By Robert Vislocky, Ph.D.
From the “whatever happened to the 1.5* C tipping point” school of climate, researchers have identified 24 planets that are likely to be more suitable for life than Earth.
Here is news release from Washington State University and accompanying journal article:
https://news.wsu.edu/2020/10/05/planets-may-better-life-earth/
The paper:
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/ast.2019.2161
What is especially eye-catching is the criteria behind why these planets are considered super-habitable: “older, a little larger, slightly warmer and possibly wetter than Earth.” Say what? How can warmer & wetter be better for life on Earth? Aren’t we near a tipping point where another 0.5* C of warming becomes an existential threat to humanity, as claimed by certain climate scientists, news outlets, and politicians?
Even more intriguing is what the researchers (the lead author of which is a geobiologist) consider to be “slightly warmer”. This is clarified farther into the article where it states “a mean surface temperature of about 5 degrees Celsius (or about 8 degrees Fahrenheit) greater than Earth, together with the additional moisture, would be also better for life.” Wow!!
That certainly blows away the so-called 1.5* C tipping point, which we all know is a number picked out of a hat for political reasons. More importantly, their research begs the deeper question on exactly what is the optimal temperature for life on this planet. This is certainly a question which should be addressed before implementing any public policy (such as the Green New Deal) that could significantly impact the economy and quality of life.
Summer or winter, the optimal temperature in my house is always dictated by my wife despite me paying the bill.
Today’s current weather is Brisbane 20.8C and partly cloudy and Adelaide 9.8 and it is raining.
If higher temps cause wetter weather, why is the rain falling here but not in Brissy?
/sarc
I’m closer to 70 than 60.
The weather hasn’t been the same each year I’ve been alive.
The all-time recorded low for my little spot on the globe occurred in 1994 (-22 F), the all-time recorded high occurred before I was born. My parents lived about a hundred+ miles south of here (106 F for “here” in 1934) when that happened. I was born so they obviously survived.
“Life” continued here in 1995 and in 1935.
The weather “changes” naturally.
Get used to it and don’t panic.
(And ignore those who claim they can do something about it! … particularly when their “something” is at you expense, in cash and freedom!)
Globally the Holocene Climate Optimum was at least two degrees C warmer than now, and in double digits in the polar regions, where the ice is mainly located. Based on highstand data from eastern Australia, not subject to much if any rebound or subsidence from glacier loss, MSL was then 1.0 to 1.5 meters higher than now. One anomalous site found 1.84 m.
Most coastal cities could adapt to that amount of sea level rise in the next century, assuming MSL even continues to rise, let alone accelerate.
The amount of CO2 doesn’t matter, rather the temperature, which depends on many variables besides GHGs.
Although we don’t know of a mechanism, a climate 5 C (or 9 F) warmer than today’s would enable vast areas of northern Asia and Canada to have a longer growing season, and be more hospitable to human and animal life.
In a post a few months ago, Willis Eschenbach postulated a theory (backed up by data) that thunderstorm activity over the tropical oceans increases when the water temperature exceeds about 27 C (80.6 F). If the overall average temperature were to increase, the thunderstorm activity would probably increase (due to increased evaporation), and some of the thunderstorms would move further inland in land areas near tropical oceans. This could lead to increased rainfall over the southern Sahara and the Arabian peninsula, possibly leading to increased area suitable for food production there.
Then there are all the woolly mammoth skeletons that are found in Siberia. The woolly mammoths probably had appetites similar to today’s elephants, which only live in the wild in tropical areas of Africa and southern Asia, where trees can thrive year-round. When the woolly mammoths lived in Siberia in the distant past, the climate there was probably much warmer than today’s, in order to provide enough food for them.
Woollies evolved from the steppe mammoth in response to a much colder climate. They ate low vegetation of the steppe-tundra.
In Africa, the savanna or bush elephant is larger than the forest species.
We find not just skeletons, but preserved soft tissue of woollies because their bodies are preserved in permafrost.