Name: Jim B. G.
Status: Other
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
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Date: N/A
Question:
I thought I had read that global warming would cause unusual weather patterns,
as well as more rainfall near coastlines and less rainfall in the middle of
continents (away from coastlines.) Is there any validity to this?
Would it
not make sense from a standpoint of the earth getting back into
balance?
Replies:
We will not know the validity of global warming theories (and predictions)
until it actually happens. Some predictions can be tested over historical
periods in order to decide which theoretical models most closely resemble the
behavior of earth's climate, and so some models may be better than others
(i.e. more valid for known data). but no one can predict the future yet. I
am skeptical about the idea that earth is a self-equilibrating system (i.e.
that it tries to "get back into balance" when it is somehow disturbed). I
think it is a very open and chaotic system and that the climate has been
fluctuating pretty wildly and unpredictably ever since the planet acquired an
atmosphere.
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