AGU – 2012 – Sagan Lecture

[Trakar]

AGU – 2012 – Sagan Lecture
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jdAhIEWqHLc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jdAhIEWqHLc[/ame]

Piers Sellers – developer of the Simple Biosphere model, shuttle astronaut(1996-2011; 3 missions, 6 space walks), and current deputy director in sciences and exploration directorate at NASA GISS.
Good Talk
Very good information. Sellers gives us an overview of what has been happening to the planet these past decades in a series of stunning satellite images; temperature increases, the loss of sea ice, population increase and glacier retreat.
As Sellers notes: “Things are happening faster than the models.” So yes, we need to improve our modeling abilities.

 

[Old Rocks]

LOL. The standard reply on this board is that the 'alarmists' are using incorrect models to scare us all. The reality is that the 'alarmists' are scaring the hell out of themselves as the reality continues to be much worse than the models predict.

When you do a 'model' with all the information you have, and reality is much differant from the model, then there are some problems with assumptions in the model. Or there are thing affecting the reality that are not in the model. When reality is much worse than the model, that means there are some strong negatives that we do not yet understand or know about.

The assumption you see here by so many is that if there are effects we do not yet know about, they will ameliorate the bad effects that we do understand. The reality that we are seeing is just the opposite. There are apperantly feedbacks that we do not yet understand, creating yet further feedbacks that we have yet to identify.

So, the upshot is that we know are going to have to deal with consequences, consequences that are now just starting. Yet we have very few people in the political structure, in either party, willing to face reality. So, until something happens to get the nations attention, we will continue on the present course. Gonna be one hell of a crash landing.

 

[Mad Scientist]

Piers Morgan
Piers Sellers

"Two Deluded Brits".

 

[Old Rocks]

Mad Scientist. Deluded internet poster that like to denigrate people with far more significant accomplishments than he will ever have.