Comments on: Global Warming, Tsunamis, and Michael Crichton’s Big Blunder

By: Orin

Orin — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 09:28:03 +0000

Hang on… it does seem that your last paragraph validates Crichton’s plot. In the novel’s world, presuming the tsunami *had* been successful, this water-weight hypothesis (now further corroborated by a study) would be used to cause public alarm. This would appear not to be a blunder at all. Could you explain the discrepancy?

By: Paul M

Paul M — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 23:16:55 +0000

It’s not that Crichton believes this, but that the GW alarmists have blamed every conceivable natural phenomenon, incuding the 2004 tsunami in Asia, on global warming, and this book is about unfounded climate fears.

Roy W. Spencer’s latest book, “Climate Confusion,” mentions that “a few experts and politicians blamed the tsunami on global warming.” (page 17). Some also blamed it on God, of course. The point is that GW believers are inclined to blame every weather and geological event on warming, with little respect for scientific facts.

By the way, it’s not warming….

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:05:26 +0000

Sorry. Crichton blew it.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 20:27:56 +0000

You have selected a complete non-point.

Nothing in the book indicates that tsunamis have anything to do with global warming. The people causing the tsunami only want to scare people, and know that most people have no idea about tsunami or climate change, and can be led to believe anything.

This has essentially been shown true in real life, where all manner of incidents have been blamed on global warming.

By: Simon

Simon — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 06:35:34 +0000

correction – it should be a first level differential – reflecting the rate of change.

By: Simon

Simon — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 06:34:28 +0000

I haven’t read the book – never will – but there is a growing theory that global warming can, in fact, cause increased seismic activity.

One group studied the correlation between seismic activity and climate in the mediterranean over the past 2000 years and found it to be marked and significant.

The theory is that as the polar ice melts, water flows to the equator – a fact borne out by the differential sea level changes at the poles and tropics. This shift in weight changes the pressures on the earth’s crust enough to move and weaken the joins.

If you graph the total energy in earthquakes each year, I predict you’ll see a distinct and steady rise very similar to that in the temperature graph.

By: John

John — Mon, 12 May 2008 17:11:47 +0000

Dumbass, the tsunami in the book wasn’t caused by global warming.

By: Steven Mosher

Steven Mosher — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 14:54:59 +0000

At least he didn’t make a Y2K blunder.

You have to Hand it to Hansen.

When are you going to do a post on NASA’s latest screw up with the US land surface record?

By: hippie with a pistol

hippie with a pistol — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 04:30:50 +0000

Bill McGuire? Researced-based or Opinion? How about providing a peer-reviewed article with references from McGuire.