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Originally Posted by Arragonis
If that is true then why has warming stopped or slowed as CO2 has risen ?
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Simple answer: it hasn't.
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Surely if it is the key driver then temps would continue to rise. Surely we should be burning up even now due to feedbacks.
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When you put a pot of water on the stove for your tea, does it come to a boil the instant you turn on the flame? The Earth is a big place with a good deal of thermal mass. It will take quite a time - over a thousand years, considering deep ocean circulation - to reach an equilibrium.
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And given we only have accurate (thermometer) records since around 1850 can we say with any accuracy that the warming in the 20th century was unusual in the history of the planet ?
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Why not actually read up on some of the science yourself? Or do you deliberately maintain ignorance because it's more comfortable? (Personally, I've always found bending over to stick my head in the sand quite uncomfortable.)
Just off the top of my head, a few ways to deduce past temperatures.
1) Plant remains, such as pollen in sediment cores, packrat middens, etc. Plants have preferred growing temperatures: if you find lots of e.g. sagebrush pollen in a lake core, you know the climate was suitable for sagebrush.
2) Oxygen isotope ratios in glacial ice cores, etc.
3) Dendrochronology - studying tree rings gives clues as to temperature & rainfall when each ring was formed. Similar methods can be applied to fossil shells, corals, &c.