Name: CHAN, Sin Fong
Subject: Global Atmospheric and Ocean Warming
Visit Time: 26/09/2006 5:25 PM
Scientists, and even kids know about the Ice Age (Walt Disney's cartoon), but no one can be sure of what caused the freezing of our Earth. One thing is certain though, that the ice melted, and the Earth flourished again.
The reason the ice melted could neither be attributed to the burning of fossil fuels by industries, nor the forest fires; and therefore, the global warming could never have been caused by human during the Ice Age (there were no humans then, anyway). It is plausible, as pointed out by Stephen Mooney's letter posted to the 7.30 Reports 22/9/2006, that the increase in the emission of the Sun over time resulted in the warming of the atmosphere.
As time passes, the speed of rotation of any planet or revolution around the Sun will slow down. In recent years, all the solar planets lined up. The gravitational interactions with the other planets could also affect the Earth being slowed down, and even fractionally, the exposure of solar effect on the Earth could also increase.
The Aged, 28/12/2006, reported on the that "an earthquake that unleashed deadly tidal waves on Asia was so powerful it made the Earth wobble on its axis and permanently altered the regional map, US geophysicists said today". Many Tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes can cause distortion of the earth axis. As a result, the weather pattern can also be distorted - the flood-prone areas may now experience draught and vice versa.
Between 100 and 200 kilometres below the Earth's surface, the temperature of the rock is near the melting point. Isn't it possible that the rise in ocean temperature is really caused by the slow boiling of the vast volume of ocean water rather than the greenhouse effect? Shouldn't we spend more funds to investigate whether the activities at the ocean beds of the Earth are the culprits rather than conveniently blame it on "El Niño" effect?
Human's ingenuity is boundless - before non-renewable fuel sources run out, human will have switched to or invented a replacement. If fossil fuel is cost effective, but its discharge, namely, carbon dioxide "may" cause harm to the planet, then research should be funded to transform or convert carbon dioxide to something productive. Who knows, one day in the future, scientists may combine carbon dioxide, sodium chloride (salt) and radioactive wastes into stable and non-polluting compounds.
