Posted Mar 05, 2008 at 06:29AM by David T. Listed in: Astronomy, Global Warming, Celestial Bodies Tags: global warming
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What the moon looks like during a total lunar eclipse - Image 1The total lunar eclipse that took place last February 20 sure was an awesome sight to behold, wasn't it?

According to scientists, however, that wasn't the only thing there was to see. These same scientists are saying that the eclipse may have revealed another possible factor contributing to global warming: little light-blocking volcanic dust.

What scientists did was to measure eclipse data from the recent phenomenon and compare them with data from past years. The data indicated that the most recent eclipse involved little haze-producing volcanic activity as compared to the previous three decades.

Further calculations showed that Earth's average surface temperature has risen by about 0.6 degrees Celsius.  Admittedly, the jury is still out on this one, as other scientists say that other factors are also involved in the global warming problem.

Other contributing factors include greenhouse gases, fluctuating patterns in ocean circulation, slight changes in the sun's brightness, and reportedly more sunlight-blocking haze in the stratosphere.

More testing will have to be conducted in order to determine the relative magnitude of these factors' effects on the problem.


[Via New Scientist] Permalink  |   Email this  |   Linking Blogs   |   Digg It!

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   by cmonkey99 - 2008-03-05
 » hmmmmmm

Explain why global warming is caused by human beings and not the sun fluctuating when Mars and the other planets are heating up just as much as we are?

Global warming is just something completely hyped out of control for the profit of politicians *COUGH* AL GORE *COUGH* and corporations.

Yes it's fact that the Earth is warming very slightly but its not us causing it.

And guess what, they say its going to start cooling in the next decad or so and temperatures will drop a lot more than they've increased.

   by David T. (QJ. NET Staff) - 2008-03-05
 » re:

Point noted. Nonetheless, it's still a good idea to help take care of the planet. :)


   Re: cmonkey99 - 2008-03-06
 » For Sure

Oh for sure, lets just not be stupid about it and lets put the money towards actual pollution stopping and things that will help clean up things we are doing.

The problem is that no new power plants are being allowed to be built in 3rd world countries by the U.N. because of all this global warming bull and its causing them to go into deeper poverty and get left behind.

   Re: nall256 - 2008-03-06
 » Nuclear

I love that my city is pushing to become a Nuclear Free city, you know, to protect the globe 'n' shtuff... Little do they realize that nuclear is among the cleanest fuel sources, and unlike wind power, it doesnt require a thousand square miles to be effective.

   Re: Lunisneko - 2008-03-06
 » Re: Nuclear

Sure, it's the cleanest as far as emissions go. However, just wait until that thing blows up. I'll be blasting your neighbors zombie-ass heads off, and the clean emissions won't be jack poo. Solar is the only energy that won't ***** us all imo.


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