Skeptical Views of Global Warming

The view of most climate scientists is that rising CO₂ in the atmosphere, primarily from human activity, is driving the current increase in global temperature. A recent summary of the case for CO₂ as the main radiative forcing for the human influence on global warming is Collins, et al. An active internet discussion site for climate scientists and others is Real Climate.

But climate modeling is very complex, the stakes are very high, and there are numerous special interests. This situation is tailor-made for controversy. The following are some of the types of objections that skeptics of CO₂-driven global warming raise:

• The CO₂ is not sufficient to drive the currently observed warming.
  二氧化碳不足以驱动目前观察到的变暖。
• The atmospheric CO₂ level has been up to 10 times higher in the past. Why weren't there catastrophic consequences then?
  大气中的二氧化碳电平在过去曾达到十倍之高。为什么那时没有出现灾难性后果？
• Much of this century's temperature rise was in early years when industrial emissions were small, and there was a temperature decrease during the postwar economic boom.
  本世纪的许多气温上升发生在工业排放较少的早期年份，而在战后经济繁荣时期曾出现气温下降。
• Ice core records show CO₂ rises lagging temperature rises rather than driving them.
  冰芯记录显示，二氧化碳浓度的上升滞后于温度的上升，而不是驱动温度的上升。
• Surface warming is more than atmospheric warming, in contrast to CO₂-driven models.
  地表变暖比大气变暖更显著，与二氧化碳驱动的模型形成对比。
• The global temperature of t he past century correlates more strongly with solar activity than with CO₂.
  过去一个世纪的全球温度更强烈地与太阳活动相关联，而非与二氧化碳相关联。
• The sunspot activity of our Sun and the associated magnetic fields divert some of the cosmic rays that nucleate clouds on the Earth.
  我们的太阳黑子活动以及相关的磁场会偏离一些宇宙射线，这些宇宙射线在地球上形成云核。