El Nino

Typedef

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992163

mike65

Time to batten down the hatches then...actually the last one did'nt seem to have any obvious impact here or am I wrong?

BTW thats not to say I dont feel for those parts that were and will be hit by El Nino...

Mike.

bonkey

I'm curious.

El Nino is a naturally occurring phonemonon, which reoccurs every 3-5 years. It has done since time immemorial from what I've ever seen.

Why is it suddenly such a big deal? I cant remember hearing about it before 10 years ago, and yet the severity has not (from what I've read) been spectacularly worse in recent times.

Sure - it may be slightly worse, but this is a globally common condition - the earth is warming from what we can tell - we're just not sure what the relative contributions to this warming are.

And yet, EL Nino dominated news last time around, and already seems set to do the same again.

Like I said - I'm curious. I'm not trying to be disparaging, but I honestly dont see the big deal of a natural repetitive weather phenomenon being regarded so universally as a "green issue".

jc

mike65

I suspect its paranoid guilt, climate change=severe weather therefore we must be to blame for El Nino being either more frequent or more severe.

You don't hear nearly as much about the counter-phenomenon
the name of which is similair but elusive (el nina?)

Mike.

Typedef

Hmm I suspect there is an implication that global warming has played a large part in the severity of El Nino and that human activity is simply aggrivating it.

bonkey

Originally posted by Typedef
Hmm I suspect there is an implication that global warming has played a large part in the severity of El Nino and that human activity is simply aggrivating it.

Thats what I guessed, but I still find it funny.

Scientists cannot come to a consensus on the extent of global warming, or to how much of this is caused by mankind. This lack of consensus is partly the reason why Dubya was able to poo-poo things like Kyoto - basically he took the stance that until science can quantify it, its not something he can be worried about.

At the same time, we get loads of coverage on a natural weather phenomena which may or may not be getting more severe, and that severity may or may not be caused by man.

Dont get me wrong - I think its a huge issue which should be studied, but I find it amusing that the one weather phenomenon which gets (arguably) more column inches then the rest put together is one which has been known to be cyclical since before global warming existed as a concept.

Maybe its just me, but the cynic says that it gets the most coverage because of who it affects...

jc

Saruman

Mike i think the last time there was a lot of flooding here.. i could be wrong..

Anyway In my oppinion which is probably wrong.. Global warming is only partly caused by greenhouse gasses etc... but i heard of a report that stated the earth has been gradually getting warmer since the end of the ice age and has not stopped. Greenhouse gasses may have increased the rate of warming though.

Anyway there could be astronomical reasons too.. for instance in the 1800's there was a mini ice age.. the thames was frozen over for a while etc.. the reason for that was a time of solar inactivity according to astronomors.. it happens to the sun.. called solar minimum i believe.. that happens all the time but this was very severe and so not as much heat on the earth.. and i know we are at a state of solar maximum at the moment so that combined with greenhouse gasses cant be good for the ozone!

This however is usless info and nothing to do with El Nino or El nina

ykt0di9url7bc3

Originally posted by mike65
I suspect its paranoid guilt, climate change=severe weather therefore we must be to blame for El Nino being either more frequent or more severe.

yeah i agree, we were getting great days of sunshine during november and october of that year afaik, and el nino was to blame, like the butterfly effect, bolix!

I wonder if a poll was taken in the US to see if the americans blamed our global climatic change and freakish weather on el nino or the greenhouse effect?

mike65

Originally posted by SearrarD


I wonder if a poll was taken in the US to see if the americans blamed our global climatic change and freakish weather on el nino or the greenhouse effect?

They'd blame the French or Cuba!

Mike.

Keeks

Originally posted by mike65


They'd blame the French or Cuba!

Mike.

More like Bin Ladan now