’s, there was snow and cold temperatures like this all the time. About the only thing we can count on is that it will change without any apparent cause, one way or another.

Meanwhile, we can get some nice photos. :)

[Neverfly]

Please explain this statement. Are you suggesting that the worlds' climate scientists are incorrect in their findings that the production of pollutants and CO2 since the industrial revolution have had no effect?

Hey Harry Fryer, I'm not trying to be rude but that is sparking a Global Warming Debate which is off topic. The OP is making a joke- nothing more using the photos. The OP is more about Snow Photos- with a crack about GW mixed in for fun.

There are quite a few GW threads open and loving the attention around the forums.;)

[Neverfly]

That might be, but it isn't in good taste.

It depends on what you mix the snow with.
Cherry works pretty well. So does orange.

But stay AWAY from yellow Snow. It isn't in good taste.

[Ronald Brak]

This thread will be closed when a moderator notices it. We can't discuss politics Harry, which including the Iraq occupation, and Metal Avenger, you should not start a thread called Global Warming Photos which have no relevance to global warming. If they were photos showing the retreat of glaciers or something that pertained to global warming it would be acceptable.

[Neverfly]

Well maybe he can sweet-talk a Mod into changing the titlehttp://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/5.gif

[EndeavorRX7]

I have had many discussions (more like debates) with people who do not believe CO2 emissions by man made factories are mainly responsible for the increase in climate change. However, they do acknowledge that it has some minor affect on global climate (I think at this point no one can refute the scientific data that suggests it has at least some affect).
Anyway, these people claim that the increase in solar activity is mainly responsible for GW along with some contribution from CO2 emissions. They then proceed to argue that we should not change CO2 emission laws because it doesn't play a big role in GW.

What I don't understand about their point is if the sun is the main reason and CO2 emissions is secondary, shouldn't that be more reason for us to lower
CO2 output? Afterall we can't control solar output so why add to the increasing problem.

Think about it!

[Neverfly]

Maybe we should cut back on CO2 in the summer but not in the winter;) balance things out a bit.

[Whirlpool]

It depends on what you mix the snow with.
Cherry works pretty well. So does orange.

But stay AWAY from yellow Snow. It isn't in good taste.

I dream of experiencing Snow , even once in my whole life before I die.

http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/105.gif

[Neverfly]

I dream of experiencing Snow , even once in my whole life before I die.

http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/105.gif

Just don't die in it:neutral:

On a snowboarding trip in Utah- I sank into a bank a little over 8 feet deep.I packed it in and drove my hands into it like pitons and climbed out easily enough... But ... heh... gotta be careful.

[Vermonter]

Ya'll need to lighten the heck up. It's just snow. Vermont gets a lot of it. No reason to make this into a political thread, I thought the mods beat that into your heads by now. -_-

[Swift]

I dream of experiencing Snow , even once in my whole life before I die.

http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/105.gif
I can mail you some of mine, my driveway is full of it at the moment and my hour commute become 1.5+ hours today because of it.

But seriously Whirlpool, I hope you get your wish. It can be a pain, but snow is also beautiful and pretty neat.

[MentalAvenger]

Actually, this thread was intended to be serious with a touch of humor. Left-handed humor, that is. :)

Overall Global Warming is a fact. How it is being caused is another matter entirely. However, in the meantime, it is interesting to note the seemingly contradictory results of this current warming trend. While there is evidence that the CO2 level in the atmosphere has been steadily rising for about 150 years or so, the weather has not been following a similar steady change. I commented that the weather changes without any apparent cause. The weather here at least has gone through several quite different and opposite cycles in only the last 60 years. For many years there will be a lot of snow. Then, for 5 or 6 years there will be very little snow. Some years we get quite a bit of rain (for Wyoming). Other times it will be very dry for several years in a row.

Bottom line, while the CO2 level seems to be constantly rising, the weather is anything but consistent. It changes without any apparent cause.

Meanwhile, I’ll take this opportunity to get some great photos before the trend changes again. Anyone else have any interesting “Global Warming” photos?

[Swift]

Overall Global Warming is a fact. How it is being caused is another matter entirely. However, in the meantime, it is interesting to note the seemingly contradictory results of this current warming trend. While there is evidence that the CO2 level in the atmosphere has been steadily rising for about 150 years or so, the weather has not been following a similar steady change. I commented that the weather changes without any apparent cause. The weather here at least has gone through several quite different and opposite cycles in only the last 60 years. For many years there will be a lot of snow. Then, for 5 or 6 years there will be very little snow. Some years we get quite a bit of rain (for Wyoming). Other times it will be very dry for several years in a row.

Bottom line, while the CO2 level seems to be constantly rising, the weather is anything but consistent. It changes without any apparent cause.

Thus the difference between weather and climate. Weather is what happens day-to-day and week-to-week. It also is local/regional. Climate is what happens year-to-year, decade-to-decade, and longer, and over much larger areas. Obviously, climate effects weather. But even given a general climate trend, there is still a lot of possible variation around that trend.

Snow fall amounts are even tricker, since they depend on both temperature and humidity. I know around here, the coldest winters are usually not the snowest, since once Lake Erie freezes, there is a lot less moisture content to the air.

I have also seen climate models where, in certain regions, even though the overall temperature is higher, you get colder winter and warmer summers (but the overall yearly average temperature is higher).

[Torsten]

Well, these are not Global Warming in quotes, nor humorous, but the first is certainly off-colour.

Global warming is partly implicated in the pretty red hue of this dead pine forest. Winters have not been cold enough here for several years to kill the buggers that cause this. Photo was taken last summer just south of my home at about 06:30 from a couple thousand feet. The low sun angle really brought out the colour. One can fly for several hours by helicopter or light plane and see mostly dead pine. Most of it has by now lost the red foliage and turned grey, the insects having moved on to greener pastures. The affected timber in this photo is immature and non-merchantable. We're trying to figure out what to do with it.

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh315/TKphotofolder/BAUT/NulkiHills2007_8_26_0625.jpg


Whirlpool, I have such mixed emotions about snow. It usually interferes with my work plans, but it brings wonderful recreational opportunities. And by April, I'm happy to see the last of it melt from my yard.

Sometimes when the snow starts blowing in, the vehicle never looks so good:

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh315/TKphotofolder/BAUT/Welcome_back_to_the_pickup.jpg


Early this winter, 90 km past the end of the snow plowing. The snow was blowing over the hood with every bump or drift I encountered. And with the bottom of the truck dragging, it's absolutely terrible for the fuel consumption. (Note the dead grey trees in the middleground).

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/hh315/TKphotofolder/BAUT/NorthofTsachalake2007_11_05.jpg

[Argos]

Well, these are not Global Warming in quotes, nor humorous, but the first is certainly off-colour.

Global warming is partly implicated in the pretty red hue of this dead pine forest. Winters have not been cold enough here for several years to kill the buggers that cause this. Photo was taken last summer just south of my home at about 06:30 from a couple thousand feet. The low sun angle really brought out the colour. One can fly for several hours by helicopter or light plane and see mostly dead pine. Most of it has by now lost the red foliage and turned grey, the insects having moved on to greener pastures. The affected timber in this photo is immature and non-merchantable. We're trying to figure out what to do with it.


Torsten, you had commented about it on the 'scariest consequences...' thread. It´s really impressive. But there´s something interesting: we have pines down here [of the genus Pinus]. This town is surrounded by pine forests [check out the latitude]. They have been adapted to warmer climates by artificial selection, for use in celulosis industry. Now they thrive south of the 20th parallel, extensively. That could be a solution for your region.

[korjik]

I totally agree.
If this is a scientific forum then we should be discussing scientific discoveries. Not making jokes about things that are no longer questionable and a serious threat to all of us and our children.
I work with many people who lost relatives in the unprecedented heatwave that occurred in France last year. The original post shocked me for that reason.

I apologise for bringing politics into this discussion, but I was trying to make a point.

where did you get your degree in climatology?

Otherwise, you should question it instead of taking it as gospel.

[crosscountry]

I dream of experiencing Snow , even once in my whole life before I die.

http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/105.gif



believe me from someone else that lives in a warm climate: once is enough.

[Torsten]

Torsten, you had commented about it on the 'scariest consequences...' thread. It´s really impressive. But there´s something interesting: we have pines down here [of the genus Pinus]. This town is surrounded by pine forests [check out the latitude]. They have been adapted to warmer climates by artificial selection, for use in celulosis industry. Now they thrive south of the 20th parallel, extensively. That could be a solution for your region.

Yeah, I thought I would post a pic here though, because this sort of consequence is not often on people's minds (and to reiterate, climate change is implicated because the succession of mild winters has helped survival of the beetle, but there were other conditions that were also necessary for the epidemic to get this big).

There are probably a few hundred species of Pinus worldwide. The one that is common here is P. contorta, and it has a very large natural geographic range. We have breeding programs for a number of species of conifers, but for some of them we still rely to a great extent on seed that is collected from wild trees. For commercial forestry, we have firm rules about how far this seed may be moved from where it was collected. From my limited understanding of the breeding programs, the focus has been on form and yield. For at least one species, an introduced rust is a problem, so selecting for resistance would be a focus there.

But none of this addresses the beetle issue. One of the difficulties is the long rotation period of the tree, and the long periods in which the beetle is at endemic, rather than epidemic, levels, so it's kind of hard to work on the topic when the bug is hard to find. I believe there have also been some studies of the genetics of the beetle. How it could possibly be used in a practical sense is beyond me though. I've wondered whether the insect's recently observed tendency to attack smaller trees, aside from being a necessary consequence of them killing all the big ones, is a form of evolution that cycles back and forth between the two extremes, in a way like the Darwin's finches beaks undergo cyclic selection and evolution depending on droughts and seed availability.

'kay, 'nuff said on that. It's just been such a big part of my reality for the last 9 years that I kind of feel a need to inflict it on innocent bystanders.

I wonder whether it is radiata pine that has been planted where you live. This has been a remarkable species considering its very small native range in California. Yet it has been successfully moved to a large number of warm places around the globe. I suspect the short rotations in these areas, especially for pulp, have allowed breeding programs to be particularly successful.

[Swift]

where did you get your degree in climatology?

Otherwise, you should question it instead of taking it as gospel.
But all of us (well, at least most of us) make decisions on technical/scientific issues even if we do not have an appropriate degree.

I have a degree in Chemistry. If I have a medical problem, I go to a doctor, maybe two or three to get other opinions. If all three doctors give me the same advice, I will probably take it, as long as it sounds reasonable and logical to me. If there is some disagreement among the doctors, I will maybe do a little more research, or get another opinion, but eventually I'm going to decide on it, probably going with the majority of the professional opinions. And that's without a medical degree.

A vast majority of the world's climatologists agree on AGW. The vast majority of scientific organizations agree with them. I have read a lot about it, some of that triggered by discussions here. I have seen nothing for me to question that opinion in a significant way.

Sure, as part of the scientific method, even climatologists should be questioning the theory, methods, all of the details. But, from the point of view of making policies (or for us voters to make decisions on those policies), I think we have enough to stop questioning and start acting. That's not taking it as gospel, that's an informed decision.

Just my 2 cents.

[Whirlpool]

I can mail you some of mine, my driveway is full of it at the moment and my hour commute become 1.5+ hours today because of it.

But seriously Whirlpool, I hope you get your wish. It can be a pain, but snow is also beautiful and pretty neat.

Yeah.. living in a Tropical Country where Summer & Rainy Seasons are felt the whole year, I hope one day I can touch and play with the Snow.

;)

Originally Posted by Torsten
Whirlpool, I have such mixed emotions about snow. It usually interferes with my work plans, but it brings wonderful recreational opportunities. And by April, I'm happy to see the last of it melt from my yard.

Sometimes when the snow starts blowing in, the vehicle never looks so good:

Your pictures are beautiful. I know that there are disadvantages of having Snow , especially when it's pouring heavy. And I understand what you mean.
Here in my country, we also have our extremes lately , Stronger Typhoons which then causes Floods , and High Temperature , which part of our Agricultural Fields are experiencing Droughts.


Originally Posted by crosscountry
believe me from someone else that lives in a warm climate: once is enough.

We have a theme park here where they named it "Snow World". It's a machine made snow that covers the place , it's nice and fun . It will be different if its really A Real Snow.
If I get my wish , I would be very happy.

[Argos]

Torsten, I´m particularly interested in forestry, so I try to follow the developments of this industry. Thanks for the information.

I wonder whether it is radiata pine that has been planted where you live.

AFAIK, most of the pine in Brazil is Pinus elliottii, of North American origin. There´s also a German variety, introduced in the early 20th century [Pinus Sylvestris]. I know there´s also and Pinus radiata and Pinus Taeda, according to my readings. But there must be a few others.

(*) There´s also native conifers, of the genus Araucaria, occurring from southern Brazil to Patagonia, used intensively in the paper industry in the past. Bad management practices has taken the species to a virtual extinction in Brazil.

[Lianachan]

I totally agree.
If this is a scientific forum then we should be discussing scientific discoveries.
This is the "Off-Topic Babbling" forum, right? So it's fair game here and is within the board rules. You don't like it, fair enough, and there's plenty of other threads where you can get into the discussions you mention if that's what boils your kettle.

[korjik]

University of Surrey, Guildford, U.K.

On a lighter note (and that means this is a joke); korjik, Where did you get your degree in telling me what to question?

Really? You would be the only one here who has real first hand knowledge then. If you are perusing the GW threads in the general science section, feel free to tell me how wrong I am. I will expect cites tho :)

My BS was Physics, University of Houston, 2001. My PhD will be Space Physics, hopefully next year, again U of H

[EricDerKonig]

Here's two pictures I took during a freak November snowstorm in Berlin:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/EricDerKonig/n15602179_33693598_6226.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/EricDerKonig/n15602179_33693597_5959.jpg



And here's the view in late August:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v66/EricDerKonig/n15602179_33693570_9031.jpg

[BorisTheChef]

Sorry it took me so long to sign up. I've been busy.

[BorisTheChef]

Here's a few more.

[Kaptain K]

Snow in central Texas can be fun if:
1) You've lived in "snow country" for some time and know how to drive in it.
2) Don't actually have to go anywhere, because most here don't have clue!

I have several spots picked out where I can park safely and watch the insanity. The biggest problem with knowing how to drive in winter weather is that it doesn't help much when those around you don't! :(

One of the scariest experiences I've had happened when I was driving home from work at 4a.m. Six lane superhighway, very little traffic, 1/2 inch on the ground, light snow falling. I was driving at about 10mph under the speed limit and having no trouble...Until I topped a hill and found a 4 wheel drive SUV in the middle lane at 15mph! Fortunately, I was able to drift right (without touching the brake) and slip by without losing control (or momentum).