On the Road Again: Fred Singer will be speaking at the Santa Fe Conference on Tuesday morning immediately following Richard Muller of the BEST project. Singer’s comments will raise some issues concerning the BEST findings.
Schedule Of Presentations At The Third Santa Fe Conference On Global and Regional Climate Variability, October 31-November 4, 2011; Posted by Roger Pielke Sr, Pielke Climate Science, Oct 26, 2011
http://pielkeclimatesci.wordpress.com/2011/10…
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Quote of the Week:
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened. Winston Churchill [H/t Dan Cohan]
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Number of the Week: 15 of 44 – 34%
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, Executive Vice President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
The past two weeks have been marked by several events that are causing considerable controversy in the global warming / climate change community. These events include the report on land surface temperatures from BEST, a book by Donna Laframboise on the IPCC, a paper by William Gray, and a paper claiming no major global climate change over the past 20,000 years followed by a compelling rebuttal.
*******
BEST Report: Richard Muller, the head of the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature (BEST) team, announced in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that BEST has submitted four articles for publication on its findings regarding the land surface temperature record. The article that garnered the greatest interest is the finding that the BEST results are consistent with the records reported by NOAA, Climatic Research Unit (CRU), and NASA-GISS, and that if there is an outlier it is NASA-GISS. BEST reports that the record shows a warming over the past two hundred years.
Perhaps because the press release was excessive, this announcement caused great controversy. But, as Fred Singer points out in his comments following an editorial in Nature, this should be no surprise because all groups, with some modifications, rely on the same basic data set – the Global Historical Climatology Network produced by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. Singer has further comments in an op-ed scheduled for publication early next week.
BEST is to be congratulated for undertaking its difficult task without government support or involvement of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Further, the team has posted its methodology and data for independent review – an action sorely lacking in climate science. Muller’s op-ed goes on to state that BEST drew no conclusions as to cause. The only record analyzed is the land surface record, not the atmospheric or sea surface record. Seas cover about 71% of the earth’s surface and will be the subject of the next project. Muller also stated that the human component in warming may be overstated.
Among the more surprising findings, subjects in separate papers, are that the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect is slight and that the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) may have a greater impact on land surface temperatures than the El Niño Southern Oscillation. No doubt the papers and the statistical techniques used will be subject to independent scrutiny. Ocean oscillations are ignored in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4), the latest report.
Commentators in a number of newspapers, such as the Washington Post and other news media, immediately proclaimed that the BEST study is proof that those labeled climate skeptics / deniers are wrong and they are anti-science. In so doing, many of these commentators committed two major logical fallacies, the strawman argument and petitio principii. One, these commentators misstated the position of most skeptics who challenge the findings of the IPCC and state that climate / temperature change is normal and natural. Two, the commentators assumed that late 20th century warming is proof of human cause while the challengers demand compelling evidence that human emissions of carbon dioxide are the cause of 20th century warming.
Science is built using, among other tools, rigorous logic. Thus, those who use logical fallacies to label the skeptics / deniers as anti-science are, more correctly, labeling themselves.
Among other objections to the BEST reports, the Nature editorial, and several others, raised the fact that the findings were announced prior to publication in a peer reviewed journal. However, it is the policies of editors of Nature, and many other journals, that have lead to such actions. As evidenced by the difficulties that qualified researchers, such as Richard Lindzen and Roy Spencer, have in getting articles published, the editors of many journals block publication of studies that are contrary to their beliefs (that is, contrary to the pronouncements of the IPCC). Yet, Nature published the “hockey-stick” that directly contradicted a large body of prior scientific work. The fact that the BEST team is willing to make its methodology and data available to all who wish to analyze it, is a greater testament to the seriousness of the work than publication in a journal that reflects the beliefs of the editors.
As of this writing, some analysts are raising issues regarding the BEST data record, particularly the most recent data. On Tuesday, Fred Singer will raise issues concerning the data record at the Santa Fe conference noted above.
Please see Articles #1 and #2, reference links under “Measurement Issues” and the discussion below under “20,000 years of climate change.”
*******
Hidden Influence on the IPCC? Writer Donna Laframboise just published a book exposing the interrelationships among principal members of the IPCC and various environmental groups, such as the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) and Greenpeace. In principle, it is the quality of the work that matters, not the associations of the participants. It should not make any difference if the participants are associated with environmental groups, oil companies, tobacco companies, or whatever. But the associations should have been revealed.
Governments have spent tens of billions of dollars of public money based upon the findings of the IPCC. It is difficult to determine that if the governments had known of extensive involvement in the IPCC by those associated with environmental groups; the governments would have spent public funds so freely. Certainly, many of those demanding action on the IPCC’s questionable findings would not be doing so if the participants were associated with oil or tobacco companies.
Ms. Laframboise’s charges are serious, thus the evidence substantiating these charges must be serious. In an article published in the Financial Post, Laframboise accused Rajendra Pachauri of writing forewords to reports by Greenpeace and signing as IPCC Chairman, thus implying IPCC endorsement of the reports. There were direct links to the reports, substantiating the charges. In her review, Judith Curry states that the Kindle version of the book contains numerous links verifying the charges.
If the links in The Delinquent Teenager Who Was Mistaken for the World’s Top Climate Expert continue to substantiate the charges, then the book is starkly different from Merchants of Doubt. In the latter book, authors Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway level very serious charges against four distinguished scientists, three of whom are dead. The authors fail to provide the evidence needed to substantiate the very serious charges. Instead, they cover their failure with extensive footnotes that do not directly address the issues. One book is an exposé, the other, a smear.
It should be remembered that IPCC Vice-Chair Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, who is associated with Greenpeace, tried to suppress Fred Singer’s talk in Brussels this past September, forcing a change in venue. IPCC Vice-Chair Jean-Pascal van Ypersele falsely claimed Singer is associated the fossil fuel industry.
Please see links under “Questioning the Orthodoxy.”
*******
Number of the Week: 15 out of 44 – 34%: The number of chapters in the IPCC – AR4 that at least one of the coordinating lead authors was affiliated with WWF (World Wildlife Fund) as reported by Donna Laframboise and cited by Judith Curry. Please see links under “Questioning the Orthodoxy.”
*******
Extreme Weather: In a privately produced paper, “Gross Errors in the IPCC – AR4 Report Regarding Past & Future Changes in Global Tropical Cyclone Activity,” noted tropical cyclone (hurricane) expert William Gray challenges the findings in AR4 that warming will produce more intense storms, especially tropical cyclones (which are called hurricanes in the Atlantic). Gray specifically rebuts numerous statements found in AR4, particularly in Chapter 3, “Observations: Surface and Atmospheric Climate Change.” The Coordinating Lead Authors of the chapter are Kevin Trenberth and Philip Jones. Both gained notoriety in the Climategate emails by expressing a willingness to suppress contradicting research.
Gray claims that none of the lead authors have a particular expertise in the field of tropical cyclones, and that many of the conclusions are contradicted by observations. Gray’s writing is quite blunt.
Hopefully, Gray’s paper will not be ignored because the issue is extremely significant and needs to be fully addressed. Organizations such as the US EPA have claimed that global warming endangers human health and welfare because, in part, it will result in more intense storms, especially hurricanes in the US.
Please see links under “Challenging the Orthodoxy.”
*******
20,000 Years of Climate Change: In a recent paper, Svante Björck states that over the past 20,000 years there has been no uniform, global warming and cooling until recently, thus human emissions of carbon dioxide must be the cause. As TWTW has pointed out, uniform global warming does not exist now. Thirty years of satellite measurements of atmospheric temperatures show the warming is concentrated in the northern part of the Northern Hemisphere, with little or no warming in the Tropics or the Southern Hemisphere.
Björck’s findings are contradicted by the large body of studies showing both a Medieval Warm Period and a Little Ice Age. These studies can be found in the NIPCC Reports 2009 and 2011 as well as the NIPCC web site and the web site of Sherwood, Craig, and Keith Idso, CO2 Science.org.
On the web site of Anthony Watts, Don Easterbrook produced the most devastating rebuttal. He shows a graph covering the last 20,000 years compiled from proxy temperature measurements from GRIP-2 ice cores taken in Greenland. The graph shows drastic, abrupt temperature changes for the periods immediately preceding, including, and immediately following the Younger Dryas. Directly contradicting Björck, Easterbrook then shows similar abrupt changes for the same period from ice cores taken from glaciers around the world. The graph of Greenland ice cores should be required viewing for anyone claiming 20th century warming is unprecedented.
Please see links under “Changing Climate.”
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
ARTICLES:
For the numbered articles below please see this week’s TWTW at:
The articles are at the end of the pdf.
1. Results confirming climate change are welcome, even when released before peer review.
By Staff Writers, Nature, Oct 27, 2011 [H/t Willie Soon]
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v478/n73…
Followed by comments from Fred Singer.
2. The Case Against Global-Warming Skepticism
There were good reasons for doubt, until now.
By Richard Muller, WSJ, Oct 21, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297…
3. EPA’s CO2 Endangerment Finding is Endangered
By S. Fred Singer, American Thinker, Oct 15, 2011
http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/10/epas_c…
4. A Life in Energy and (Therefore) Politics
The CEO of America’s third-largest utility on competing in an electricity market built on political fads and lobbyists.
By Joseph Rago, WSJ, Oct 22, 2011 [H/t Glenn Schleede]
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297…
‘Prostitution, horse racing, gambling and electricity are irresistible to politicians,” says John Rowe, the CEO of the Chicago-based utility Exelon.
[SEPP Comment: In an otherwise frank interview, the CEO of the company that has a large number of nuclear plants and few coal plants cannot help but criticize his coal competitors by citing EPA’s dubious health claims on burning coal.]
5. The Post-Global Warming World
Moving on from climate virtue.
Editorial, WSJ, Oct 26, 2011 [H/t Anne Debeil]
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297…
[SEPP Comment: The cost of an idealized climate is high – impossible?]
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
NEWS YOU CAN USE:
Challenging the Orthodoxy
Gross Errors in the IPCC-AR4 Report Regarding Past & Future Changes in Global Tropical Cyclone Activity – A Noble Disgrace
By William Gray, SPPI, Oct 17, 2011
http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/originals/g…
http://scienceandpublicpolicy.org/images/stor…
Comment On The Quality Of The 2007 IPCC WG1 Report In Response To A Post On Climate Etc
By Roger Pielke, Sr, Pielke Climate Science, Oct 20, 2011 [H/t Marc Morano, Climate Depot]
http://pielkeclimatesci.wordpress.com/2011/10…
“The 2007 IPCC WG1 report ignored peer-reviewed papers which conflicts with their narrow focus on the radiative forcing of CO2 and a few other greenhouse gases.
The 2007 IPCC WG1, in my view, was a failure in the assessment of the understanding of the human role in the climate system, as well as the extent to which the natural forcings and feedbacks influence the climate.”
New Research Casts Doubt on Doomsday Water Shortage Predictions
By measuring the isotopes in river water, scientists have determined that mountain glaciers contribute less than thought to downstream water supplies
By Lisa Friedman and ClimateWire, Scientific American, Oct 24, 2011 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm…
Defending the Orthodoxy
The scientific finding that settles the climate-change debate
By Eugene Robinson, Washington Post, Oct 24, 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-sc…
[SEPP Comment: See the above discussion on the illogical claims stemming from on the BEST research.]
Climate scientist – yes, we avoid debate
By Simon, Australian Climate Madness, Oct 28, 2011 [H/t Catherine French]
http://www.australianclimatemadness.com/2011/…
Global warming study finds no grounds for climate sceptics’ concerns
Independent investigation of the key issues sceptics claim can skew global warming figures reports that they have no real effect
By Ian Sample, Guardian, UK, Oct 20, 2011 [H/t Best on the Web]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oc…
Where Did Global Warming Go?
By Elizabeth Rosenthal, NYT, Oct 15, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/16/sunday-revi…
[SEPP Comment: On par with: why did Candidate X win the election, I don’t know anyone who voted for him?]
US energy secretary: Climate debate similar to argument that smoking isn’t dangerous
By Staff Writers, AP, Oct 18, 2011
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/us-ene…
[SEPP Comment: Steven Chu is losing credibility daily. This false analogy fails.]
Questioning the Orthodoxy
Book excerpt: IPCC’s activist ‘experts’
New book shows key UN panel is in bed with green lobbies
By Donna Laframboise, Financial Post, Oct 24, 2011
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2011/10/24/b…
Laframboise on the IPCC
By Judith Curry, Climate Etc, Oct 19, 2011
http://judithcurry.com/2011/10/19/laframboise…
[SEPP Comment: Commentary from someone who defended the IPCC until 2009.]
The Games Climate Scientists Play
By Roger Pielke Jr, GWPF, Oct 25, 2011
http://www.thegwpf.org/best-of-blogs/4199-the…
Cult of Global Warming Is Losing Influence
By Michael Barone, Townhall, Oct 24, 2011
http://townhall.com/columnists/michaelbarone/…
Green Agenda unravelling around the world
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Oct 21, 2011
http://joannenova.com.au/2011/10/green-agenda…
Questioning European Green
EU Leak Shows Wind, Solar Energy to Double Power Bills
By Walter Russell Mead, American Interest, Oct 19, 2011 [H/t Timothy Wise]
http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/20…
Is Germany’s Green Energy Plan Failing?
By Laura Gitschier and Christian Schwägerl, Spiegel, Oct 11, 2011 [H/t Dave Rosin]
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0…
[SEPP Comment: Soon the warm glow of the International Renewable Energy Agency may be replaced by the harsh cold of still winter nights.]
Say no to wind farms: Shale of the century
By Matt Ridley, Spectator, UK, Oct 15, 2011
http://www.spectator.co.uk/essays/all/7308923…
Fuel poverty ‘will claim 2,700 victims this winter’
Interim report from an independent review of fuel poverty says the number of people living in cold homes contributes to Britain’s unusually high rates of ‘excess winter deaths’
By Mark King, Guardian, UK, Oct 19, 2011 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2011/oct/19/f…
Green Suicide: Emissions Rules Threaten More Manufacturing Jobs
By David Robertson, The Times, Oct 18, 2011 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.thegwpf.org/uk-news/4140-green-sui…
Chopping Has Just Begun: Green Subsidies Slashed — The Guardian & Bloomberg
By Staff Writers, GWPF Oct 20, 2011,
http://www.thegwpf.org/uk-news/4153-chopping-…
UK renewable energy subsidies slashed
– Cuts to biomass, energy from waste and microgeneration
– Marine and offshore wind funding remains high
By Fiona Harvey, Guardian, UK, Oct 20, 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oc…
Coalition’s green hue fades with solar cuts
By Jim Pickard and Pilita Clark, Financial Times, Oct 20, 2011
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/fea55166-fa6c-…
Chris Huhne: no change in direction on carbon budgets
Energy and climate change secretary insists no shift in UK carbon strategy, despite chancellor’s pledge to match EU emissions cuts
By James Murray, Guardian, UK, Oct 10, 2011 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oc…
Expanding the Orthodoxy
Why we must support clean energy in U.S.: our national security
By Steven Anderson, John Castellaw, Dennis McGinn, and Norman, Seip, Tampa Tribune, Oct 9, 2011 [H/t Peter Friedman]
http://www2.tbo.com/news/opinion/2011/oct/09/…
“The Army is working toward a “Net Zero” strategy where bases will consume only as much energy or water as they produce.”
[SEPP Comment: These former leaders have been brainwashed. Exactly how will Fort Irwin, the National Training Center, produce the fuel used by armored vehicles in training exercises? The new $2 billion, 500-MW project of solar panels will not do it. The term “lights out” will take on new meaning.]
Warming Revives Dream of Sea Route in Russian Arctic
By Andrew E. Kramer, NYT, Oct 17, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/business/gl…
[SEPP Comment: May be true, but not proof of cause.]
Problems within the Orthodoxy
Candid comments from global warming scientists
By Judith Curry, Climate Etc, Oct 27, 2011
http://judithcurry.com/2011/10/27/candid-comm…
[SEPP Comment: Adding her comments to a post by Roger Pielke Sr.]
Climate talks may be doomed – EU
By Staff Writers, Reuters, Oct 18, 2011 [H/t GWPF]
http://www.news24.com/SciTech/News/Climate-ta…
Japan Likely To Abandon Unilateral CO2 Targets
By Mari Itawa, WSJ, GWPF, Oct 20, 2011
http://www.thegwpf.org/international-news/415…
The Death of the Kyoto Process
By Christian Schwägerl and Gerald Traufetter, Spiegel, Oct 18, 2011 [H/t Dave Rosin]
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1…
Seeking a Common Ground
Study finds no evidence that climate change caused more severe flooding
By Andrew Restuccia, The Hill, Oct 24, 2011
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/1893…
Communicating Better to the Public – Exaggerate?
Extreme Melting on Greenland Ice Sheet
By Staff Writers, SPX, Oct 26, 2011
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Extreme_Mel…
[SEPP Comment: The researchers should look at the temperature record from Greenland ice cores.]
Glaciers in China shrinking with warming
By Staff Writers, UPI, Oct 21, 2011
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Glaciers_in…
[SEPP Comment: “Ever” extends back to 2005]
Severe drought, other changes can cause permanent ecosystem disruption
By Staff Writers, SPX, Oct 17, 2011
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Severe_drou…
[SEPP Comment: An eight year study drawing conclusions for thousands of years.]
‘Risk Atlas’ assesses climate vulnerability
By Matthew Knight, CNN, Oct 26, 2011
http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/26/world/europe/ci…
[SEPP Comment: People vote with their feet. Urbanization has long been an example of seeking a better life, though those desiring to control humanity have considered such movements undesirable.]
Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.
Climate change poses immediate threat to health: experts
By Staff Writers, AFP, Oct 17, 2011
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Climate_cha…
Millions Will Be Trapped Amid Climate Change, Study Warns
By Hillary Rosner, NYT, Oct 20, 2011
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/mil…
Models v. Observations
Computer Model temperature predictions accurate????
By Don Easterbrook, ICECAP, Oct 22, 2011
http://icecap.us/index.php/go/joes-blog/compu…
A Cool Look At 2011, and 2012
By David Whitehouse, The Observatory, Oct 19, 2011
http://www.thegwpf.org/the-observatory/4143-a…
[SEPP Comment: Describing two types of scientists. 1) “His point was that before us [a long roll of data] was what the universe was saying, and that it was more important than any theory.” 2) “He had won many awards for his contributions to climate science, and he introduced himself as a ‘scientist, which means my main interest is in modeling.'”]
Measurement Issues
Papers Submitted for Peer Review (October 2011)
Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature
http://www.berkeleyearth.org/resources.php…
Earth Atmospheric Land Surface Temperature and Station Quality in the United States
Muller, R.A. et al. BEST
http://www.berkeleyearth.org/Resources/Berkel…
Decadal Variations in the Global Atmospheric Land Temperatures
Muller, R.A., et al. BEST
http://www.berkeleyearth.org/Resources/Berkel…
[SEPP Comment: Paper showing AMO is more closely correlated with land temperatures than El Niño Southern Oscillation.]
Influence of Urban Heating on the Global Temperature Land Average
Using Rural Sites Identified from MODIS Classifications
Wickham, C. et al. BEST
http://www.berkeleyearth.org/Resources/Berkel…
Muller’s findings of warming are ‘nothing remarkable’ — BEST study does not alter Climategate’s ‘serious breaches of ethics’
By Richard Lindzen and David Douglass, reproduced with permission by Marc Morano, Climate Depot, Oct 24, 2011
http://www.climatedepot.com/a/13403/MITs-Rich…
Sceptical Berkeley Scientists Say, “Human Component Of Global Warming May Be Somewhat Overestimated”
By David Whitehouse, The Observatory, Oct 21, 2011
http://www.thegwpf.org/the-observatory/4161-s…
Climate study, funded in part by conservative group, confirms global warming
The latest global warming results confirm those from earlier, independent studies by scientists at NASA and elsewhere that came under fire from skeptics in an episode known as ‘climategate.’
By Pete Spotts, Christian Science Monitor, Oct 21, 2011 [H/t Marc Morano, Climate Depot]
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2011/102…
[SEPP Comment: Except for the propaganda photo at the beginning, a fair article describing the findings.]
What BEST Means And What It Doesn’t
This post is for you to link into discussions proliferating across the internet which are filled with error.
By William Briggs, The Observatory, Oct 25, 2011
http://www.thegwpf.org/the-observatory/4196-w…
Five Climate Questions for Richard Muller (Temperature findings begin, not end, the real debate)
By Kenneth P. Green, Master Resource, Oct 24, 2011
http://www.masterresource.org/2011/10/five-cl…
BEST Is Worst: The Irrelevance of Richard Muller’s Vaunted Proclamation
By E. Calvin Beisner, Cornwall Alliance, Oct 25, 2011
http://www.cornwallalliance.org/blog/item/bes…
The Death Of Global Warming Skepticism, Or The Birth Of Straw Men?
By James Taylor, Forbes, Oct 26, 2011
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamestaylor/2011/…
Changing Weather
Natural Variability Still Plays Large Role in Winter Climate
By Patrick Michaels, World Climate Report, Oct 24, 2011
http://www.worldclimatereport.com/index.php/2…
Blame the Weather for Your energy Bill
By Karolin Schaps, Planet Ark, Oct 17, 2011 [H/t Hugh Sharman]
http://planetark.org/wen/63584…
Changing Climate
Current global warming appears anomalous in relation to the climate of the last 20000 years
By Svante Björck, Climate Research, July 19, 2011
http://www.int-res.com/abstracts/cr/v48/n1/p5…
No global climate change in the past 20,000 years?
By Don Easterbrook, WUWT, Oct 25, 2011
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/10/25/no-glob…
Changing Seas
Sea levels not rising: Swedish scientist
By Staff Writer, The Hindu, Oct 15, 2011
http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-e…
Sea levels will continue to rise for 500 years
By Staff Writers, SPX, Oct 18, 2011
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Sea_levels_…
[SEPP Comment: Ignore observations! The models so declare it, thus it must be so.]
Sea levels will rise, washing away climate deniers
By Fred Grimm, Miami Herald, Oct 22, 2011
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/10/22/v-fulls…
[SEPP Comment: Much of south Florida was covered by seas about 125,000 years ago. Will controlling human emissions of carbon dioxide prevent such an occurrence in the future?]
Changing Earth
Forest fires are becoming larger and more frequent
By Staff Writers, SPX, Oct 26, 2011
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Forest_fire…
[SEPP Comment: From changes other than global warming.]
Acidic Waters
Run-off, emissions deliver double whammy to coastal marine creatures
By Chelsea Toledo, SPX, Oct 26, 2011
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Run_off_emi…
“When these algae die, they sink to the sea floor and decompose, releasing carbon dioxide and decreasing the amount of oxygen in the water. The dissolved carbon dioxide reacts with water, forming an acid.”
[SEPP Comment: Combining a real issue with the phony issue of ocean acidification gets the double whammy.]
The Political Games Continue
GOP Lawmakers Challenge White House on ‘Scientific Misconduct’
By Staff Writers, Fox News, Oct 20, 2011
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/10/19/go…
Litigation Issues
Judge delivers ‘bittersweet’ polar bear ruling
Amanda Coyne, Alaska Dispatch, Oct 17, 2011 [H/t Marc Morano, Climate Depot]
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/judge-d…
Cap-and-Trade and Carbon Taxes
Cardinal Pell Questions The Price Of Climate Action
By Tess Livingstone, The Australian, Oct 26, 2011
http://www.thegwpf.org/uk-news/4208-cardinal-…
Subsidies and Mandates Forever
Future of Solar and Wind Power May Hinge on Federal Aid
By Kate Galbraith, NYT, Oct 25, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/26/business/en…
[SEPP Comment: Federal tax credits of 30% of cost, in cash, expire this year for wind farms and in 2016 for solar.]
Economic Slowdown Challenges Renewable Energy
By James Kanter, NYT, Oct 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/27/business/gl…
[SEPP Comment: The economic slowdown is making governments question policies of subsidizing solar and wind.]
Solar Power Industry Falls Short of Hopes in Job Creation
By Matthew Wald, NYT, Oct 25, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/26/business/en…
EPA and other Regulators on the March
White House begins review of EPA air toxics rule
By Ben Geman, The Hill, Oct 25 2011
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/1896…
“On Monday EPA sent OMB the “appropriate and necessary” finding that lays out the scientific and legal basis for the upcoming regulations for coal-fired and oil-fired power plants.”
Agency to Set Standards on Fracking Waste Water
By Deborah Solomon, WSJ, Oct 21, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297…
“The president has made clear that natural gas has a central role to play in our energy economy,” said EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. “We can protect the health of American families and communities at the same time we ensure access to all of the important resources that make up our energy economy.”
[SEPP Comment: Another highly questionable claim from EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.]
US to set water pollution standards for ‘fracking’
By Staff Writers, AFP, Oct 20, 2011
http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/US_to_set…
Feds eye gas drilling fluids
EPA planning new rules for wastewater disposal and other liquids from gas drilling sites
By Jennifer Dloughy, Hearst Newspapers, Oct 20, 2011 [H/t Timothy Wise]
http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Feds-e…
EPA will not tighten farm dust standards
By Andrew Restuccia, The Hill, Oct 24, 2011
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/1879…
Insight: N.Y. gas drillers’ victory soured by tough new rules
By Edward McAllister, Reuters, Oct 21, 2011 [H/t Timothy Wise]
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/21/us-…
Energy Issues
Don’t Be Afraid of the Keystone XL Pipeline
The Canadian pipeline won’t mean “the end of safe drinking water.”
By Ronald Bailey, Reason, Oct 25, 2011
http://reason.com/archives/2011/10/25/environ…
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
Can the U.S. drill its way out of its energy crisis? Yes, it can
By Yadullah Hussain, Financial Post, Oct 26, 2011
http://business.financialpost.com/2011/10/26/…
[SEPP Comment: Another example of the energy revolution. A US company that plan to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) into the US signed an agreement with a British LNG trading company to export LNG from the US.]
Natural Gas Production Moves East
Editorial, Real Clear Energy, Oct 10, 2011 [H/t Warren Wetmore]
http://www.realclearenergy.org/charticles/201…
Qatar shifts gas plan as U.S. output grows
By Staff Writers, UPI, Oct 14, 2011
http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Qatar_shi…
Canada soon to export gas to Asia?
By Staff Writers, UPI, Oct 14, 2011
http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Canada_so…
Administration’s Control of Oil and Gas
Drilling and Debt
By Donn Dears, Power For USA, Oct 25, 2011
http://dddusmma.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/dril…
Oil Spills & Consequences
BP Moves to Return to Gulf
By Tennille Tracy, WSJ, Oct 22, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297…
[SEPP Comment: May be behind a pay wall.]
Nuclear Energy and Fears
European Transmission Operators Warn of Possible Load Shedding This Winter
By Staff Writers POWERnews, Oct 19, 2011
http://www.powermag.com/POWERnews/4112.html?h…
Fukushima units on target for cold shutdown
By Staff Wrtiers, WNN, Oct 18, 2011
http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/RS-Fukushim…
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy
Concentrating Solar
By Donn Dears, Power For USA, Oct 28, 2011
http://dddusmma.wordpress.com/2011/10/28/conc…
[SEPP Comment: Description of various methods of concentrating solar power.]
Is America Losing the Clean Energy Race?
We Can’t Win and It Doesn’t Matter
By Marlo Lewis, National Journal, Oct 24, 2011
http://energy.nationaljournal.com/2011/10/is-…
[SEPP Comment: A phony race by wind and solar promoters. China is not even competing.]
National Academies: Ethanol Worsens Greenhouse Gases
Press Release, Environmental Working Group, Oct 4, 2011
http://www.ewg.org/release/government-finds-e…
Windmills stopped at night after bat death
By Staff Writers, Associated Press, Boston Herald, October 18, 2011 [H/t Debbie Wetlaufer]]
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/national/nor…
Carbon Schemes
Duke to Take $220 Million Charge on ‘Clean Coal’ Plant
By Rebecca Smith, WSJ, Oct 21, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405297…
[SEPP Comment: A promoter of cap-and-trade finds that clean coal is expensive.]
California Dreaming
California becomes first state to adopt cap-and-trade program
The California Air Resources Board, in a unanimous vote, adopts landmark regulations of greenhouse gas emissions to curb climate change and meet targets for reducing pollution.
By Julie Cart, LA Times, Oct 21, 2011 [H/t Timothy Wise]
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cap-t…
[SEPP Comment: Watching the electricity bills will be an education.]
California’s Green Power Crisis
By Rich Trzupek, Front Page, Oct 25, 2011
http://frontpagemag.com/2011/10/25/california…
California’s Persistence
Editorial, NYT, Oct 23, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/opinion/cal…
[SEPP Comment: In praise of California’s cap and trade.]
California’s Economic Suicide,
Editorial, IBD, Oct 25, 2011
http://news.investors.com/Article.aspx?id=589…
[SEPP Comment: A view contrary to that of the New York Times.]
Review of Recent Scientific Articles by NIPCC
For a full list of articles see
Predicting the Course of Climate Change Over the Next Decade
Reference: Latif, M. and Keenlyside, N.S. 2011. A perspective on decadal climate variability and predictability. Deep-Sea Research II 58: 1880-1894.
http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2011/oct/…
The two researchers of this paper list numerous problems that hamper decadal climate predictability, among which is the fact that “the models suffer from large biases”…
Primary Production in the Bering Sea
Reference: Brown, Z.W., van Dijken, G.L. and Arrigo, K.R. 2011. A reassessment of primary production and environmental change in the Bering Sea. Journal of Geophysical Research 116: 10.1029/2010JC006766.
http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2011/oct/…
“Rather than declining,” as the three U.S. (Stanford University) researchers of this study report, they found that mean annual sea ice extent in the Bering Sea “has exhibited no significant change over the satellite sea ice record (1979-2009),” because, as they discovered, significant warming during the satellite sea surface temperature record (1982-2009) “is mainly limited to the summer months”…
Forty Thousand Years of Coccolithophore Responses to Ocean Acidification
Reference: Beaufort, L., Probert, I., de Garidel-Thoron, T., Bendif, E.M., Ruiz-Pino, D., Metzl, N., Goyet, C., Buchet, N., Coupel, P., Grelaud, M., Rost, B., Rickaby, R.E.M. and de Vargas, C. 2011. Sensitivity of coccolithophores to carbonate chemistry and ocean acidification. Nature 476: 80-83.
http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2011/oct/…
[SEPP Comment: Nature adapts!]
The Impact of Atmospheric CO2 Enrichment on a Major Oceanic N2-Fixing Cyanobacterium
Reference: Kranz, S.A., Sultemeyer, D., Richter, K.-U. and Rost, B. 2009. Carbon acquisition by Trichodesmium: The effect of pCO2 and diurnal changes. Limnology and Oceanography 54: 548-559.
http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2011/oct/…
[SEPP Comment: Enhanced CO2 may enrich the oceans, not destroy them.]
Health, Energy, and Climate
Inefficient developing world stoves contribute to 2 million deaths a year
By Staff Writers, SPX, Oct 17, 2011
http://www.energy-daily.com/reports/Inefficie…
[SEPP Comment: As John Christy has remarked, a small electrical generator sufficient to supply electricity to every village hut for a microwave and one light bulb would be a great benefit for human health.]
An Inconvenient Eradication: Malaria Deaths Fall Over 20% Worldwide In Last Decade
By Ben Pile, Climate Resistance (GWPF), Oct 18, 2011
http://www.thegwpf.org/the-observatory/4137-a…
Oh Mann!
It’s Libel — Except When Mike Does It
By Paul Driessen, Townhall, Oct 25, 2011
http://townhall.com/columnists/pauldriessen/2…
Environmental Industry
The WWF Plan To Make Energy Unaffordable In Britain By 2030
By Tory Aardvark, GWPF, Oct 26, 2011
http://www.thegwpf.org/best-of-blogs/4203-the…
[SEPP Comment: Is it endorced by IPCC Chairman Pachauri?]
Enviros warn of trade war after House vote on emissions trading
By Keith Laing, The Hill, Oct 25, 2011
http://thehill.com/blogs/transportation-repor…
Other Scientific News
See No Evil
Why have a number of areas of US science become so politicized?
By Roger Pielke Jr, His Blog, Oct 20, 2011 [H/t SPPI]
http://rogerpielkejr.blogspot.com/2011/10/see…
Ozone Depletion a Bigger Deal Down Under
By Christina Coleman for Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 24, 2011
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Ozone_Deple…
[SEPP Comment: Several weeks after a scare of expansion of the Arctic ozone depletion, another report that the Antarctic ozone depletion is not expanding. Could the proposed cause be wrong?]
NASA, Japan Release Improved Topographic Map of Earth
By Staff Writers, JPL, Oct 19, 2011
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NASA_Japan_…
Other News that May Be of Interest
One Win for the Forests
Editorial, NYT, Oct 24, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/opinion/one…
[SEPP Comment: In addition to National Parks, etc, over one hundred million of acres are declared Wilderness Areas, off limits to the ordinary citizen. How many tens of millions acres are necessary to satisfy the greed for control of land by the environmental industry and their associates in government agencies?]
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE:
Alligator fat as a new source of biodiesel fuel
By Staff Writers, SPX, Oct 28, 2011
http://www.biofueldaily.com/reports/Alligator…
[SEPP Comment: Once an endangered species, alligators will become a fuel. Call the Swamp People to get your tank filled!]
Climate change is shrinking species, study warns
By Matthew Knight, CNN, Oct 17, 2011
http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/17/world/asia/shri…
[SEPP Comment: Crisis: the warming of the hot swamps may shrink the alligators – reducing our fuel supply.]
Why Is the CIA Keeping Climate Change Secret?
The Central Intelligence Agency is working on climate change, but you’d never know it.
By David Biello, Scientific American, Oct 23, 2011 [H/t Lubos Motl]
http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/epi…
[SEPP Comment: To see Motl’s amusing comments see:
http://motls.blogspot.com/2011/10/sciam-cia-t…
Gevo Awarded Contract to Supply Jet Fuel to USAF
By Staff Writers, SPX, Oct 20, 2011
http://www.biofueldaily.com/reports/Gevo_Awar…
[SEPP Comment: $54 a gallon for kerosene with a few inexpensive additives, who says the Pentagon doesn’t know how to spend money!]
Looks to be an entertaining week in Santa Fe – wish I could attend.
In the middle of Anasazi country, it would be pertinent for participants in paleoclimate sessions to note the fate of the “ancient ones” due to climate change far more extreme than today. The pueblo cultures that settled along the Rio Grande near Santa Fe were the climate refugees of the MWP/LIA extremes.
Just sayin’
SOLUTION TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND POWER CRISIS
(Reward NRs. 100,000/= One Lakh to First who can prove wrong) Dr. Dev Bahadur Dongol
(In The Rising Nepal: Overturning Global Warming; 25 June 2009 and Don’t Blame Gases For Green House Effect; 24 September 2009 and By Mark W. Hendrickson; Don’t Treat Co2 As A Pollutant, 25 June 2009)
What we know
a. Related to climate change – CLIMATE CHANGE DUE TO GASES IS IMPOSSIBLE: SOLUTION TO Climate Change
1. Green house is made using transparent solid materials – plastics or glasses. We cannot build a structure using fluids. So gases can’t form a green house, thus no GHE due to gases.
2. The higher the altitude our climatic atmosphere, troposphere, is colder.
3. At 30,000 feet Ozonosphere is minus 58 degree centigrade.
4. Heat transmission – always higher to lower temp. Heat reached upper region of the troposphere cannot come back to hotter places below.
5. Fluids (liquids and gases) by convection method of heat transmission deliver heat from hotter to colder zone. Thus air helps the earth to cool down. This process goes on all the time nonstop but the process is not good enough to cool down the sun heated earth as the gases carry least amount of heat.
6. Troposphere is a homogenous mixture of gases, not layered. As the air of the atmosphere is always moving up and down, to and fro, the freely moving molecules can’t be layered. Had it been layered co2 would be at the bottom of the atmosphere i.e. just above the earth’s surface. Then we are dead. We need o2 to be alive.
7. Air is a perfect transparent medium after space. It does not reflect light so we don’t see air. Opaque materials reflect light so we see them. If the air is opaque? We wouldn’t need eyes. So there is no way for gases in the higher altitude to send heat back.
8. Closed room gets heated uniformly but upper part is warmer as hot air goes up. So if GHE due to gases were possible our atmosphere would be hotter at higher altitude.
9. a. It becomes cold immediately when it rains. b. Annual frequency of rain is decreasing. Reduced frequency of nature’s effective cooling system, the rain cycle, is causing the ‘global warming’. Or, it could not be cooler as it would with more rain.
10. Rain cycle is related to heat and evaporation only and no other factors. Rain can occur without plants; though it lets water to go in the atmosphere by transpiration and hold water on earth by not allowing soil to dry quickly as surface without plants. Evaporation for regular rain cycle can’t be from sea, lakes or rivers (4 billion yrs on not warm enough) but from land surface. Why not more rain cycle nowadays? Warmer, sea surface area and temp increasing (favorable for evaporation)? Half portion of the earth is always exposed to the sun and they do not vary temp seasonally as land surface does daily. Human settlement is reducing evaporation from land areas by covering it with houses, roads, pavements etc; deserts, and deforestation etc. Evaporation of water can deliver maximum quantity of heat and reduce the temperature. So rain cycle needs new explanation.
11. Land surface changes temperature even on daily basis – hot during day time and cold during night (or seasonally as well) unlike sea or lakes or river water (they are almost consistent even in 4 billion years).
Thus global warming or climate change due to gases is impossible. No one has explained the reason nor can be explained scientifically. Instead of warming, gases are cooling the earth by convection method of heat transmission naturally and man has no control over the process.
Causes and solution: by keeping land surface areas always wet as used to be in old days, the evaporation of water will be consistent and thus rain cycle will be regular. It is an easy job for mankind now and it is possible only till we have snow on mountains. At the end of holy festival we always had rain (in the evening). Covering of land surface areas by human is reducing the evaporation. We are doing this mistake because we studied that rain cycle occurs from the evaporation of water from sea or lakes or rivers. Regular rain means colder weather, snow on mountains, rich vegetation/ balanced ecosystem, recharging ground water and eventually reducing sea water level. Climate change problems are all related to water or rain cycle. Without regular rain cycle problems related to water can’t be solved.
Conclusion: Thus it can be concluded that we have climate change because we are studying the process of rain cycle wrong way scientifically.
b. SOLUTION TO POWER CRISIS (we cannot blame water)
(New Ways to Harness Hydropower; The rising Nepal, 2009 March 14 and धेरै सस्तोमा जलविद्द्युत; गोरखापत्र, २३ जेष्ठ २०६६)
We can harness many times more hydropower from already installed hydropower installations by adding more turbines in series. The application of standing still water column to running water condition has been a blunder in hydropower engineering. At present we are harnessing minimum hydropower. In a standing still water column pressure effect of the water column varies according to the height. But in a running water column the pressure effect is uniform throughout the water column (Bernoulli Theory). Therefore by installing multiple turbines in series we can run all of them uniformly. (See demonstrations).
Demonstration: water meter is a miniature form of turbine. We can install many of them in series and run all of them uniformly. We use force of gravitation to run water in hydropower. So it is more appropriate to say g-power than say hydropower. We cannot reduce nor block nor shift force of gravitation; it is always there at a given point. The series connection of turbines is also applicable with thermal power-plants (fossil fuels or nuclear) as they use steam, a fluid to drive turbines.
Dr. Dev Bahadur Dongol email: dev.dangol@yahoo.co.uk Mobile-9841 647 393
Resi: 4 25 30 45 Shahid Shukra Galli, House no.24 Teku , Kathmandu – 12
Blog: devbahadurdongol.blogspot.com
Gevo Awarded Contract to Supply Jet Fuel to USAF
By Staff Writers, SPX, Oct 20, 2011
http://www.biofueldaily.com/reports/Gevo_Awar…
[SEPP Comment: $54 a gallon for kerosene with a few inexpensive additives, who says the Pentagon doesn’t know how to spend money!]
===========
Granted, that when the USAF intends to control an airspace, birds won’t even fly.
How does this “green” fuel affect performance ?
Challenge to IPCC / UNFCCC, SHAME ON YOU
Solution to CC and Power crisis
Dear Dr. Pachauri and Mr. Algore,
Please give me either one scientific reason/ theory that justifies CC is due to gases OR STOP ACCUSING GASES for CC. Just accusation is not science. CC by gases is impossible. Please visit devbahadurdongol.blogspot.com for solutions to CC and ‘power crisis’. Summary is attached for your convenience. I have also explained the mistake being done in the hydropower engineering and, its correction can give us unlimited hydropower.
Challenger,
Dr. Dev
Ken, I saw you and Fred Singer in person at the VA-SEEE forum at VCU a couple of weekends ago. It was the first time I had seen any of the people who I’ve been following in the blogs for a couple of years. Thanks for your presentation and the work you do.
At the end of the year, I suggest that SEPP produce a summary of the top ten (or whatever) items favorable to the contrarian cause. For instance, the revelation that the IPCC had misused Bayesian statistics to overestimate climate sensitivity, the production of the W3 report on renewables by a WWF employee, etc. This might make a newsworthy press release.
Such a year-end top-ten list should become a regular annual event.