DK if Dr. Halter is reading from the same Biblical script that I am, but "Wrath" is more than appropriate; global warming is the warning from the heavenlies that we're abusing the living entity otherwise known as Earth, created as the densest planet in the Solar System (What? You thought it was the gas-bag Jupiter?), i.e., the most packed with life-giving necessities, such as a molten core, loaded w/iron (to keep the dark side warm until break of dawn) which generates a magnetic field (which protects us relatively thin-skinned humans from nasty solar winds). May 16, the following "Brain Squeeze" post was sent out, relating seismic activity to this whole global warming/scorching dynamic:
A sub-chapter from a yet unpublished book (in which a straight-line is drawn from the climate problems literally percolating up from the bottom of the ocean to the end of that game in which the 4th Angel of the vials triggers the Wrath of the Father) is called "Global Scorching". It's the ultimate penalty for global warming (see Rev. 16:8-9). In the blog below, Dr. Halter lays out some of most dire circumstances, e.g.:
So, Brain asks, “Pinky, are you pondering what I’m pondering?” And Pinky dutifully responds, “Why, I think so, Brain.” Unfortunately, no one has pondered this stuff before. I am, thus, a genetically-altered mouse without a Sancho Pinky, or, maybe, even a brain.
My pondering, since the Christmas Tsunami of 2004, has focused, however often mice can focus, on the possibility that global warming might be a factor in the increasingly dangerous seismic world in which we all, mice and men, live. In response to my pondering, my nephew, a science guy teacher, sent me a text that read, “U better get to work on that ark.” Not exactly, “I think so, Brain.” My unenthusiastic response, “Don’t have enuf animals.”
However, more encouraging to my theory is the web article “Earth's magnetic field gathers momentum” (http://physicsworld.com/cws/
What French physicists, led by Nicholas Gillet, have discovered is that “subtle variations in the length of day [are linked] with conditions in the Earth's core”, that is, variations to magma-in-motion in the outer core (from whom all volcanic blastings flow) impacts angular momentum, the measure of the Earth’s rotation. Clearly, however, because magma is fluid, these variations aren’t the same in all areas of the outer core … at least, that’s what my mousy intellect is guessing. Therefore, variations in the angular momentum of the outer core with respect to the crust, which causes plate tectonics, results in variations in the torque applied to the crust by the outer core, which causes, according to this French kiss, variations in the length of a day, and, yyyyeeeesss, nasty plate tectonics, you know, earthquakes. Are you pondering what I’m pondering? And, all the chil’n say, “Naarf.”
Now, the geniuses who pass themselves off as experts on the Earth’s core don’t have much ego-boosting stuff available to avail themselves. This is where I, Brain, have the advantage, since it’s been widely reported that animals react to impending giant temblors as much as 10 hours before their onset. True. I, myself, have experienced such early-warning rumblings, like the urge to run away from Acme Labs … but, I digress. A giant temblor would almost certainly have some relationship to a giant variation in the angular momentum of the magma, at least, giant enough relative to the plate boundaries to make two adjacent plates want to play wrecking ball.
Bringing us to the original question of whether the increase in surface temperatures due to global warming, or even just plain old hot spells with seemingly endless cloudless days, contributes to unusually hot plates. First, let’s give a tip of the hat to the Pentagon as to one of the most secretly authoritative reports on global warming - the Pentagon-commissioned Global Business Network analysis, authored by Peter Schwartz and Doug Randall and published in the fall of 2003, gauging the potential for global conflict resulting from radical temperature change, due to start in … OMG! Due to start this year.
Second, since Animaniacs was cancelled, I no longer have access to the complex computing devices I invented at Acme Labs and, thus, cannot calculate the amount of heat that reaches the surface of the plates of the Earth with my normal unerring aplomb, but, now, of course, there’s the internet. So, a few clicks of my human and ...
Solar radiation cooks the surface of the Earth at a mean temperature of 350 W/sq-m, which means that, according to the angle at which the Sun’s rays strike the surface (varying according to the time of year) and other factors, eggs may fry or they may simply sit there, runny and pretty much disinterested in the proceedings.
Although there are magma disturbances that pass for earthquakes, the really bad boys are the ones that are, in a geological sense, right on the outside of the crust, think eggshell. So, is it reason to worry that the increase in caloric absorption, most of it on the outside of the crust, due to global temperature increase, especially concentrated at nearly perpendicular sun exposure (and, thus, making the night-time cool-down that much more exaggerated and prone to exacerbate plate boundary jostling), seismologically speaking? Zort.
Furthermore, could global warming have an effect on the ongoing shift in the magnetic poles of the Earth and, thereby, generate a disastrous feedback loop? Although there are magnetic-pole-shift deniers, just like there are global-warming deniers, the heat in the pole-pot hasn’t yet even begun to get the frogs discomfited. The current wisdom (remember, this is essentially the same area of expertise as any other field related to the way the Earth’s magnetic field works, that is, there are no real experts) is that a pole shift is thousands of years away and that it takes hundreds of generations for a shift to be completed. I, Brain, putting my mousy moxie to work, have determined that this is pure mouse poop.
For all those who aren’t aware (and, don’t be embarrassed, this ain’t one of those tip-of-your-tongue topics), the Earth’s magnetic poles have flipped many times over the course of the life of the planet, i.e., North becomes South and vice versa, so a pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-historic explorer with trusty compass would become completely disoriented upon the re-orientation of the magnetic orientation. When the poles do flip, any lava flows that occur before and after the shift exhibit magnetic effects that correspond to the Earth’s magnetic field before and after the shift, simply because lava is so hot, that the superheat erases whatever magnetic orientation iron in the lava may have had prior to being superheated and acquires magnetic orientation consistent with Earth’s magnetic field when the lava cools down sufficiently to allow its iron content to once again become magnetized.
According to some satellite observations, blotchy magnetic anomalies have already appeared around the globe and they’re not small, e.g., the South Atlantic anomalous zone which acts like a junior North Pole. What happens when a flip takes place, besides trusty compasses turning treacherous? The surface is temporarily subjected to the vagaries of solar wind, for one thing, since a pole-reversal isn’t exactly like flipping a coin or a burger; it takes awhile, in some cases, 3000 years, a mere blip in geological terms, but not so in mousy longevity.
And, what does exposure to solar wind do? Nothing good, my mousy sense tells me. In fact, it’s said to be almost a certainty that Mars no longer has water or atmosphere because, in some distant bad air day on the Red Planet, its magnetic field, called the magnetosphere, lowered its guard and all the good parts that make life possible was, then as now, “ripped” off the Martian landscape.
Computer simulations of the strength of the Earth’s magnetosphere show that pole-flipping is preceded by substantial weakening (10% in the last 150 years), the symptoms of which are … anomalous zones. When the magnetosphere is behaving, the solar wind (and all the nasty cosmic and UV rays that blow in with it) gets deflected around the atmosphere because of the dipole effect, that is, the electromagnetic nasties get attracted to the North/South polar axis and are effectively catapulted harmlessly past us otherwise unshielded citizens of the planet. When poles go rogue (shall I refer to them as Sarah-poles?), the random, sometimes wandering Sarah-poles pull the solar wind into those areas, much the same way that a magnifying glass focuses light and with the same searing effects. And, all this on top of the beginning of the 11-year solar flare cycle starting … this year.
The effect that solar wind, amped up due to solar flares, focused on random anomalous zones, might have on seismic activity (because the focal point(s) might have a significant effect on plate boundaries via, at least, expansion of the plate because of the extra extreme heat on plates containing anomalous zones) must be viewed in light of the high degree of probability that such anomalous zones bear some fairly strong relationship to the underlying torque of the outer core’s molten gaussian-motor.
All of which, cutting to a different chase, would ultimately contribute to the full thawing of the 10 trillion TONS of methane gas currently frozen at the bottom of the Earth’s oceans, the ultimate in greenhouse gases (as in about 10 times the greenhouse effect of CO2); an increase of 25+ deg in global temperature could be expected based upon the previous methane blitz experienced by the Mother planet (when the North Pole experienced balmy 70 deg temps). Now, THAT, no supposing about it, would have an effect on seismic activity.
Perfect.
What are we going to do tonight, Brain? Same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world … what’s left of it.
My pondering, since the Christmas Tsunami of 2004, has focused, however often mice can focus, on the possibility that global warming might be a factor in the increasingly dangerous seismic world in which we all, mice and men, live. In response to my pondering, my nephew, a science guy teacher, sent me a text that read, “U better get to work on that ark.” Not exactly, “I think so, Brain.” My unenthusiastic response, “Don’t have enuf animals.”
However, more encouraging to my theory is the web article “Earth's magnetic field gathers momentum” (http://physicsworld.com/cws/
What French physicists, led by Nicholas Gillet, have discovered is that “subtle variations in the length of day [are linked] with conditions in the Earth's core”, that is, variations to magma-in-motion in the outer core (from whom all volcanic blastings flow) impacts angular momentum, the measure of the Earth’s rotation. Clearly, however, because magma is fluid, these variations aren’t the same in all areas of the outer core … at least, that’s what my mousy intellect is guessing. Therefore, variations in the angular momentum of the outer core with respect to the crust, which causes plate tectonics, results in variations in the torque applied to the crust by the outer core, which causes, according to this French kiss, variations in the length of a day, and, yyyyeeeesss, nasty plate tectonics, you know, earthquakes. Are you pondering what I’m pondering? And, all the chil’n say, “Naarf.”
Now, the geniuses who pass themselves off as experts on the Earth’s core don’t have much ego-boosting stuff available to avail themselves. This is where I, Brain, have the advantage, since it’s been widely reported that animals react to impending giant temblors as much as 10 hours before their onset. True. I, myself, have experienced such early-warning rumblings, like the urge to run away from Acme Labs … but, I digress. A giant temblor would almost certainly have some relationship to a giant variation in the angular momentum of the magma, at least, giant enough relative to the plate boundaries to make two adjacent plates want to play wrecking ball.
Bringing us to the original question of whether the increase in surface temperatures due to global warming, or even just plain old hot spells with seemingly endless cloudless days, contributes to unusually hot plates. First, let’s give a tip of the hat to the Pentagon as to one of the most secretly authoritative reports on global warming - the Pentagon-commissioned Global Business Network analysis, authored by Peter Schwartz and Doug Randall and published in the fall of 2003, gauging the potential for global conflict resulting from radical temperature change, due to start in … OMG! Due to start this year.
Second, since Animaniacs was cancelled, I no longer have access to the complex computing devices I invented at Acme Labs and, thus, cannot calculate the amount of heat that reaches the surface of the plates of the Earth with my normal unerring aplomb, but, now, of course, there’s the internet. So, a few clicks of my human and ...
Solar radiation cooks the surface of the Earth at a mean temperature of 350 W/sq-m, which means that, according to the angle at which the Sun’s rays strike the surface (varying according to the time of year) and other factors, eggs may fry or they may simply sit there, runny and pretty much disinterested in the proceedings.
Although there are magma disturbances that pass for earthquakes, the really bad boys are the ones that are, in a geological sense, right on the outside of the crust, think eggshell. So, is it reason to worry that the increase in caloric absorption, most of it on the outside of the crust, due to global temperature increase, especially concentrated at nearly perpendicular sun exposure (and, thus, making the night-time cool-down that much more exaggerated and prone to exacerbate plate boundary jostling), seismologically speaking? Zort.
Furthermore, could global warming have an effect on the ongoing shift in the magnetic poles of the Earth and, thereby, generate a disastrous feedback loop? Although there are magnetic-pole-shift deniers, just like there are global-warming deniers, the heat in the pole-pot hasn’t yet even begun to get the frogs discomfited. The current wisdom (remember, this is essentially the same area of expertise as any other field related to the way the Earth’s magnetic field works, that is, there are no real experts) is that a pole shift is thousands of years away and that it takes hundreds of generations for a shift to be completed. I, Brain, putting my mousy moxie to work, have determined that this is pure mouse poop.
For all those who aren’t aware (and, don’t be embarrassed, this ain’t one of those tip-of-your-tongue topics), the Earth’s magnetic poles have flipped many times over the course of the life of the planet, i.e., North becomes South and vice versa, so a pre-pre-pre-pre-pre-historic explorer with trusty compass would become completely disoriented upon the re-orientation of the magnetic orientation. When the poles do flip, any lava flows that occur before and after the shift exhibit magnetic effects that correspond to the Earth’s magnetic field before and after the shift, simply because lava is so hot, that the superheat erases whatever magnetic orientation iron in the lava may have had prior to being superheated and acquires magnetic orientation consistent with Earth’s magnetic field when the lava cools down sufficiently to allow its iron content to once again become magnetized.
According to some satellite observations, blotchy magnetic anomalies have already appeared around the globe and they’re not small, e.g., the South Atlantic anomalous zone which acts like a junior North Pole. What happens when a flip takes place, besides trusty compasses turning treacherous? The surface is temporarily subjected to the vagaries of solar wind, for one thing, since a pole-reversal isn’t exactly like flipping a coin or a burger; it takes awhile, in some cases, 3000 years, a mere blip in geological terms, but not so in mousy longevity.
And, what does exposure to solar wind do? Nothing good, my mousy sense tells me. In fact, it’s said to be almost a certainty that Mars no longer has water or atmosphere because, in some distant bad air day on the Red Planet, its magnetic field, called the magnetosphere, lowered its guard and all the good parts that make life possible was, then as now, “ripped” off the Martian landscape.
Computer simulations of the strength of the Earth’s magnetosphere show that pole-flipping is preceded by substantial weakening (10% in the last 150 years), the symptoms of which are … anomalous zones. When the magnetosphere is behaving, the solar wind (and all the nasty cosmic and UV rays that blow in with it) gets deflected around the atmosphere because of the dipole effect, that is, the electromagnetic nasties get attracted to the North/South polar axis and are effectively catapulted harmlessly past us otherwise unshielded citizens of the planet. When poles go rogue (shall I refer to them as Sarah-poles?), the random, sometimes wandering Sarah-poles pull the solar wind into those areas, much the same way that a magnifying glass focuses light and with the same searing effects. And, all this on top of the beginning of the 11-year solar flare cycle starting … this year.
The effect that solar wind, amped up due to solar flares, focused on random anomalous zones, might have on seismic activity (because the focal point(s) might have a significant effect on plate boundaries via, at least, expansion of the plate because of the extra extreme heat on plates containing anomalous zones) must be viewed in light of the high degree of probability that such anomalous zones bear some fairly strong relationship to the underlying torque of the outer core’s molten gaussian-motor.
All of which, cutting to a different chase, would ultimately contribute to the full thawing of the 10 trillion TONS of methane gas currently frozen at the bottom of the Earth’s oceans, the ultimate in greenhouse gases (as in about 10 times the greenhouse effect of CO2); an increase of 25+ deg in global temperature could be expected based upon the previous methane blitz experienced by the Mother planet (when the North Pole experienced balmy 70 deg temps). Now, THAT, no supposing about it, would have an effect on seismic activity.
Perfect.
What are we going to do tonight, Brain? Same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world … what’s left of it.
A sub-chapter from a yet unpublished book (in which a straight-line is drawn from the climate problems literally percolating up from the bottom of the ocean to the end of that game in which the 4th Angel of the vials triggers the Wrath of the Father) is called "Global Scorching". It's the ultimate penalty for global warming (see Rev. 16:8-9). In the blog below, Dr. Halter lays out some of most dire circumstances, e.g.:
Canada experienced its warmest and driest winter on record. Abnormally dry conditions in British Columbia combined with higher temperatures resulted in poor snow conditions for some events at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver/Whistler. Winter temperatures on average across the nation were 8 degrees F above normal. Springtime temperatures were also 5 degrees F above average.
Canada experienced the largest spring Arctic sea ice retreat ever recorded as well as registering the largest missing summer sea ice. To experience the warmest winter and spring, back to back, is extraordinary. The year 2010 will go on record as the hottest year ever recorded in Canada.
In Moscow the July mean temperatures were almost 10 degrees F above normal; and the heat wave that gripped the nation killed in excess of 11,000 people in Moscow alone.
Japan and China had their hottest summers ever recorded.
Extreme heat affected northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula during the summer of 2010 with temperatures of 126 degrees F measured in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) and 123 degrees F at Doha (Qatar).
Of course, the unpretty picture of even a milder version of the hell-on-earth prophesied in Rev. 16:8-9 was graphically displayed by the never-before-seen wildfires that enveloped Moscow in a thick smoke in August; see, e.g., Climate 'linked to Moscow fires' - BBC;
| Moscow Fires: Hell on Earth. |
.
The full-blown global scorching of the 4th-Angel-kind will bring to a full boil what is now only just simmering -- the complete thawing of the methane gas currently mostly frozen at the bottom of the oceans, all 10 trillion tons of it, i.e., 20 quadrillion pounds of gas. Think about how much volume at normal atmospheric pressure that ordinary air occupies. 12 cubic feet. Now, compare that to the 0.04476085 pound of methane gas that occupies 1 cubic foot; let's see, if I still had the Brain here. Uh, oh, that's 446,819,000,000,000,000 cubic feet of methane available to melt all the ice on Earth in a matter of minutes, give or take ... oh, take your pick. Consider that the volume of the Earth's atmosphere is only about 183,636,266,951,740 cubic feet, meaning, that the methane would overwhelm the breathable stuff by a factor of over 2000. So, the 4th Angel only has to thaw out a small fraction of that ocean-hugging frozen methane to get a very nasty rise out its global scorching capabilities ... putting those very current Saudi Arabian temps into a category of relative balminess.
And bringing the full-length feature of Moscow Fires: Hell on Earth to a broiler near you.
Last week the Republicans in the House of Representatives decided to eliminate a global warming committee created by Democrats. Apparently some politicians continue to deny that human beings are leaving an indelible footprint around the globe.
Vicious hate-mailers which frequent my inbox on the subject of global warming seem also to be in denial, yet a recent survey published in July 2010 in The Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences found that of 1,372 scientists involved in climate research 97 to 98 percent supported anthropogenic (or human-induced) climate change (ACC).
Twenty-four climate models including Japan's Earth Simulator super-computer predict that if a carbon-cap is not firmly in place by 2020 Earth's temperature will rise by at least 5.5 degrees F and perhaps as high as 10 degrees F by the end of this century.
And while the delegates for 193 nations meet at the U.N. climate summit in Cancun and argue for who pays for what; this year (2010) will go down as a record year for the amount of coal burned in one year on our planet. It will easily exceed 6.25 billion tons and China's galloping economy will have contributed at 54 percent of the global emissions.
Each of their coal-fired power plants is consuming 2.2 billion gallons of fresh water and worldwide burning coal is adding as much as 7,500 tons of mercury vapor -- a potent neurotoxin -- to our stratosphere. It's winding up in our food chain and drinking water here in America.
Let's take a look at what Earth's ecosystems are telling scientists about rising temperatures, acidifying oceans, droughts, intense rainfalls, dying forests and melting ice caps.
Rising temperatures have significantly impacted Hawaii. Surface temperatures are rising, rainfall and stream flow has generally declined, rain intensity has increased, sea level and sea surface temperatures have increased, and the ocean is acidifying.
Around the world jellyfish populations are on the rise as the oceans acidify. Shellfish, on the other hand, like mussels, shrimp, or lobsters are at risk since they will find it considerably more difficult to build their protective shells.
Oceans are naturally alkaline and had a pH level of about 8.2 in 1750. Since the Industrial Revolution, the acidity has increased by 30 percent. Earth's oceans absorb about 25 percent of the global CO2 emissions. In this process, CO2 is converted into carbonic acid. Rising CO2 levels are unequivocally causing the oceans to become more acidic.
Canada experienced its warmest and driest winter on record. Abnormally dry conditions in British Columbia combined with higher temperatures resulted in poor snow conditions for some events at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver/Whistler. Winter temperatures on average across the nation were 8 degrees F above normal. Springtime temperatures were also 5 degrees F above average.
Canada experienced the largest spring Arctic sea ice retreat ever recorded as well as registering the largest missing summer sea ice. To experience the warmest winter and spring, back to back, is extraordinary. The year 2010 will go on record as the hottest year ever recorded in Canada.
In Moscow the July mean temperatures were almost 10 degrees F above normal; and the heat wave that gripped the nation killed in excess of 11,000 people in Moscow alone.
Japan and China had their hottest summers ever recorded.
Extreme heat affected northern Africa and the Arabian Peninsula during the summer of 2010 with temperatures of 126 degrees F measured in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) and 123 degrees F at Doha (Qatar).
After 13 years of being parched the drought in Australia (except for the southwest) broke. Rainfall arrived, farmers rejoiced, grain crops grew and then the rain kept on falling.
A bumper grain crop of 45 tons was predicted. It was the wettest September since the inception of record keeping in the 1850s in Australia. So far at least 15 tons of grain have rotted on the fields. Global grain prices, already at a two-year high after a drought in Russia, have soared again due to persistent rainfall ruining Australian crops and fueling fears of a global shortage.
October was the driest month in Mexico since 1941. November was the driest month in Israel since 1950 and its just suffered the worst-ever forest fire incinerating about 13,000 acres or 60 percent of the Carmel forest, killing 42 people and destroying over 250 homes.
Droughts have been relentless in the Amazon. In 2005 the northwest jungle experienced a one in 100 year drought. In concert with an intense storm 620 miles long by 124 miles wide at least 500 million trees were killed.
Usually the Amazon can absorb about 2 billion tons of CO2 a year. In 2005 the massive die-off of trees released 3 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, therefore an additional 5 billion tons of heat-trapping gases accumulated that year - more than the combined annual emissions of Europe and Japan.
In 2009 extreme flooding occurred in the Amazon jungle.
This year the drought in the northwest Amazon is forecasted to be more lethal than that of 2005. The mighty Negro River -- a tributary of the Amazon River -- is at its lowest since records began in 1902. Over 60,000 people are now without food and fresh water.
Almost 900 miles southwest of the Negro River over 36,600 fires are alight in the forest over four times the number burning at this time last year.
Unless we reduce our global greenhouse gases around the globe researchers from Carnegie Institution for Sciences predict rising temperatures will alter rainfall in the Amazon by at least 37 percent; many plants and animals now living there with either move but more likely die. Let me remind you that the Amazon accounts for about a fifth of Earth's annual oxygen output.
Droughts, wild fires and a plague of indigenous bark beetles have leveled the western forests of the United States. Instead of Arizona, Idaho, Colorado and Wyoming forests absorbing CO2 they too are now emitters of CO2.
In the last 60 years the northwestern Antarctic Peninsula has warmed faster than perhaps any place on Earth. Winter temperatures have soared by 11 degrees F, and 90 percent of the 244 glaciers are in retreat. The ice-dependant Antarctica krill which feeds millions sea birds and marine mammals has declined in some cases by as much as 80 percent.
The natural world is in a tailspin from the speed of rising temperatures; there is no debate about human-induced global warming amongst field scientists working in marine or terrestrial ecosystems. Global warming is a citizen's issue therefore we all are required to lend a helping hand -- the time is now.
Dr Reese Halter is a Science Communicator: Voice for Ecology, conservation biologist at Cal Lutheran University and author of Wild Weather - The Truth Behind Global Warming http://www.amazon.com/Wild-
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