By Brian Carnell

Thursday, April 19, 2001

A recent study by British scientists related to climate change illustrates the problematic way in which the media cover issues that touch on global warming. The study itself was very interesting, but the media coverage tended toward sensationalism.

First, the study. Using satellite data, a team of British researchers demonstrated that the amount of infrared light emanating from the Earth's surface back into space appears to be declining. As the level of manmade greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide increase, more infrared radiation is being trapped in the Earth's atmosphere.

Most newspapers covering this story went with a headline similar to the one chosen by CNN, "Report: Satellite data proves greenhouse effect." CNN chose to run a rather long story about the study, but many papers simply ran short blurbs that included the quote that CNN repeats with lead investigator John Harries saying, "We're absolutely sure, there's no ambiguity: This shows the greenhouse effect is operating and what we are seeing can only be due to the increase in the gases."

Does this, therefore, mean additional evidence for views put forth by groups like the International Panel on Climate Change that average planetary temperature is going to increase dramatically in this century? Actually, no.

Don't take my word for it, though -- that's according to Harries and the other researchers. According to CNN, "the study did not tackle the question of whether Earth's surface temperature is actually increasing. In fact, whether this greenhouse effect will lead to global warming or global cooling is unclear, the study scientists said."

According to Harries the problem with extrapolating from increased infrared to global warming is a lack of knowledge about how cloud cover plays into the equation. "The effects of clouds on the planet is very complex, and frankly we don't understand it," Harries said.

And yet people who continue to question the validity of computer climate models because of the problem with modeling cloud behavior are marginalized as anti-environmentalists who are ignoring all of the scientific evidence in favor of the global warming hypothesis.

I don't know if manmade gases are causing an increase in global temperatures, but I certainly want to see much more reliable information than currently available before going along with the drastic changes required to have any dent in any hypothetical warming.

Source:

Report: Satellite data proves greenhouse effect. CNN, March 14, 2001.

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