Steroids, baseball, and climate change

What do home runs and weather extremes have in common?

Jan 24, 2012 - by Staff

AtmosNews takes a lighthearted look at an unexpected analogy, explaining why some people call carbon dioxide (and the other greenhouse gases) the steroids of the climate system. Statistics and extreme behavior are involved, whether we're talking about baseball or Earth's atmosphere. NCAR scientist Gerald "Jerry" Meehl explains why. Thanks to Jeff Masters, Anthony Broccoli, and other colleagues who have introduced the "weather on steroids" analogy to the climate science community.

(©UCAR. Video by Noah Besser, produced by UCAR Communications for AtmosNews: NCAR & UCAR Science. This video is freely available for media and nonprofit use.) View on YouTube >

February 2012