The Wrath of global in arid regions like the Middle East is a major issue affecting present day life on earth.

Global warming has also been attributed to unusual “polar vortex” cold spells which have occurred the past few winters in both North America and northern Europe; with unusual weather felt in the Middle East as well.

Scientists who study global climate patterns are now talking about the possibility of global cooling, and they have written about local cooling on Forbes. It’s a cooling change so pronounced that it could result in a “mini ice age” like the one that put much of Europe into the deep freeze from 1250 to 1850 CE.

Our planet was a much warmer place in prehistoric times; which allowed such creatures as giant amphibians and reptiles to flourish.

Severe climatic changes such as dramatic ocean current shifts, as well as changes in CO2 concentrations may be what resulted in the demise of the dinosaurs; and not some cataclysmic event like the earth being struck by a giant asteroid.

An article originally published in 2008 by the Global Research Centre on Globalization states that increased amounts of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere could cause global warming of 1° F per decade and 5-6° C (10-11° F) by 2100.

However, the article continues that “historic records of past natural cycles suggest global cooling for the first several decades of the 21st century to about 2030.”

According to these findings, the earth has gone through alternate periods of global warming and global cooling; due to a number of factors. These include alternating changes in the Pacific Ocean’s Decadal Oscillation (PDO)  that shifts between warmer “positive” phases and cooler or “negative” phases.

This PDO oscillation alone resulted in several global periods of fluctuating temperature cycles in the 20th century.

Judging from how the Middle East has fared recently from the wrath of global warming, some cooler and wetter climate changes would be welcome over what this region has experienced the past two decades. As for other parts of the world, especially North America, cooler and wetter weather would be beneficial as well. Cooler, but not too cool.

Read about issues dealing with global warming and cooling:

Will the Polar Vortex “Dip” Freeze the Middle East?

 Oceans Siralling Downward; Threatening Life on Earth
The Wrath of Global Warming and the Middle East

Ice age in the city from Shutterstock

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Let’s see what’s been happening: a change in the wind pattern of the annual winter Polar Vortex has put much of North America into the deep freeze, and caused serious flooding in many parts of Europe.

What is causing these drastic weather pattern changes? Why are they resulting in such severe cold that makes temperatures in parts of the earth’s Northern Hemisphere comparable to temperatures on Mars?

These questions were addressed to meteorologists who study the annual polar vortex phenomena and its deviations this winter which have caused so much extreme winter cold and snow (see below).

In an interview broadcast on the Democracy Now news site, Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at the Weather Underground meteorological site,  explained what is happening and whether there is any connection with the phenomenon of global warming.

Masters told D.N. that the Polar Vortex is a normal, annual event in which the winds of the Jet Stream, combined with long periods of Arctic darkness, cause extreme cold and high winds to persist in northern Arctic regions.

According to Masters: “when you get all that cold air up there in the Arctic, it tends to drive stronger winds. And those winds blow counterclockwise around the pole in a vortex; and those winds tend to isolate that cold air from the rest of the world. And so, that cold air can stay cold.

“When that happens to slosh over where we are (the USA), boy, we sure notice it.”

He believes that what is causing the Polar Vortex to dip down into the continental USA is a slowing down of jet stream wind velocity that is causing the winds to “dip down in long meandering loops”.

Masters considers this extreme change in the polar vortex wind patterns a “once in 20 years event” and that there is not definite proof that it is connected to global warming. He did say, however, that rises in the earth’s surface temperature is causing the polar ice caps to melt faster, resulting in less reflection of the sun’s rays from normal ice cap fields.

This Jet Stream wind “meandering” may have caused the Arctic weather loop that dipped down to the Middle East last month and resulted in as much as a meter of snow in Jerusalem and other higher areas, as well as Cairo’s snow storm (above photo).

When summer arrives in a few months, the cold and snow of this unusual winter weather may well be missed when the wrath of global warming again brings searing temperatures to much of the Middle East.

Read more on climate change:
Snow Shocks Cairo for First Time in 100 Years
Severe Weather Causing Middle East Mayhem and Deaths
The Wrath of Global Warming and the Middle East

Illustration and satellite photo of Polar Vortex change in North America by Accuweather.com

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/what-is-a-polar-vortex/21793077

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If climate science were simple, perhaps we could design a quick fix that would suck out the carbon trapped in the atmosphere, and restore weather to it’s pre-freaky ways. Unfortunately, that’s not how nature works.

To further add to the complexity, The Economist has released a report that in addition to providing nutrients to oceans and forests, dust has cooling qualities. Even that is not simple. Sometimes dust is a good thing, and there is more of it than previously, but then sometimes it can set off an unhappy chain of reactions.

The magazine describes an incident in May, 2008, when Sahara sands traveled to Europe and “turned Germany red”; subsequent research by Max Bangert, a Karlsruhe Institute of Technology student, demonstrates that while the dust hovered in the atmosphere above Germany, the ground below cooled by 1/4 of a degree.

Dust from hot dry (and sandy) regions regularly travels thousands of kilometers, influencing weather patterns and even transporting nutrients such as iron and phosphorous. The Amazon forest receives phosphorous from Africa, which in turns stimulates plant growth that sponges up carbon.

Ilan Koren and colleagues from Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science have tracked dust by satellite from the Bodélé Depression, considered one of the dustiest places on the planet, as it traveled from Chad to Nigeria, across the Atlantic, and landing finally in Manaus, Brazil.

Dust in the atmosphere deflects sunlight back into space, offsetting some of the heat that accumulated greenhouse gases trap. Of the additional 1.6 watts of extra solar power heating each square mile of the planet, dust can offset 0.14 watts.

In some cases, this cooling has negative effects. By changing airflow patterns, the dust can indirectly cause less rainfall that in turn causes plants to die, and makes them more vulnerable to wildfire. These natural events are responsible for enormous bursts of carbon emissions.

Research from Cornell University shows that there is at least twice as much dust in the atmosphere than in the previous century, which may result from human activity such as land clearing, or even global warming, which may alter the boundaries of deserts. Jasper Kok of the National Centre for Atmospheric Research, on the other hand, believes that there may be as much as eight times as much dust in our atmosphere than there was before.

While no direct conclusions can be drawn, the story of dust demonstrates the full complexity of climate science, and the numerous factors that have to be considered when making predictions.

In fact, it may be impossible to make true predictions.

:: The Economist

More on dust and desert in the Middle East:

Martian Technology That Zaps Dust From Solar Panels

Dust Swept Into Arabian Gulf Delivers Key Nutrients

Israeli and Jordan Desert Plant That Waters Itself

image via gilliu00

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