Xref: utzoo sci.aquaria:982 sci.bio:4052 sci.environment:8841 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!ucla-cs!oahu!frazier From: frazier@oahu.cs.ucla.edu (Greg Frazier) Newsgroups: sci.aquaria,sci.bio,sci.environment Subject: Re: Coral reefs and global warming Message-ID: Date: 3 Dec 90 22:23:12 GMT References: <719@sierra.stanford.edu> <1990Nov30.141515.26084@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> <1990Dec3.135107.28449@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> Sender: news@cs.ucla.edu (Mr. News) Distribution: na Organization: UCLA, Computer Science Department Lines: 35 Nntp-Posting-Host: oahu.cs.ucla.edu bbc@rice.edu (Benjamin Chase) writes: >Benjamin Chase writes: >>>Ken, you may want to consider the fact that atmospheric CO2 _has_ >>>increased. >kwf@ecersg.ncsu.edu (Ken Fernald) writes: >>Yes, CO2 has increased (about 30% i believe) but temperature has not. >>If doubling of CO2 is supposed to raise the temperature 4-5 degrees C, >>why hasn't it started? >And are you sure that global warming hasn't started? Haven't ocean >surface temperatures risen slightly in recent years? By the time temps have changed measurably, it will be too late to prevent serious environmental changes. It won't take many degress to change Kansas to desert, or to bring palm trees to Massachusetts. A pessimistic hypothesis which I vaguely recall is that the oceans are what are keeping our temps from increasing, as well as keeping the CO2 levels reasonable. The theory is that the ocean absorbs a great deal of the heat and CO2. Apparently currents such as the Gulf Stream do much of their W->E journey across the ocean at very deep levels, and we don't know what the state of the water down their is. According to this hypothesis, eventually the ocean water coming back up to the surface will be warmer and have more CO2 in it than currently, and this will severly accelerate any green house processes. As a matter of fact, as far as this hypothesis goes, it will be too late to preven radical environmental changes very soon. -- Greg Frazier frazier@CS.UCLA.EDU !{ucbvax,rutgers}!ucla-cs!frazier Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com