Anthropogenic Warming – It’s True!
It’s true, but not on a global scale . . .
Increases in local temperature averages are due, in large part, to URBANIZATION. For those of us who bother to seek out actual scientific studies, we can clearly see that Urban Heat Islands are the cause of localized increases in temperature. Consider this study from the Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change:
The Urban Heat Island of Mexicali, Mexico
Background
Mexicali City borders the United States at the northern end of Mexico’s Baja California. It is an urban settlement that had its beginnings in the first decade of the 20th century. At that point in time it had an area of approximately 4 km2; but by 1980 it covered an area of a little over 40 km2, and by 2005 it covered something in excess of 140 km2.
What was done
Working with daily records of maximum and minimum temperature from six weather stations “in Mexicali City and its surroundings” covering the period 1950-2000, and with “a climatic network of rural and urban weather stations in Mexicali and its valley and the Imperial Valley, California” over the “contemporary period (2000-2005),” the authors characterized the spatial and temporal development of the city’s urban heat island over the latter half of the 20th century and the first five years of the 21st century.
What was learned
Garcia Cueto et al. state that Mexicali City “changed from being a cold island (1960-1980) to a heat island with a maximum intensity of 2.3°C in the year 2000, when it was compared with rural weather stations of Imperial, California,” noting that “the replacement of irrigated agricultural land by urban landscapes, anthropogenic activity and population growth, appear to be the major factors responsible for the observed changes.” And from the “more updated information (2000-2005),” they found that “the greatest intensity of the urban heat island was in winter with a value of 5.7°C, and the lowest intensity in autumn with 5.0°C.”
What it means
The results of this study clearly demonstrate that population growth and the clustering of people in cities can lead to localized warming (in areas where temperatures are routinely measured) that is both more rapid and much greater (by as much as an order of magnitude, in fact) than what climate alarmists typically attempt to characterize as the “unprecedented” warming of the 20th century. And that population-growth-induced warming — spread across the world — has likely contributed, in large part, to what they wrongly construe to be CO2-induced global warming.
Simply said, CO2 is NOT a dangerous gas.
First Spring Iris
My Bearded Iris just produced this beautiful, delicate flower today. There are more on the way, hopefully in many colors. Click on the image to enlarge.
Sungrazing Comet
Or should it be SUN-IMPACTOR COMET? I saw this yesterday on SpaceWeather.com:
SUNGRAZING COMET: Today, the sun had a comet for breakfast. The icy visitor from the outer solar system appeared with no warning on April 9th and plunged into the sun during the early hours of April 10th. One comet went in, none came out. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) had a good view of the encounter.
The comet was probably a member of the Kreutz sungrazer family. Named after a 19th century German astronomer who studied them in detail, Kreutz sungrazers are fragments from the breakup of a giant comet at least 2000 years ago. Several of these fragments pass by the sun and disintegrate every day. Most are too small to see but occasionally a big fragment like today’s attracts attention.
This has been an active year for big, bright sungrazers. There was one on Jan. 4th, one on March 12th, and now one today. Normally we see no more than 3 or 4 bright ones in a whole year; now we’re seeing them almost once a month. It could be a statistical fluctuation or, maybe, a swarm of Kreutz fragments is nearing perihelion (closest approach to the sun). Stay tuned for doomed comets!
Click on the thumbnail image for full-size movie.
The Cactus and Succulent Show and Sale
As members that support the South Coast Botanic Garden and since we’re into Cactus and Succulents in our home garden, we enjoy going to the annual Cactus and Succulent Show and Sale. We browse the hall where the plants are on display and then visit the rooms where a variety of interesting plants are for sale.
After visiting the show, we usually go down the garden path and look at the cactus and succulent garden and then the rose garden. I took over 200 photos today and will post some of the best of them soon.
The image above is of an Abromeitiella brevifolia which was easily the most unusual thing we saw in the show today. Believe it or not, this is related to the pineapple. Click on the image to enlarge.
A Real Artichoke Farm
I blogged a few days ago about our so-called Artichoke Farm. I was joking, of course, about Damsel’s first backyard garden artichoke crop ever. Today, while we were running several errands, some road construction caused me to detour through a residential area where we found a house with artichokes growing in a planter along the sidewalk.
I counted at least 20 artichokes in Damsel’s photo (click image to see the entire photo) of just part of the artichoke patch in front of the house. It made me laugh to see this mature artichoke patch growing literally dozens of pods.
A Red Spring Anaryllis
These are growing in the flowerbed by the side of the house. I planted the bulb last year. This is the second year where these nice red flowers are blooming. There are two other flower stalks, so there will be more. Click on the image to enlarge.
