CLIMATE :
As discussed above, generation of heat is a function of gravity, which in turn depends on mass. As long as the mass of the earth is constant, the quantity of geothermal energy produced is also constant. Initially, heat is transferred to the seas and, thence, to the atmospheric H2O, and ultimately to the outer space, when the latent heat is released on formation of water droplets which form clouds. Simultaneously, heat is being radiated continuosly from the surface of the earth ,both land and sea, as the outer space is considerably cooler than the earth.
The heat generated by the earth is converted into kinetic energy in a big way, when ocean currents are working round the clock. The volume of water involved in this process is thousands of times more than that of all the rivers of the world.
Earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes etc. also eat up considerable quantity of geothermal energy. Diffusion of water in the seas takes place continuously because of hot bottom and cool Polar regions. Part of the energy is also used up by cyclones, tornados etc. (the circumstances in which these are caused by hot steam emanating from the seas will be discussed in BUT-Volume III).
If the total quantity of geothermal energy is T, the energy converted into kinetic form is K and heat lost by radiation R,
T – K – R = the net increase or decrease in the warmth of the globe
From the table given below, it is clear that during the last 200 years there has not been any appreciable change in the warmth of the globe.
For a proper study of this subject, a distinction has to be made between the temperature of the earth and the temperature of the atmosphere. The latitude-mean temperature graph fairly represents the temperature of the earth, as the sea surface is not much affected by weather conditions. On the other hand, land stations will be subjected to violent fluctuations in the weather like extreme summers and winters, especially if the stations are much above the sea level.
The land mass contains lakes, surface soil water, water chambers, sub-terrainian water channels etc. which retain considerable quantity of water. Because of the peculiar structure of the H20 molecule, heat is retained in water for a longer period than other materials. This is the reason why summer extends much beyond the date 21st June in the northern hemisphere. In the absence of water on the earth the peak temperature will end on that day and we may experience pleasant weather by August. Similarly, but for snow and the water layers lying just below the surface of the earth, the winter will start waning right from 21st December.
In spite of these differences, data in respect of land stations, too, prove my contention that the globe is not warming!
When we look back
“It is an inquiry of some interest, whether the general temperature of the globe is stable, or is gradually undergoing change through diminution or addition. We have no means of deciding this point, because our thermometrical determinations are confined to a comparatively modern date. The instrument was not brought to perfection until the year 1724, by Fahrenheit, and therefore beyond that period we are dependent upon the recorded experience and sensations of observers, and upon the details of agricultural failure or success, for our knowledge of temperature in former times. We are not warranted to infer from these casual notices any changes of physical climate generally within the era of authentic history, though in particular localities, there is strong reason to suppose that an alteration has taken place; but this has been the very reverse of an impressions that once prevailed respecting it. The existence of a colony on the east coast of Greenland cut off from communication with the external world, and destroyed by the gradual accumulation of the ice upon its shores –the fact of immense forests anciently clothing the highest parts of Britain, and other northern countries, where a tree now can scarcely be made to grow –of the period of the vintage formerly commencing several weeks earlier in France than at present-of vineyards having been planted in the south of England during the time that the Romans held possession of the island, where hops can only be raised with difficulty- and of the sides of the Scottish hills bearing evident traces of the plough, which have long been surrendered to the heaths as incapable of cultivation;-these circumstances have been appealed to, as evidence of a milder and more genial climate having once characterized the northern regions of Europe. Sir John Leslie has remarked upon these details, “that a patch of wood will not thrive in cold situations, merely for want of the shelter which is afforded by extensive plantations. In Sweden and Norway, which are mostly covered with natural forests, it has become an object of police to prevent their indiscriminate destruction. The timber in those sylvan countries is cut at stated periods of its growth, and in detached portions; the vacant spaces being left as nurseries, embosomed amidst an expanse of tall trees. Some places in Sweden, where the forests have been accidentally destroyed by fire, present the image of sterility, and of wide desolation. It is probable, the vines grown in ancient times were coarser and hardier plants than those which are now cultivated. A similar observation extends to all the productions of gardening. A succession of diligent culture softens the character of the vegetable tribes, and renders them more delicate, while it heightens the flavor of their fruits. The Roman soldiers stationed in Britain would naturally prefer wine, their accustomed beverage, however harsh and poor, to the cervisia, or unpalatable ale brewed by the rude arts of the natives. The marks of tillage left on our northern hills evince only the wretched state of agriculture at a remote period. For want of a proper system of rotation, and the due application of manure, the starving tenantry were then tempted to tear up with the plough every virgin spot they could find, and after extracting from it a pitiful crop or two of oats, to abandon it to a lasting sterility”. With reference to the colony supposed to have been planted on the east coast of Greenland, now an uninhabitable region of glaciers, there is reason to believe that its name, Oestre Bydg, the eastern settlement, simply refers to its position in relation to another settlement, both of which were on the western coast, now occupied by the Danish factories. From the name of Snowland, afterwards supplanted by that of Iceland, given by the roving pirates of the Baltic to that island upon its discovery in the ninth century, it may certainly be concluded that the climate of the north was then analogous to what it is at present.
A different opinion, that the climate of the midland part of the temperate zone, especially in Europe, is less rigorous now than it was sixteen or seventeen centuries ago, appears to be supported by sufficient evidence. After making allowances for inaccuracy and exaggeration in the statements of the classical writers, they will still be found descriptive of a cold in various districts, as a feature of the ordinary temperature, which is not realized at present. The epistles written by Ovid from Pontus, whither he was banished by order of Augustus, describe the rigour of the climate there, in terms which suit the winder of Hudson’s Bay. He mentions, among other instances of the extreme cold, The Euxine Sea being frozen over, so as to bear men and cattle upon it. Tertullian, one of the Christian fathers in the second century, writing in the style of the fierce zealot and florid rhetorician, against the herectic Marcion, thus refers to the same region:- “That tract, which is called the Pontus Euxinus, the hospitable sea, has been refused all favours, and is mocked by its very name. The day is never open, the sun never shines willingly, there is but one atmosphere- fog; the whole year is wintry; every wind that blows comes from the north; liquors are only such before the fire; the rivers are blocked up with ice, the mountains are heaped higher with snow; all things are benumbed, all things are stiff with cold, nothing but cruelty has there the warmth of life; that kind of cruelty, I mean, which has supplied the stage with fables concerning the sacrifices of the Tauri, and the loves of Colchis, and the tortures of Caucasus. But there is nothing so barbarous and miserable in Pontus, as that it has given birth to Maricion; he is more savage than a Scythian, more unstable than the wild inhabitants of a wagon, more inhuman than the Massageta, more audacious than the Amazon, darker than the mist, colder than the winter, more brittle than the ice, more treacherous than the Danube, more precipitous than Caucasus”. Virgil refers to the winter on the banks of the Ister of the Greeks, the modern Danube, in the third Georgic, in a manner which at present is inapplicable to any part of its course:-
“ The sun from far peeps with a sickly face,Too weak, the clouds and mighty fogs to chase,
When up the skies he shoots his rosy head,
Or in the ruddy ocean seeks his bed.
Swift rivers are with sudden ice constrain’d
And studded wheels are on its back sustain’d;
A hostry now for wagons, which before
Tall ships of burden on its bosom bore,
The brazen cauldrons with the frost are flaw’d.
The garment, stiff with ice, at hearths is thaw’d.
With axes first they cleave the wine; and thence
By weight, the solid portions they dispense.
From locks uncomb’d, and from the frozen beard,
Long icicles depend, and crackling sounds are heard.
Meantime perpetual sleet, and driving snow,
Obscure the skies, and hang on heards below.
The starving cattle perish in their stalls;
Huge oxen stand enclos’d in wintry walls
Of snow congeal’d; Whole heards are buried there
Of mighty stags, and scarce their horns appear.
The dexterous huntsman wounds not these afar
With shafts or darts, or makes a distant war
With dogs, or pitches toils to stop their flight,
But close engages in unequal fight;
And, while they strive in vain to make their way
Through hills of snow, and pitifully bray,
Assaults with dint of sword, or pointed spears,
And homeward on his back the joyful burden bears.
The men to subterranean caves retire,
Secure from cold, and crowd the cheerful fire:
With trunks of elms and oaks the hearth they load,
Nor tempt th’ inclemency of heaven abroad.”
The allusions to the climate of Itay in the Georgics, referring to the Augustan age, are in several respects irreconcilable with its present character. The writer speaks of the freezing of the rivers in the southern part of the peninsula as an ordinary occurrence, and gives frequent directions for the protection of sheep and goats from snow and frost, as if addressing a shepherd of the plains of Holstein or the highlands of Scotland. It is a well-attested fact, that the savage inhabitants of Gaul and Germany usually selected the winter-season for their warlike incursions into the Roman provinces, on account of the facility afforded by the ice for the transport of their armies, horses and baggage, across the grate rivers, which have never been frozen in modern times as to admit of such an occurrence. In the time of Ceasar, also, the rein-deer, now confined to the colder regions north of the Baltic, was found, along with the elk and the wild bull, in the Hercynian forest, which then over-shadowed a grate part of Germany and Poland. A volume published at Vienna in 1788, contains some remarkable passages concerning the state of the weather for more than a thousand years back, gathered from the old chronicles, which detail the state of the harvest, the quality of the vintage, or the endurance of frost and snow in the winter. From this work, Sir John Leslie, in an article furnished to one of the public journals, quoted the following record of excessive winters and summers, to which some additions have been made.”
NOTES:
- All quotations are from the phenomenon known as Rev. Thomas Milner, M.A’s Physical Geography, re-published in Delhi in 1975. I could not find any other details about his life.
In the next instalment – TEMPERATURE DATA
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