Via Tom Nelson, no wonder they hate nuclear power so much, they don’t see any difference!
Global warming increasing by 400,000 atomic bombs every day | The Vancouver Observer
The amazing persistence of CO2 in the air has allowed billions of our small emissions, like those from the Enola Gay, to amass into an ever growing threat to civilization. How fast is that threat growing? In a must-see TED talk, NASA climate scientist James Hansen say the current increase in global warming is:
“…equivalent to exploding 400,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs per day 365 days per year. That’s how much extra energy Earth is gaining each day.”
That’s 278 atomic bombs worth of energy every minute – more than four per second — non-stop. To be clear, that is just the extra energy being gained each day on top of the energy heating our planet by 0.8 degree C. It is the rate at which we are increasing global warming.
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Update: I think we need a new unit to quantify ridiculousness. I propose the Hansen Ridiculae Scale, somewhat like the Richter scale, logarithmic in nature.
Turning up the thermostat at a senate hearing in 1988 would rate a 5.0 Death Trains might rate a 6.0, this would rate an 8.0.
I’m afraid to imagine what a 9-10 on the Hansen Scale might look like.
ALSO: I’m busy at work right now, so I don’t have time to research it fully and calculate it, but if somebody wants to quantify the solar insolation received by Earth each day in “Hiroshima units”, I’ll add it to the main thread. That number will dwarf Hansen’s claim.
UPDATE2: Willis helps out:
Here’s your numbers, Anthony.
1 ton of TNT = 4.184e+9 joules (J) source
Hiroshima bomb = 15 kilotons of TNT = 6.28e+13 joules (ibid)
Hansen says increase in forcing is “400,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs per day”, which comes to 2.51e+19 joules/day.
A watt is a joule per second, so that works out to a constant additional global forcing of 2.91e+14 watts.
Normally, we look at forcings in watts per square metre (W/m2). Total forcing (solar plus longwave) averaged around the globe 24/7 is about 500 watts per square metre.
To convert Hansen’s figures to a per-square-metre value, the global surface area is 5.11e+14 square metres … which means that Hansens dreaded 400,000 Hiroshima bombs per day works out to 0.6 watts per square metre … in other words, Hansen wants us to be very afraid because of a claimed imbalance of six tenths of a watt per square metre in a system where the downwelling radiation is half a kilowatt per square metre … we cannot even measure the radiation to that kind of accuracy.
w.
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As do others:
Napkin calculation, no calculator needed: Hiroshima was ca. 63 TJ = 6E13J. The earths circular area is 3 * (6E6m)^2 = 1E14m2. The suns TSI is ca 1kW = 1E3 J/s, so the earth gets ca 1E17 J/s on the sunlit side, so the sun explodes about 1E17/6E13 = 1E3 Hiroshima atomic bombs on this planet. EVERY SECOND.
Mr. Hansen: the sun explodes about a thousand Hiroshima bombs on this planet. EVERY SECOND. DO something about it!
Anthony wrote: “I think we need a new unit to quantify ridiculousness.”
I propose the Watt-TF, WTF or Watthifuq. More specifically it could measure the rate at which credibility is used up or destroyed.
We could store Hansen in a climate-controlled vault in Paris so that future generations can use him as the standard by which all future watthifuqometers will be made.
There’s an implant in his head and he’s remotely managed …
From JunkScience:
Conflict of Interest in Hansen’s NYT Op-ed
Posted on May 15, 2012 by omnologos | Leave a comment
Subtly revealed by Andy Revkin…
[…] Dan Miller, an engineer and venture capitalist focused on non-polluting energy technologies who blogs on climate at ClimatePlace.org […] helped Hansen craft his Times piece […]
There is no mention whatsoever of any venture capitalism interests in the original Op-ed.
Richard Fowler
Slightly straying from the main topic, but you brought up Hiroshima & Nagasaki.
Isn’t it true that at great danger to our pilots we dropped warning leaflets on both cities,
leaflets that today are in the Hiroshima Museum?
Isn’t it true that the authorities could have evacuated the city,
so nobody died at all?
If there were leaflets then the dead of those cities were the victimes of the Japanese Govt, not ours.
P.S.
By my logic these two were the only justified city-bombings of the entire War,
just because of the leaflets, a brief return to medieval honor.
“The suns TSI is ca 1kW = 1E3 J/s, so the earth gets ca 1E17 J/s on the sunlit side, so the sun explodes about 1E17/6E13 = 1E3 Hiroshima atomic bombs on this planet. EVERY SECOND.”
Insolation at TOA is 1350 W/m^2, so 1.3 times of 1E3.
1.3E17/6E13 = 2*1E3
A factor of 2 is too large to be omitted IMHO. We’re talking about small nukes here, after all. 2,000 Hiroshima bombs a second.
Interstellar Bill says:
May 15, 2012 at 3:03 pm
True indeed, but (AFAIK) only for Nagasaki, not for Hiroshima … but what do I know?
and …
w.
As there is no response or other repudiation from NASA, one must assume that this ‘information’ coming from a senior staff member/employee of NASA is agreed by NASA as an organisation.
I suggest that each time Hansen announces such ‘results’, or puts himself in a position to be arrested, then we can assume that NASA is in full agreement with his actions. Otherwise, they would surely say “These statements or actions do not portray the truths or otherwise of NASA”.
Let us assume that each of Hansen’s actions and utterances is an official NASA statement by a senior NASA scientist, and broadcast it to the world as such. How long will NASA stay silent while they are being ridiculed?
Hansen needs professional help.
Cue men in white coats with straightjacket.
Jenn Oates says:
May 15, 2012 at 1:38 pm (Edit)
I ascribe what I call my “nose for bad numbers” to using a slide rule as a kid. A slide rule has no decimal, so it is absolutely necessary to estimate the order of magnitude of the answer … a hugely valuable skill, in my estimation, and one which is sorely lacking in the modern world.
w.
It’s ridiculous. No-one can imagine the energy of an atomic bomb, never mind an atomic bomb spread out over the whole of the globe.
How about something a bit more domestic. Everyone knows what a 60 watt incandescent lightbulb is. The additional ‘greenhouse’ forcing of 0.6 watts per square metre is the energy incident on the inside of a sphere of around 16 metres (say, around 50 feet) diameter with the lightbulb at the centre since that sphere has a surface area of around 100 square metres. Now imagine standing 8 metres or around 25 feet away from the 60 watt lightbulb. That imperceptible warmth on your face is equivalent to that greenhouse forcing in watts per square metre. Not a lot, is it?
Interstellar Bill says:
May 15, 2012 at 3:03 pm
“If there were leaflets then the dead of those cities were the victimes of the Japanese Govt, not ours.”
Interesting – the web says you’re right – this looks like a source from the PC side which sounds a little skeptical but even they admit it. I hadn’t heard of that before.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_warnings_did_the_US_give_Japan_before_they_dropped_the_bomb_on_Hiroshima
Even the king of PC, wikipedia, admit it here, buried deep within the ton of text and kept in check with caveats. Search “leaflets” in this page and you even find a photo of a leaflet, they seem to exist beyond doubt.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki
“The US had previously dropped leaflets warning civilians of air raids on 35 Japanese cities, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki,[45] but not of the atomic bomb as such”
Oh yeah, Uncle Sam forgot to explain nuclear technology to Japanese city dwellers…
Joel Shore, when Hansen said:
did he not also “forget” to mention that the Earth is also now outputting and additional 400,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs per day, 365 days per year? This additional energy is not cumulative, it is being spoken as a forever-and-ever accumulation where in reality it is just a one-time shift in the base energy and therefore temperature, am I not correct? Is he not lying by omission too let alone the type of lying I mentioned above?
James Hansen should be replaced prompt for such “scientific” statements to the public that don’t have the wherewithal to see mathematically through his propaganda.
Come on Joel, you going to continue the lie by your following statements or are you just that blind?
Gosh, and here the Japanese response to Fukushima was to shut down their nuclear power plants and burn more fossil fuels. Don’t they realize that even if another couple of those suckers went haywire they’d still be net ahead?
Anthony, you asked for solar insolation received by Earth each day in “Hiroshima units”
Well, I think it’s “much worse than we thought”. My calculations come out a bit different from others as I’m using the earth’s cross section, not total area to calculate the Joules per day for the earth. This of course does not include the atmosphere so its only approximate (and I probably made some mistake, so correct as needed…).
One HU = 6.300E+13 Joules (1 Hiroshima Unit)
Sun’s Luminosity = 3.827E+26 W (variable)
Sun’s Flux at Earth Distance = 3.827E+26 /(4*pi*149597870691^2) = 1360 Watts/square meter
SecondsPerDay = 86400
EarthCrossSection = pi* 6378000^2 = 1.277E+14 square meters
EarthJperSec = 1360 * EarthCrossSection = 1.738E+17 J/S
EarthJperDay = EarthJperSec * SecondsPerDay = 1.501E+22
HiroshimaUnitsPerSec = EarthJperSec / HU = 2759 HU/S
HiroshimaUnitsPerDay = EarthJperDay / HU = 238,358,496 or 238 MHU/day
((Hu * 400000) / 86400) / EarthCrossSection = 2.28 extra W/m2/Sec
joeldshore ‘Primarily in the oceans.’ Oh yes the magical and ever so useful , because it can’t be ‘disproved’ missing heat BS game . One small problem with that idea, like much in climate game its has virtual no scientific value and its science which is after what is supposed to be happening hear.
Nukes are scary scary. Unless you know something about them, then not so much. Hence the Hiroshima reference. I’m dissapointed he forgot to mention Nagasaki. Very nice place. I’ve been to both a few tiimes. Nice folks. Great city. 🙂
Whereas the Sun is our friend. Watch the commercials. And then there’s all that sun worshiping that has gone on for thousands of years right up to present day (life’s a beach).
So, anyway, Hansen is still treading water in the deep end. Somebody throw him a cinder block.
Would anybody object if the 1,460,000 atomic bombs were exploded over Vancouver very year?
An interesting BBC R4 programme this evenng talked about the psychological need of certain people for the threat of doom: for those in the UK see
R4
20:00
Things Ain’t What They Used To Be
Available to listen
David Aaronovitch investigates ‘declinism’ – the idea that human society is in decline.
It perfectly describes the symptoms shown by the good Dr Hansen.
JF
Willis, only half the earth is insolated at any time, so your number must be double – Oh, the Horror of an Error. So we are up to an average of 1.2W/M2.
joeldshore says:
May 15, 2012 at 2:34 pm
“I don’t see what is wrong with that quote. His point is that a small imbalance in W/m^2 adds up to a large amount of energy over the Earth’s surface.”
Hansen’s statement may be factually correct, although his calculations are likely derived partially from assumptions that may or may not be true. It is also factually correct to say that Ted Kacsynski was a warmista who spoke about it in language that was almost indistinguishable from Al Gore’s language. Yet, implying that there is equivalence between T. K and the leaders of the AGW movement is foul play. Implying that there is equivalence between global warming and 400,000 exploding Hiroshima bombs per day is also foul play. The point is to mislead and emotionally charge up people who have no concept of the amounts of energy we are talking about. Hiroshima may be the single most emotionally charged topic on the planet. Hansen went there. It is shameful.
I must say, I love the new Loon Unit (David Bowey anyone?)
We have Manhattens as a unit of area and now Hiroshimas per Day as a unit of energy. Brilliant … just brilliant. How much daily lightning in Hiroshima units?
Chris B says:
May 15, 2012 at 12:50 pm
Could we have that in Manhattans of ice melted please. I was raised on the old system.
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Winner!
I wonder if Hansen has ever heard of Erwinia Caratovora.
This is a bacteria that lives in the clouds and has effect on the weather. Discovered by Prof.s Gary Franc at U of Wyoming and Paul Demott, Colorado State U. (Yahoo Them)
I just now heard of this myself. Amazing stuff.
Here’s a link to a story about Erwina Caratovora
http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/ab0fedfaaef44de3bf5a3624eafd2abf/WY–Cloud-Research/
I know I’m OT, but this is cool and I don’t remember seeing it here at WUWT
Err, I forgot to mention in my calculation: the extra W/m2 (cross section) / total received per m2 (cross section) is still microscopic: 2.28 / 1360 = 0.167%, and roughly equivalent to Willis’ 0.6 W/m2 I believe.
Willis Eschenbach says:
May 15, 2012 at 3:17 pm
well said – but sadly something I don’t think any folk under the age of about 40 can comprehend. I still have my slide rule (a good ole British Thornton, FWIW) and likewise on a sailors theme – few folks can use a sextant or even do dead reckoning! Nobody teaches correct ‘evaluation’ anymore to check equipment funtioning or even mental arithmetic to check your workings….sad really, because when you look at the AGW claims, 80% can probably be debunked with mental arithmetic!