Global Dimming Impact on Climate Change
Politics /
Climate Change
Dec 18, 2009 - 01:25 AM GMT
By: Submissions
Horizon producer David Sington on why predictions about the Earth's climate will need to be re-examined. We are all seeing rather less of the Sun. Scientists looking at five decades of sunlight measurements have reached the disturbing conclusion that the amount of solar energy reaching the Earth's surface has been gradually falling. Paradoxically, the decline in sunlight may mean that global warming is a far greater threat to society than previously thought.
The effect was first spotted by Gerry Stanhill, an English scientist working in Israel. Comparing Israeli sunlight records from the 1950s with current ones, Stanhill was astonished to find a large fall in solar radiation. "There was a staggering 22% drop in the sunlight, and that really amazed me," he says.
Google Video - 49 minutes
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Comments
Angus MacLean
18 Dec 09, 12:03
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Global Dimming
I'm surprised at you resurrecting this ancient video - and particularly giving prominence to the laughable claim that the insolation reaching the planet's surface has reduced by 22%.... Have a look at the date on that experiment.... At that time, Kuwait was on fire from end to end after Saddam torched their oil-wells at the end of Gulf War I. I wonder if all that black soot could possibly have affected the reliability of the results only a couple of hundred miles away.....? [Incidentally; why are no comments ever visible - I've even tried a different browser.] Growler
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Dave
18 Dec 09, 12:11
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Climate Change
No, the video is not centered on the Iraq War 1990. Data predates by several decades as well as including the past decade.
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SARWATERS
19 Dec 09, 08:43
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Global Dimming: Yes
The video is compelling. Global dimming looks significant, based on the long-term, stitistical data they presented. But the constant reference to "Gobal Warming" was a bloody nuisance. This forum does not allow a full statement of the facts, and I accept that. But as a scientist, I found the case for global warming to be merely assumed in this video, a laughable backdrop in light of recent disclosures of fraud and manipulation of data. While Copenhagen deals with the perrenial winter storm at the global warming conference, scientific data and the experience of the man on the street points to a global cooling trend....which is consistent with the global dimming, the point of the video. They got a lot of mileage out of the harsh summerof 2003. But a real warming trend is established with long-term trends and statistics, not one-time snap shots. I was also troubled by the assumption that solar radiation is constant. It most certainly is not. This global dimming finding is too important to pump with assumptions like that. Any data on global dimming must be augmented with solar radiation measurements taken from satellites, to better model the effects. I am excited about the discovery of global dimming. It's a crying shame that the global warming crowd will somehow hijack this phenomena, and obfuscate the quest for solutions. One more thing: RE: That bloke who monitored the temperature spread right after the 9-11 attacks: He has an impressive spike in the night/day temperature change in the locus of 9-12 to 9-14. Looks impressive. But he fails to explain the equally large spread, GOING IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION, on Sept 15-18. Wouldn't his results look more impressive if he posted-up many months of time slots before and after 9-11? Then, the surprising result would be obvious, no? If his finding is as strong as he claims, such a graphic would strengthen his cause. OK. Global dimming: Yes. Global warming: A freeloader
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