Assuming the existence of global warming, there must be corresponding increase in precipitation?

Question

Will then net effect of this be an increase in the thickess of the icecaps. And a increase in the area of land which is iregated. If this is not happening, why not?

I am not basing your assertions on anything. It was a question. My logic goes as follows, if the seas our hotter then more watar should evapourate. If more water is in the atmosphere then there should be more rain/show on average than before. This is going to have good as well as bad effects. I am not saying this is a good thing, just asking if this is happening or not

Answer 1

A good observation and as you would expect, there is a corresponding increase in precipitation, there has been all the time the planet has been warming.

The correlation between temperature and total precipitation is a perfect one, it couldn't be anything else. Stripped down to basics it comes down to - the warmer the weather the more water evapourates.

All evapouration has to subsequently be precipitated out of the atmosphere as rain or dew in warmer climes , snow or frost in colder climes.

In the very cold parts of the world such as the polar regions, Greenland interior and at altitude, there has been increased snowfall. This has led to a thickening of the polar ice and the acceleration of glacial formation. In the warmer regions there has been increased rainfall and correspondingly an increased number of floods.

Global weather systems are complicated, an important the delivery mechanism for weather are the oceans and equatorial winds. If you look at a global weather map you'll see that most winds form in the equatorial regions and move polewards transporting moisture and warm air as they go. As temps change they affect these winds causing a redistribution of precipitation. Consequently some places receive less rain, others receive more with the net result being an increase.

To answer your specific question - there is a corresponding increase in the thickness of the icecaps which makes it even more alarming that there's an annual net loss in the total volume of ice (approx 900 billion tons a year is lost). Some areas of land can now be irrigated and the melting of a trillion of acres of permafrost has created much potential agricultural land.

Many areas of land that rely on irrigation are in Asia and Africa, these are the two regions hardest hit by the effects of global warming. Thousands of rivers, including several of the world's largest, are fed by glacial meltwater. As lower and mid altitude glaciers recede and melt completely there is less water in the river systems available for irrigation. This is one of the factors that had led to the desertification of a million square km of China.

Answer 2

Since we are now still coming out of the medieval Little Ice Age and there is no agreement as to what constitutes a "normal" climate it is difficult to say. If you look at the temperature records for the Holocene, the time from the end of the last Ice Age to the present, 2/3 of that time had a warmer climate and it has begun to fluctuate only in the last 1/3 of the period. For a lot of that time the sea levels were higher or lower than now, but not disastrously so. The weather patterns were different and there was more rain when it was warmer. The Sahara was not a desert and Siberia and northern Canada were not tundra.

The Global Warming alarmists are upset because they or their heirs will lose their valuable beachfront property. The possibility of farming in northern areas or in the Sahara means nothing to them, because they don't own those places. Follow the money, whose ox is being gored, Gore's?

As recently as Roman times and through the Viking era North Africa was rich farmland. The medieval Little Ice Age caused a change in weather patterns and it became drier. Now we should begin to see more rain in the area as the climate warms.

The change will be slow, taking generations to see much difference. Man contributes an infinitesimal amount to the warming, far less than the political Left and their GW crowd say and not enough for the draconian measures they propose.

Answer 3

One factor you've not taken into account with the icecaps is the increase in temperature.

As for extra irrigation, this is counterbalanced by increase in population, putting a greater strain on those water reserves. The rainfall also seems to be coming 'all at once' not so easy to take advantage of. Extra rainfall in Africa has caused flooding and disease. The trouble is the disruption to settled ways of life and agriculture which we will have difficulty adapting to.

In the 'old days' it would have been alot easier, as a hunter gatherer, to follow the easier living conditions, in modern times there's alot less slack in the system.

Answer 4

What climate model are you basing your assertions on? Predicting what will happen as the result of global warming isn't as easy as you apparently think it is.

Edit after more details: Sorry, I interpreted your question as implying that GW wasn't real since what you expected wasn't happening.

I will say then that while the scenario you present is possible it isn't the only possible outcome. If the weather at the poles warms enough to melt the icecaps, then it is warm enough to turn that extra snow into extra rain instead, hence no thickening of the ice sheets. Or if the increase in melting is greater than the increase in snowfall, then again net loss in sheet thickness.

Answer 5

The truth is that we don't know. There may very well be more rainfall. It gets pretty tricky for the alarmists because they predict worse storms and droughts and everything bad. If the predicted warming produces more ice and glaciers grow, it definitely puts a fly in their ointment. For those who worry about not having enough cold or worry if it is not cold enough in the Artic, I suggest they attempt to visit it with a hawaiian shirt and shorts even before winter bears down and see how long they last.

Answer 6

there will be a lot of damaging weather in the next 2-3years global warming will increase with emerging nations pumping out excessive levels of gas in to the atmosphere.we really do need to be honest with ourselves but we say and do different.i too have often wondered why all these supermarkets are popping up ,where is all this food coming from?how much oil is there left exactly?why is there no honest opinion coming from business moguls?we all moan ,but still go out and buy 4x4s and still but cars.we are now working longer hours just for the so -called supply and demand.but it is all down to making money and nothing else.what goes up will come down.so our planet gets warmer year on year and we still moan but still do nothing about it.so i think it is time we all had a reality check and took a good look at our mess.wake up before it is too late.global warming is happening .we have had wake up call already this year.

Answer 7

Have been told many times over the years that we are overdue another ice age. They showed me permanent ice in Labrador NE, Canada that had stopped melting during the summer months as it usually did. So what's it to be an ice age or global warming, When the scientists get together and agree what it is going to be then we can start worrying. At the minute half say freeze and half say warming.

Answer 8

So the global warming alarmists have it both ways. If theice is getting thicker, it's global warming, if the ice is getting thinner, it's still global warming.
No wonder it sounds more like religion than science.

Answer 9

You are totally correct

Global, with higher temperatures, meaning higher level of energy, more evaporation takes place. This means that we will get a "thicker air".

The quantity of water vapour in the air and its saturation point depends on the enthalpy (=level of energy which is related to the temperature).

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~mdarre/NE-127/Images/psc_04.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~mdarre/NE-127/NewFiles/psychrometric_inset.html&h=303&w=500&sz=7&hl=de&start=46&tbnid=JRxeaioz8uigrM:&tbnh=79&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dair%2Bmoisture%2Bsaturation%26start%3D36%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D18%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Dde%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:de:official%26sa%3DN

Globally, increased rainfall is already observed in India and southern China

THE PROBLEM now for countries in temperate climate is that our rainfalls depend deeply on WARM AND MOISTURED AIR cooling down.... meaning we need for that a cooling provided for example by cold winds... and since the north pole is heating the fastest... we might have less cooling to force the condensation of the vapour in the air which is the rain.

And this is why for example Northern China is getting less rain.

Answer 10

generally you are correct.

however rain in one place drought in another, as we are seeing. complex changes in wind & currents, nucliotides to form precipitation on etc...

the increased precipitation helps thaw the ice-caps by melting through to the bed-rock and lubricating the glaciers casing them to slide & breakup faster.
there is a better explanation in "an Inconvenient Truth"