Skeptic Arguments and What the Science Says Claims about adaptation Claims about IPCC Claims about the sun Claims about other planets Claims about greenhouse gas Claims about climategate Claims about consensus Claims about temperature data Claims about predictions Claims about oceans Claims about Greenland Claims about cooling Claims about historical precedent Miscellaneous claims Claims about sea level rise Claims about other effects Learn more about debate mapping Claims about CO2 missing citation Polar regions no reference given no citation Volcano related Human related

Map Node  Claims about other effects url anchor

Question Node  What are the other effects arguments? url anchor

Answer Node  Humans are too insignificant to affect global climate url anchor

Pro Node  To suggest that humanity is capable of impacting and disturbing forces of such magnitude is reflective of a self-centred arrogance that is mind numbing.  url anchor

To suggest that humanity is capable of impacting and disturbing forces of such magnitude is reflective of a self-centred arrogance that is mind numbing. Humanity is a subset of Nature. Nature is not a subset of humanity. We have travelled full circle. We are back in the mindset that prevailed when Society’s leaders dictated what people in Copernicus’ days may or may not think. The Earth is once again flat. url anchor
Tags:  self-centred arrogance
Reference Node  http://www.financialsensearchive.com/fsu/editorials/bloom/2007/0623b.html url anchor
Reference: http://www.financialsensearchive.com/fsu/editorials/bloom/2007/0623b.html

Con Node  Humans are small but powerful, and human CO2 emissions are causing global warming. url anchor

Tags:  co2
Reference Node  http://www.skepticalscience.com/Are-humans-too-insignificant-to-affect-global-climate.htm url anchor
Reference: http://www.skepticalscience.com/Are-humans-too-insignificant-to-affect-global-climate.htm

Answer Node  It's Urban Heat Island effect url anchor

Tags:  urban areas, heat island effect

Pro Node  half of the global warming trend from 1980 to 2002 is caused by Urban Heat Island. url anchor

A paper by Ross McKitrick, an economics professor at the University of Guelph, and Patrick Michaels, an environmental studies professor at the University of Virginia, concludes that half of the global warming trend from 1980 to 2002 is caused by Urban Heat Island. url anchor
Tags:  Patrick Michaels, Ross McKitrick
Reference Node  http://icecap.us/images/uploads/MM.JGR07-background.pdf url anchor
Reference: http://icecap.us/images/uploads/MM.JGR07-background.pdf

Con Node  Urban and rural regions show the same warming trend url anchor

Tags:  rural areas, urban areas
Reference Node  http://www.skepticalscience.com/urban-heat-island-effect.htm url anchor
Reference: http://www.skepticalscience.com/urban-heat-island-effect.htm

Answer Node  It's satellite microwave transmissions url anchor

Tags:  satellite microwave transmissions

Pro Node  Global Warming history completely coincides with the history of artificial satellites and the use of microwave frequencies from outer space. url anchor

Global Warming history completely coincides with the history of artificial satellites and the use of microwave frequencies from outer space. Satellite antennas transmit UHF and higher microwaves frequencies all over the planet. Sending oscillating microwaves from an antenna inside a vacuum through an electromagnetic field through a dielectric material, such as water, creates radio frequency heating at the molecular level url anchor
Reference Node  http://globalmicrowave.orgfree.com/ url anchor
Reference: http://globalmicrowave.orgfree.com/

Con Node  Satellite transmissions are extremely small and irrelevant. url anchor

Tags:  small effect, irrelevant
Reference Node  http://www.skepticalscience.com/satellite-microwave-transmissions.htm url anchor
Reference: http://www.skepticalscience.com/satellite-microwave-transmissions.htm

Answer Node  Tree-rings diverge from temperature after 1960 url anchor

Tags:  tree rings, Temperature data

Pro Node  Actual reconstructions "diverge" from the instrumental series in the last part of 20th century.  url anchor

Actual reconstructions "diverge" from the instrumental series in the last part of 20th century. For instance, in the original hockey stick (ending 1980) the last 30-40 years of data points slightly downwards. In order to smooth those time series one needs to "pad" the series beyond the end time, and no matter what method one uses, this leads to a smoothed graph pointing downwards in the end whereas the smoothed instrumental series is pointing upwards — a divergence url anchor
Reference Node  http://climateaudit.org/2009/11/20/mike%E2%80%99s-nature-trick/ url anchor
Reference: http://climateaudit.org/2009/11/20/mike%E2%80%99s-nature-trick/

Con Node  This is a detail that is complex, local, and irrelevant to the observed global warming trend. url anchor

Reference Node  http://www.skepticalscience.com/Tree-ring-proxies-divergence-problem.htm url anchor
Reference: http://www.skepticalscience.com/Tree-ring-proxies-divergence-problem.htm

Answer Node  Water levels correlate with sunspots url anchor

Tags:  sea level, sun spots

Pro Node  Several studies have found a link between solar activity and water levels. url anchor

Several studies have found a link between solar activity and water levels. A South African paper has found a 21 year cycle synchronous with the solar cycle (Alexander 2007). Another paper finds a link between galactic cosmic rays and precipitation in the Midwestern USA url anchor
Reference Node  http://www.greatglobalwarmingswindle.com/pdf/Gamma%20Rays%20and%20Climate%20-%20Perry,%20Charles.pdf url anchor
Reference: http://www.greatglobalwarmingswindle.com/pdf/Gamma%20Rays%20and%20Climate%20-%20Perry,%20Charles.pdf
Tags:  Charles A. Perry

Con Node  This detail is irrelevant to the observation of global warming caused by humans. url anchor

Tags:  irrelevant
Reference Node  http://www.skepticalscience.com/sunspots-and-water-levels.htm url anchor
Reference: http://www.skepticalscience.com/sunspots-and-water-levels.htm

Answer Node  A drop in volcanic activity caused warming url anchor

Tags:  volcanoes

Pro Node  The Little Ice Age was driven by volcanic activity. That settled down, so it is getting warmer url anchor

There is no question the Earth has been warming; it is coming out of the 'Little Ice Age'. However, there is no credible evidence that it is due to mankind and carbon dioxide. We've been coming out of a Little Ice Age for 300 years. We have not been making very much carbon dioxide for 300 years. It's been warming up for a long time. The Little Ice Age was driven by volcanic activity. That settled down, so it is getting warmer url anchor
Reference Node  http://www.debunkers.org/Library/files/block_0/GlobalWarmingHooey.pdf url anchor
Reference: http://www.debunkers.org/Library/files/block_0/GlobalWarmingHooey.pdf
Tags:  Reid Bryson

Con Node  Volcanoes have had no warming effect in recent global warming - if anything, a cooling effect url anchor

Reference Node  b: http://www.heartland.org/books/SurfaceStations.html url anchor
Reference: http://www.heartland.org/books/SurfaceStations.html

Answer Node  Mt. Kilimanjaro's ice loss is due to land use url anchor

Tags:  land use, Mt. Kilimanjaro

Con Node  Most glaciers are in rapid retreat worldwide, notwithstanding a few complicated cases url anchor

Tags:  retreating, glaciers
Reference Node  http://www.skepticalscience.com/mount-kilimanjaro-snow.htm url anchor
Reference: http://www.skepticalscience.com/mount-kilimanjaro-snow.htm

Pro Node  researchers think deforestation of the mountain's foothills is the more likely culprit url anchor

Gore claims the snowcap atop Africa's Mt. Kilimanjaro is shrinking and that global warming is to blame. Yet according to the November 2003 issue of Nature magazine, "Although it's tempting to blame the ice loss on global warming, researchers think deforestation of the mountain's foothills is the more likely culprit. Without the forests' humidity, previously moisture-laden winds blew dry. No longer replenished with water, the ice is evaporating in the strong equatorial sunshine. url anchor
Tags:  Al Gore, global warming, Nature Magazine, Mt. Kilimanjaro, deforestation
Reference Node  http://www.nowpublic.com/alarmist_global_warming_claims_melt_under_scientific_scrutiny url anchor
Reference: http://www.nowpublic.com/alarmist_global_warming_claims_melt_under_scientific_scrutiny

Answer Node  It's land use url anchor

Tags:  land use

Con Node  Land use plays a minor role in climate change, although carbon sequestration may help to mitigate. url anchor

Tags:  climate change, land use, carbon sequestration
Reference Node  http://www.skepticalscience.com/land-use-and-global-warming.htm url anchor
Reference: http://www.skepticalscience.com/land-use-and-global-warming.htm

Pro Node  Land-use modifications for urbanization and agriculture have affected climate change data more than previously thought url anchor

Land-use modifications for urbanization and agriculture have affected climate change data more than previously thought, according to new research by a University of Guelph professor. Economics professor Ross McKitrick says the resulting discrepancies may be leading to an overstatement of the role of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. "Much of the temperature data used by the IPCC to measure global warming comes from places where people have modified the land surface for economic activity. Our estimate is that the measured warming over land since 1980 would go down by nearly half, which implies that these data problems are larger than is currently supposed," McKitrick said url anchor
Tags:  Professor Ross McKitrick
Reference Node  http://www.uoguelph.ca/news/2007/12/global_warming.html url anchor
Reference: http://www.uoguelph.ca/news/2007/12/global_warming.html

Answer Node  It's CFCs url anchor

Tags:  CFC

Pro Node  The observed data show that CFCs conspiring with cosmic rays most likely caused both the Antarctic ozone hole and global warming. url anchor

The observed data show that CFCs conspiring with cosmic rays most likely caused both the Antarctic ozone hole and global warming... The total amount of CFCs, ozone-depleting molecules that are well-known greenhouse gases, has decreased around 2000. Correspondingly, the global surface temperature has also dropped. url anchor
Reference Node  http://insciences.org/article.php?article_id=8012 url anchor
Reference: http://insciences.org/article.php?article_id=8012

Con Node  CFCs contribute at a small level url anchor

Tags:  CFC, small effect
Reference Node  http://www.skepticalscience.com/CFCs-global-warming.htm url anchor
Reference: http://www.skepticalscience.com/CFCs-global-warming.htm

Answer Node  It's microsite influences url anchor

Tags:  microsite influence

Pro Node  89 percent of the stations fail to meet the National Weather Service’s own siting requirements that stations must be 30 metres away from an artificial heating or radiating/reflecting heat source url anchor

U.S. weather stations have been located next to exhaust fans of air conditioning units, surrounded by asphalt parking lots, on blistering-hot rooftops, and near sidewalks and buildings that absorb and radiate heat. 89 percent of the stations fail to meet the National Weather Service’s own siting requirements that stations must be 30 metres away from an artificial heating or radiating/reflecting heat source url anchor
Tags:  U.S. weather stations
Reference Node  b: http://www.heartland.org/books/SurfaceStations.html url anchor
Reference: http://www.heartland.org/books/SurfaceStations.html

Con Node  Microsite influences on temperature changes are minimal; good and bad sites show the same trend url anchor

Tags:  Temperature data
Reference Node  http://www.skepticalscience.com/microsite-influences-on-global-temperature.htm url anchor
Reference: http://www.skepticalscience.com/microsite-influences-on-global-temperature.htm

Answer Node  It's global brightening url anchor

Tags:  global brightening

Pro Node  satellites confirmed measurements from ground stations show a considerable, and naturally-occurring, global brightening from 1983-2001  url anchor

satellites confirmed measurements from ground stations show a considerable, and naturally-occurring, global brightening from 1983-2001 (Pinker et al., 2005). Elementary radiative-transfer calculations demonstrate that a natural surface global brightening amounting to ~1.9 Wm–2 over the 18-year period of study would be expected – using the IPCC’s own methodology – to have caused a transient warming of 1 K (1.8 F°). To put this naturally-occurring global brightening into perspective, the IPCC’s estimated total of all the anthropogenic influences on climate combined in the 256 years 1750-2005 is only 1.6 Wm–2. url anchor
Reference Node  http://globalwarming.house.gov/files/HRG/050510climateScience/monckton.pdf url anchor
Reference: http://globalwarming.house.gov/files/HRG/050510climateScience/monckton.pdf

Con Node  This is a complex aerosol effect with unclear temperature significance. url anchor

Tags:  unclear temperature significance
Reference Node  http://www.skepticalscience.com/global-brightening-global-warming.htm url anchor
Reference: http://www.skepticalscience.com/global-brightening-global-warming.htm

Answer Node  It's not us url anchor

Con Node  Multiple sets of independent observations find a human fingerprint on climate change url anchor

Reference Node  http://www.skepticalscience.com/its-not-us.htm url anchor
Reference: http://www.skepticalscience.com/its-not-us.htm

Pro Node  The cause of this warming is the question url anchor

What do the skeptics believe? First, they concur with the believers that the Earth has been warming since the end of a Little Ice Age around 1850. The cause of this warming is the question. Believers think the warming is man-made, while the skeptics believe the warming is natural and contributions from man are minimal and certainly not potentially catastrophic à la Al Gore. url anchor
Reference Node  http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6795858.html url anchor
Reference: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6795858.html

Answer Node  It's waste heat url anchor

Tags:  waste heat

Con Node  Greenhouse warming is adding 100 times more heat to the climate than waste heat. url anchor

Tags:  greenhouse effect, waste heat
Reference Node  http://www.skepticalscience.com/waste-heat-global-warming.htm url anchor
Reference: http://www.skepticalscience.com/waste-heat-global-warming.htm

Pro Node  Global warming is mostly due to heat production by human industry since the 1800s url anchor

Global warming is mostly due to heat production by human industry since the 1800s, from nuclear power and fossil fuels, better termed hydrocarbons, – coal, oil, natural gas. Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2 play a minor role even though they are widely claimed the cause. url anchor
Reference Node  http://www.climateimc.org/en/forum/2009/11/16/nuclear-power-and-ghlobal-warming url anchor
Reference: http://www.climateimc.org/en/forum/2009/11/16/nuclear-power-and-ghlobal-warming

Answer Node  It's ozone url anchor

Tags:  ozone

Pro Node  The Ozone Layer stops UV radiation from entering our atmosphere. As the ozone layer has been declining in recent decades, that may be causing global warming. url anchor

Reference Node  no link url anchor

Con Node  Ozone has only a small effect url anchor

Tags:  small effect, ozone
Reference Node  http://www.skepticalscience.com/ozone-layer-global-warming.htm url anchor
Reference: http://www.skepticalscience.com/ozone-layer-global-warming.htm

Answer Node  It's aerosols url anchor

Tags:  aerosols

Pro Node   (Kerr 2007) points out that the sunlight-reflecting haze that cools much of the planet seems to have thinned over the past decade or so.  url anchor

Is a Thinning Haze Unveiling the Real Global Warming? (Kerr 2007) points out that the sunlight-reflecting haze that cools much of the planet seems to have thinned over the past decade or so. If real, the thinning would not explain away a century of global warming but it might explain the unexpectedly strong global warming of late, the accelerating loss of glacial ice and much of rising sea levels. url anchor
Map Node  no reference given url anchor

Con Node  Aerosols have been masking global warming, which would be worse otherwise. url anchor

Reference Node  http://www.skepticalscience.com/aerosols-global-warming.htm url anchor
Reference: http://www.skepticalscience.com/aerosols-global-warming.htm

Answer Node  It's cosmic rays url anchor

Tags:  cosmic rays

Pro Node  As the Sun’s magnetism doubled in strength during the 20th century, this natural mechanism may be responsible for a large part of global warming seen then. url anchor

In 1996 we discovered a surprising influence of the Sun – its impact on Earth’s cloud cover. High-energy accelerated particles coming from exploded stars, the cosmic rays, help to form clouds. By regulating the Earth’s cloud cover, the Sun can turn the temperature up and down. As the Sun’s magnetism doubled in strength during the 20th century, this natural mechanism may be responsible for a large part of global warming seen then. url anchor
Reference Node  http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/09/10/svensmark-global-warming-stopped-and-a-cooling-is-beginning-enjoy-global-warming-while-it-lasts/ url anchor
Reference: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/09/10/svensmark-global-warming-stopped-and-a-cooling-is-beginning-enjoy-global-warming-while-it-lasts/
Tags:  Professor Henrik Svensmark

Con Node  Cosmic rays show no trend over the last 30 years & have had little impact on recent global warming url anchor

Reference Node  http://www.skepticalscience.com/cosmic-rays-and-global-warming.htm url anchor
Reference: http://www.skepticalscience.com/cosmic-rays-and-global-warming.htm

Answer Node  It's albedo url anchor

Tags:  albedo

Pro Node  The most interesting thing here is that the albedo forcings, in watts/sq meter seem to be fairly large. Larger than that of all manmade greenhouse gases combined. url anchor

Earth’s Albedo has risen in the past few years, and by doing reconstructions of the past albedo, it appears that there was a significant reduction in Earth’s albedo leading up to a lull in 1997. The most interesting thing here is that the albedo forcings, in watts/sq meter seem to be fairly large. Larger than that of all manmade greenhouse gases combined. url anchor
Reference Node  http://wattsupwiththat.com/2007/10/17/earths-albedo-tells-a-interesting-story/ url anchor
Reference: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2007/10/17/earths-albedo-tells-a-interesting-story/

Con Node  Albedo change in the Arctic, due to receding ice, is increasing global warming. url anchor

Tags:  global warming, albedo, arctic region
Reference Node  http://www.skepticalscience.com/earth-albedo-effect.htm url anchor
Reference: http://www.skepticalscience.com/earth-albedo-effect.htm
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