Stand -by for a Cold Wet Summer ! ! !
Indeed, and belief that alleged anthropological global warming will instantly result in hot dry summers betrays a total lack of understanding of climate dynamics, but then, TBF, nobody really understands them anyway despite all the clever sounding noises made by 'climate scientists'.
Just on that point alone the grand global warming bandwagon has just been derailed by the IPCC itself which has scaled back its alarmist sceanrios, describing them as 'implausible', ie, wretchedly impossible, so where does that leave all those knobheads who were boldly predicting the end of the world next week, or maybe the week after, but anyway it was definietly going to end soon!
Returning to basics and the role of CO2 in the atmosphere the first thing to be noted is that it has been modelled to death and yet nature still won't comply with the scientists instructions on how it should behave. One reason is the basic flaw that all models suffer from and that is the assumption that radition received from the sun as UV light should be in balance with energy radiated from the earth as infra red light, if this is not in equilibrium then the earth is either cooling or heating. In other words the models rely on the system being 100% efficient. Nothing in nature is 100% efficient.
There is a tremendous focus on CO2, yet when it comes to the greenhouse affect it is water vapour which has a much greater influence, yet this is never openly discussed, funny that. By doing so CO2 is cast as the villian and yet an increase in concentration has a hugely beneficial effect on plant growth.
It seems to me that climate scientists have not the faintest notion of the chemical process that supports all life (or nearly all) on earth, and that is photosynthesis and the corresponding reversal of the reaction - respiration.
Photosynthesis takes water and carbon dioxide and through a series of reactions it forms carbohydrates which is, with many variations on the theme, what we are basically made of. As a by product oxygen is released, the very oxygen that we rely on to breath and respire.
A greater concentration of CO2 results in more rapid plant growth, this has been known for many many years, glasshouse growers will add CO2 to the air to boost yields and the same applies out in the open. However, there are limits and at higher concentrations the effect hits the law of diminishing returns, it depends on the species, but we are a long way off it yet.
But there is a further effect which involves the functioning of plant leaves which rely on tiny openings, called stomata, to allow gaseous exchange with the atmosphere. With a higher concentration of CO2 these do not need to stay open for so long reducing the loss of water from the leaves allowing the plants to better withstand drought. NASA has noticed a greening up of the world thanks to this.
As a general rule warmth favours biological reactions so plants will grow quicker, this is especially so when it comes to soil temperatures, getting to grow quicker in the spring will encourage yields as the plant can make more of the increasing sunlight.
So yes, a warmer environment with more carbon dioxide can be of tremendous benefit to the world.
nypost.com
