A balloon helps explain our climate
As an artist I don’t feel as confined by boundaries of science when considering natural phenomena, because it’s more my purpose to see things in a certain way, rather than to offer concrete explanations and/or solutions. But with my long-time interest in nature and the radical changes in the Arctic regions, I’ve worked up a simple conclusion: Earth’s climate laws are comparable to a balloon.
The climate change subject has been thrown into an arena with multiple contestants struggling to advance their own theories. Nobody yet has a 100 percent certain answer if the entire earth is heating up or cooling down, but all participants are sending a similar message: our climate is changing.
The Climate Balloon Theory
“If you press a balloon in one place, consequences are felt elsewhere. A closed system”
The Climate Balloon Model (in complete balance)
Temperatures
One good example of a climate consensus is that the Arctic is heating up, but it is difficult to find a unanimous statement on global changes. In the climate change balloon, if the Arctic is heating up, as a consequence, another part in the world must be cooling down.
Consider seasons and daylight: as one side of the Earth receives light and heat from the daytime sun, the other side of the planet is cooling down in its night shadow. If the Northern Hemisphere is shivering in winter, the South of our planet is bathing in summer.
Water
The Earth’s surface is covered with 75% water, but water makes up only 0.02% of the total mass of the planet. Because earth has an atmosphere (like the skin of a balloon) water cannot escape into space. Therefore, we come to this artist’s conclusion that the amount of water on earth will never increase or decrease, regardless of if the earth’s system is in balance or not. Water is the only real constant factor.
A common prediction is that as some parts of the world become dryer, other parts will become wetter. This perfectly fits my climate change balloon model.
Wind and currents (the equalizers)
In the climate change balloon we can learn that if we have great changes in temperature and water balance, there will be a noticeable effect on winds and ocean currents. The air and oceans are the players who control the system: the climate equalizers. Wind and water currents function as the motor of the system’s balance. In the Climate Balloon Theory, these forces are responsible for changes. A change in an ocean’s current has a larger but slower overall impact than its weaker counterpart, air.
Declining sea levels?
Sea levels rise because of some easily-explained factors: 1) increased water temperature = increased water volume 2) the melting of glaciers 3) wind pushes water to the side, or other way around. In my balloon model, the same effects also can occur because of a current that pushes water to or from a continent.
While we know that sea levels are rising in many areas, some data on the NOAA world map caught my attention. I saw dramatic sea level decreases indicated in the Baltic Sea, and it became apparent that water is getting sucked out of those areas. When I consult my balloon model, I see the main streams in the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea becoming more powerful so that they are indeed stealing water straight out of the Baltic Sea!
It makes sense that if sea level rise was only a result of melting glaciers, it would be impossible to explain why some areas are having decreasing sea levels. General consensus essentially states that sea levels worldwide are increasing because of melting glaciers, BUT…..
On some Northern and Southern stations, a sea level decrease is evident. (Alaska and Spitsbergen)
Following my balloon theory and the possibility of greater currents redirecting water flow, other places with few or without stations: Antarctica, Greenland, and many other parts of the Arctic Ocean will experience decreasing sea levels.
But perhaps it’s too ambitious for an artist to create a new theory that sea level rise is mainly driven by the power of changing of currents instead of melting ice caps.
http://www.psmsl.org/products/trends/
The Climate Balloon is never in balance
In a perfectly balanced climate system, every same calendar day over years would have exactly the same temperature. This, as far as I’ve seen, has never happened. Our climate is changing from year to year. Many factors play an important role: the sun, planets, the moon, etc. I believe there are more factors involved than we are all are of…
Newton’s third law: “When one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to that of the first body.” (OK, so if a balloon is squeezed in one place to become smaller, another part of the balloon will react by becoming larger).
To maintain a balance, there must be a dynamic system. It’s a quite complicated process that I think nobody completely understands, and it’s anybody’s guess what long-term climate effects will be.
Our weather is essentially like a slot machine. Too many factors are playing their roles. Looking back into trends of recorded history to hypothesise what the weather/climate will be is like observing patterns of slot machine’s previous results and then pulling the lever armed with only a small probability of knowing the outcome – jackpot.
Somebody squeezed the Balloon: Climate Change!
Climate science is relatively new, and in relation to the earth’s age, we are just recovering from an ice age. Our equalizers helped create a balance, but now signs are pointing to a new era: Climate Change. I see the situation as climate changing at unprecedented (and yet unknown) speed and intensity. A result is more extreme climate conditions.
I have seen the Arctic with melting glaciers around me, and I have also seen temperatures in the same area at 40C above average. The local Inuit said the changes started in the 1970’s, and every year is becoming more extreme. And likewise, locals in Coast Rica told me that they can’t rely anymore on the rain season: forests are dying from a delicate balance that was disturbed by natural forces that are also at play in the balloon.
Maybe I should give them a call to tell them more about my Climate Balloon Theory!
