OK, thinking for myself again, how about this. The climate is just a fraction of the Earth's energy budget that stretches our imagination.
We know that volcanoes can increase albedo and cool the planet. News today is one blew in Indonesia this week and will certainly release enough sulfur dioxide to reduced the temperature of the planet, a fraction of a degree for a few weeks. So, point 1. I never did get the idea of, clouding over produces a "greenhouse" effect.
That itself has never been shown in math, cannot be modeled with any real data set, much less proven. "Greenhouse effect" is the first big Snake Oil lie. We don't know the variables. Any "evidence" from 75 million years ago is somewhat meaningless. What happened to Venus? Same thing. Come on.
1- Greenhouse effect is not even a Theory. That is where it became derailed.
But, let us say, the surface is warming, but not the oceans, a good thing. There seems to be some evidence for that. There does seem to be Some surface warming.
We have talked about the idea that vapor exchange from a warming ocean surface has a cooling effect on the water and a cloud effect in the atmosphere.
Early clouding in the fall from the warmer air leads to wide, but not deep spreading sea ice. More reflective surface, more cooling.
2 - Balance is maintained in this vast sub-system of the Budget.
What about the land? If the land is heating perhaps the underground temperature in mines and caves is rising. This is called the geothermal gradient, I find. And thinking about it, I look it up, and sure enough.
A variation in surface temperature induced by
climate changes and the
Milankovitch cycle can penetrate below the Earth's surface and produce an
oscillation in the geothermal gradient with periods varying from daily to tens of thousands of years and an amplitude which decreases with depth and having a scale depth of several kilometers.[SUP]
[19][/SUP][SUP]
[20][/SUP] Melt water from the
polar ice caps flowing along ocean bottoms tends to maintain a constant geothermal gradient throughout the Earth's surface.[SUP]
[19][/SUP]
Well, well. As I suspected. What about the land heating?
Oscillations of the entire Gradient. OK, my patient readers, what does all this have to do with volcanoes and balancing the Energy Budget for the ball of Earth we sit on?
I was thinking that surface temperature increase, can trigger increased vulcanism. I was unsure of a mechanism.
Oscillations? 1000 year disturbances? Volcanoes are the balance mechanism of the vast, land sub-system, of the Budget?
The point is, this is not about us, and the balancing on land tends to be rather dramatic, and now we know, can come without warning. So, I looked up what is the prediction for the amount or Sulfur Dioxide released by a supervolcano like Yellowstone....a bit over due, btw. Perhaps an
oscillation does just the right jiggle. We won't know when.
That Yellowstone explosion would release enough Sulfur Dioxide and dust to cool the Earth 16F for 2 decades before it begins to clear. Balance solved.
We would not live see the other side, but it would be balanced.
Did you not read the postings from the UN Climate Commission? Here is a bit of it from my photo folder.
