England may have to experience real winters within next decade!

[KrazyHorse]

The imbalance between London and the rest of the UK's cities has always struck me as odd.

[MikeH]

I went to uni there, no-one I know who went to university there is still living in Birmingham

But we had a great time. There are three universities there, about 60,000 students or something so we didn't need to consort with the locals.

[Starchild]

London warps everything around it. Since it's so big, it draws in more attention and resources and just grows bigger.

That said, it's entirely true that you can find nearly anything in London. I'm paying a visit in a few weeks go pick up some Canadian goodies at the CommonWealth Store in Leicester Square. Via Chinatown and Camden Market.

*dreams London dreams*

[MikeH]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse
The imbalance between London and the rest of the UK's cities has always struck me as odd.

Between London and the rest of Europe's cities.

http://www.citymayors.com/features/euro_cities1.html

Only Moscow and St Petersburg are in the same league. Everywhere else is at least half as big.

London is just such a major international center.

If you look at Germany, France, Spain and Italy etc. it's a similar story (although their capitals are smaller). Britain is just a bit more extreme because we have such limited space. Look at the population density of the UK compared to most other big western countries.

Our towns and cities are so close together that it's difficult for them to grow so big... the suburban sprawl of Birmingham blends with the Dudley, Wolverhampton and West Bromwich for example but they are towns in their own right. Wolverhampton has a population of 250,000 or so but you can drive from Birmingham to Wolverhampton without leaving the 'city'.

[Solly]

If the Gulf Stream is slowing down, how come Sea Surface Temperatures in the NA are above average?

How falsifiable is global warming, when its predictions seem to suggest the possibility of any kind of weather?

What exactly is the hypothesis?

[MikeH]

The problem is not of deliberate falsifying but there is a huge amount of data, it's really hard to collate and even with the huge amout of data there is we're only studying a very tiny fraction of the planet.

People tend to 'know' that global warming is happening but the scientific data isn't always that clear.

The planet's climate is constantly changing so it's also hard to tell what's normal and what isn't.

It's a subject on which there is a lot of poltical rhetoric.

[Solly]

Exactly. I mean we don't even have the expertise to forecast the weather a couple of weeks from now.

And you'll remember last week's snow event which the Met Office didn't even issue a forecast for - they were only "nowcast"ing on the day.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Park Avenue
If the Gulf Stream is slowing down, how come Sea Surface Temperatures in the NA are above average?

How falsifiable is global warming, when its predictions seem to suggest the possibility of any kind of weather?

What exactly is the hypothesis?

That global mean temperatures will rise alongside the so-called greenhouse gases.

Everything else is detail (poorly understood detail at that)

But the global mean temperature bit is straight thermodynamics.

And I'd like to point out that CO2 levels are at their highest point in over 650 000 years (I believe this is as far back as we can currently get records).

That's not coincidence.

We have a known insulating gas, we have us producing it, we have a rise in global mean temperatures and we have CO2 measurements off the charts.

[KrazyHorse]

Listen, I have no more faith than you do in climatologists' abilities to predict in anything except the broadest strokes what the consequences of global climate change could be. I don't think they have any clue when it comes to regional pluses and minuses.

But the global plus remains on solid footing, as does the fact that a global plus can easily lead to some large regional changes (which we don't know how to predict).

Pretty simple, really.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Starchild
That's what I said. I wintered in Canada. At least, the part of Canada that has roads and doesn't live in constant fear of the day-star not returning.

[Richelieu]

Originally posted by Starchild
That's what I said. I wintered in Canada. At least, the part of Canada that has roads and doesn't live in constant fear of the day-star not returning.

You are not supposed to talk of these things.

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by MikeH
Between London and the rest of Europe's cities.

http://www.citymayors.com/features/euro_cities1.html

Only Moscow and St Petersburg are in the same league. Everywhere else is at least half as big.

You forgot about Paris, whose Metropolitan area encompasses 9 to 12 million inhab (depending where you locate the border).

Like Britain, France has a tradition of concentrating absolutely everything in the capital. But unlike most European countries, France also has very small city territories, which is why the city of Paris is so small in comparison to its metropolitan area. If you only look at Paris "intra-muros", you'll miss the population as surely as if you only look at the historical London.

[Whoha]

Originally posted by Park Avenue
If the Gulf Stream is slowing down, how come Sea Surface Temperatures in the NA are above average?

How falsifiable is global warming, when its predictions seem to suggest the possibility of any kind of weather?

What exactly is the hypothesis?

the basic idea is that greenhouse gasses collect in the atmosphere and stay there causing the earth to retain heat. we know from history that the temperature has varied upwards or downwards.

but most global warming models focus solely on CO2 so they predict a runaway meltdown spiral regardless of conditions. water vapor is the most prevalent greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, but it also has some cooling effects that go with it.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Spiffor

You forgot about Paris, whose Metropolitan area encompasses 9 to 12 million inhab (depending where you locate the border).

Like Britain, France has a tradition of concentrating absolutely everything in the capital. But unlike most European countries, France also has very small city territories, which is why the city of Paris is so small in comparison to its metropolitan area. If you only look at Paris "intra-muros", you'll miss the population as surely as if you only look at the historical London.

London's metropolitan area is measured to be 13-18 million, depending on boundary.

The high-end measure is amusing, as it includes places like Brighton.

[Odin]

Originally posted by Park Avenue
If the Gulf Stream is slowing down, how come Sea Surface Temperatures in the NA are above average?

The ocean can hold a hell of a lot of heat, it will take over a decade for the slowing down of the North Atlantic Current (that is the correct vocab, The GS splits around Spain, one branch turning south, the other going north as the NAC) to fave a noticable effect on climate.