climateXchange

Well, find out by reading this website run by an Australian physicist from Queensland…

Post edited 1:26 am – March 22, 2011 by marea
Post edited 1:27 am – March 22, 2011 by marea
Post edited 1:29 am – March 22, 2011 by marea
Post edited 1:30 am – March 22, 2011 by marea

In the past few days I have received an e-mail that makes unsubstantiated claims about sources of CO2 emissions, so I decided to check out the available evidence on each of the claims. In addition to your links John, I found the following:

1. Claim that CO2 emissions from volcanoes are greater than those caused by human activities: In fact, the "combined annual emissions from volcanoes averaged over several decades are less than 1% of CO2 emissions in 2009 from fossil fuels, industrial processes and deforestation." (see Victorian Government website and also Australian Academy of Science website here).

2. Claim that warming is due to  solar and cosmic activity: The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) states that "several lines of evidence show that current global warming cannot be explained by changes in energy from the sun:

• Since 1750, the average amount of energy coming from the Sun either remained constant or increased slightly.

• If the warming were caused by a more active sun, then scientists would expect to see warmer temperatures in all layers of the atmosphere. Instead, they have observed a cooling in the upper atmosphere, and a warming at the surface and in the lower parts of the atmosphere. That's because greenhouse gasses are trapping heat in the lower atmosphere." (see http://climate.nasa.gov/causes/)

3. Claim that  the planet has cooled by 0.7% in the past century: In fact, the planet has warmed by 0.7% in the past century. According to NASA:

• "The biggest temperature swings our planet has experienced in the past million years are the ice ages. Based on a combination of paleoclimate data and models, scientists estimate that when ice ages have ended in the past, it has taken about 5,000 years for the planet to warm between 4 and 7 degrees Celsius. The warming of the past century—0.7 degrees Celsius—is roughly eight times faster than the ice-age- recovery warming on average." (see NASA website here).