Whew... is it Hot!

It has been uncharacteristically cool this year here in Paradise (some people think Hawaii is Paradise, but those of us who live in San Diego, we know the truth), this last week however has been a bit of a boiler.  Note my choice of kitchen appliance here because it makes all the difference.  For you see, we South Westerners have been experiencing a bit of high humidity due to the proximity of Tropical Storm Dolores.  Just one more thing we would prefer Mexico keep on their side of the border, but I digress.  The temperatures haven’t really been that oppressive for the season but when you add in the humidity, it brews an atmospheric concoction to which we inhabitants of the Coastal-Desert conjunction are not accustomed.  It makes us sweaty and cranky; we get enough salt from our margarita consumption, thank you.

Then, to rub that extra salt into the wounds of stretched credibility, the National Centers (Do they really need more than one center?  I mean, isn’t the concept of centrality rather singular in and of itself?  Government confuses me.) for Environmental Information of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) this week reported that “globally averaged temperature over land and ocean surfaces for 2014 was the highest among all years since record keeping began in 1880.”  Let me digress for just a moment:  Do we all think the methods they used to record ocean temperatures in the nineteenth century even begin to yield data accurate enough to get excited about variances in the single degree range?  Think about a rum drunken sailor dipping a glass and mercury thermometer into the sea, and then studiously and accurately recording the information into a journal that eventually was turned over to a government agency.  Is that the same way we do it today?  Wait, I’ll bet today NOAA uses satellite mounted equipment that can measure surface temperatures to one one-hudredth of a degree and nobody has to get their sleeves wet while doing this on the deck of a rolling ship!  Sorry, I’ll get to the point momentarily.  The hot (no pun intended) news is that 2014 number shot through the 20^th century average by a startling 1.24^oF (0.69^oC).  Quick Myrtle, turn off the air conditioner!  Wait, I haven’t even used my air conditioner this year.  Hmm!

Returning now to scientific sobriety:  No phenomenon has more influence on Earth’s atmosphere than energy emitted by the Sun.  In fact, the Sun is more or less king of the realm when it comes to energy related stuff.  Some few scientists have been brave enough to suggest changes in temperature that we have recorded are caused by changes in the intensity of the Sun’s output.  But atmospheric scientists pooh-pooh this idea.  While they accede that the Sun does affect the climate on Earth, they minimize the effect when compared the influence of increased greenhouse gasses here on Terra Firma.  But then, how does one explain the increasing temperatures of the other planets in our little corner of the Milky Way as reported by astronomers?

  I viewed a program offering on The Science Channel (check your local listings) last night (that would be Tuesday, July 21 as this post was written Wednesday, July 22), How the Universe Works; the episode, “Earth: Venus’s Evil Twin”.  I will forgo the steamy (what, another unintended pun?) details, but the crux of the program was this.  From the day the Sun first ignited into the life, and death, giving star it is, it has steadily (albeit, slowly) increased its output for about four and one-half billion years.  And this from astronomers, not climate scientists who have a vested interest in creating a “sky is falling” environment rife with opportunities for funding endowments and possible world-wide capital shifts (remember Al Gore’s energy credits?).  The astronomers are largely ignored on this subject because they have nothing to gain by the knowledge.  “I see the train coming, there is nothing I can do to stop it, I might as well just keep watching as it’s the most interesting game in (academic) town.

So, what is the eventuality according to these star (well, and planet too) gazers.  The sun will continue to burn brighter and warmer throughout its life-cycle; which promises to be about another five billion years.  I have heard all of this before, but this program inserted a new twist.  While all other reports I have encountered concerning this science predicted that as the Sun runs out of energy, it will begin to grow from its middling rank among its brethren stars and become a red giant.  The growth may or may not be enough to engulf the orbit of the earth, thereby absorbing the mass of our home into the sun itself.  And if it doesn’t grow that large, it will certainly get close enough that the increased heat energy will turn our Earth into one big charcoal briquette.  Five billion years; who cares?  I don’t have any children. But one of the planetary scientists, (and a woman at that which just goes to reinforce her esteem in the scientific community), predicted that the rise in temperatures due to the Sun’s increased output would indeed begin to create a runaway greenhouse effect, but rather than CO₂ being the recalcitrant gas, it would be our precious water, boiled away into the atmosphere.  Temperatures would rise much more than one to two degrees per century.  The projection is as high as 1,000^o F.  And the weight of the atmosphere would increase from fifteen pounds per square inch to a steel crushing hundreds of pounds.  Our fragile life form would not survive such conditions.  And her timetable?  About 10,000 years (that’s only four hundred generations).  Maybe the climatologists can come up with a plan that involves straws for everyone and one big coordinated suck (to get rid of that pesky water…) I hate it when I have to explain the punch line:  Sigh!