Wednesday 19 August 2020

James Hansen - Sophie’s Planet #20: Revised Chapter 25 (Paleoclimate & “Slow” Feedbacks)


18 August 2020

James Hansen
Revised Chapter 25 is available here fact checking.

Thanks for all the feedback on the prior draft of this paleoclimate chapter. 

This revised version should be clearer – I hope understandable to the non-scientist.

I believe that this way of framing Earth orbital effects clarifies some scientific issues, for example: absent humans was Earth in for a long interglacial, like the one 400,000 years ago?  No, the planet was headed into a big drop toward the next ice age.

Humans have now overwhelmed these weak paleoclimate forcings by tromping on the accelerator – but there is nobody at the steering wheel!  We still have time to turn down the forcings before extreme consequences appear, but our actions should be informed by an understanding of past climate change.
 

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I opened a Twitter account @DrJamesEHansen, (https://twitter.com/drjamesehansen), but I am focusing mainly on finishing the book.

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