I know it may sounds as a controversial question but we frequently now
hear that the 'scientific debate' of the global warming is over.. What
are the arguments to support such a conclusion?

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 14 Jun 2006 14:39 PDT

small_beutiful-ga,

My, my.  You ask some interesting and diverse questions.

There isn't a global warming debate, per se.

Instead, there are a whole series of questions, some of which are
answered beyond a shadow of a doubt, some of which still have a few
shadows left, and some of which are totally up for grabs.

For instance:

Has human activity increased the CO2 levels in the atmosphere?  YES,
no doubt about it?

Is the earth's climate, at ground level, growing warmer in recent
decades?  YES, most likely, but it's hard to know with 100% certainty.

Is the increase in CO2 (and a few other gasses) the reason for the
warming trend?  Mmmm...probably.  There's a growing consensus that
this is, indeed, the case, but I wouldn't say the book is completely
closed on this, yet.

What about all those huge storms we're having...is that part of global
warming?  Maybe.  The models do predict increases in large storm
activity, and what we're seeing is certainly consistent with that. 
But the jury's still out on the final verdict.


And what about that terrible tsunami...?  Nope...nothing to do with global warming.


Each of the above, can be sub-divided into dozens of other questions,
some with conclusive answers, some not.


And since the topic is of much more than mere academic, scientific,
interest, there will always be those with a political motive to attack
or defend global warming theories, so that the controversy is unlikely
to dissipate anytime soon.

Tell us a bit more about the type of information you're hoping to get,
and perhaps we'll be able to provide it for you.


Cheers,


pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by small_beutiful-ga on 14 Jun 2006 15:03 PDT

Pafalafa again. welcome welcome

I am looking for the 'most recent' - say 2005 & 2006- articles that
support your ideas. I prefer articles from known scientific journals
rather than unreliable websites. I'm very glad to have you answering
my questions again and again.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 15 Jun 2006 05:32 PDT

Thanks for the vote of confidence!


Here are two very reputable sites that may be what you're looking for.

The first is the "What's known" page on Global Warming from the US
Environmental Protection Agency:


http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/climateuncertainties.html


And then there's this study from the National Academy of Sciences
called "Climate Change Science: An Analysis of Some Key Questions":


http://www4.nas.edu/onpi/webextra.nsf/web/climate?OpenDocument


It's a few years old, but it's still a very good summary of what is/isn't known.


Take a look at these.  I'm sure you'll still have questions about
global warming, even after reading these through, but these are very
good, very credible sources of information to at least get you
started.


Let me know what more you would like to make for a complete answer, here.


paf

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Clarification of Question by small_beutiful-ga on 15 Jun 2006 07:31 PDT

Thanks for your clrification Pafalafa and many thanks for the useful
and very interesting comments. To close to the question offically, I
would accept a bibliography; i.e.a list of reputable books and
articles that can be trusted as sources of information for such a hot
and long-debated topic.

I would like to know if the debate over people dying after been shot
in the head is over... yes it is true that a bullet splattering their
brains may cause death but there is always the possibility that the
man dies of a heart attack milliseconds before the bullet hits him.
Also we know that it may not have been the bullet impact that killed
him, we know that bullets are made out of metals and because of the
metal lodge in his brain he might?ve died our of metal poisoning.
There is always the possibility that micro meteorites invariably hit
people in the exact same spot that the bullet will hit only .5 seconds
later killing first and by the time the bullet gets there the man was
already dead.

We?ll never know, the debate of what are the real causes of men dying
when shot by bullets may last forever.

@Elids

- or just dropping from old age

- it is arrogant to believe that we can influence ancient cycles

When I am wrong I like acknowledge it, accept resposibility and
retract my words. You are doing the right thing by trying to get
information from reputable sources. Please accept my appologies.

=====================

From New Scientist, there is a whole series of articles on the subject


EXPERT GUIDE
Instant Expert: Climate Change

Climate change is with us. A decade ago, it was conjecture. Now the
future is unfolding before our eyes. Canada's Inuit see it in
disappearing Arctic ice and permafrost. The shantytown dwellers of
Latin America and Southern Asia see it in lethal storms and floods.
Europeans see it in disappearing glaciers, forest fires and fatal heat
waves.

Scientists see it in tree rings, ancient coral and bubbles trapped in
ice cores. These reveal that the world has not been as warm as it is
now for a millennium or more. The three warmest years on record have
all occurred since 1998; 19 of the warmest 20 since 1980. And Earth
has probably never warmed as fast as in the past 30 years - a period
when natural influences on global temperatures, such as solar cycles
and volcanoes should have cooled us down. Studies of the thermal
inertia of the oceans suggest that there is more warming in the
pipeline.

Climatologists reporting for the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) say we are seeing global warming caused by human
activities and there are growing fears of feedbacks that will
accelerate this warming. more...


For much more check out 

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/earth/climate-change

------------


From Scientific American links to 321 articles on the subject

http://www.sciamdigital.com/index.cfm?fa=Search.ViewSearchForItemResultList&FULLTEXT_CHAR=global%20warming

------------

From PBS an easy to follow program on Global Warming 
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/warming/

------------

From the Science and Technology department of the Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory a series of studies on the many components of
Global warming

http://google-ext.llnl.gov/search?q=global+warming&btnG=Search+S%26TR&site=llnl_ext&client=llnl_ext&proxystylesheet=llnl_ext&output=xml_no_dtd&as_dt=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.llnl.gov%2Fstr&as_sitesearch=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.llnl.gov%2Fstr

------------

From Science and Technology today 
a series of articles on individual elements of Global Warming

http://www.sci-tech-today.com/section.xhtml?category=env


------------

From Physorg.com a site geared towards physics news
a search on articles related to Global Warming

://www.google.com/custom?domains=physorg.com&q=Global+warming&sa=Search&sitesearch=physorg.com&client=pub-0536483524803400&forid=1&ie=ISO-8859-1&oe=ISO-8859-1&safe=active&cof=GALT%3A%23008000%3BGL%3A1%3BDIV%3A%23336699%3BVLC%3A663399%3BAH%3Acenter%3BBGC%3AFFFFFF%3BLBGC%3A336699%3BALC%3A0000FF%3BLC%3A0000FF%3BT%3A000000%3BGFNT%3A0000FF%3BGIMP%3A0000FF%3BFORID%3A1%3B&hl=en

------------

From Science magazine, this site is devoted to scientist, while you
can read the summaries of the studies presented by scientists in order
to read the full documents you need to become a member it is not
cheap. 1,196 studies

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/collection/atmos


------------

Again, my appologies.


Elí

Personally I don't dispute that there is 'global warming'
- although in my neck of the woods the loss of the Gulf Stream is also mooted

I seriously doubt that we are responsible
- there are cycles and the butterfly effect

Going in for Enron style CO2 trading is laughable
- building sea defences makes some sense
- also controlled migration

This same fast melt-off happened last in the last years of the 19th
Century. If you can get your hands on the old National Geographic
CD's, you can read all about it in the issues in early 20th Century,
and how in a few years, it stopped.