90% of the human population lives in the northern hemisphere. Coincidence?

[ffr]

Last edited Tue Nov 18, 2014, 10:10 PM - Edit history (1)

November 18, 2014

NASA Climate Model Shows Year Of CO2 Movement In The Atmosphere (VIDEO)

An ultra-high-resolution NASA computer model has provided new insight into how carbon dioxide travels around our atmosphere... - Hngn.com

Next time one of your airhead Republis friends says that humans have no impact on CO2 emissions, go ahead and give them this analysis.

[1StrongBlackMan]

1. And they'll reply, with certitude ...

"That analysis means nothing. Everyone knows smoke rises!"



You just wait and see.

[Demeter]

2. Sure looks to my eye that there are more people below the equator, based on that chart

Integrating the area under the curve to sum it up....

[GliderGuider]

4. Look at the graph again

The equator is below where you might think it is.

[Demeter]

5. Even so

The carbon dioxide is NOT concentrated where the people are, if one overlaps the two maps.

Now, if the map showed where the industrial production of CO2 was emitted, there might be some correlation.

Of course, one would also have to map the non-industrial production of CO2, both agricultural and natural....and then, there are the OTHER greenhouse gases: methane, CFC's, etc. And the ozone hole, and other aspects of climate.

Junk "science" does not make anyone smarter.

[ffr]

7. "Carbon dioxide is NOT concentrated where the people are...Junk 'science'..." - Demeter

An ultra-high-resolution NASA computer model has given scientists a stunning new look at how carbon dioxide in the atmosphere travels around the globe.

Plumes of carbon dioxide in the simulation swirl and shift as winds disperse the greenhouse gas away from its sources. The simulation also illustrates differences in carbon dioxide levels in the northern and southern hemispheres and distinct swings in global carbon dioxide concentrations as the growth cycle of plants and trees changes with the seasons.

The carbon dioxide visualization was produced by a computer model called GEOS-5, created by scientists at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office. -

" target="_blank">Youtube.com

What you’re looking at is supercomputer model of CO2 levels in the Earth’s atmosphere...CO2 is the most important greenhouse gas effected by human activity. About half of the CO2 emitted from fossil fuel combustion remains in the atmosphere, while the other half is absorbed by natural land and ocean reservoirs. In the northern hemisphere, WE SEE THE HIGHEST CONCENTRATIONS ARE FOCUSED AROUND MAJOR EMISSIONS SOURCES OVER NORTH AMERICA, EUROPE AND ASIA. -William Putman, RESEARCH AST, METEOROLOGICAL STUDIES,
NASA

So, Demeter, when did North America, Europe and Asia, cease to have a concentration of people? Because, from Mr. Putman's video, it seems overwhelming clear these are the sources of CO2. And the fact of the matter is that these are the major population centers on Earth.

You might want to check your definition of the word Science, because it should resemble something along the lines of this: knowledge about or study of the natural world based on facts learned through experiments and observation

[Jim Lane]

11. On what basis are you integrating?

For example, if you integrate from the North Pole through 20 degrees South latitude, the result will be the number of people living at 20 degrees South and at all points further north. That will include everyone in the Northern Hemisphere. All you've established is that more people live north of 20 degrees South than live north of the Equator, a trivial result.

If you want to compare the hemispheres, you need to do two separate integrations, each beginning at the Equator and proceeding to one of the poles.

[Demeter]

12. GliderGlider is correct

I was mistaking the tropic of Cancer for the Equator.

[Jim Lane]

13. Sorry to pile on, but that's not even the Tropic of Cancer.

The Tropic of Cancer passes south of Florida. On that map, the lines of latitude look equidistant, so I think they're just 30 degrees and 60 degrees North and South.

That nitpick aside, thanks for explaining your post.

[Demeter]

14. One must wonder, then, what the person who constructed that graph THOUGHT they were doing

[silverweb]

6. Well, of course!

[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]Who wants to walk around upside-down all the time???

[Yo_Mama]

8. There's more land area in the northern hemisphere, what do you expect? n/t

[Demeter]

9. I've tried...it's fruitless.

Language should be very specific and accurate when discussing scientific matters, but too many ideologues on this board run on pure emotion.

[ffr]

10. Except that land mass doesn't emit CO2 from fossil fuel combustion.

And the land mass ratio isn't 9/1. The northern hemisphere has 67% of the Earth's land mass, so factoring in seasonal decomposition of foliage doesn't represent accurately what's going on in the computer model, especially when you focus in closer.

http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011700/a011719/Himalayas-1280-MASTER.webmhd.webm

[ffr]

15. More detail on NASA's geos-5 computer simulations

The visualization is a product of a NASA computer model called GEOS-5, created by scientists with the Global Modeling and Assimilation Office at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland. This particular simulation has about 64 times greater resolution than most global climate models. In particular, the simulation is called a Nature Run. In this kind of simulation, real data on emissions and atmospheric conditions is ingested by the model, which is then left to run on its own to simulate the behavior of Earth’s atmosphere for a two-year period – in this case, May 2005 to June 2007. NASA.GOV11/17/14

Scientists have made ground-based measurements of carbon dioxide for decades and in July NASA launched the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite to make global, space-based carbon observations. But the simulation – the product of a new computer model that is among the highest-resolution ever created – is the first to show in such fine detail how carbon dioxide actually moves through the atmosphere.

<snip>
White plumes represent carbon monoxide emissions...NASA.GOV 11/17/14

As you can see, carbon dioxide spreads fairly rapidly around the world. That's a key reason why global warming can't be solved by just a few countries acting alone. Emissions from one region don't just affect that region. Carbon-dioxide emissions from the eastern United States get picked up by westerly winds and are carried quickly across the Atlantic. Emissions in China travel far and wide.*

<snip>
This NASA simulation is the first to show in such precise detail precisely how carbon-dioxide moves around the atmosphere. Among other things, it reveals a significant difference in concentrations over the Northern and Southern Hemisphere. - VOX.COM 11/19/14

I think we can all agree that the language used by NASA and others is specific and accurate enough when discussing scientific matters.

* Reminds me of comedians who used to joke about smoking on airplanes. "You're in an enclosed tube! What difference does it make that you can smoke in isles 1 - 20?!!!"