Monday, January 30, 2006

plankton and you

Warmer Seas to Wipe Out Plankton, Base of Ocean Life
The study is also potentially devastating because it has thrown up a new "positive feedback" mechanism that could result in more carbon dioxide ending up in the atmosphere to cause a runaway greenhouse effect. The sea is one of nature's "carbon sinks", which removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and deposits the carbon in a long-term store - dissolved in the ocean or deposited as organic waste on the seabed.
"Plankton... forms the basis of the marine food web. Moreover, phytoplankton consumes the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide during photosynthesis," Professor Huisman said. "Uptake of carbon dioxide by phytoplankton across the vast expanses of the oceans reduces the rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere."

Don't worry overmuch about this latest report. Science is all about verification; repeatability of results. I personally would not feel comfortable standing with these global warming alarmists until we've seen the same type of data returned from thirty or forty planets.

Really, using a single, solitary planet for the basis of a "scientific" study of global warming is laughable. Might as well use grandpaw's busted toe to predict storms.

With just one planet in the mix, for all we know, the odd weather of late could be caused by surly Vogons.

Oh freddled gruntbuggly,
Thy micturations are to me
As plurdled gabbleblotchits
On a lurgid bee.
Groop, I implore thee, my foonting turlingdromes
And hooptiously drangle me
with crinkly bindlewurdles,
Or I will rend thee in the gobberwarts with my blurglecruncheon
See if I don't.

3 Comments:

At 2:45 PM, January 31, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

While the Bush administration debates whether or not global climate change (a) exists or (b) is a bad thing a NASA scientist has his climate study results stiffled.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/28/AR2006012801021.html?sub=new

TMC

 
At 9:35 PM, February 01, 2006, Blogger JMS said...

Global warming threatens everything we hold dear.

We are running out of fossil fuels to destroy the earth with.

thanks goodness.

 
At 3:03 PM, February 02, 2006, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Are we though? Will there be a last gasp binge of coal burning and methane hydrates?

I.e. will it get dramatically worse before the shortages force the change?

TMC

 

Post a Comment

<< Home