A blockbuster Chinese study of Tibetan tree rings by Lui et al 2011 shows, with detail, that the modern era is a dog-standard normal climate when compared to the last 2,500 years. The temperature, the rate of change — it’s all been seen before. Nothing about the current period is “abnormal”, indeed the current warming period in Tibet can be produced through calculation of cycles. Lui et al do a Fourier analysis on the underlying cycles and do brave predictions as well.
In Tibet, it was about the same temperature on at least four
occasions — back in late Roman times (those chariots!), then again in
the dark ages (blame the collapse of industry), then in the middle ages
(the Vikings?), then in modern times (blame the rise of industry).
Clearly, these climate cycles have nothing to with human
civilization. Their team finds natural cycles of many different lengths
are at work: 2-3 years, 100 years, 199 years, 800 years, and 1,324
years. The cold periods are associated with sunspot cycles. What we are
not used to seeing are brave scientists willing to publish exact
predictions of future temperatures for 100 years that include rises and falls. Apparently, it will cool til 2068, then warm again, though not to the same warmth as 2006 levels.
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