The assumption that higher levels of co2 causes major climate change is apparent on many fronts, not least in a new paper in Science (May 11th 2013) – see http://phys.org/print287314821.html
The assumption not only lies at the heart of funding the research but the view scientists have on early geological epochs. If the Greenhouse theory is overrated what will all these geologists do?
An analysis of a sediment core in the Arctic has provided a record of climate change from the Middle Pliocene, via the Pleistocene, to the present. The lake, as an aside, was formed when a space rock struck Siberia, creating an 11 mile wide crater. It has been collecting layers of sediment ever since that happened – and we learn that it occurs in a region, luckily for the scientists concerned, that was not glaciated, which provides them with a very deep sediment in which to wade through, some 25 times further back in time than any Greenland ice core (which go back at most to 140,000 years ago). In addition, this part of Siberia was noticeably warm in the Mid to Late Pliocene and the early Pleistocene, when co2 levels were not much higher than today (it is alleged). So, here is the rub, the obligatory scary bit which the editor and the PR machine seem to require – it only takes a small rise in co2 levels and we will have a heat wave in the Arctic.
Ignoring the fluff and getting at the root of the information unearthed we learn that in the Middle Pliocene douglas firs and hemlock trees were growing in the Arctic, the kind of trees that grow in southern Canada nowadays. At the same time this was happening, we also learn, the West Anatarctic ice sheet did not exist. So, both Poles were affected and the author, programmed to believe that co2 trace gases can overheat the planet, interprets the evidence in that way. However, might this not be evidence of Pole shift?
We may also note that this week co2 levels on Hawaii, near an active volcano, have exceeded the magic number of 400. Yet, the world is still going on as usual, and the weather is cool rather than warm, let alone hot. As some commenters have noted – it all resembles the Year 2K scare (when all the computers around the world were supposed to crash). Nothing happened then and we can safely bet, nothing much will happen at the magic number 400. In spite of this there are two major conferences in May in the UK claiming, in spite of the cold weather this spring, global warming is still occurring (lurking in some dark corner). Needless to say they are organised by the financial industry.