PDO Myth
Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) is a climate phenomenon that occurs in the North Pacific Ocean. The myth states that every 10-40 years, the surface temperature of the Pacific Ocean interchanges between warm and cool phases. Myth believers have concluded that the periods of warming might explain the last century of warming in the atmosphere,a.k.a. global warming. Joseph D’Aleo states that between 1977 and 2006, the warming phase occurred with El Ninos. Between 1977 and 2006, the PDO was in the warm phase and of the 13 El Ninos that occurred, 8 of them were strong as well. The warming, based on this data, can only have adverse effects only on regional weather conditions. If the global warming myth was true however, it would imply that scientist have become more faithful in climate models. Over the course of the debate on PDO, it is conclusive that new models have been devised to prove that PDO coincides with global warming and other phenomena. The irony of the situation is that forming new models requires refinement of current ideas and that opens the way for new inaccuracies to be displayed. None of the models are perfect in anyway, so their validity only goes so far.
Science states that the cool and warm phases are not defined in clear time intervals. Also that solely blaming PDO for global warming is illogical because of the presence of other factors. For example: many aerosols, the presence of methane and carbon dioxide and other gases have caused changes in the climate since 1750(Sato 2012). There is more energy being put into the earth’s atmosphere than is being released. As a result, there is global warming.
The myth believes that climate change truly occurs, but seeks to blame it on something besides human causation. Believers choose to deny anthropogenic methane and carbon dioxide production as a driving force behind the phenomena that is global warming.
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