To: TimF who wrote (122606 ) 8/21/2000 2:45:39 PM From: combjelly Read Replies (4) | Respond to twfowler, I am not disagreeing with you. As you say, and as I indicated, temperatures have varied widely in the past due to volcanic action alone. It is not clear what affects, if any, human generated CO2 has had on the climate. According to the journal "Nature", as of 5 years ago the only change in temperatures have been on the order of about 0.5 degrees C on the night time average. Now a problem with this figure is it is an average, anectdotal evidence is that we have had greater extremes, winters are often colder, summers are hotter, and that may not shift the average very much. For what it is worth, this is the type of behavior that you expect from a chaotic system that is shifting from one attractor to another, but it also is within the normal variability of the climate. Because we just do not have enough information to make decent models, these things are just shots in the dark. Because of that, we really don't know what is required to shift the balance. Can a butterfly flapping it's wings in Brazil affect the weather in the US?
