Weather Banter - Is the Earth still recovering from the “Little Ice Age”?

There seems to be a roughly linear increase of the temperature of
about 0.5°C/100 years
(~1°F/100 years) from about 1800, or even much earlier, to the
present. This value may be
compared with what the IPCC scientists consider the manmade effect of
0.6 - 0.7°C/100 years.
This linear warming trend is likely to be a natural change. One
possible cause of the linear
increase may be that the Earth is still recovering from the Little Ice
Age. This trend should be
subtracted from the temperature data during the last 100 years in
estimating the manmade effect.
Thus, there is a possibility that only a fraction of the present
warming trend may be attributed to
the greenhouse effect resulting from human activities. This conclusion
is contrary to the IPCC
(2007) Report (p. 10), which states that “most” of the present warming
is due to the greenhouse
effect. It is urgent that natural changes be correctly identified and
removed accurately from the
presently on-going changes in order to find the contribution of the
greenhouse effect.
There are many documents that suggest that the period between 1500 and
1900 was relatively
cool; the River Thames was frequently frozen in the later part of the
17th century (Lamb, 1982).
Stories of the exploration of the Northwest Passage also hint that sea
ice conditions in northern
Canada in the latter part of the 1800s were much worse than conditions
today; it is now possible
to cruise the passage without much assistance by icebreakers. Although
there is some doubt
about the exact timing of the “Little Ice Age,” it is possible to
infer that the period between 1500
and 1900 was relatively cool in many parts of the world (cf. Lamb,
1982; Gribbin (ed.), 1978;
Crowley and North, 1991; Burroughs, 2001; Serreze and Barry, 2005).
Climate change during the last 100 years or so has been intensely
discussed over the last few
decades. However, it is important to recognize that as far as the
basic global warming data for
this period are concerned, all we have is what is illustrated in the
top of the diagram of Figure 1.
The IPCC Reports state that the global average temperature increased
about 0.6°C - 0.7°C (~1°F)
during the last 100 years...

Read the rest of the paper he

http://www.iarc.uaf.edu/highlights/2...from_LIA_R.pdf

Syun-Ichi Akasofu ( Akasofu Shun'ichi, Ph.D., born December 4, 1930,
Nagano-ken, Japan), is the Founding Director of the International
Arctic Research Center of the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and
its Director since its establishment in 1998 until January 2007.
Previously he was director of the Geophysical Institute since 1986.

Dr. Akasofu earned a B.S. and a M.S. in geophysics at Tohoku
University, Sendai, Japan, in 1953 and 1957. respectively. He earned a
Ph.D in geophysics at UAF in 1961. Within the framework of his Ph.D.
thesis he studied the aurora. His scientific adviser was Sydney
Chapman. Dr. Akasofu has been a professor of geophysics at UAF since
1964.

Akasofu was director of the Geophysical Institute from 1986 until
1999, during which time the Alaska Volcano Observatory was established
and Poker Flat Research Range was modernized. He went on to become the
first director of the International Arctic Research Center (IARC) upon
its establishment in 1998, and remained in that position until 2007.
The same year, the building which houses IARC was named in his honor.

Dr. Akasofu has served as an Associate Editor of the Journal of
Geophysical Research (1972-74) and the Journal of Geomagnetism &
Geoelectricity (1972-present), respectively. Furthermore, he has
served as a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Planetary
Space Science (1969-present), the Editorial Advisory Board of Space
Science Reviews (1967-77), and the Editorial Committee of Space
Science Reviews (1977-present).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syun-Ichi_Akasofu