Decline in Snowpack Is Blamed On Warming

Grab your bear can or camp chair, kick your feet up and chew the fat about anything Sierra Nevada related that doesn't quite fit in any of the other forums. Within reason, (and the HST rules and guidelines) this is also an anything goes forum. Tell stories, discuss wilderness issues, music, or whatever else the High Sierra stirs up in your mind.
User avatar
BSquared
Founding Member
Posts: 958
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2005 3:31 pm
Experience: Level 3 Backpacker
Location: Jericho, VT

Re: Decline in Snowpack Is Blamed On Warming

Post by BSquared »

oldranger wrote:...Sent the link to my son, a Fire Ecology and Management major at the University of Idaho and he responded "thanks dad, can't use it. Its not a refereed article." Interesting none the less.
ah, these scholars. Great article, Mike—Thanks!

-B2
User avatar
SteveB
Founding Member
Posts: 228
Joined: Sat Oct 29, 2005 10:08 pm
Experience: N/A
Location: Reno, NV

Re: Decline in Snowpack Is Blamed On Warming

Post by SteveB »

AldeFarte wrote:Well,It would seem that the snowpack is pretty good this year. It NEVER fails to amaze me how we moderns continually live in the present moment only .
It's all about the mindset of instant gratification and anecdotal evidence. No real facts or evidence? Send in the computer models, disreputed ice cores, and political agendas.

You like hot summers? Rock on. You like cold winters? Rock on. You like whining about anecdotal changes in regional weather patterns over the course of 12-24 months? Rock on. Personally, I'm sick and tired of the knee-jerk, anecdotal AlGore-isms lately. Shite happens.
User avatar
BSquared
Founding Member
Posts: 958
Joined: Tue Nov 01, 2005 3:31 pm
Experience: Level 3 Backpacker
Location: Jericho, VT

Re: Decline in Snowpack Is Blamed On Warming

Post by BSquared »

Steve,

I can understand how you'd get tired of the doom-and-gloom predictions, but I think the science is quite sound. There are plenty of facts -- hard, numerical, repeatable, not "anecdotal" -- evidence is abundant, and the scientific community is as unified as it ever gets: the planet is warming, it is likely to continue to warm, the cause is emissions of CO2 from the burning of fossil fuel (added to a few other things, like the net destruction of vegetation), and the results -- at least for most people and for lots of natural systems -- are likely to be somewhere between mildly uncomfortable and disastrous. Shite does happen, but if we see that we're the ones heaping it up, it'd be pretty irresponsible not to clean it up, wouldn't it?

If you've got some time, take a look at that New Scientist page I referenced a few postings back. It's really excellent and contains some direct replies to most of the common arguments of the "skeptics."

-B2
User avatar
Rosabella
Founding Member
Posts: 372
Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2005 7:58 pm
Experience: N/A
Location: Washington State

Re: Decline in Snowpack Is Blamed On Warming

Post by Rosabella »

.
gdurkee wrote: by gdurkee on Wed Feb 13, 2008 9:37 am
And this too:


Lake Mead Water Could Dry Up by 2021

SAN DIEGO, California, February 12, 2008 (ENS) - There is a 50 percent chance Lake Mead, a key source of water for millions of people in the southwestern United States, will be dry by 2021 if the climate changes as expected and future water use is not limited, warn researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California-San Diego.

Without Lake Mead and neighboring Lake Powell, the Colorado River system has no buffer to sustain the population of the Southwest through an unusually dry year, or worse, a sustained drought.

In such an event, water deliveries to cities such as Las Vegas, Los Angeles and San Diego would become unstable and variable, say research marine physicist Tim Barnett and climate scientist David Pierce.

The researchers say that even if water agencies follow their current drought contingency plans, it might not be enough to counter natural forces, especially if the region enters a period of sustained drought or human-induced climate changes occur as currently predicted.

"We were stunned at the magnitude of the problem and how fast it was coming at us," said Barnett. "Make no mistake, this water problem is not a scientific abstraction, but rather one that will impact each and every one of us that live in the Southwest."

This is frightening. Las Vegas is one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S., and they continue to issue building permits at a stagering rate.
User avatar
AldeFarte
Topix Regular
Posts: 215
Joined: Mon Jan 09, 2006 10:46 pm
Experience: N/A
Location: Eklutna, Ak.

Re: Decline in Snowpack Is Blamed On Warming

Post by AldeFarte »

Well B2, I guess we have to agree to disagree. Two people can {and do} look at the same empirical data and come to different conclusions. I give zero credence to any "model" purporting to predict weather ,or climate. An educated guess is still a guess. Every year it is hotter and colder than normal someplace on the globe. I don't believe the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere can be controlled by mankind enough to make any difference. That is hubris. We need MORE CO2. The percentage of oxygen in todays atmosphere is far too corrosive ,{if put in a historical context} to support life as we know it.It is a good thing we were able to close that darn ozone hole awhile back, tho. jls :p
Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 51 guests