Is it possible that the earth's global warming is part of the planet's natural cycle?

Question

I must admit I don't follow the global warming issues very much, so I am not an expert. I just briefly read an article about Mars going through global warming. So I just had a thought...is it possible that the earth's global warming is part of what's going on in the solar system as a whole? Please provide your comments.

Answer 1

actually it is a normal cycle, but it's based on the sun as well. Both are going through a warming trend because solar activity (sunspots, solar flares) is increaseing right now.

the earth has actually been a lot hotter and a lot cooler in the past, during the midevil ages it was several degrees hotter than it was now.

check out this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XttV2C6B8pU

It explains how it all ties together...

Answer 2

It's refreshing to find someone talking about global warming who admits they're not an expert. There's a lot of people who profess to know what they're talking about but sadly don't. Anyway, kudos to you.

It does seem likely that Mars is experiencing warming but it's not global and it's not warming in the way earth warms up. Earth warms and cools because of changes in the atmosphere and has done so since it was created a little over 4.5 billion years ago.


Mars too has an atmosphere but it's completely different to ours - it's about 100 degrees colder, is almost all carbon dioxide and there's very little of it. It's about 100 times as thin as the atmosphere on earth which gives rise to an interesting phenomena: There are massive dust storms on Mars, sometimes covering the entire planet and these are driven by winds the speed of hurricanes but because the atmosphere is so thin you could stand in the middle of one of these storms and it would only feel like a gentle breeze.

So, whilst Mars may be warming - there isn't enough reliable evidence available yet to say for certain - it's not for the same reasons that earth is warming, that would simply be impossible.

As I mentioned, Earth has been around for a very long time and during this time it has undergone several major temperature changes. We don't really know what the climate was like in the early history of the planet but we have a record stretching back 542 million years and during that time there have been 4 occasions when the earth was much colder than it is now and 4 occasions when it's been much warmer.

Back then the changes were entirely natural and the warming and cooling cycles stretched over many millions of years. These were caused by two things - changes in the amount of heat from the sun and changes in the way the Earth moves (it's complicated to explain but if you'd like to know more look up 'Solar Variation' and 'Milankovitch Cycles').

By and large the natural changes were extremely slow and occurred over very long periods of time. What we've seen here on Earth in the last couple of hundred years, more so in recent times, has been a very rapid rise in temperatures. I say 'very rapid', it's currently just 0.0156°C a year which doesn't sound a lot and isn't really but it's more than 30 times the natural rate of warming.

So, whilst natural cycles do change our climate, they do so far slower than the changes we've seen of late. They are contributing but it can't all be put down to natural causes.

If you'd like to know more about global warming and climate change please visit this site http://profend.com/global-warming/pages/index.html - it's free of complicated scientific jargon and looks at both sides of the argument.

Answer 3

Yes it is possible. There has been natural global warming in the past. There were no polar ice caps in the time of the dinosaurs for example. But it is also a known fact that widespread burning of natural gas, oil, and coal is dumping way more carbon dioxide into the air that would happen naturally, and the level has gone far above any natural variation seen in half a million years, so people are worried we are upsetting the balance of nature.

Answer 4

Definitely no! There was an experiment in the 50's (I think), that measured the sun 's heat circles! During that experiment, the scientist that did that, measured a steady increment of global temperature. He also measured the suns heat circles. These circles have a period of 12 years (I am guessing again about the 12 years period). But, no matter what the exact numbers were, he detect the heat increment that happens every year. So, excuses for the obvious are not needed any more! This kind of dispute must end!

Answer 5

Yes, it is..
Mars is experiencing recent global warming at about the
same rate as earth...
No doubt Al Gore is blaming this on the two rovers
sent by the Bush Administration...

Answer 6

No. This is not the case. It is true the Earth does go through cycles of warmer periods, but not to the extreme that it has gotten to.
I suggest you check out Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth." It explains basic principles, such as this one, in a way for everyone to be able understand. You do not need a science background.

Answer 7

Yes in fact it is likely. Given that just one volcano going off puts more carbon into the air then all of mankind in recorded history the entire thing seems like a scam to me. Then when you couple in its spokes person it gets even worse. Al Gore was the guy who scared us about the Y2K bug remember? In addition Al Gore's family made all of its money in zinc mining (talk about pollution!) Zinc is the primary ingredient in hydrogen fuel cells! By switching to them as Al tells us we should he and his family will be richer than Bill Gates! The entire thing is a scam.

Answer 8

Possible...yes. Plausible, no. There's too much of a change happening to all be natural. It could account for a certain degree of climate change, but I'm of the opinion that natural or not, our polution and practices are "throwing gasoline on the fire."

Answer 9

Possible? Yes.
Most likely explanation? No.

Answer 10

WHO ever says it is natural your dumb its because of the human race and not caring for the earth!!!