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Jim: jdipeso@rep.org
(253) 740-2066 / 2009
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Hot News from Long Ago
July
24, 2009
Ever
heard of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum? No, it’s not a heavy
metal rock band.
The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) was a period of significant
climatic warming that took place 55 million years ago. (Yes, dear climate skeptics,
everyone knows there were no coal plants in operation at that time, so
we cheerfully stipulate for the record that this warming episode had
purely natural causes.)
A study published recently in a scholarly journal came to a startling
conclusion. A surge in carbon emissions – perhaps from volcanic
activity or from the breakup of undersea hydrate formations – led to a
rise in global temperatures, but the emissions surge cannot explain all
of the warming. (By the way, in case you’re wondering, there were no
thermometers in those days. Scientists use geochemical techniques to
deduce atmospheric temperatures that were extant during the PETM.)
The scientists hypothesize that something else was going on – possibly
positive feedbacks that reinforced the warming forced by the carbon
buildup.
The take-home message, according to one of the study’s researchers, is
that dumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere could trigger
atmospheric processes that would result in much greater heating than
current models suggest.
Gaps in our knowledge about climate science are a double-edged sword.
Climate skeptics like to assert that uncertainties always mean that
climate change risks are overblown. The gaps also could mean that the
risks are greater than we think.
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