Geological Perspectives of Global Climate Change – An Update

Speaker:Dr. Lee C. Gerhard,
Principal Geologist,
Kansas Geological SurveyAbstract:Objective evaluation of recent data suggests that review of the popular anthropogenic climate change control hypothesis is required. One response to new conflicting data has been to argue that the human component is operative only over the last thirty years, thus obviating the need to explain discrepancies between carbon dioxide buildup and temperature variations over the last century and beyond.Review will focus upon the answers to several questions. Is there any unequivocal data that support anthropogenic control of climate change? Is there any significant difference in the behavior of current climate compared to past climate? Is the range of current climate change greater than past climate change? Are sea levels and weather patterns significantly different from the recent past? Can the large-scale climate models be tested against recorded history? Are the data used accurate and are data series length adequate to form conclusions? What natural forces can explain temperature variations?Previously the anthropogenic hypothesis has not been testable. Two very recent statements have argued that future annual temperatures will exceed the 1999 (1934) maximum 50% of the time, and that sea levels will rise about one meter in the next approximately one hundred years owing to climate warming, no matter the cause. In contrast, there have been predictions of imminent cooling by 2020 owing to solar intensity decline (solar cycle 25), and one prediction of a cooling cycle that will last for decades. While neither statement tests the anthropogenic hypothesis, they are global warming statements that can be tested against global cooling or stabilityClimate continues to change as it always has. Much alarm has been raised about the impacts of climate change, without consideration of current climate in its historical context. Do we live in the ideal climate?

Location: Kaprielian Hall (KAP) - rielian Hall, Room 156

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Evangeline Reyes