Release of CRU files forge a new hockey stick reconstruction

20 11 2009

It seems no matter where you look, “hockey stick” shapes pop out of data related to climate. Today, the most extraordinary day in climate science seen in quite some time, was no exception.

And, the day is not over. But honestly I’m too tired to continue. Thus I’m going to present the dataset gleaned today in raw form, but without the final endpoint. There’s no smoothing nor splicing of dissimilar datasets, but granted it is not a complete dataset. I’ll have complete data tomorrow.

Readers will recognize that even though the endpoint has not been established, the conclusion from the graph is clear. We are living in times of extraordinary data, never before seen. It’s accelerating, and worse than we thought. Read the rest of this entry »





Breaking News Story: CRU has apparently been hacked – hundreds of files released

19 11 2009

UPDATE: Response from CRU in interview with another website, see end of this post.

The details on this are still sketchy, we’ll probably never know what went on. But it appears that University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit has been hacked and many many files have been released by the hacker or person unknown.

UPDATED: Original image was for Met Office – corrected This image source: www.cru.uea.ac.uk

I’m currently traveling and writing this from an airport, but here is what I know so far: Read the rest of this entry »





2009 Weblog awards – nominations open

6 11 2009

Well, it is that time of year again. Blog awards. Time to honor your favorites in many categories.

2009_weblog_awards

The way it works is that we start with nominations. The blogs that get the most nominations wins a spot in the voting contest. From then on it’s a horse race to see how many blog readers can vote once each day to determine the winner.

Last year, WUWT won “Best Science Blog”. I certainly didn’t expect it. Neither did many others. It made a few people angry. It was funny to watch.

This year, I’m feeling that Steve McIntyre’s Climate Audit is more deserving of that award than WUWT for two reasons. Read the rest of this entry »





Weather Balloon Challenge – WUWT reaches far and wide – we can win

1 11 2009

This contest from DARPA caught my eye because it involves weather balloons, the Internet, and social networking. WUWT is poised to help due to our reach, and because we have lots of keen eyed surfacestations.org volunteers with GPS and cameras.
darpa_balloon

This prize would be enough money to put a full page ad about climate in a major media outlet. Or, all balloon locators could equally split the winnings with me as facilitator. All you have to do is locate the weather balloons and get the lat/lon to me. The idea of this contest is to use social networking to locate them and win. Once the balloons are launched on December 5th, we have 9 days to find them. I think there’s a good chance WUWT readers can pull this off pretty quickly.

The way to do this (without tipping off competitors) is to post a notice in comments, saying you have a located one, and leave an email address where you can be contacted.

If WUWT readers think this is a good idea, I’ll register the website and we’ll give it a go. I also welcome strategies. My only question (which doesn’t seem to be delineated in the announcement) is how is DARPA going to label real balloons from regular red ones commonly available and used for promotions? I’ve sent them a query.

Here are the details: Read the rest of this entry »





New WUWT milestone: 2 million hits this month

1 11 2009

During the summer, numbers held steady. This month saw some significant growth. According to the stats, the hit counter reached 2 million about 10:18AM on the morning of October 31st.

Here’s the graph from the internal WordPress stats system. Raw data, not adjusted, directly measured.

WUWT_stats_Oct2009

WUWT statistics, visits by month, ending Oct 31st 2009 - click for larger image

As always, I think of this as a joint success. The readers, moderators, and contributors make this site what it is. I couldn’t do it alone.

You all have my sincere thanks for being an active part of this success. Because of that shared success, I always like to share good news.

- Anthony





Monckton on Glenn Beck Today

30 10 2009

http://anhonestclimatedebate.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/monckton.jpg?w=128&h=198You won’t want to miss Lord Christopher Monckton (Former advisor to UK Prime Minister Thatcher) on Glenn Beck  – Today Friday, October 30th!

Monckton as many WUWT readers know, is a prominent skeptic and has been making presentations around the USA at college campuses, similar to what Al Gore does. Monckton recently criticized the Copenhagen Treaty and the potential for President Obama to sign it as possibly ceding US sovereignty to the UN on the issue.

Times below:

Read the rest of this entry »





New WUWT feature: World Climate Widget

18 10 2009

I’ve been thinking about this for months, and finally put it together today. This experimental free sidebar widget for blogs uses the UAH temperature data as well as the Mauna Loa CO2 data combined with SWPC solar information.

world_climate_widget_full
Above: Demo image – don’t use this one

Read on for how to get the widget for your blog or website. Read the rest of this entry »





Of note – WUWT on WordPress top posts

18 10 2009

Apparently there’s a lot of interest in inverted proxy cum hockey stick data. WUWT’s post…

IQ Test: Which of these is not upside down?

…placed second overall on WordPress blogs worldwide, even beating CNN. The only post higher rated with traffic was WordPress own internal announcement post about Twitter (which every blogger sees when they login).

BOTD-101809

Citation: http://www.webcitation.org/5kckhZ0qi

In WordPress perspective, as they list on their main page: Read the rest of this entry »





Live Streaming links for Climate Movie: Not Evil, Just Wrong

18 10 2009

Stream of Conscience: Not Evil Just Wrong to Stream Live, for Free, Over Internet This Sunday. Here’s the trailer video:

In this movie, you’ll see Dr. James Hansen refuse to say Steve McIntyre’s name, among other things.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Fewer than 50 hours from the 8 pm EDT Sunday launch of Not Evil Just Wrong — set to be the world’s largest simultaneous film premiere party in history — the documentary’s co-creators today announced options for people across the globe to watch it FREE over the internet. Live links follow. Read the rest of this entry »





Tsunami Watch for Hawaii – cancelled

29 09 2009

From CNN An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 struck in the Samoan Islands region Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Samoan_earthquake

The temblor generated a nearly 10-foot (3-meter) tsunami — measured from crest to trough — according to preliminary data, said Chip McCreery, the director of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Ewa Beach, Hawaii.

BULLETIN
TSUNAMI MESSAGE NUMBER 2
NWS PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER EWA BEACH HI
857 AM HST TUE SEP 29 2009

TO – CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE STATE OF HAWAII Read the rest of this entry »





MIRROR POSTING of Climate Audit Article on Yamal a “Divergence” problem

28 09 2009

Note this a mirrored posting of Steve McIntyre’s Climate Audit post. The Climate Audit Server is getting heavy traffic and is slow to load – here is the article exactly as he wrote it yesterday. -Anthony

Yamal: A “Divergence” Problem

by Steve McIntyre on September 27th, 2009

The second image below is, in my opinion, one of the most disquieting images ever presented at Climate Audit.

Two posts ago, I observed that the number of cores used in the most recent portion of the Yamal archive at CRU was implausibly low. There were only 10 cores in 1990 versus 65 cores in 1990 in the Polar Urals archive and 110 cores in the Avam-Taymir archive. These cores were picked from a larger population – measurements from the larger population remain unavailable.

One post ago,
I observed that Briffa had supplemented the Taymir data set (which had a pronounced 20th century divergence problem) not just with the Sidorova et al 2007 data from Avam referenced in Briffa et al 2008, but with a Schweingruber data set from Balschaya Kamenka (russ124w), also located over 400 km from Taymir.

Given this precedent, I examined the ITRDB data set for potential measurement data from Yamal that could be used to supplement the obviously deficient recent portion of the CRU archive (along the lines of Brifffa’s supplementing the Taymir data set.) Hantemirov and Shiyatov 2002 describe the Yamal location as follows: Read the rest of this entry »





Another small milestone for WUWT

25 09 2009

2x10^7Back on March 15th, 2009,  I was amazed to find that WUWT hit 10 million on the internal WordPress hit counter.

I started the WUWT blog in late November of 2006, and it took me over two years to get there

Now just six months later, I’m amazed again: Read the rest of this entry »





Busting the science paywall – support for public access to research swells – you can get involved

23 09 2009
NIST-stone-wall

Paywall of Science? The stone test wall at NIST - click for details

As many WUWT readers are aware, I have often complained about the issues surrounding access to research papers, especially when they are accompanied by a broad press release campaign but there is no access given to the scientific paper itself. One of the worst recent examples of this was the Kaufman et al paper, which in the press release from the University of Colorado, contained a serious error, saying “…the cooling trend reversed in the mid-1990s.” when it should have said “the cooling trend reversed in the 20th century.”. Having no access to the science paper connected to the press release,  it led me to write an article refuting the mid 1990’s claim. After many WUWT readers pointed out that the press release might very well be wrong, and at my prodding of the CU press office, the press release error has since been corrected by the University of Colorado, they never caught it themselves. But, the issue remains: why are journalists expected to use press releases but are not given open access to the papers themselves? From my perspective, this is simply wrong. Many others think the same, and a groundswell is developing.

Via Eurekalert: 57 college presidents declare support for public access to publicly funded research in the US

Washington, DC – The Presidents of 57 liberal arts colleges in the U.S., representing 22 states, have declared their support for the Federal Research Public Access Act (S. 1373) in an Open Letter released today. The letter is the first from higher education administrators to be issued in support of the 2009 bill, and further reinforcement that support for the Act exists at the highest levels of the higher education community. The presidents’ letter notes, “Adoption of the Federal Research Public Access Act will democratize access to research information funded by tax dollars. It will benefit of education, research, and the general public.”

The Federal Research Public Access Act (FRPAA), introduced in June by Senators Lieberman (I-CT) and Cornyn (R-TX), is a bi-partisan measure to ensure online public access to the published results of research funded through eleven U.S. agencies. The bill would require that journal articles stemming from publicly funded research be made available in an online repository no later than six months after publication.

The full text of the letter reads:

Open letter from liberal arts college presidents supporting the Federal Research Public Access Act of 2009 Read the rest of this entry »





Agricultural pioneer and climate skeptic – Dr. Norman Borlaug

13 09 2009
http://www.achievement.org/achievers/bor0/photos/bor0-001a.gif

Dr. Norman Borlaug - Photo: Academy of Achievement

Renowned agricultural scientist Dr. Norman Borlaug has died at the age of 95. Borlaug, known as the father of the “Green Revolution” for saving over a billion people from starvation by utilizing pioneering high yield farming techniques, is one of only five people in history who has been awarded a Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Congressional Gold Medal.

For more details on Borlaug’s life and accomplishments see CNN’s report here. Also here is a Gregg Easterbrook article on Borlaug’s life and career.

From the Wikipedia page on Borlaug:

During the mid-20th century, Borlaug led the introduction of these high-yielding varieties combined with modern agricultural production techniques to Mexico, Pakistan, and India. As a result, Mexico became a net exporter of wheat by 1963. Between 1965 and 1970, wheat yields nearly doubled in Pakistan and India, greatly improving the food security in those nations. These collective increases in yield have been labeled the Green Revolution, and Borlaug is often credited with saving over a billion people from starvation. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 in recognition of his contributions to world peace through increasing food supply. Read the rest of this entry »





More rubbish from 60 Minutes tonight. “The Age of Megafires”

6 09 2009

Right on cue, CBS news 60 minutes is expected link the recent California fires to “global warming”. Never mind that the fire was caused by arson, or that the area hadn’t burned in 40-60 years, leading up to a collection of dry dead underbrush which is part of the natural fire cycle. Never mind that La Nina made for a dry couple of years exacerbating the problem. Never mind that we get fires in California about this time every year. No, its the “Age of Megafires”:

CBS_megafires

THE AGE OF MEGAFIRESGlobal warming is increasing the intensity and number of forest fires across the American West. Scott Pelley goes to the fire line to report. David Gelber and Joel Bach are the producers. Watch a preview http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=5285410n

UPDATE: WUWT reader Jason writes to tell us that this story is a rerun, and originally aired in 2007. See it here. I’ll bet the intro will mention the California fires though. They may have even “freshened up” the report a bit for the current situation. Read the rest of this entry »





Twitter Added

5 09 2009

http://jaksview3.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/twitter-logo.png?w=178&h=178

I’ve gotten some requests for Twitter to be added to WUWT, and I’ve done so. See it on the right sidebar.

The name to follow is wattsupwiththat

Just click the FOLLOW TWITTER ON WUWT link.

I’ll see how it goes.





National Association of Wheat Growers reverses policy on climate change – opposes EPA regulation

4 09 2009

From DTN News: NAWG Reverses Policy on Climate Change
(
story link here)


A statement Friday from Karl Scronce, National Association of Wheat Growers president and a wheat producer from Klamath Falls, Ore.:

“The NAWG Board of Directors met this morning via conference call and voted 26 to 2 to approve a new resolution regarding greenhouse gas regulation. The Board also voted 24 to zero to remove existing resolutions relating to greenhouse gas regulation and an agriculture cap-and-trade program.

“The new resolution reads: Read the rest of this entry »





Opportunity knocks

27 08 2009

As many WUWT readers may have noticed, there’s a small advertising box on the sidebar for the journal “Energy & Environment”. This represents a first for WUWT, in that I’ve decided to accept a dedicated advertisement for a journal on a trial basis. It is also a first for E&E.

ee-advert

I did this for three reasons:

1) E&E published Steve McIntyre’s and Ross McKittrick’s groundbreaking paper, Corrections to the Mann et al. (1998) proxy data base and northern hemispheric average temperature series., after they were rejected by numerous other journals. Those rejections seemed to be political in nature since M&M’s work has withstood many criticisms, and the effect has been seen in the IPCC’s distancing their most recent report from Michael Mann’s “hockey stick”. For an excellent summary on the entire affair, please read Bishop Hill’s Caspar and the Jesus Paper. E&E has taken a lot of criticism for publishing M&M and it seems to me that the journal should be rewarded for having the courage to do so in the face of “consensus” at the time.

2) In addition to publishing on climate related issues, E&E also publishes extensively on alternate energy research. I’m a fan of both research and applications of viable alternate energy solutions (see my about page ) as are many WUWT readers, so from my perspective E&E is a twofer.

3) I think some WUWT contributors might find E&E a place to publish some of the works they have put forward here, in the harshest peer review environment of all; the online scrutiny of thousands. Introducing E&E here is a first step. Here is some recent content you can browse.

Bill Hughes, the publisher of E&E, has a short message below in which he outlines an exceptional offer being made to readers of WUWT. Please take a moment to have a look. – Anthony

Message from the Publisher Read the rest of this entry »





Reader poll results: Chamber of Commerce -vs- EPA on CO2

26 08 2009

Related to our story on the US Chamber of Commerce challenging the EPA on CO2, we asked this question:

Do you support the idea of putting “global warming” on trial with the EPA?

After getting over 2200 responses over two days, I’ve closed the poll. Here are the results:

Read the rest of this entry »





Burt Rutan: engineer, aviation/space pioneer, and now, active climate skeptic

16 08 2009
Burt_Rutan_large

Burt Rutan - aviation pioneer, engineer, test pilot, climate skeptic. Note the car.

Recently after some conversations with a former chemical engineer who provided me with some insight, I’ve come to the conclusion that many engineers have difficulty with many of the premises of AGW theory because in their “this has to work or people die” world of exacting standards, the AGW argument doesn’t hold up well by their standards of performance.

Today I was surprised to learn that one of the foremost and world famous engineers on the planet, Burt Rutan, has become an active climate skeptic. You may be familiar with some of Rutan’s work through his company, Scaled Composites:
Click here to learn about X-Prize flight #1Click here to learn about X-prize flight 2

Thanks to WUWT reader Dale Knutsen, I was provided a PowerPoint file recently by email presented by Mr. Rutan at the Oshkosh fly-in convention on  July 29th, 2009 and again on August 1st, 2009. It has also now been posted online by an associate of Mr. Rutan’s. Read the rest of this entry »