The tropics are shrinking! So are the polar regions.
The earth is losing about 1200 square kilometers (500 square miles) of tropics every year. Both the tropic of Cancer & Capricorn are equally affected!!!
At the same time the antarctic and arctic regions are losing a smaller but similar amount every year!!!
And nothing can be done about it.
QM Quality does not occur by chance. It is the result of intelligent activities.
Posts: 8033 | Location: Cigar land | Registered: March 10, 2003
bars has it right, don't worry about things you can't change. . .its all part of earth's natural cycle. I saw a documentary on the history of earth's climate, and before the climate stabilized about 10k years ago (i think) for some reason. . .the earth had mini ice ages and mini heat ages, within decades. . .now that makes the unpredicable New England weather looks like childs play.
Posts: 1540 | Location: Boston | Registered: February 28, 2003
Go hug a tree QM, maybe you'll save the world. Give me a break! Have you been to India, China, Indonesia, Thailand, etc... These third world schit holes burn the atmosphere like cavemen. I'm certain your trying to blame the US on not signing the Kyoto treaty as the reason for world decay.
quote:Originally posted by El Rushbo: Go hug a tree QM, maybe you'll save the world. Give me a break! Have you been to India, China, Indonesia, Thailand, etc... These third world schit holes burn the atmosphere like cavemen. I'm certain your trying to blame the US on not signing the Kyoto treaty as the reason for world decay.
psssht... everyone's done their part in this. it's not recent activity, it's cumulative.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- What seems important, won't last forever -- Filter. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The earth has never had a stable climate. There was global warming and iceages long before there were humans. The climate is in a state of constant change why do as humans think it should stay the same now. If the earth was suddenly void of humand the earth will have global warming and iceages in the future.
"No man can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude without finally getting bewildered as to which may be true." {Nathanial Hawthorne}
No ex-hippies or an agenda behind a group with a description like... "AGU is a worldwide scientific community that advances, through unselfish cooperation in research, the understanding of Earth and space for the benefit of humanity."
"Goin' where the weather suits my clothes..." -Jimmy Buffett-
Posts: 121 | Location: CA, USA | Registered: July 28, 2004
The first time I saw "The Shrinking Tropics" was on an Astronomy or Sky & Telescope magazine cover.
Upon reading the article I saw that they were discussing the earth's "tilt". The earth's tilt will get less tilted for the next 10,000 yaers and start to tilt back again. The change is not much. Maybe a degree or so.
The lines bordering the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn and the Antarctic and Arctic circle are moving. So monuments that show them by a road or in apark have to be moved to keep up.
The line limiting a tropic is where the sun is directly overhead at noon for one day. This happens in the North (Cancer) around 21 Jun and in the south (Caprocorn) around 21 Dec. The line for the Artic or Antarctic circle is where there is one day of 24 hour daylight. This happens in the North (Arctic) around 21 Jun and in the south (Antarctic) around 21 Dec.
Its a funny headline.'"The Shrinking Tropics , and there's nothing you can do about it"
That's all folks.
QM Quality does not occur by chance. It is the result of intelligent activities.
Posts: 8033 | Location: Cigar land | Registered: March 10, 2003
After reading the aticle to which you refer Mike I have found that this in no way relates to global warming as it relates to humans on the planet. To quote the article it states...
"Together, the precession of the axis and the orbital plane cause the obliquity of the Earth to oscillate with a period of about 41,000 years. These oscillations cause the topics to shrink and expand. While the wobble of the Earth's axis traces out a rather large circle in the sky, the change in obliquity is much more subtle, with only a plus or minus 1.3 degree variation. But the effect of that change on the topics is that movement of 14.8 meters per year (during some parts of the cycle, that rate of change is faster than others, we are currently at the fastest pace.)"
"So what does all this wobbling and oscillating mean? The answer is yes, the climate on our planet is affected by these periodic changes. Studies have shown a direct relationship between the obliquity changes and the smaller ice ages the Earth periodically goes through. When the obliquity is low, the polar regions receive less sunlight, and more ice tends to build up. When the obliquity is high, the polar regions get more sunlight and the ice tends to melt."
So after all that geek speak... it means, like you said there is nothing we can do about it and it has nothing to do with humans. It only relates to planets and earthly cycles.
"Goin' where the weather suits my clothes..." -Jimmy Buffett-
Posts: 121 | Location: CA, USA | Registered: July 28, 2004
