WEBCommentary(tm) - Biden Wrong on Global Warming

WEBCommentary Editor

Author: Bob Webster
Date: October 2, 2008

Topic category: Climate/Climate Change/Weather

Biden Wrong on Global Warming

In his debate with Gov. Sarah Palin, Sen. Joseph Biden stated categorically that he was certain that human activity was causing global warming. Sen. Biden seems not to be aware that there has been no global warming since before 2002 and that there has never been a time in climate history when carbon dioxide was a significant cause of climate change.

Biden's comments about global warming during his debate with Sarah Palin indicate he holds a very dangerous view about Earth's climate, climate change, and global warming.

Biden claims he is absolutely convinced that global warming is real and that it is caused by human activity.

The facts tell a different story:

IPCC AGW theory calls for a tropical mid-tropospheric "greenhouse signal" ... no such signal exists (The Missing Greenhouse Signal). This is one fatal flaw in the theory to which Biden subscribes.
IPCC AGW theory requires surface warming in polar regions before other lower latitude regions will feel effects of greenhouse warming. Yet the vast bulk of Antarctica is on a six-decade cooling binge (unabated by rising atmospheric carbon dioxide) and even recent Arctic warming has now been attributed primarily to changes in ocean and atmospheric circulation patterns that have driven warmer water & air toward the poles (not the mechanism predicted by the IPCC theory). Predictions of an ice-free Arctic Sea fell far short this year as 9% less ice melt was observed during summer 2008 than occurred during summer 2007. This is another fatal flaw in the theory to which Biden subscribes.
IPCC AGW theory assumes a feedback from CO2 warming that grossly overstates the impact of warming from water vapor as a consequence of theorized warming from additional CO2. (see Climate Sensitivity Reconsidered) Another killer for Biden's accepted theory.
IPCC AGW theory states that more atmospheric CO2 will create more global warming. Yet there has been no global warming since prior to 2002 and the drop in both ocean sea surface temperature and global average temperature since 2006 has been remarkable, giving up almost all of what was gained during the 20th Century, all the while CO2 has continued its nearly 300-year upward trend. (see graph) The fact that warming began long before significant human CO2 emissions began should have some impact on Biden and other AGW-believers, but apparently it does not. This has to be a terribly inconvenient fact for Biden and other AGW-believers.

Elementary physics informs us that there is just so much atmospheric warming that can be achieved with CO2 and that the warming capacity decreases logarithmically as more CO2 is added to the atmosphere. Considering that CO2 is responsible for less than 5% of heat retained by the atmosphere and considering that 70% of the potential of CO2 to retain atmospheric heat has already been achieved, there appears little likelihood that significant additional heating will be realized by anticipated increases in atmospheric CO2 in the future. This, coupled with the evident over-assumption of the feedback of CO2 heating on water vapor's contribution to additional heating provides little support to the AGW theory (see A Primer on CO2 and Climate, Dr. Howard C. Hayden, and Climate Sensitivity Reconsidered).

In short, the AGW theory is based on assumptions about a science that is poorly understood and in its relative infancy. It relies upon inappropriate use of parametric simulations based on assumed feedbacks that cannot be scientifically verified or validated. And, to top it all, the theory is rendered invalid by multiple inconsistencies with observed reality! (no greenhouse warming signal, polar cooling, global cooling since 2002, ocean cooling, sea level drop due to ocean cooling, etc.)

Yet Biden, for reasons best known to himself, believes this theory wholeheartedly!

If Biden is so committed to such an obviously flawed theory (where has he been since 2002 when temperatures began dropping?), does he have the objective intellectual capacity to deal with less obvious issues?

In a word, no.

Bob Webster
WEBCommentary (Editor, Publisher)

Notes:

Suggested reading:

1. The Deniers by Lawrence Solomon (2008)

2. Climate Confusion by Dr. Roy Spencer (2008)

3. A Primer on CO2 and Climate by Dr. Howard C. Hayden (2007)

4. Climate Science: Is it currently designed to answer questions? by Dr. Richard S. Lindzen (2008)

5. Knock, Knock: Where is the Evidence for Dangerous Human-Caused Global Warming? by Dr. Robert M. Carter (2008)

6. Global Warming Alarmism is Unacceptable and Should be Confronted by Vaclav Klaus, President of the Czech Republic (2008)

7. Shattered Consensus edited by Dr. Patrick J. Michaels (2005)

8. The Chilling Stars by Henrik Svensmark

9. Global Warming - Myth or Reality? by Dr. Marcel Leroux (2005)

10. The Geologic Record and Climate Change by Dr. Tim Patterson

Biography - Bob Webster

Author of "Looking Out the Window", an evidence-based examination of the "climate change" issue, Bob Webster, is a 12th-generation descendent of both the Darte family (Connecticut, 1630s) and the Webster family (Massachusetts, 1630s). He is a descendant of Daniel Webster's father, Revolutionary War patriot Ebenezer Webster, who served with General Washington. Bob has always had a strong interest in early American history, our Constitution, U.S. politics, and law. Politically he is a constitutional republican with objectivist and libertarian roots. He has faith in the ultimate triumph of truth and reason over deception and emotion. He is a strong believer in our Constitution as written and views the abandonment of constitutional restraint by the regressive Progressive movement as a great danger to our Republic. His favorite novel is Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and believes it should be required reading for all high school students so they can appreciate the cost of tolerating the growth of unconstitutional crushingly powerful central government. He strongly believes, as our Constitution enshrines, that the interests of the individual should be held superior to the interests of the state.

A lifelong interest in meteorology and climatology spurred his strong interest in science. Bob earned his degree in Mathematics at Virginia Tech, graduating in 1964.