Feedbacks, Sensitivity, and Practical application

The global, annual-mean surface temperature is the most widely used measure of climate change. In particular, scientists are very interested in how the globally averaged temperature will respond as a function of changed amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, changed amount of solar intensity, etc. The term “climate sensitivity” refers to how much temperature change the planet experiences from a given “forcing.” A forcing is an imposed change of the planet’s energy balance with space.

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Palin on Climate Change

Andy Revkin has a good writeup on the interview between Sarah Palin and Katie Couric. In the interview, Sarah Palin makes many fuzzy points which Andy Revkin (as I) request clarification: what does ‘pollution’ mean? How do we solve a problem if we don’t care what the causes are?