[Coral-List] Global Warming Theory

[Eugene Shinn]

Dear Dave, I agree with most of what you said and yes I know about 
Arrhenius and have referenced his work in a paper I published on sea 
level fluctuation. Arrhenius work is about climate changes seen as 
color changes in deep sea cores of sediment deposited way before the 
industrial revolution. Was it CO2 driven? Possibly, but there were no 
SUVs and coal fired power plants back then. You of course are aware 
that further back in time, during the Cretaceous, there were rain 
forests and dinosaurs near what are now icy  polar regions.  CO2 was 
as high as 4,000 ppm (its about 380 today). You of course know all 
that. You probably are also aware that during the Lower Cretaceous 
there were reefs, composed of both  coraIs and rudists. The 
Cretaceous Edwards reef trend, about the length of todays Great 
Barrier reef, wrapped around what is now the Gulf of Mexico. It was 
in places up to 1,000 feet thick! The great Barrier reef in Australia 
by comparison is just a thin skin of corals over pre existing 
topography. Of course it had millions of years to develop so it 
should be thick, but you knew that. I don't think we differ very 
much. I do not deny that CO2, and methane is a greenhouse gas but 
water vapor is the most effective of all. We don't hear much about 
that.  It may be keeping us from going into the next ice age which is 
about due according to ice core data. It is all very very complicated 
with many many feedback loops. I wish I understood it all and wonder 
if we can rely on models? Prediction is very difficult...especially 
if it is about the future, (Humor intended)
     About Lysenko, I think the writer that Bob was quoting was 
implying that the next Lysenko may be just around the corner, or 
possibly the next Stalin. Who knows?
Your comment, "With AGW, first it is a ludicrous red herring to claim 
that AGW researchers assert that "that our weather and climate are 
primarily people-driven."  Actually, it's worse that a red herring, 
it's an outright lie.  Anyone who makes that claim immediately 
forfeits credibility on the matter."
    Dave, I couldn't agree with you more. The AGW researchers I know 
do  not claim that all is CO2 driven. Unfortunately that is not what 
we are reading in the newspapers almost every day.. Do you disagree 
with James Hansen. Gene

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No Rocks, No Water, No Ecosystem (EAS)
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E. A. Shinn, Courtesy Professor
University of South Florida
Marine Science Center (room 204)
140 Seventh Avenue South
St. Petersburg, FL 33701
<eshinn at marine.usf.edu>
Tel 727 553-1158---------------------------------- 
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