Monthly Archives: February 2009

Basic Geology Part 2 – CO2 in the Atmosphere and Ocean

Posted on February 20, 2009 by

Guest Post by Steven Goddard part 1 is here Ice cores clearly demonstrate the close relationship between atmospheric CO2 levels and temperature, as seen below. http://www.brighton73.freeserve.co.uk/gw/paleo/400000yearslarge.gif This relationship has been well understood by geologists for longer than Al Gore has been … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 143 Comments

Short term trends from GISS Model E: “The model would be off by about 0.15C in the first five years”

Posted on February 19, 2009 by

On occasion, comments posted on WUWT are backed up with data or graphs from the commenter, and are so germane that they merit their own post for discussion. This is one of those cases. Bill Illis has done a couple … Continue reading →

Posted in climate data, modeling | 81 Comments

When You Can’t Believe the Model

Posted on February 19, 2009 by

This article was sent to me by reader Peter Yodis. I found it interesting and germane to current events, so I’m sharing it here. Just a note for clarification, the very last sentence is in his original article, it is … Continue reading →

Posted in forecasting, modeling | 165 Comments

NSIDC: satellite sea ice sensor has “catastrophic failure” – data faulty for the last 45 or more days

Posted on February 18, 2009 by

The DMSP satellite is still operating, but the  SSM/I sensor is not Regular readers will recall that on Feb 16th I blogged about this graph of arctic sea ice posted on the National Snow and Ice Data Center sea ice … Continue reading →

Posted in Announcements, sea ice | 241 Comments

The Trade Winds Drive The ENSO

Posted on February 17, 2009 by

Guest post by Bill Illis We have often wondered what really causes the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate pattern.  It is generally understood and this post will demonstrate that it is really driven by the Trade Winds over the … Continue reading →

Posted in ENSO | 244 Comments

William Schlesinger on IPCC: “something on the order of 20 percent have had some dealing with climate.”

Posted on February 17, 2009 by

This is a bit disturbing, though in retrospect, not surprising. One of our local IPCC wonks at Chico State University, Jeff Price,  is a biologist, but lectures me about climate all the same. – Anthony by Paul Chesser, Climate Strategies … Continue reading →

Posted in climate_change, politics | 215 Comments

Britain’s Lessons From The Winter of 2008-2009

Posted on February 17, 2009 by

Guest post by Steven Goddard Stonehenge saw it’s heaviest snow in many years The UK has been experiencing the coldest winter in several decades, and hopefully policymakers have learned a few basic lessons from this.  Here is my wish list, … Continue reading →

Posted in energy | 155 Comments

The heliospheric current sheet as solar cycle proxy

Posted on February 17, 2009 by

Many readers are familiar with a number of solar proxies used to gauge the activity of the sun, the most familiar being sunspot counts and type. However they aren’t the only metric you can use to determine when one cycle … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, solar | 193 Comments

Errors in publicly presented data – Worth blogging about?

Posted on February 16, 2009 by

In the prior thread I raised a question of why there was a large downward jump in sea ice extent on the graph presented by NSIDC’s Artic Sea Ice News page. The image below was the reason, dozens of people … Continue reading →

Posted in sea ice | 225 Comments

NSIDC makes a big sea ice extent jump – but why?

Posted on February 16, 2009 by

Something odd is going on at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Look at this image: The image is directly from NSIDC’s Artic Sea Ice News page today. Of course there’s the large drop of about 1 million sqkm … Continue reading →

Posted in sea ice | 168 Comments

Hansen on “death trains” and coal and CO2

Posted on February 15, 2009 by

NASA’s Dr. James Hansen once again goes over the top. See his most recent article in the UK Guardian. Some excerpts: “The trains carrying coal to power plants are death trains. Coal-fired power plants are factories of death.” And this: … Continue reading →

Posted in Carbon dioxide, politics | 475 Comments

Redoing Steig et al, with simple data regrouping, gives half the warming result in Antarctica

Posted on February 15, 2009 by

AWS Gridded Reconstruction From the Air Vent, reposted by invitation Posted by Jeff Id on February 15, 2009 Guest post by Jeff C Jeff Chas done an interesting and impressive recalculation of the automatic weather station AWS, reconstruction of the Steig … Continue reading →

Posted in climate data | 63 Comments

The BBC Attempts to Patch Up the Cracks – botches it, citing AGW could set off “negative feedback”

Posted on February 14, 2009 by

UPDATE2: “404 Page not found” now at the BBC for this video on Monday Feb16th. It seems they’ve pulled it. Too much “negative feedback” I suppose. Readers be on the alert for any retractions. UPDATE: BBC Can’t even get their … Continue reading →

Posted in climate_change, media, ridiculae | 223 Comments

Code Blue: 10.7 centimeter solar radio flux is flatlining

Posted on February 14, 2009 by

I had written back in July 2008 about the 10.7cm solar radio flux hitting a new record low value. Part of that has to do with the inverse square law and the distance of the earth to the sun, which … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, solar | 228 Comments

How not to measure temperature, part 82, Friday the 13th: the Temperature Shelter

Posted on February 13, 2009 by

The surfacestations project has now surveyed over 70% of the USHCN. I keep telling myself that there probably aren’t many surprises left. We’ve seen climate monitoring stations in parking lots, next to parked cars, next to burn barrels, near air … Continue reading →

Posted in climate data, weather_stations | 87 Comments

Wasted effort

Posted on February 13, 2009 by

Lately I’ve found that I spend a lot of time moderating posts that are simply back and forth arguments between just a few people whom have inflexible points of view. Often the discussion turns a bit testy. I’ve had to … Continue reading →

Posted in Announcements | 20 Comments

Using the Ap Magnetic Index prediction for Solar Cycle 24 amplitude prediction

Posted on February 12, 2009 by

First this news: The Ap Index continues to fall. While the January 2009 data is not out yet, the December 2008 data is and is an Ap value of 2 according to SWPC. While this number may be lower than … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, solar | 220 Comments

Tipping point reached: UK Met Office makes blistering attack on those who make ‘Apocalyptic climate predictions’

Posted on February 12, 2009 by

The First Big Cracks Appear in the Wall Guest post by Steven Goddard During the past few weeks, there have been several warnings of apocalypse from noted scientists.  Dr. Hansen warned in The Guardian that President Obama has “four years to save … Continue reading →

Posted in media | 361 Comments

Finally, a sunspot, but it is a Cycle 23 spot

Posted on February 11, 2009 by

Just when you think cycle 23 may be over, it pops out another spot. Here is the SOHO MDI image showing a sunspot dubbed #1012, in solar cycle 23. From SOHO For those wondering how this is determined, cycle 24 … Continue reading →

Posted in solar | 127 Comments

“We’ve lost two people in my family because you dickheads won’t cut trees down…”

Posted on February 11, 2009 by

I’m no stranger to wildland fires. Longtime readers may recall that my own home had the threat of wildfires here in Chico, California this past summer, as did many Butte County residents who not only were threatened, but lost homes. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 237 Comments

Floridatrend: It’s Hot But Don’t Blame Global Warming

Posted on February 10, 2009 by

It’s Hot But Don’t Blame Global Warming By Cynthia Barnett - 2/1/2009 FloridaTrend Magazine Morton D. Winsberg fell in love with Florida more than 50 years ago, but the Illinois-born geographer never quite got used to the dog days of summer. In … Continue reading →

Posted in climate data, climate_change, weather_stations | 90 Comments

Daily Kos whips up an email campaign against meteorologist who spoke candidly about climate change

Posted on February 10, 2009 by

Lest readers think I’m the only TV meteorologist to speak my mind on climate issues, there are others, such as Jym Ganahl in Columbus Ohio. The Daily Kos posted an article here calling for this: Columbus Weatherman is a Kooky … Continue reading →

Posted in climate_change, media | 249 Comments

-50°F new all time record low confirmed in Maine

Posted on February 10, 2009 by

You may recall I wrote about the “Pain in Maine” a couple of weeks back in reference to the painfully cold weather there. Here was the bulletin from NWS: PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CARIBOU ME 0955 AM EST … Continue reading →

Posted in Announcements, climate data, Uncategorized, weather | 36 Comments

High CO2 boosts plant respiration, potentially affecting climate and crops

Posted on February 9, 2009 by

Here’s something you don’t see everyday: a university sending out a press release showing the potential benefits on crop yields of elevated atmospheric CO2 levels. – Anthony Public release date: 9-Feb-2009 http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-02/uoia-hcb020609.php Contact: Diana Yates diya@illinois.edu 217-333-5802 University of Illinois … Continue reading →

Posted in Carbon dioxide, Science | 226 Comments

New Google Earth tools let us explore the land use changes around climate stations over time

Posted on February 8, 2009 by

This past week Google introduced the latest iteration of their popular earth visualization program – Google Earth Version 5.0 In it was something I had been hoping for for months: a way to display historical aerial imagery and thus land … Continue reading →

Posted in UHI, weather_stations | 48 Comments