In response to:
John, so many points, so little space.
First, if you want to quote me in your Sunday blow off, please get it right. You did not include my next paragraph that said
“All of these factors can lead to more severe storms and more coastal flooding. Events that were "100 year floods/droughts" will occur more often. Storm surges that had no effects before will now be more likely to cause flooding.”
I know you like simple connections, unfortunately, science doesn’t work that way. Instead it deals with likelihood and increased probabilities. You suggest that Goldberg believes that hurricanes have not increased in number or strength...
Mikey wrote: There is no direct link between a particular storm and global warming. What scientists know is that ocean temperatures are getting warmer, sea levels are rising, and the atmosphere contains more moisture because the air is warmer. - As Blizzard Nemo Strikes, Global Warming Won’t Be Far Behind
Dear Comrade Mikey,
That’s right; there is no connection between a storm and so-called global warming. Scientists theorize that storms could be become worse and more extreme, but there is very little evidence- very little is not to be confused with no evidence- that storms are any...
The bigger problem you have, Ransom, is that you focus on an area where there is still uncertainty (the link between extreme weather events and global warming), to discredit an area of high certainty—that globe warming is occurring and is it caused by human activity.
“Ransom can laugh about global warming on the east coast. He may not be as amused about its effects on the snow melt in the Rockies (http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/USGS-Study-Finds-Recent-Snowpack-Declines-in-the-Rocky-Mountains-Unusual-Compared-to-Past-Few-Centuries.cfm)”
Finally, you seem fixated on Al Gore. I don’t care about Al Gore, never have. He has never done any science in this area and serves only as a punching bag for people (like you) who believe if you can discredit Al Gore than you have disproved the science he has presented. Sorry, global warming is not personality-driven, it is based on the evidence.
For all of your points, you miss the main conclusion - there is no such "high certainty."
"you’ll come on here and berate anyone who disagrees with you on global warming"
Please cite examples. I post under my own name, I don't call people names (comrade?), and I try to respond to all comments respectfully.
That, of course, is not true. Even if the temperature of the water warmed dramatically, the air above it would also warm. That destabilizes the air column above a hurricane and makes it less likely for the hurricane to gain strength. This explanation for why hurricanes have NOT increased in either number or severity has been offered by AGW proponents.
However, once formed, hurricanes gain energy from the ocean water and warmer water should increase intensity.
Elsner et al (2008) showed this
"Atlantic tropical cyclones are getting stronger on average, with a 30-year trend that has been related to an increase in ocean temperatures over the Atlantic Ocean and elsewhere...Our results are qualitatively consistent with the hypothesis that as the seas warm, the ocean has more energy to convert to tropical cyclone wind."
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v455/n7209/abs/nature07234.html
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastint.shtml