Greetings, Fellow Mushrooms!
OK, so WHICH is it? More clouds hold in MORE heat thereby warming the planet, or more clouds reflect MORE sunlight, thereby cooling the planet?
Seems like it's national "take your pick" week!
After too many years of hearing scientists put forth both scenarios as the immutable gospel, thereby cleverly disguising what is, in truth, the mere opinion of one faction or another...
AND...
After being mercilessly whiplashed by the collection tray, endlessly being passed by both sides of the issue...
I am forced, as a truly desperate and final measure of last resort... to form my OWN opinion!
AND...
My own personal suspicion,(and preference) is that MORE clouds hold in MORE heat!
I proudly point out as proof of my position, the way the entire subject is causing both camps of pointy headed scientists, (who are continuously coming up with all this indecisive hem/haw horse manure) to engage each other in over-heated rhetoric to the point of terminal heat stroke!
This affliction then enables them to escape a well deserved legal prosecution for running their mouths without their agendas in gear.
...Oh, That's right, I forgot! They don't need an agenda, because those other pointy heads, the Enviro-fascists already have an "either/or" agenda ready and waiting for we "mere mortals"!
An agenda that conveniently makes them the "payee" regardless of outcome!
Now, WHY didn't I think of an angle like that?
Say! ...Perhaps we should ask the clouds on Venus?
At least THEY appear to have had some hands-on experience!
-CliffMickelson
***
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
Associated Press
May 27, 2004, 8:21 PM EDT
WASHINGTON -- Scientists studying earthshine -- the amount of light reflected by the Earth -- say the planet appeared to dim from 1984 to 2001 and then reversed its trend and brightened from 2001 to 2003.
The shift appears to have resulted from changes in the amount of clouds covering the planet. More clouds reflect more light back into space, potentially cooling the planet, while a dimmer planet with fewer clouds would be warmed by the arriving sunlight.
That means the changes in brightness could signal climate change, though it's too early to tell.
Steven Koonin, a California Institute of Technology physicist and co-author of the paper, said that "at the moment, the cause of these variations is not known, but they imply large shifts in the Earth's radiative budget. Continuing observations ... will be necessary to learn their implications for climate."
"This work is probably going to be used in arguments for and against global warming. Our paper neither proves or disproves the carbon dioxide effect," said Enric Palle, lead author of the report appearing in Thursday's issue of the journal Science.
"Our results are only part of the story, since the Earth's surface temperature is determined by a balance between sunlight that warms the planet and heat radiated back into space, which cools the planet," said Palle, of the Big Bear Solar Observatory in California, operated by the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Climate change "depends upon many factors in addition to (reflected light), such as the amount of greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere. But these new data emphasize that clouds must be properly accounted for and illustrate that we still lack the detailed understanding of our climate system necessary to model future changes with confidence."
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-earthshine,0,1655060,print.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines
