We would not be able to detect a comet the size of Japan at 400 million kilometers, so it is not an issue
Ottawa Mike, yes, this is a cooler climate period. We global warmers call it "winter". The meridional circulation is stronger in the winter hemisphere. It just happens that this winter the pattern is not very progressive, so it's been "stuck" in the current configuration for more than a month now.
EDIT for Ottawa Mike: Some of my original answer got cut off. It said that I was struck at how you are judging this a long-term trend on the evidence of a winter that's about one month old. I think Mark Twain called doing that something like a "Wholesale return of conjecture for a trifling investment of fact".
It was nice of you to explain your link to me--now please explain to me how you judge anything we've experienced recently as a "cooler climate period"!
"Is the "Polar Vortex" performing its business as usual or is the climate changing?" ------ Would you go into more detail with this question? You could start by stating what you mean by "business as usual".
"Doesn't seem to be much change in the Arctic nowadays, but if it shows an unusual warming trend in which science doesn't understand, then it seems to them to be anthropogenic." ------ What do you base your belief on that there does not seem to be much change in the Arctic "nowadays"? How did you reason the second half of your claim?
"A related question might be "If a comet the size of Japan was heading towards Earth from 400 million light years away, could science scare us into building a defense system to stop it from hitting us?" ----- How is this question even remotely related to your first question? Also, if it is 400,000,000 light years from Earth and was traveling at the speed of light then it would take 400,000,000 years to reach Earth. I do not consider that anyone would consider this to be any immediate threat to anyone at anytime soon. A lot could happen in 400,000,000 years. Who knows, you may become capable of asking well reasoned questions by then. ... We can only hope for this to come to be. :)
It is hard to tell, the best solar predictions are for the climate to begin noticeably cooling in 2014, so we could be seeing the beginning of what to expect more of during a typical Northern Hemisphere winter in the very near future, or it could be just weather. Another few years of data will solidify the argument that the world is on the edge of a steep cooling trend, that will be attributed to a 60 -90 year sustained period of reduced solar activity in conjunction with a negative PDO index and soon to be negative AMO index.
the polar vortex is a normal stream of air that circles continuously around the arctic . the US government is using the HAARP in alaska to wobble the vortex down to southern canada . this is bringing unusual arctic air into the US , but the whole idea is to bring WARM air up on the other side of the earth to sochi russia to screw with putin's winter olympics
Alaska is having a heat wave.
Conservative media and Big Oil are the ones who use scare tactics
I've been around for 6 decades and this is the first time I've ever heard about Polar Vortex. I am told it has been there for years. So why has it been kept secret for so long? Why, because they just invented it.
I recall this from a 1975 article:
“During warm periods a “zonal circulation” predominates, in which the prevailing westerly winds of the temperate zones are swept over long distances by a few powerful high and low pressure centers. The result is a more evenly distributed pattern of weather, varying relatively little from month to month or season to season. During cooler climatic periods, how-ever, the high-altitude winds are broken up into irregular cells by weaker and more plentiful pressure centers, causing formation of a “meridional circulation” pattern. These small, weak cells may stagnate over vast areas for many months, bringing unseasonably cold weather on one side and unseasonably warm weather on the other.” http://www.sott.net/article/266751-1975-...
It seems to me that we are currently experiencing a “meridional circulation” pattern which, in 1975 at least, indicated a cooler climate period. Perhaps we're headed towards cooling.
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@: pegminer: "Ottawa Mike, yes, this is a cooler climate period. We global warmers call it "winter"."
If you read the reference, it's clear that "cooler climate period" is not winter but rather a longer term trend. To make it easier for you, here are the two sentences before my quote:
"The principal weather change likely to accompany the cooling trend is increased variability-alternating extremes of temperature and precipitation in any given area-which would almost certainly lower average crop yields. The cause of this increased variability can best be seen by examining upper atmos-phere wind patterns that accompany cooler climate."
Performing its business as usual.
Polar vortex doing what they do seems normal enough and I love that comet. If they start building the defense now it may just be finished by the time it arrives. The budget for it will be a different matter.
Science is singular, not plural. Try learning to write in English before pretending to talk like you know anything about science.
Doesn't seem to be much change in the Arctic nowadays, but if it shows an unusual warming trend in which science doesn't understand, then it seems to them to be anthropogenic.
http://news.yahoo.com/polar-vortex-part-ii-nah-39-just-winter-185710959.html
A related question might be "If a comet the size of Japan was heading towards Earth from 400 million light years away, could science scare us into building a defense system to stop it from hitting us?".
Welcome to the department of Earth sciences.
http://www.sfu.ca/earth-sciences/
A HOAX
