Thread: Global Warming
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Old Dec 29, 2006, 11:03 am   #110 (permalink) (top)
Epistemologist
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This alleviated some of my anxieties:

Quote:
Quote by: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
Complex physically-based climate models are required to provide detailed estimates of feedbacks and of regional features. Such models cannot yet simulate all aspects of climate (e.g., they still cannot account fully for the observed trend in the surface-troposphere temperature difference since 1979) and there are particular uncertainties associated with clouds and their interaction with radiation and aerosols. Nevertheless, confidence in the ability of these models to provide useful projections of future climate has improved due to their demonstrated performance on a range of space and time-scales.
The rest of that source is available at Climate Change 2001: The Scientific Basis

So, yes, although caution is especially essential, perhaps with more confidence we can lower our guard to these conclusions, particularly since we're years beyond 2001. The only thing is that alarmist works such as "The Inconvenient Truth" often undermine the trustworthiness of the general conclusions of the field per se.


But what's to stop the manic tide,
The suicide of our own pride?
The Complex

Last edited by Epistemologist; Dec 29, 2006 at 11:04 am. Reason: Added last sentence
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