Cleaned 12/09/11
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Hi Anthony, here’s a question for you: when you were replicating the “Cookie Jar” experiment, where did you get the temperature transducers for that EM4 unit? Are they the “heavy duty temperature probe” that Sensatronics sells on their website? Thanks.
It’s not climate related, but it’s interesting science.
Tweaking a gene makes muscles twice as strong. New avenue for treating muscle degeneration in people who can’t exercise.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111121104509.htm
@jerry yes, those but with the NIST calibration certificate we also sell them here at http://www.tempelert.com
Great Grape-ometers!
Story at InsideScience (http://www.insidescience.org/research/1-2381) from AGU.
Pinot Noir Grapes Reveal 700-Year Climate Record
“Yves Tourre, from the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, N.Y. and the French meteorological service, Meteo-France, in Toulouse, presented research on the significance of a nearly 700-year record of pinot noir grape harvest dates to an audience of climate scientists Tuesday during a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco.”
T.J. Rogers, founder and ceo of Cypress Semiconductor, wrote an op-ed that ran in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal and is at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204903804577082631863392956.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_emailed
It may be paywalled. In his article, he follows the money trail in the home pv solar cell industry. We already know that the jobs are in China. Wall Street makes money on the financing and the homeowner ends up with electricity rates hat are slightly below market. We the happy tax payers subsidize the whole thing to save the world and create “green jobs” in China. Total scam.
Please excuse if this is a double post but My first try at posting didn’t yield a result.
T.J. Rogers, founder and ceo of Cypress Semiconductor, wrote an op-ed that ran in Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal and is at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204903804577082631863392956.html?mod=WSJ_hp_mostpop_emailed
It may be paywalled. In his article, he follows the money in the home pv solar cell industry. We already know that the jobs are in China. Wall Street makes money on the financing and the homeowner ends up with electricity rates hat are slightly below market. Total scam.
An improvement in matrix multiplication… because someone repeated a known method eight times, instead of giving up after two or three cycles. This does not speak well for how thoroughly scientists examine research results.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21255-key-mathematical-tool-sees-first-advance-in-24-years.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news
Hi Anthony,
I just came across this – there seems to be a climate conference somewhere in the world I guess
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3987388/Polar-bear-devours-cub.html
First, I’m a third party who happened to notice this information. I believe some readers of WUWT will be good candidates for the position. The opportunity may be separately posted elsewhere by the government, but this RFQ is only available through the GSA eBuy site to my knowledge.
Job posting:
Our government at work:
The GSA has posted a requirement for a field research scientist (Geologist) to find and analyze charcoal for paleoclimate research. The posting is suited to an employee of a company with an established PES or LOGWORLD contract (with GSA). Anyone interested should see if their employer has one or both of those contracts, and they employer should know how to access the RFQ and pull down the statement of work (PWS–yes, PWS, go figure).
RFQ ID: RFQ639692
RFQ Title: Scientist Category: 70: 132 51 , 736: 736 5 , 899: 899 1 , 871: 871 2
RFQ Issue Date: 12/09/2011 12:27:03 PM EST Contact: JUDY DAVIS
Department of the Interior
Reply to and questions to: jmdavis[insertsymbolhere]usgs.gov
RFQ Close Date: 12/14/2011 01:00:00 PM EST (Time Remaining: 4D 23H 44M)
Delivery: Period of performance: 01/01/2012 through 12/31/2012 (PWS and award will supersede).
Description: Full time employee, 40 hours a week, Monday to Friday excluding Holidays. (Five years, actually.)
Buyer Documents: Performance based physical scientist.doc
Quote ID: RFQ639692-XXX
“The USGS Geology and Geophysics Science Center has been conducting research related to Holocene environmental change in both western North America and Central America and comparing them with other paleoclimate records and proxies to improve our understanding of regional and extra-regional climate dynamics and drivers. These records will document the natural variability inherent to these ecosystems over the last 1,000 – 10,000 years. This research will also provide information on changes in fire frequency and intensity over time. In particular, we will evaluate how fire regimes have changed over last few centuries and millennia under a changing climate regime.
[...]physical scientist specialized in analysis of fossil charcoal records to assist with research on the climatic and ecosystem history of Guatemala and the western United States.”
Correction on the GSA posting, may not matter to anyone, but just in case:
Professional Engineering Services and
Information Technology Professional Services,
not LOGWORLD.
Our friend James Hansen has a new study out.
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/rapid-change-feature.html#
First paragraph:
New research into the Earth’s paleoclimate history by NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies director James E. Hansen suggests the potential for rapid climate changes this century, including multiple meters of sea level rise, if global warming is not abated.
Andrew Weaver confirms his colours:
http://www.timescolonist.com/business/Victoria+climate+scientist+endorses+leadership+candidate/5831966/story.html
Canadian government wimps:
http://www.timescolonist.com/business/credible+information+support+green+claims+from+oilsands+says/5837380/story.html
Following on from the BBC ‘global warming causes polar bear cannibalism’ story, here’s a link to someone who has found an old kids book (from 1997) which says otherwise…
http://progcontra.blogspot.com/2011/12/polar-bear-cannibal-holocaust.html
Anthony, have you considered asking Jonathan Jones to perhaps revise/expand his recent post at Bishop Hill for a guest article here?? Or maybe it’s perfect as it is, I thought this was a very powerful statement on behalf of integrity and rigor in science, in the face of so much dubious behavior from The Team:
http://www.bishop-hill.net/blog/2011/12/2/tim-barnett-on-the-hockey-stick.html
Richard, I can’t answer for our host, but you have to remember why some of us got involved in the climate wars in the first place.
For me this has never really been about climate itself. I don’t find climate partcularly interesting; it’s one of those worthy but tedious branches of science which under normal circumstances I would happily leave to other people who like that sort of thing. My whole involvement has always been driven by concerns about the corruption of science.
Like many people I was dragged into this by the Hockey Stick. I was looking up some minor detail about the Medieval Warm Period and discovered this weird parallel universe of people who apparently didn’t believe it had happened, and even more bizarrely appeared to believe that essentially nothing had happened in the world before the twentieth century. The Hockey Stick is an extraordinary claim which requires extraordinary evidence, so I started reading round the subject. And it soon became clear that the first extraordinary thing about the evidence for the Hockey Stick was how extraordinarily weak it was, and the second extraordinary thing was how desperate its defenders were to hide this fact. I’d always had an interest in pathological science, and it looked like I might have stumbled across a really good modern example.
You can’t spend long digging around the Hockey Stick without stumbling across other areas of climate science pathology. The next one that really struck me was the famous Phil Jones quote: “Why should I make the data available to you, when your aim is to try and find something wrong with it”. To any practising scientist that’s a huge red flag. Sure we all feel a bit like that on occasion, but to actually say something like that in an email is practically equivalent to getting up on a public platform and saying “I’m a pathological scientist, and I’m proud.”
Rather naively I initially believed that Phil Jones was just having a bad day and had said something really stupid. Surely he couldn’t really think that was acceptable? And surely his colleagues would deal with him? But no, it turned out that this apalling quote was only the most quotable of several other remarks, and he really was trying to hide his data from people who might (horror of horrors) want to check his conclusions.
That’s when I got involved in my FOI request. And consequently got exposed to the full horror of “big climate”, as clear an example of politicised and pathological science as I have ever seen. And then came Climategate 2009, and “hide the decline”. All downhill from there.
When will I be done with climate? Quite simply when it stops being a pathological science and starts acting according to the normal rules and conventions of scientific discourse. At that point I will, I’m afraid, simply lose interest in the whole business, and leave it to the experts to get on with their stuff, just as I leave most of the rest of science to the appropriate experts.
To put it another way, I will be done with climate once I can trust that Richard Betts can be left to do good work on his own. I absolutely trust you to get on with doing good stuff under normal circumstances. But I’m afraid I don’t trust you to do good work under current pathological conditions, because you don’t stand up against the all too obvious stench emanating from some of your colleagues.
For me the Hockey Stick was where it began, and probably where it will end (and I will daringly suggest that the same thing might be true for our host). The Hockey Stick is obviously wrong. Everybody knows it is obviously wrong. Climategate 2011 shows that even many of its most outspoken public defenders know it is obviously wrong. And yet it goes on being published and defended year after year.
Do I expect you to publicly denounce the Hockey Stick as obvious drivel? Well yes, that’s what you should do. It is the job of scientists of integrity to expose pathological science, and it is especially the job of scientists in closely related fields. You should not be leaving this to random passing NMR spectroscopists who have better things to do. But I’m afraid I no longer expect you to do so. The opportune moment has, I think, passed. And that is why, even though we are all delighted to have you here, and all enjoy what you have to say, some of us get a trifle tetchy from time to time.
You ask us to judge you by AR5, and in many ways that is a reasonable request. Many of us will judge it by the handling of paleoclimate, not because this is all that important an aspect of the science, but rather because it is a litmus test of whether climate scientists are prepared to stand up against the bullying defenders of pathology in their midst. So, Richard, can I look forward to returning back to my proper work on the application of composite rotations to the performance of error-tolerant unitary transformations? Or will we all be let down again?
Dec 3, 2011 at 6:11 PM | Unregistered Commenter Jonathan Jones
Forbes: 12/07/2011
Climategate’s Michael Mann Channels His Inner Palpatine
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamestaylor/2011/12/07/climategates-michael-mann-channels-his-inner-palpatine/
“The ongoing Climategate scandal, including 5,000-plus Climategate 2 emails released two weeks ago, reveals prominent global warming advocates acknowledging flaws in the theory that humans are causing dramatic climate change, coordinating efforts to hide such flaws, coordinating efforts to misrepresent scientific data, coordinating efforts to destroy evidence of these inconvenient truths, and coordinating efforts to blackball or induce the firing of scientists and editors of peer-reviewed science journals who publish evidence contradicting the alarmist storyline. The most important revelation from the Climategate scandals is that global warming scientist-activists are misrepresenting the scientific data regarding global warming. The second most important revelation is that scientist-activists are waging a brutal and dirty war of personal and professional destruction against skeptical scientists who disagree with them.
“Make no mistake, the scientific misconduct revealed in the Climategate emails is severe and undeniable. The Climategate scientist-activists openly acknowledge substantial scientific evidence that contradicts their theories, then work to together to hide that evidence from the public.”
Though not about climate, or even climategate, but it seems so parallel to what WUWT has pointing out for years about science, the media, and academics and it seems it is now happening with the Pentagon too. There’s a “the Team” in Congress, doing the same shady manipulations as climategate’s “Team”.
Bit off topic but the parallelism gave me déjà vu and shows the corruption runs deep.
http://dailycaller.com/2011/12/09/the-most-disgraceful-episode-in-media-military-relations-since-vietnam/
The 14th RGGI auction was this week. All in all, it wasn’t exciting enough to warrant writing a full post on it. 63% of the the available allowances sold, a lot more than I expected. It may be that power producers have decided there will be plenty of allowances and are adopting a just-in-time plan. The last quarterly auction only 18% sold. This was the last auction for the 2009-2011 control period.
No allowances for the 2012-2014 control period sold. While not many have been offered, producers must be happy with what they have.
I’ve updated http://wermenh.com/rggiwatch/index.html with the results.
“Why the Haiti earthquake may not have been a natural disaster” (Independent):
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/why-the-haiti-earthquake-may-not-have-been-a-natural-disaster-6275044.html
“Deforestation and extreme weather may later cause earthquakes, scientists believe.”
To spread : a colleague of the IPCC’s Van Ypersele, at UCL (Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium), couldn’t take it any more, and has decided to go public, stating the science is not settled, and in fact seems to support the 0 hypothesis of natural cycles much better than the AGW one (not to mention catastrophic AGW). He adds that the political decisions taken, and threatening to be taken, are damaging. The tide is turning.
http://www.contrepoints.org/2011/12/10/59762-echec-du-sommet-climatique-de-durban-interview-exclusive-du-chimiste-istvan-marko
Australia
Gina Rinehart, a remarkable woman.
Rinehart’s lineage is from prospecting and industry. She has this article penned in regard to northern Australia and industry.
Gina Rinehart (Hancock Prospecting) and Cynthia Carroll (Anglo American) are women in the mining industry, who have spoken up, truthfully.
Rinehart, nothing reported in the media. Carroll, a small excerpt in the media reporting that she flew in from UK to discuss the mining tax with our PM, Gillard.
Resources the life raft in an economic storm
http://jonova.s3.amazonaws.com/guest/rinehart-gina/pages-from-all-text-&-Ads-v1_part1.pdf
source: http://joannenova.com.au/2011/12/influential-people-are-getting-the-message-gina-rinehart-explains-the-science-of-climate-change/
An interesting article on cognitive distortions.
Reads like the AGW Playbook.
http://psychcentral.com/lib/2009/15-common-cognitive-distortions/
You may wish to put an UPDATE to address the fake document issue in my post
A fake negotiating text was sent to delegates.
Monckton’s post addresses an actual earlier Durban negotiating text GE.11-71432 of 7 December 2011 # GE.11-71432. It is in Official Times Roman (not Ariel), the linked draft is for Dec. 7th, not Friday 10 December.”
The Economic Times affirms Monckton’s summary:
“World must cut CO2 by at least 50% by 2050, says UN draft” AGENCIES Dec 12, 2009, 02.02am IST
Latest draft # FCCC/AWGLCA/2011/CRP.39 9 December 2011 #GE.11-71576 at:
http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2011/awglca14/eng/crp39.pdf
GREENLAND GLOBAL WARMING CRISIS!
http://www.thestatecolumn.com/science/greenland-facing-crisis/
Woe, Greenland is rising because ice is melting. So far, one-quarter of an inch (0.6 cm) has been detected!
No mention of just what crisis is evolving and when. No mention of the difference between elastic isostatic rebound and later viscous flow. No mention of the fact that the Hudson Bay area has been rising since the last ice age, is currently rising at one centimeter annually and expected to continue to do so for another few thousands of years.
This news courtesy of “a team of scientists from Ohio State.” No mention of their credentials in geology.
Am I seeing things, or is the Norsex SSM/I of 12/9 now within 1 STD of the monthly average 1979-2006? Just wondering if the polar bears are still “warm”.
A Christmas gift to climate folks everywhere: http://climatelessons.blogspot.com/p/poetry-on-bishop-hill-christmas-2011.html, especially to the good guys.
Canadian media continues to catch on.
“Not only is the Kyoto Protocol technically flawed, the so-called science behind it is utter twaddle. Never mind complicated things like non-linear mathematics or, indeed, mathematics of any sort. The alarmists can’t possibly know how to predict the future of Earth’s climate because they can’t explain its past.”
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Features/2011/12/09/19102196.html
I know this paper is from 2005 and is paywalled, but I thought the abstract is quite funny considering the recent outburst concerning Morner in the spectater.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921818105000780
I just finished reading “Fallen Angels”, and something bothers me. That “something” is the rapid build-up of glaciers, supposedly well within a person’s lifetime. Perhaps you can show me a few links that will help me understand, or you (or another, more technical writer than I am) can write an article explaining it.
I started with a “small” continental glacier – 500mi x 1000 mi x 1mi. That gives me an approximate volume of 7.36 x 10^16 cubic feet. I converted that to cubic meters, and got 2.09×10^15 cubic meters. Accepting that the density of ice is 8/9 of that of water, I calculated a value of 1.85×10^15 cubic meters of ice, or 1.85 MILLION cubic kilometers. That’s one heck of a lot of water to be evaporated, transported, and deposited IN ONE PLACE, with no melting, evaporation, or transpiration. And that’s just for a northern Canada glacier. The glacier that covered Siberia was roughly 9000 miles long, and anywhere from 200 to 1100 miles wide, with parts as much as 2 miles thick.
I don’t see any way for such glaciers to build in less than a thousand years. There’s just not enough heat trapped in the oceans, and the amount coming from the sun would also not be enough – not with changes in albedo. If the sun were warm enough to evaporate that much water, it would be too warm for the glaciers to build.
What am I not seeing here? Remember, my math education was 45+ years ago, and I never got to Calculus (pesky problem with transposing numbers and signs…).
Mike Weatherford
Colorado Springs, CO
http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2011/12/college-subsidies-fuel-salaries.html
Subsidies tend to go towards increasing salaries, even in Climate Studies (it’s not really a science).
MSNBC.com is reporting the the Durban Accord has passed.
Sorry, I inadvertently posted this to your “contact’ address.
COP17
http://news.yahoo.com/climate-conference-approves-landmark-deal-014244802.html
“Talks descend into farce” (Telegraph):
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/8948755/Durban-climate-change-Talks-descend-into-farce.html
Fascists begin to totter …
“Hopes rise of breakthrough at crucial climate summit” (Independent):
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/hopes-rise-of-breakthrough-at-crucial-climate-summit-6275516.html
Fascists begin to prevail …
“Climate deal salvaged after marathon talks” (Guardian):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/dec/10/un-climate-change-summit-durban
Fascists jump for joy, everyone else prepares to die.
On the bright side “Britain likely to suffer from a double dose of severe weather next week” (Telegraph):
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/8948310/Britain-likely-to-suffer-from-a-double-dose-of-severe-weather-next-week.html
But nothing that won’t be blamed on mankind’s evilness, I’m sure.
Another depressing propaganda day in the British media.
“1,500 accidents and incidents on UK wind farms
The wind energy industry has admitted that 1,500 accidents and other incidents have taken place on wind farms over the past five years.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8948363/1500-accidents-and-incidents-on-UK-wind-farms.html
IJIS is now posting the F15 SSMI png files on their website. Not sure how long as I have not been to their site in about a month. I am just wondering if they are going to do calculations on the data and start adding to their graph that ended 10/3/2011 when their satellite failed.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/aug/17/brad-pitt-angelina-jolie-train
Whole train for himself?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ijf5fWo6kY
Great new resource, H/T the Daily Bayonet
http://churnalism.com/
Matches news stories to their source press releases.
Unfortunately, CNEWS is way outside the “Mainstream” of the Canadian media. The chances of that being picked up by the Big Few are minuscule.
Science Quiz at Christian Science Monitor …
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/1209/Are-you-scientifically-literate-Take-our-quiz/
[seen here]
1,500 accidents and incidents on UK wind farms
The wind energy industry has admitted that 1,500 accidents and other incidents have taken place on wind farms over the past five years.
By Edward Malnick and Robert Mendick
8:15AM GMT 11 Dec 2011
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/8948363/1500-accidents-and-incidents-on-UK-wind-farms.html
The following link to a brief text posted by Guardian correspondent in Durban seems like it may be the agreed text, or close to it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2011/dec/11/durban-climate-change-conference-2011-climate-change
http://tinyurl.com/br22mtj
Since there seems to be much speculation and MSM are doing their best to add analysis and commentary without providing what the text actually says, it may be worth checking out and posting.
regards
WaPo liberal Klein quotes “study” that “proves” warming is still growing exponentially…DJ
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/is-global-warming-slowing-down-a-new-study-says-no/2011/12/07/gIQAJdKucO_blog.html
Anthony, this deserves wider discussion imo
http://chiefio.wordpress.com/2011/12/10/liquid-co2-on-the-ocean-bottom/
The article on Andrew Weaver supporting an NDP candidate is oddly illustrated – the photo of Weaver is is in front of a banner of the competing Green Party (en Francais).
The newspaper also got the name of the well known city of Vancouver wrong in one place, and labeled the photo “Weaver is expected to endorse” whereas the headline and article say he already had.
Can they spell qwerlity? Do they even have a spell checker?
(http://www.timescolonist.com/business/Victoria+climate+scientist+endorses+leadership+candidate/5831966/story.html)
Yet another alternative energy scheme.
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Whitecourt+harvests+first+crop+waste+raised+willows/5842820/story.html
A town northwest of Edmonton AB is using sewage sludge to increase growth rate of willow and poplar trees that they harvest young to use as fuel for a power plant.
I’d like to see the full economic analysis on that, as growth only increased 30% (those trees grow well up there) and there are signficiant harvesting costs.
Another twist on the Polar Bears.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16081214
For Willis,
Here is a link to a decision of the DC court of appeals for Portland Cement v EPA. Perhaps it should have been entitled “How to make regulatory sausage”.
oops
http://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/22F878254A7E52F885257961005BCA9A/$file/10-1358-1346764.pdf
Yet another twist on polar bears. The frozen planet faked scenes of polar bears by using footage shot in Berlin Zoo. The UK’s Daily Mirror has a front page scoop and boy to they rip into the Beeb!
Ottawa’s carbon regulations may be unconstitutional
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2011/12/07/law-of-the-greenhouse/
Sorry, forgot the pertinent bit.
“Other commentators disagree. UBC law professors Shi-Ling Hsu and Robin Elliot see the problem of climate change as immediate and extremely serious, but do not find the directness required between the emissions of CO2 and the changing climate. This, along with the regulatory approach to cap and trade schemes, suggests to them that criminal law is not a likely candidate to uphold federal legislation.”
A locally written story on bat-mincers
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2011/dec/11/bat-deaths-mount-near-wind-farms/
Some surprisingly large numbers:
“In Canada and the United States, wind turbines are believed to kill an estimated 450,000 bats each year. While bird kills at wind farms get more publicity, bat deaths appear to outpace them.
“Prior to their carcasses showing up underneath wind turbines, we never saw this many dead on the ground before,” said Cryan, who has been studying bats for more than 20 years. “We’re still kind of in a state of shock.”
A ‘new’ finding:
THE SLATE COLUMN
Scientists: Greenland’s land rises as ice melts
The State Column | Staff | Sunday, December 11, 2011
A new study released Friday finds that Greenland has risen in recent years as the rate of ice melting has increased, a startling revelation that scientists attribute to global warming.
http://www.thestatecolumn.com/science/ice-melt-greenland/
————-
Article:
Greenland Rising Rapidly as Ice Melts
LiveScience Staff
Date: 18 May 2010 Time: 09:22 AM ET
The ice is melting so fast in Greenland that the giant island is rising noticeably as the weight is lifted. In some spots, the land is rising 1 inch per year.
http://www.livescience.com/6462-greenland-rising-rapidly-ice-melts.html
Under the weird news heading
Confirmation Bias can be a Real Killer
When I hear this on the radio today, I immediately though of all the confirmation bias and appeals to authority we see here at WUWT.
In Franklin NC a guy was struck by a car and ended up with massive head (and leg) injuries. A first at the scene paramedic declared the guy dead.
A second EMS unit arrived and after talking to the first paramedic decided not to examine the “body”
An additional two rescue people arrived and also did not bother to examine the “Body”
About a half hour after this three ring circus, the NC medical examiner (a licensed physician) examined the “Body” while two fireman held the tarp shielding the body from view.
The family sued and was awarded over $1.5 million dollars.
In More recent news (today on the radio) the case was appealed and because these were government employees preforming a government function the law suit was over turned in favor of the government employees.
Think about it. At least FIVE people with medical training including a doctor were biased because of the paramedics initial findings. Two people, a fire fighter and a paramedic question the finding but are overidden by the Doctor who seems to treat the questioning with contempt.
One wonders how many living people have ended up in the morgue by mistake and died there.
Here is another one: http://blog.lawinfo.com/2011/07/27/man-declared-dead-wakes-up-screaming-in-morgue-can-he-sue/
It appears that science is expecting a progress report on the search for the ‘God’ particle. (perhaps the ‘Deiton’ ??)
The New York Times
Science
Physicists Anxiously Await New Data on ‘God Particle’
Published: December 11, 2011
“High noon is approaching for the biggest manhunt in the history of physics. At 8 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday morning, scientists from CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research, are scheduled to give a progress report on the search for the Higgs boson — infamously known as the “God particle” — whose discovery would vindicate the modern theory of how elementary particles get mass.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/12/science/physicists-anxiously-await-news-of-the-god-particle.html
Just after Durban, Earth Day in reverse:
http://www.vg.no/nyheter/innenriks/artikkel.php?artid=10040571
Best regards,
Bebben, Norway
Anthony
There was a comment in an Australian newspaper that mentioned some German scientists who presented to the Durban conference. It said they forecast temperature increases of 3.5 degrees centigrade. Was this work peer reviewed? Any views by sceptics on the German “work”.
Sediment cores from the Dead Sea reveal that the water body may once have completely dried up, researchers say. The discovery raises fears the sea could vanish again.
It looks like some climate models need to be adjusted!
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/12/111208-dead-sea-bible-biblical-salt-dry-science/?source=link_fb20111211news-deadseadisasterrecord
Wind leading to congestion
It’s a problem in some states
http://www.energybiz.com/article/11/12/wind-leading-congestion&utm_medium=eNL&utm_campaign=EB_DAILY2&utm_term=Original-Member
“Wind generation is contributing to congestion in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, affecting both the Midwest Independent Transmission System Operator (MISO) and the PJM Interconnection.
It is a problem that is only beginning to manifest on the electric grid, but may lead to significant congestion if not addressed, according to panelists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) congestion study workshop held in Philadelphia on Dec. 6. The workshop is the first of four the DOE will hold to inform its 2012 national electric transmission congestion study”.
In what way was the Pielke Jr thread “Unfair” in relation to any other thread on here?
From what I had time to read it and the comments did not appear unduly unfair.
Cornell University: “As climate change sets in, plants and bees keep pace”
ITHACA, N.Y. — No laggards, those bees and plants.
As warm temperatures due to climate change encroach winter, bees and plants keep pace.
An analysis of bee collection data over the past 130 years shows that spring arrives about 10 days earlier than in the 1880s, and bees and flowering plants have kept pace by arriving earlier in lock-step. The study also found that most of this shift has occurred since 1970, when the change in mean annual temperature has increased most rapidly, according to Bryan Danforth, Cornell professor of entomology, who co-authored a study published the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Dec. 5, 2011.)
http://www.pressoffice.cornell.edu/releases/release.cfm?r=62603
Out of curiosity, I wanted to learn more about who these writers are who are published often in my local paper warning of the perils of warming. So we find a man named Arthur Max from AP is a frequently used as a source. A Google on Mr. Max turns up very little. A short LinkedIn profile listing him as the Amsterdam bureau chief since the 1960′s, a Youtube video celebrating his retirement in October, and no other content except for a flurry of warming articles in Dec 2011 (mostly Durban coverage). So I wonder if this is a sham.
Pielke Junior on: The climate debate is ‘over’
Posted on December 12, 2011 by Anthony Watts
I have removed this guest post [by Shub Niggurath] because it has been brought to my attention that it is unfair and has caused inflamed reactions [especially in comments] that were unintended. It was my mistake for posting it without seeing this, and my decision to remove it. – Anthony Watts
Anthony: Somewhat confused here. I personally did not read the Shub Niggurath piece, as I felt it would be purely “political” commentary, either way.
But what does “Pielke Junior on: The climate debate is ‘over’ have to do with anything. Sort of a “non-sequitor” accidently put in with your (thoughtful) retraction?
Max
REPLY: It became clear to me that Shub hadn’t read the whole book, and was using parts of it to attack Pielke jr unfairly on an issue unrelated to the book. I didn’t see it that way in my first look at it, but in retrospect it was bad piece by Shub and it needs reworking – Anthony
Quote from President Obama’s interview: “I don’t control the weather.” Yeah, he was using weather as a metaphor, but it’s tempting….
Hi Anthony
Please excuse me if this information has been posted however I’m sure your regular readers (me included) would be intrigued to know how the WUWT google ranking has been affected by Climategate 2.
Thanks
This popped up on:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/story/2011-12-13/electric-bills/51840042/1?csp=34news
Electricity costs “skyrocket”. They didn’t even link to Obama’s video regarding necessarily skyrocketing energy costs. Nor is there a reference to alternative energy costs.
Canada withdrawing from Kyoto, says official
(Reuters) – Canada will formally withdraw from the Kyoto protocol on climate change, a government official told Reuters on Monday, making it the first nation to pull out of the global treaty.
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/12/12/us-kyoto-withdrawal-idUKTRE7BB1X420111212
This is former Australian Prime Minisiter John Howard promoting a book for school kids called “How to Get Expelled From School” which rejects the predominant scientific opinion on climate change and gives kids a series of questions to pose to supporters of global waming. It’s particularly interesting because when in power he supported an emissions trading scheme and he explains why even though he’s now come out as a sceptic (or at least a supporter of a sceptic)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-12-13/howard-lends-support-to-anti-climate-change-book/3727650/?site=sydney
Stephen Harper said he would do it, clearly and repeatedly. Then he got a conservative Majority government from the people of Canada, and the he did what he said he would do. A politician that stuck to his word against all the NGOs, the press and the consensus of the 7 ‘scientists’.
Canada is out of Kyoto.
“Kyoto is essentially a socialist scheme to suck money out of wealth-producing nations.”
“Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant.”
“Carbon dioxide which is a naturally occurring gas vital to the life cycles of this planet”
“This may be a lot of fun for a few scientific and environmental elites in Ottawa, but ordinary Canadians from coast to coast will not put up with what this will do to their economy and lifestyle”
“We can debate whether or not… CO₂ does or does not contribute to global warming. I think the jury is out.”
“My party’s position on the Kyoto Protocol is clear and has been for a long time. We will oppose ratification of the Kyoto Protocol and its targets. We will work with the provinces and others to discourage the implementation of those targets. And we will rescind the targets when we have the opportunity to do so”
“As economic policy, the Kyoto Accord is a disaster. As environmental policy it is a fraud”
Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada.
(The NGOs hate the Canadian government)
PS. The rest of you in the devolving world, keep banging the rock together.
Spot natural gas prices dipped to two-year low in November
http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=4130
“Spot natural gas prices at the Henry Hub in Erath, Louisiana fell to $2.83 per million British thermal units for delivery on November 24, 2011, the lowest price since November 17, 2009. Henry Hub is the benchmark location for key natural gas financial instruments on the New York Mercantile Exchange and the IntercontinentalExchange such as futures contracts, swaps, and options.”
“Environment Minister Peter Kent says Canada is withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol.
“We are invoking Canada’s legal right to formally withdraw from Kyoto,” Mr. Kent said outside the House of Commons Monday evening”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/canada-pulls-plug-on-kyoto-climate-change-accord/article2268432/
Had a thought concerning the oncoming cooling and ‘reduction of emissions’:
They claim CO2 is going to keep heating up the planet. However, the planet has begun to cool… I’m wondering if they are going to try to spin reductions in CO2 emissions by various countries, as having had the effect of cooling the planet? Completely ignoring the simple Fact that CO2 continues to climb. They’ll be hoping to slip that one past the public.
Maybe, maybe not, but I for one will be paying attention.
Anthony –
Have you done any posts on Traveling Wave Reactors? A post in National Review Online from December 9, 2011 led me to look into this. See: http://www.nationalreview.com/planet-gore/285424/american-innovation-alas-made-in-china-carl-shockley
It sounds like an interesting concept, especially to the extent that it relies on unprocessed uranium and other materials (e.g. thorium), instead of enriched uranium. Of course, with our ridiculous Federal nuclear bureaucracy, the guys developing this reactor (including Bill Gates) are taking their wares to China to find out if they would help develop and manufacture there. This is something, if workable, should and must be manufactured first in the U.S.
The Seattle area is experiencing the cool dry effects of a blocking high. I’m east of the Cascades and we have a cold fog. Lower elevations are grey, cold, and depressing. At a little higher elevation the sky is blue, the sun shines, and the frost sparkles. That’s where I am. Took some fantastic pictures today. Seattle story here:
http://www.komonews.com/weather/blogs/scott/What-La-Nina-December-sets-records-for-cold-and-dry-135463933.html
While Canada goes sane, the EU revels in looniness:
The 40-yr plan to gut EU’s economy (AKA decarbonize completely).
Nah. The contention that CO2 actually increases OLR enough to cool the planet will be confirmed, and the rationale for suppressing emissions will switch. The meme will switch smoothly to Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Cooling. Simples!
George Moonbat, inter alia, lays into Nils-Axel Mörner (Guardian):
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/12/britain-press-fighting-class-war
Poor, poor George, imagining that his ad homs have a thousandth part of the authority of statements from Dr. Mörner on sea levels.
Voyager I confirms enough electrical current potential at the heliopause to more than power the sun!! http://www.thunderbolts.info/wp/2011/12/08/voyager-1-updates-solar-electron-flux/
Doesn’t confirm an electric sun, but, knocks down a rather BIG argument against it, eg. no power source. Incidentally a rather surprising finding on its own!!
I’ve come to the conclusion that news organizations are taking cash for inserting global warming propaganda in their broadcasts (as prime time news). The money is probably coming from NGO’s and the trail will probably lead to those who produce the video snippets. Please keep an eye out for any examples or links between AGW proponents and video production companies.
http://translate.google.nl/translate?hl=nl&sl=nl&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.knmi.nl%2Fcms%2Fcontent%2F101978%2Fweeramateurs_helpen_knmi_bij_onderzoek_naar_stadsklimaat
Maybe this is interesting. Research by KNMI about the UHI. The article is in dutch but the link should be the google translate version.
What’s your Truth?
8.28 mins
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=OAOrT0OcHh0&
source: PJ TV
Afterburner with Bill Whittle
Try again, worth listening to and viewing
Your white Christmas is in jeopardy, all because of global warming. They don’t even have to use the word ‘emissions’ any longer. They *know* that you *know* what they are talking about.
http://www.thespec.com/news/canada/article/638414–white-christmas-dream-on-environment-canada-says-snow-less-likely-over-time
The Nansen Ice graph links on the sea ice ref page are down, and the DMI ice extent graph has dropped off a cliff. Do you know if the satelite is broken?
Nope,
The vid worth sitting back to is “The Truth Worth Watching”
It seems once watching the above video, the selection offered at the very end (8+ videos), one can choose this one:
The Truth Worth Watching
And it is!! It really is worth viewing.
So stick with it, no link, but this guy is really goo..ood.
kuhnkat says:
December 12, 2011 at 11:53 pm
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Would make an interesting power source for interstellar travel.
“BBC’s little white lie: Polar bear cubs were filmed for Frozen Planet in a zoo, not the Arctic”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2073024/BBCs-little-white-lie-Polar-bear-cubs-filmed-Frozen-Planet-zoo-Arctic.html
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/mobile/story.html?id=5847032
“Two top U.S. hurricane forecasters, revered like rock stars in Deep South hurricane country, are quitting the practice because it doesn’t work.”
Interesting Historical analysis and forward projection by the Chefio see the “8.2 Kiloyear Event and You”.
http://chiefio.wordpress.com/
scientist admit they can’t predict hurricanes
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/mobile/story.html?id=5847032
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/mobile/story.html?id=5847032
Hurricane predictors admit they can’t predict hurricanes
Monday, December 12, 2011
By Tom Spears
Two top U.S. hurricane forecasters, revered like rock stars in Deep South hurricane country, are quitting the practice because it doesn’t work.
William Gray and Phil Klotzbach say a look back shows their past 20 years of forecasts had no value.
The two scientists from Colorado State University will still discuss different probabilities as hurricane seasons approach — a much more cautious approach. But the shift signals how far humans are, even with supercomputers, from truly knowing what our weather will do next.
Gray, recently joined by Klotzbach, has been known for decades for an annual forecast of how many hurricanes can be expected each official hurricane season (which runs from June to November.) Southerners hang on his words, as even a mid-sized hurricane can cause billions in damage.
Last week, the pair dropped this announcement out of a clear, blue sky:
“We are discontinuing our early December quantitative hurricane forecast for the next year … Our early December Atlantic basin seasonal hurricane forecasts of the last 20 years have not shown real-time forecast skill even though the hindcast studies on which they were based had considerable skill.”
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen
Grid Integration, Part 2: The Rubik’s Cube of Renewable Energy
“Can the California ISO’s new Flexible-Ramp software tool line up 33 percent renewables and a fast, diverse, competitive market?”
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/grid-integration-part-2-the-rubiks-cube-of-renewable-energy/
……..“Forecasting has always been a very critical function in power system operations,” Abdul-Rahman said. “But that has been mostly tied with forecasting of load. There was little generating uncertainty because generating units could be controlled and turned on and off.” There have always been some disruptions, such as units tripping off or transmission lines going down. The potential for disruptions is part of ISO planning and operating reserves are kept available.
Renewables add variability and uncertainty to the generation side of the load-balance equation because they are subject to the weather. “To reliably manage the grid operation,” Abdul-Rahman said, “the system operator needs to know these forecasts 24 hours in advance, but current technology can only accurately predict an hour to a few hours ahead.”…………..
Wind project in jeopardy as NRG drops contract (BlueWater wind turbines offshore Delaware)
NRG Energy has announced plans to terminate its Bluewater Wind power-purchase contract with Delmarva Power at the end of this year.
NRG has struggled to secure financing for the massive project and failed to secure federal loan guarantees.
The long-term forecast for federal price supports for the wind industry remain uncertain. This has been important to offshore wind developers, given the long time frame for permitting and building an offshore wind farm.
The Bluewater project captured the public’s imagination five years ago as a utility-scale, carbon-free source of energy, 13 miles off the Delaware coast. The turbines have been expected to provide 200 megawatts, or enough to power about 54,000 homes.
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20111213/NEWS/112130327/Wind-project-jeopardy-NRG-drops-contract?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home
I remember reading that this blog site started originally as more of a general scientific interest site, and grew into what it is today. In light of that, some of your readers may be interested in a couple of quizzes that I found linked in a Christian Science Monitor article on the Higgs Boson. The first is a 50 question quiz on general science and engineering, and it is good and interesting. I scored 84%.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/1209/Are-you-scientifically-literate-Take-our-quiz/Composing-about-78-percent-of-the-air-at-sea-level-what-is-the-most-common-gas-in-the-Earth-s-atmosphere
The second is a 10 question quiz on climate science. I have disagreement on how some of the questions were phrased, and I only scored 50%. It is interesting, and I believe slanted in the direction of AGW proponents.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2011/0422/Earth-Day-How-much-do-you-know-about-climate-change-Take-our-quiz/greenhouse-gas
Readers, if you want to have a little fun, take these quizzes and see how you do.
Hi – I may have sent this to the wrong part of your website- apologies if so. Great article in the renowed British journal ‘The Specatator’, 3rd December 2011, that I have not seen referred to here. It is by a foremost expert on sea levels, NILS-AXEL MÖRNER, and he very strongly suggests that leaders of ‘sinking’ nations, like Mohamed Nasheed, the president of the Maldives, are what you would call in the States ‘hucksters’ I think. I also love the title of this very heartening article!
http://www.spectator.co.uk/essays/all/7438683/rising-credulity.thtml
Bob Nunn
Dr. Jeff Master’s blog (link provided) at WU has the oddest national map (link provided) as support of his post from 12/12 about how wet Phila. was this year. The map is supposed to be showing departures from normal precip. Why I know this can’t be correct is that I live in Arizona – there could be no way no how -20 inch departures in Arizona this year (in the areas shown, it would mean either negative precip or zero and there’s no what that is true). Dr. Masters links to NOAA but only the main page – not the source of the data. What is up with this? Something is really wrong with that map.
Sorry, link is
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2001
McIntyre has a couple of new posts on AR5 up at climateaudit.org. Interesting reading, and I would think that they would be a great cross-post.
Anthony
If you will permit me a little bit of a rant:
The recent article “Email from UNFCCC: “we won’t let Canada out of the Kyoto Convention responsibilities”” was Godwin-ed in the first comment. Not half way down but in the very first comment. There is a good reason that Godwin’s Law exists; it really does feel as if the argument has been lost as soon as you see such comments. In this case, there were a number of thoughtful comments further down that were worth pondering but if I almost gave up on the first comment how much less likely is it that a non-regular reader would continue on? Can I ask you to consider extending your Moderators powers to include snipping comments that invoke Godwin’s Law?
Rant over.
Many thanks for letting me get this off my chest.
Anthony and moderators, I believe the following information would make an excellent main page article. It appears that researchers have discovered entirely unexpectedly massive sea ‘fountains’ of methane – hundreds to thousands of them just off the east coast of Siberia. http://tinyurl.com/bsw7ayn The article states that typically sea methane releases turn to CO2 before reaching the atmosphere, but that these are so massive the methane is going directly atmospheric.
Sure seems to punch a huge hole in IPCC and AGW proponent claims about how we supposedly know just how much of these GHG’s are being contributed by the sea. That along with the discovery of more sea floor volcanoes, including ones producing CO2, than had been estimated too (from past articles).
They are claiming that these methane ‘fountains’ are coming from melting permafrost under the ocean surface (how do you get permafrost under the surface, that melts because of global warming when the ocean itself isn’t frozen there?). The article is written in typical CAGW FUD form, ‘it’s worse than we thought,’ ‘could cause massive global warming,’ and so on….
http://tinyurl.com/bsw7ayn
‘Fountains’ of methane 1,000m across erupt from Arctic ice – a greenhouse gas 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide
Last updated at 7:01 PM on 13th December 2011
The Russian research vessel Academician Lavrentiev conducted a survey of 10,000 square miles of sea off the coast of eastern Siberia.
They made a terrifying discovery – huge plumes of methane bubbles rising to the surface from the seabed.
‘We found more than 100 fountains, some more than a kilometre across,’ said Dr Igor Semiletov, ‘These are methane fields on a scale not seen before. The emissions went directly into the atmosphere.’
Far East Siberia: The melting of ‘permafrost’ under the sea has led to huge releases of methane – far more abrupt and intense than anything on land
Far East Siberia: The melting of ‘permafrost’ under the sea has led to huge releases of methane – far more abrupt and intense than anything on land
Earlier research conducted by Semiletov’s team had concluded that the amount of methane currently coming out of the East Siberian Arctic Shelf is comparable to the amount coming out of the entire world’s oceans.
Now Semiletov thinks that could be an underestimate.
The melting of the arctic shelf is melting ‘permafrost’ under the sea, which is releasing methane stored in the seabed as methane gas.
These releases can be larger and more abrupt than any land-based release. The East Siberian Arctic Shelf is a methane-rich area that encompasses more than 2 million square kilometers of seafloor in the Arctic Ocean.
Methane bubbles trapped in ice: Normally, bubbles from the seabed turn into carbon dioxide before reaching the surface, but the East Siberian Arctic Shelf is so shallow the methane travels directly into the atmosphere
Methane bubbles trapped in ice: Normally, bubbles from the seabed turn into carbon dioxide before reaching the surface, but the East Siberian Arctic Shelf is so shallow the methane travels directly into the atmosphere
‘This is the first time that we’ve found continuous, powerful and impressive seeping structures, more than 1,000 metres in diameter. It’s amazing.’
‘Earlier we found torch or fountain-like structures like this,’ Semiletov told the Independent. ‘This is the first time that we’ve found continuous, powerful and impressive seeping structures, more than 1,000 metres in diameter. It’s amazing.’
‘Over a relatively small area, we found more than 100, but over a wider area, there should be thousands of them.’ (continued online)
Anthony: Commentary on puzzling things…
This is indeed, to me, a puzzling thing, with all the elements of a good WhatsUpWithThat? whodunnit.
Fitzroy’s Storm Glass
Weather Instrument Used on Darwin’s Beagle
It arrived with an inch of white sediment at the bottom of a clear liquid. It grows in crystal-like filaments to three or so inches which subsequently collapse back to the original state. Sometimes it grows a “cap” of these filaments at the top of the liquid (some six inches above the base). Then that returns to the base.
This happens over periods of hours; and perhaps it does tell me something about the weather to come — I have not had it long enough to tell — but it certainly does react to changing weather; yet it is in a sealed glass tube, so no pressure changes and the temperature in the room does not seem to effect it.
Could it be cosmic rays which ring the changes in this “magic” glass tube above my desk?
@Rational Debate re: “Shock as retreat of Arctic sea ice releases deadly greenhouse gas”
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/shock-as-retreat-of-arctic-sea-ice-releases-deadly-greenhouse-gas-6276134.html
The sea ice extent seems to be exceptionally low at the moment compared to previous years. Maybe this is one reson why researchers see more methane entering directly into the atmosphere instead of being caught and decomposed in the ice.
http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/icecover.uk.php
Anthony,
This looks like a useful summary!
Evenings with Steve Austin
7:00pm – 10:00pmMore about SteveContact UsHow to tell if you lean to the ‘left’ or if you are a Conservative?
13 December 2011 , 11:34 PM by Stephen Austin
If ever you wondered what side of the political fence you sit on, this is a simple test. (According to a listener Ken)
If a Conservative voter doesn’t like guns, he doesn’t buy one.
If a left wing voter doesn’t like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.
If a Conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn’t eat meat.
If a left wing voter is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned.
If a Conservative voter is gay, he quietly leads his life.
If a left wing voter is gay, he demands legislated respect.
If a Conservative voter doesn’t like a talk show host, he switches channels.
If a left wing voter doesn’t like a talk show host, he demands that those they don’t like be banned.
If a Conservative is a non-believer, he doesn’t go to church.
If a left wing non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced … unless its and exotic religion of course.
So how did you fare? Where do you sit on the ideological spectrum?”
From http://blogs.abc.net.au/queensland/2011/12/how-to-tell-if-you-lean-to-the-left-or-if-you-are-a-conservative.html?site=brisbane&program=612_evenings
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111213164751.htm Here comes some Global Cooling! (SUPERNOVA)
Hi Anthony you’re a weather guy (and secret mystery buff at a guess).
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2073974/Core-blimey–raining-APPLES-Drivers-stunned-mysterious-downpour-fruit.html
I assume Mary Poppin’s answers the Core Blimey bit.
Anthony,
The following is one of the lead editorials in today’s WSJ (12/14).
“A Manifesto for Sustainable Capitalisim” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203430404577092682864215896.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
The authors are Al Gore and David Blood. The lead paragraphs go as follows:
In the immediate aftermath of World War II, when the United States was preparing its visionary plan for nurturing democratic capitalism abroad, Gen. Omar Bradley said, “It is time to steer by the stars, and not by the lights of each passing ship.” Today, more than 60 years later, that means abandoning short-term economic thinking for “sustainable capitalism.”
We are once again facing one of those rare turning points in history when dangerous challenges and limitless opportunities cry out for clear, long-term thinking. The disruptive threats now facing the planet are extraordinary: climate change, water scarcity, poverty, disease, growing income inequality, urbanization, massive economic volatility and more. Businesses cannot be asked to do the job of governments, but companies and investors will ultimately mobilize most of the capital needed to overcome the unprecedented challenges we now face.
Before the crisis and since, we and others have called for a more responsible form of capitalism, what we call sustainable capitalism: a framework that seeks to maximize long-term economic value by reforming markets to address real needs while integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics throughout the decision-making process.
…
I think that we do have a fixation on short term results but the devil that I see is in the proposed “ESG” metric. I would see this as somethign that starts small and then is used over time as a club to direct capital investment in potically correct directions.
FWIW – Frank
Found this gem today:
“One of the greatest fears is that with the disappearance of the Arctic sea-ice in summer, and rapidly rising temperatures across the entire region, which are already melting the Siberian permafrost, the trapped methane could be suddenly released into the atmosphere, leading to rapid and severe climate change.”
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10773020
http://business.financialpost.com/2011/12/14/german-solar-firms-go-from-boom-to-bust/
…
Berlin-based Solon , Germany’s first solar energy company to go public, said late on Tuesday it would file for insolvency, becoming Germany’s biggest casualty so far.
SMA Solar , Germany’s top solar group, said last month it would lay off up to 1,000 temporary workers by the end of the year, citing weak demand for its invertors, a vital piece of equipment in solar systems.
“It’s the worst year the industry has seen in its short history,” Andreas Haenel, chief executive of German solar company Phoenix Solar said.
…
John M Reynolds
A Yale study: “Most Americans Link Bad Weather to Climate Change”
http://www.livescience.com/17446-americans-link-bad-weather-climate-change.html
It looks like George Monbiot has got his claws out, Anthony.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/14/frozen-planet-polar-bear-bbc
You would have thought that someone with a planet sized brain would have done a modicum of research (or at least looked outside at the real world) before deciding on a name with which to write about himself on the interweb..
see here… http://tamino.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/johnnys-growth/
See also here….
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=johnny&page=4
Maybe definition #24 is appropriate but any will do, why didn’t he choose the name Dick and be done with it, but of course, Johnny (Slang= condom) covers that also.
As many of Tammy’s lapdogs mention, having a sense of humour is good, have we any spare over here we can lend to them?
I was recently debating with an alarmist and presented this new study as a proof for AGW:
“An observational 71-year history of seasonally frozen ground changes in the Eurasian high latitudes ”
http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/6/4/044024
According to the study, there is remarkable evidence that the ground does not freeze as deep as it used to.
BUT:
“Evaluating seasonal freeze depth at these sites for 1930–2000 reveals a statistically significant trend of −4.5 cm/decade and a net change of −31.9 cm. Interdecadal variability is also evident such that there was no trend until the late 1960s, after which seasonal freeze depths decreased significantly until the early 1990s. From that point forward, likely through at least 2008, no change is evident. These changes in the soil thermal regime are most closely linked with the freezing index, but also mean annual air temperatures and snow depth. Antecedent conditions from the previous warm season do not appear to play a large role in affecting the subsequent cold season’s seasonal freeze depths. The strong decrease in seasonal freeze depths during the 1970s to 1990s was likely the result of strong atmospheric forcing from the North Atlantic Oscillation during that time period.”
NAO, not AGW.
“Statisticians can prove almost anything, a new study finds”
http://www.real-science.com/paging-mann-paging-hayhoe
Al Gore is at it again
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203430404577092682864215896.html?mod=djemEditorialPage_h
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&ved=0CFYQqQIwAw&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffingtonpost.com%2F2011%2F12%2F14%2Fal-gore-david-blood-now-time-sustainable-capitalism_n_1148006.html&ei=UO7oTra0Ac3rObiO8YMB&usg=AFQjCNFHtEi3zbYXVv9E0zp-tzwN2U5iAQ&sig2=a7GGK9RY-qmclxLLHuS7iw
Beluga Whales Trapped by Arctic Ice
http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/14/world/europe/russia-trapped-whales/index.html
14000 Abandoned Wind Turbines In The USA
http://toryaardvark.com/2011/11/17/14000-abandoned-wind-turbines-in-the-usa/#more-16788
Over at Tory Aardvark, an article claiming 14,000 abandon wind turbines litter the US – esp Hawaii
Supernova explosion gives a glimpse of how ingredients for life are created
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/dec/14/supernova-explosion-glimpse-life-created
Guradian reports capture of Supernova Explosion
http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/12/14/1323882707977/Supernova-in-Pinwheel-gal-001.jpg
CEC Workshop- “Solar and Wind Forecasting: Achieving a 33% Solution”
December 16, 2011 ◊ 9:00 a.m.
1516 9th Street, Sacramento, CA ◊ Hearing Room A
Meeting Announcement- http://www.energy.ca.gov/research/notices/2011-12-16_workshop/2011-12-16_Workshop_Notice.pdf
“Purpose
This workshop is to discuss the current state of solar and wind forecasting tools, their
various components, reliability, shortcomings, and future research needed to better
anticipate and manage renewable resources. Additionally, the California Independent
System Operation (ISO), utilities, and customers will discuss the specifications needed
to accurately predict and utilize solar and wind energy resources. This discussion will
help target future solicitations for research toward applications that will help California
better reach its near term renewable goals.
Background
California has aggressive goals of having 33 percent of all electricity supplied by
renewable energy in 2020. Integration of large amounts of solar and wind renewable
energy poses challenges for customers as well as the electric grid due to the variable
nature of the resources. The Energy Commission is sponsoring forecasting research
that will allow grid operators to better accommodate the variable electricity generation in
their scheduling, dispatching, and regulation of power. Research for better forecasting
tools will increase the capacity of distribution feeders to allow more customers to
generate their own renewable power. California has many unique microclimates that
require specific tools to accurately forecast wind and solar power output. In coastal
areas, home to the majority of rooftop solar power plants, marine layer clouds and the
timing of burn-off are notoriously difficult to predict. Areas in the central valley have Tule
fog and winter storm systems that need to be accurately forecast. Even large solar
farms in the arid southeast can be affected by a cloud or passing storm.”
http://www.energy.ca.gov/research/notices/2011-12-16_workshop/2011-12-16_Agenda.pdf
@Jake:
Thanks a lot for that piece of news.
“Beluga Whales Trapped by Arctic Ice”
I just managed to make a bunch of alarmists dead silent with it.
I mean, why falsify and invent polar bear stories when whales are in real trouble.
Not that Al Gore in coming to rescue, I hope that we can spare an icebreaker. Maybe a Finnish one.
I haven´t seen this posted here, so:
Runaway Devils Lake
In the wake of climate change, a North Dakota lake swells without regard for people or property and with no easy fix in sight
http://www.americanscientist.org/issues/feature/2012/1/runaway-devils-lake/1
From the National Association of Scholars
http://www.nas.org/polArticles.cfm?doctype_code=Article&doc_id=2319
What’s Going on Behind the Curtain? Climategate 2.0 and Scientific Integrity
“Climategate, both 1 and 2, are textbook cases of gross lapses in professional ethics and scientific malfeasance. To understand why, one must first understand what science is and how it is supposed to operate. Science is the noble pursuit of knowledge through observation, testing and experimentation. Scientists attempt to explain, describe and/or predict the implications of phenomena through the use of the scientific method.”
#Romney’s new video on “#Newt and Nancy” #AGW #Algore #capandtrade #capandtax http://youtu.be/UCz8GUd67ms
Tallbloke raided! Computers appropriated! Film at 11!
Thousands of birds crash into Walmart parking lot
“Thousands of migrating birds crashed in southern Utah late Monday after likely mistaking a Walmart parking lot and other areas for bodies of water. ”
…”Wildlife officials say the birds were likely migrating toward Mexico and probably mistook the parking lot and other spots as water because of storm clouds over the lights of St. George. ”
Reported in many news media, some reports 4,000 dead birds.
Syncrude was fined $3 million CAD for an incident two years ago that killed approximately 1,600 migrating ducks.
So will Greenpeace lobby to ensure that Walmart pays $7 or 8,000,000 penalty? Or is there a double standard?
Should Walmart parking lots be banned? or require enviromential assesments for risk?
in case you did not know, tallbloke was raided by the police today and had some PCs removed from his premises…
Another one for the AGW lunacy awards:
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/national/12352480/global-warming-boosting-cat-numbers/
Global warming boosting cat numbers
Climate change is having another alarming effect – too many unwanted moggies.
Cat breeding cycles are lengthening and could prove hairy for the RSPCA this summer as they coincide with the already busy festive season.
Animal refuge centres have reported a spike in kitten numbers in recent years with centres inundated state-wide.
RSPCA Queensland spokesman Michael Beatty told AAP that cat breeding cycles now stretch from October through to May.
“Particularly around January we can get up to 300 to 400 kittens a week,” Mr Beatty said.
The lengthened breeding cycles have been blamed on the effects of climate change creating ideal breeding conditions for longer.
As cats favour a warm spring or summer climate, the shorter winters have seen numbers soar.
A study by the British Ecological Society recently found that cows were also giving birth far earlier than traditional summer periods.
Mr Beatty said that although climate change may be a factor, irresponsible pet owners were also to blame for surplus cats.
He urged people not to rush into buying a pet and encouraged desexing animals.
“People need to realise a pet is a responsibility not a right,” Mr Beatty said.
The RSPCA usually receives thousands of animals abandoned over the summer holidays as their families go on holidays without arranging a carer.
Laura Finigan, a worker at the RSPCA’s new refuge at Wacol, west of Brisbane, says kittens are regularly dumped at the centre.
“Owners need to understand a pet can live for 12 to 20 years,” she told AAP.
“You need to think about an animal that will fit in with your lifestyle.”
Green technology in financial trouble
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2011/12/14/terence-corcoran-sun-burned/
More Mannian theorm from Tamino and Rahmstorf.
From the medical front, potentially HUGE news!
Discovery of Cancer Vaccine Brings Hope to Doctors, Patients
Written By Dr. Manny Alvarez
Published December 14, 2011
FoxNews.com
The discovery of the smallpox vaccine in 1796 essentially wiped out a disease with high fatality rates, and really, revolutionized the face of medicine at the time.
Keeping that in mind, I’m incredibly excited about the new reports out of the University of Georgia regarding a potential vaccine for cancer. Researchers said the vaccine could be ready in as little as three years after promising trial results.
The vaccine works by training the immune system to correctly identify cancer cells based on their sugar structures – and then destroy them. The vaccine first attacks the coating that surrounds cancers, and then kills the cells themselves.
In lab testing on mice, the vaccine worked on 90 percent of breast cancer cases. It was also particularly successful in killing pancreatic tumors.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2011/12/14/discovery-cancer-vaccine-brings-hope-to-doctors-patients/#ixzz1gaAvsljl
Now I really have seen it all, Climate change responsible for too many Stray Cats !
http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/climate-change-cat-astrophe-pet-shelters-face-hairy-christmas-season/story-e6freoof-1226223254043
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16191900
More propaganda from the UK Governemt’s climate change office, faithfully reported as fact by the BBC. By the way, don’t worry because nobody here in the UK believes this rubbish.
” Private emails and texts ‘are covered by info laws’
The Information Commissioner Christopher Graham says it should “come as no surprise” that such information is open to requests for disclosure. ”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16197167
Methane Madness? http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/methane-discovery-stokes-new-global-warming-fears-shock-as-retreat-of-arctic-releases-greenhouse-gas-6276278.html
Or not: http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/14/methane-time-bomb-in-arctic-seas-apocalypse-not/
Abstract of the AGU paper: http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2011/2011JC007218.shtml
Guys , you just have to read this!!!!!!!
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-20744
Its official with a figure attached to it.
[however the link goes to a non existant page . . kbmod]
In light of yesterday’s carbon market issues….
Commission chief urged to spur EU carbon market-letter
http://www.lse.co.uk/FinanceNews.asp?ArticleCode=5lra09mygnnfo8l&ArticleHeadline=Commission_chief_urged_to_spur_EU_carbon_marketletter
excerpt:
BRUSSELS, Dec 15 (Reuters) – International firms, including Royal Dutch Shell, Alstom and Dong have written to European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso calling for urgent action to prop up the EU carbon market, which has sunk to record lows.
This one is a gem . . .
Climate change threatens to make polar bears dangerous; action needed
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/sci_tech/climate-change-threatens-to-make-polar-bears-dangerous-action-neededscientist-135643008.html
Some text from the article:
“The adjunct professor at the University of Alberta wants to drive home the point that action is needed to combat the climate change which has the potential to turn the typically mild-mannered mammals into a risk.”
“Meanwhile, Canadian polar bears — which make up two-thirds of the global population — are being affected by climate change at such a fast rate that those living on the shores of lower Hudson Bay could disappear in just a few decades.”
“Thirty, 40 years from now, there probably won’t be many bears left in Hudson Bay.”
I was not aware that Polar Bears were mild mannered!!!!!!
The “renewables” industry is losing value fast on the stock market . . PDX are leading it today . . .
http://www.pdx.biz/company/company-regulatory-news/the-resignation-of-ceo-roel-pieper
Wonder why he left in such a hurry.
SciAm is still pushing the Himilayan Glaciers are not only melting, but deflating, lossing interior mass due to GW.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=caught-on-video-a-himalayan-glacier
Hi Mr Watts
Having been perusing your sea ice pages for a couple of years, it is clear that the variety of sources generally trend in the same direction but are clearly not consistent with each other. One diagram has 100% sea ice in places where another has no ice at all. Temperature maps show areas consistently less than zero degrees, but others show no ice.
In the absence of webcams to show what is or is not going on, how do scientists address these inconsistencies and are there actually folks going out to confirm manually/visually what satellites are claiming to be truth?
I note that currently the deviation from normality in polar ice is 0.3m sq miles, hardly earth shattering is it?
http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/2011/12/obamas-justice-department-joins-britains-climategate-leaker-manhunt/2006206
hope this wasn’t already mentioned….thanks…
FWIW: NPR claims ClimateGate emails have “absolutely been disproven, incontrovertibly”.
KQED radio (San Francisco) airs a pleasant radio show, “Forum”, ten hours a week. On Fridays it is about science. This exchange between the regular host (Michael Krasny) and the science host (Ir Flatow) took place on December 7, 2011:
Caller: [asks why AGW skeptics aren't featured more, and mentions ClimateGate]
Krasny: … we did talk about the emails, uh–
Flatow: They’ve been, they’ve been disproven,–
Krasny: Yeah, right, they’ve absolutely been disproven, incontrovertibly…
The mp3 of the show can be downloaded from http://www.kqed.org/a/forum/R201112071000.
The exchange, lasting about two minutes, begins at 33′ 36″ into the mp3.
I emailed Krasny, Flatow, and the NPR ombudsman about this on Sunday, December 10. No response so far…
Via an ICECAP post by Joe Bastardi, a link to the December 8, 2011 floor speeech by Congr. Dana Rohrabacher of California, who understands AGW better than most politicians:
http://icecap.us/images/uploads/SpecialOrderDecember82011forClerk.pdf
Cheap energy revives US manufacturing, skint Brits shiver.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/12/15/ccc_expensive_energy_bills/
Cap and Trade 2010 http://www.arb.ca.gov/regact/2010/capandtrade10/capandtrade10.htm
This page last reviewed October 28, 2011
“RULEMAKING TO CONSIDER THE ADOPTION OF A PROPOSED CALIFORNIA CAP ON GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS AND MARKET-BASED COMPLIANCE MECHANISMS REGULATION, INCLUDING COMPLIANCE OFFSET PROTOCOLS
(December 16, 2010)”
——————————————————————————–
“FINAL APPROVAL / OAL ACTION
Posted December 14, 2011
OAL approved the rulemaking and filed it with the Secretary of State on December 13, 2011. The regulation will become effective on the January 1, 2012.
Final Regulation Order (PDF – 641K)
Compliance Offset Protocol Livestock Projects (PDF- 447K)
Compliance Offset Protocol Ozone Depleting Substances Projects (PDF- 453K)
Compliance Offset Protocol Urban Forest Projects (PDF- 399K)
Compliance Offset Protocol U.S. Forest Projects (PDF- 1.15MB)
Diversity Index File (PDF- 3.42MB)
Updated Informative Digest (PDF- 38K)
Supplement to the Final Statement of Reasons (PDF- 632K) “
Must be some laws in Canada that an protect the public from misinformation. I like the part where is claimed 300,000 people already die each from man made global warming. I got this in a Email.
“”Dear friends of the David Suzuki Foundation,
Like all of us at the Foundation, you are likely heartbroken by our government’s reckless decision to break its international commitment to the Kyoto Protocol. Coming on the heels of Canada’s attempts to scuttle the climate talks in Durban, South Africa, earlier this month, this decision may also leave you feeling angry and ashamed of our leaders. We feel that way, too.
We all understand that our future and that of our children and grandchildren hangs in the balance now and that the scales could be tipped by the resolve–or indifference–of the world leaders who recently came together, for the most part, to figure out ways to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and slow climate change. The world’s scientists have been telling us this for decades, and the growing evidence of our warming biosphere, and its increasingly catastrophic impacts, are now the daily fodder of newscasts and weather reports.
The Kyoto Protocol was not perfect, but it was leading to progressive action on climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions have been going down in Europe, and many countries are shifting from polluting fossil fuels to cleaner energy sources. Awareness has grown worldwide about the threat of climate change. Successive Canadian governments, with their focus on a tar sands economy, ensured that we did not meet even the weak targets that they set. In fact, Canada’s emissions have risen by 30 per cent over 1990 levels, leaving us way above our target of reducing levels by six per cent by 2012.
And, make no mistake, the world has been watching.
Canada’s poor performance at the climate talks in Durban and its decision to become the first country to pull out of the international legal agreement have drawn criticism from people worldwide–and rightly so. That our government would be willing to sacrifice human lives and our future for the sake of short-term profits from a polluting and non-renewable resource is a slap in the face not only to Canadians but to people everywhere.
This is not hyperbole. Climate change and its disastrous effects–droughts, heat waves, flooding, spread of disease–are already killing 300,000 people a year and driving many more into poverty. Hundreds of thousands are becoming refugees as such impacts make their homelands uninhabitable. Experts believe that up to a billion people could become refugees in coming years if the trend continues. Many plants and animals–crucial to our own health and well-being–are going extinct as climate change wreaks havoc on their habitat.
But Canada is much more than its federal government. And our economy is much more than just the oil industry. Canada is you and me and provincial and municipal government leaders. It is businesspeople and union members and retired people and children. It is all of us. And we are making a difference. Some provincial governments have implemented plans to reduce emissions, spur economic activity in the green energy sector and slow climate change. B.C. and Quebec have implemented carbon taxes, Quebec is planning to cap and reduce industrial emissions, and Ontario has its Green Energy Act, a game-changing piece of legislation. Some municipal governments are taking climate change seriously, too. Vancouver’s Greenest City Action Plan includes policies to increase the number of people who cycle or use transit rather than cars and to make homes and buildings more energy efficient.
And you have worked with organizations like the David Suzuki Foundation to put the focus on knowledge and solutions. With your support, we’ve encouraged governments at the municipal and provincial levels to take action, and we’ve worked with opposition parties to speak up for the majority who want a cleaner and healthier future. We’ve also teamed up with the Canadian Academy of Engineering and a range of interested parties, for the Trottier Energy Futures Project–an extraordinary initiative to analyze Canada’s energy sources and options and identify ways to slash emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, through wiser energy choices. And we’ve been working with a wide range of Canadians, including young people and new Canadians, reaching out in different languages to share new ideas and discuss solutions.
You’ve all been a big part of this work, through your amazing support. You’ve written letters, signed petitions, taken part in forums, volunteered, talked to each other, and donated money. Equally important, you’ve walked the talk–taking transit, insulating your homes, buying local, and modelling other behaviour attuned to a sustainable future.
Please stay the course with us.
Canada’s government may be turning its back on the global fight against climate change, but that makes it all the more important for us to take up the slack. We know that reducing emissions and combatting climate change is not just about human health–although that’s important, both from the standpoint of climate change and pollution. We know that our government’s inaction on climate change means more missed opportunities to become part of the burgeoning global green economy, with its focus on clean energy technology and knowledge. And we know that if our government is not willing to listen to the majority–and yes, we are the majority–if it cares more about keeping its friends in the fossil-fuel industry happy, then we must do all we can to make a difference.
In the coming days and weeks, please take action to affirm your convictions. This will embolden others to express their views and act as well. For example, you could:
Comment on this letter
Write to your elected representatives: municipal and provincial as well as federal, demanding to know “What is next?” in the wake of our withdrawal from Kyoto
Deepen your connection to our efforts by becoming a monthly donor or giving what you can. Your donations help us press harder and speak louder.
Talk to your friends and family about the Canada we envisage: one that acts on the understanding that we are interconnected and interdependent with nature
Together, we can mobilize many more Canadians in defence of our biosphere, and once again be proud of our country.
Thank you again,
David Suzuki, on behalf of the entire David Suzuki Foundation team”
Governor Releases Updated Schedule of Climate Conference
SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today released additional details on panel participants and the issues that will be covered at the Governor’s Conference on Extreme Climate Risks and California’s Future.
The conference will be held tomorrow, December 15, 2011 at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. Due to space limitations, attendance is by invitation only. The entire conference will also be webcast live on Governor Brown’s website at http://www.gov.ca.gov and conference viewers can submit questions to conference speakers through this site.
Event registration will open at 8:30 a.m. and the conference will begin at 9:30 a.m. See below for additional media information, a full agenda with speech and panel times and parking information.
The Governor’s Conference on Extreme Climate Risks and California’s Future
Participants (partial list):
• California Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.
• Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Dr. Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• Sir Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group
• Nancy Sutley, Chair, White House Council on Environmental Quality
Other participants include public safety, insurance industry, public health and climate change experts, emergency response officials, public utility experts and farmers.
Topics:
• California and the Global Climate Challenge
• Climate Change’s Human and Economic Impacts on California
• A National Perspective on Climate Action
• Climate Solutions to Protect California Communities and Help our Economy
• Perspectives on California’s Leadership on Climate Change
A full agenda can be found here. Additional information is available at http://www.gov.ca.gov/ecrcf.php
Quebec to start cap-trade climate plan with California
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1102549–quebec-to-start-cap-trade-climate-plan-with-california?bn=1
What is interesting here is all the work being done to run transmission lines into New England to balance all the wind going up. Furthermore, hydroelectric power sent the New England from Quebec did not qualify for Renewable Energy Credits.
http://www.electricityforum.com/news/mar10/MaineconsidersimpactofHydroQuebec.html
excerpt:
John Kerry, the director of the Office of Energy Independence and Security, said steady Canadian hydroelectric capacity could balance Maine’s production of wind energy.
“I think we should work collaboratively with our Canadian neighbors,” Kerry said in an interview. “I underscore that we should do it at arm’s length and be prudent, but we should see it as an opportunity.”
For its part, Hydro-Quebec said that its wind capacity, aside from about 150 megawatts for Massachusetts and Connecticut, is for Quebec consumption, and hydroelectric power like that in Hydro-Quebec’s portfolio does not qualify for valuable renewable energy certificates, or RECs, traded in New England.
The question now the be asked is, does this deal change that.
Dear Anthony,
We have just published an article I thought you and your readers may be interested in.
It looks at the proposed Republican legislation for the Payroll tax cut, where the House Republicans have included a provision that forces work to begin again on the proposed 1,700-mile-long TransCanada Corp.’s $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline.
The “dirty” secret about the Keystone XL pipeline’s oil sands hydrocarbons, which no amount of K Street PR can spin away, is that the oil has a higher carbon content than that from traditional fossil fuels, anywhere from 8 to 14 percent more, depending on which scientific report you read. Accordingly, the EU has already banned their import, much to Ottawa’s annoyance. Much to the consternation of Transcanada and the pipeline’s Republican boosters in Washington, environmental groups in such stalwart Republican states as Nebraska went up in arms over the Keystone XL proposal, fearing that a leak from the underground pipeline would irrevocably pollute the Ogalla Aquifer, source of much of the Great Plains’ agricultural water.
This is a gesture of cynicism unusual even for Washington.
The article is not available for publication in its entirety – but we are happy for you to use extracts if you feel they are of benefit and interest to your readers.
Like Lazarus, Republicans Attempt to Revive Moribund Keystone XL Pipeline
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Like-Lazarus-Republicans-Attempt-to-Revive-Moribund-Keystone-XL-Pipeline.html
We have also published an article which looks at Canada’s very unpopular decision to withdraw from the Kyoto convention which may also be of interest:
Startling the Global Community, Canada Withdraws from the Kyoto Convention
http://oilprice.com/Environment/Global-Warming/Startling-the-Global-Community-Canada-Withdraws-from-the-Kyoto-Convention.html
If you have any questions please do let me know.
Thank you for your time.
Best regards,
James Stafford
+44 203 239 4080
Governor Jerry Brown kicks off California climate change conference with attack on ‘deniers’
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_19554582?source=autofeed#
It’s amusing, if disconcerting, to read about how trees “capture” or even “suck up” CO2 as if they were somehow doing us a favor! Uh, fellows, the trees take it up because they need it for life, as ultimately do all of us carbon-based life forms.
This is about a very serious matter which needs to be brought to the attention of academics throughout the world and, through them, the media and politicians.
The whole paradigm upon which this article is based stems from an assumption that low energy infra-red photons which are emitted from a cold atmosphere are capable of adding thermal energy to oceans and land surfaces which are already warmer. The assumption was never tested empirically by anyone advising the IPCC and yet it became the cornerstone of the so-called greenhouse effect which was supposed to “trap” energy by this very process and thus lead to global warming.
The assumption that such “back radiation” warms the Earth has this year been proven both in theory and in practice* to be completely false.
You can see for yourself that this is true simply by placing two identical bar radiators facing each other and then turning them on simultaneously. They will not warm to their maximum any more quickly because energy cannot be created in the process. However, turning one on first and allowing it to reach a maximum will help warm the other when you turn it on later. You can draw an analogy with a fire hose and a garden hose squirting water at each other. The photons coming out of the warmer surface, in a sense, fend off lower energy ones trying to get in. So all photons in the atmosphere bounce around off molecules in both the air and the surface until they happen to get through to space, as all do eventually.
Yes a relatively small amount of thermal energy (rarely more than 0.5% of incoming insolation) can remain mostly in the oceans from one day to the next, or from local winter to local summer, thus causing natural warming, but the reverse can also happen leading to natural cooling. If carbon dioxide has any effect it is actually one of temporary cooling when it absorbs some of the incoming solar radiation which is in the infra-red spectrum. Yes, the fact that solar radiation does include some infra-red seems to have been specifically left out of all the explanations of the greenhouse effect.
Folks, the Anthropogenic Global Warming hypothesis has been soundly debunked. You need to take this on board as a fact and act, talk and write accordingly.
http://principia-scientific.org/publications/New_Concise_Experiment_on_Backradiation.pdf
Anthony,
There is a particularly asinine piece by a Gene Lyons, over at SALON.com:
http://www.salon.com/2011/12/15/why_do_people_still_deny_climate_change/singleton/
It’s like the guy has slept through the last couple of years.
It appears that Lord Monckton is soliciting the help of people around the world. He is trying to bring folks to charges for fraud with regard to AGW:
http://www.climatedepot.com/a/14156/Fmr-Thatcher-advisor-Lord-Monckton-to-pursue-fraud-charges-against-Climategate-scientists-Will-present-to-police-the-case-for-numerous-specific-instances-of-scientific-or-economic-fraud
Bjorn Lomborg has an equivocal piece on MSN’s “Slate”. Guess you might call it “luke-warm”. He bridles at some of the climate extremism, but could still benefit from a session of “Alarmists Anonymous”. Seems to be a small correctional maneuver for Slate.
I have sent a copy of my post above together with the email below to Roy Spencer.
Dear Roy
I write to you again now that you’ve published your November temperature plot with that curved trend starting to head downwards (just like Trenberth’s trend on my homepage http://climate-change-theory.com ) and now that, as I can confirm from my Physics background, your argument about “cooler” radiation warming the surface has been debunked, surely you have to admit AGW has had the last nail in the coffin. Has anyone even considered the fact that there is plenty of infra-red in the incident solar radiation – much of which CO2 is absorbing and sending back to space – thus COOLING? Note the yellow potholes in the infra red: http://earth-climate.com/spectral-content.gif
If anyone can rescue the world from the enormous 100 billion dollar a year consequences of accepting a false hypothesis it would be yourself, by setting an example and explaining why you changed camps. Just set up the two radiator experiment mentioned below or do similar with heated black and grey metal plates facing each other in parallel vertical planes
Believe me, I have studied this extensively and applied physics correctly, coming up with the same conclusions as the Slayers well before I read their book. Read it yourself!
Very sincerely
Doug Cotton
Sydney
Did anyone catch the graph on page C12 of the 15Dec11 WSJ? “Too Much Sun” comparing capacity and output from solar modules. Shows output at about 75% of capacity? Says 2006-2011 on the x-axis and lists First Solar as source. I’m wondering how they calculated capacity?
I think I have discovered the genesis of “climate justice”, Kyoto2, and COP17.
First is climategate email 4687.txt it references a conference at Tyndall Centre in September 2003 concerning “justice and adaptation” It references Tyndall Working Paper 23
http://www.tyndall.ac.uk/sites/default/files/wp23.pdf
The paper talks about “distributive justice” etc. Then going to section 2 you see what is basically COP17 laid out back in 2003. I know that at least one member of the IPCC was invited to this meeting.
http://hockeyschtick.blogspot.com/2011/12/germanys-solar-power-industry-is-latest.html
to flop
Fellow “Skeptics” we need a unified approach focussed on what we can prove. As it is we all leave ourselves open to criticism because of the fact that we all say different things. It’s next to useless arguing about past and present temperature trends, whether we should use short or long term, or whatever. Whatever we choose we will all choose different periods and different data – and thus be accused of cherry-picking.
I have studied (and suggested on my websites) several areas of possible problems with AGW, but it has only been recently that the light has really shone brightly so to speak and pointed to just two major points which are quite sufficient in themselves to debunk the AGW hypothesis. And these are based on physics which has been well established since the days of Einstein – roughly the same time they think their “theory” has been established – so let’s start on an even keel.
OK. Well the two points are the very ones which I find also among the ones the Slayers have mentioned in their book “Slaying the Sky Dragon.” (Note it’s Sky not Green)
1. There is plenty of infra-red in the incident solar radiation and so about half of what they show as being absorbed by the atmosphere is actually infra-red being absorbed by so-called greenhouse gases. Half of what is absorbed high in the atmosphere goes straight to space. The rest gets a ‘Get out of Jail’ card soon afterwards, because it cannot enter and warm the surface after all.
2. And that’s the second and most important point. It’s easy to prove thermal energy (don’t call it heat) iis not captured and held in the atmosphere. It gets radiated out again in a very small fraction of a second. But the important point is that it comes out with equal or less energy, never more. And it probably takes numerous (like millions) of iterations of being absorbed and emitted before some may happen to approach close to the surface. But the surface is radiating higher energy photons which “push” the others away before they get in the door. Read and see links in my earlier post and also my email to Dr Roy Spencer. Hopefully you all understand how critical this issue is because it means all that back radiation is ineffective. There is even doubt that it has been measured correctly because of the way the thermometers work. We would expect plenty of radiation bouncing around anyway, so there’s no point in arguing about exact quantities.
So let’s all focus on these two points which are not refuted correctly on SkS and never wil be because they are factual and supported by Physics.
Fellow “Skeptics” we need a unified approach focussed on what we can prove. As it is we all leave ourselves open to criticism because of the fact that we all say different things. It’s next to useless arguing about past and present temperature trends, whether we should use short or long term, or whatever. Whatever we choose we will all choose different periods and different data – and thus be accused of cherry-picking.
I have studied (and suggested on my websites) several areas of possible problems with AGW, but it has only been recently that the light has really shone brightly so to speak and pointed to just two major points which are quite sufficient in themselves to debunk the AGW hypothesis. And these are based on physics which has been well established since the days of Einstein – roughly the same time they think their “theory” has been established – so let’s start on an even keel.
OK. Well the two points are the very ones which I find also among the ones the Slayers have mentioned in their book “Slaying the Sky Dragon” (note it’s Sky not Green
1. There is plenty of infra-red in the incident solar radiation and so about half of what they show as being absorbed by the atmosphere is actually infra-red being absorbed by so-called greenhouse gases. Half of what is absorbed high in the atmosphere goes straight to space. The rest gets a ‘Get out of Jail’ card soon afterwards, because it cannot enter and warm the surface after all.
2. And that’s the second and most important point. It’s easy to prove thermal energy (don’t call it heat) iis not captured and held in the atmosphere. It gets radiated out again in a very small fraction of a second. But the important point is that it comes out with equal or less energy, never more. And it probably takes numerous (like millions) of iterations of being absorbed and emitted before some may happen to approach close to the surface. But the surface is radiating higher energy photons which “push” the others away before they get in the door. Read and see links in my earlier post and also my email to Dr Roy Spencer. Hopefully you all understand how critical this issue is because it means all that back radiation is ineffective. There is even doubt that it has been measured correctly because of the way the thermometers work. We would expect plenty of radiation bouncing around anyway, so there’s no point in arguing about exact quantities.
So let’s all focus on these two points which are not refuted correctly on SkS and never will be because they are factual and supported by Physics.
The Great Jellyfish Scourge is about to devastate the planet!
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/shock-as-retreat-of-arctic-sea-ice-releases-deadly-greenhouse-gas-6276134.html#comment-387701541
You’ll experience less frustration if you take up a career herding cats.
Are you bringing the koolaid?
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/15/4125242/governor-vows-to-prepare-calif.html
Brown opened the conference by calling for people to wake up to these threats and called skeptics of global warming a well-funded “cult.”
“Russian scientist Igor Semiletov of the International Arctic Research Centre at the University of Alaska Fairbanks revealed in an interview with The Independent that his team discovered ‘powerful and impressive seeping structures (of Methane gas) more than 1,000 metres in diameter’ during their survey of the Arctic Ocean earlier this year. ‘I was most impressed by the sheer scale and the high density of the plumes. Over a relatively small area we found more than 100, but over a wider area there should be thousands of them,’ Semiletov told The Independent’s Steve Connor. This finding is important because methane is estimated to be 20 times as potent as carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, and it could indicate that global warming is about to accelerate dramatically.”
http://science.slashdot.org/story/11/12/16/041220/russian-scientist-discovers-giant-arctic-methane-plumes
Lord Monckton is gathering evidence for a criminal/civil fraud action against CAGWers.
http://www.climatedepot.com/a/14156/Fmr-Thatcher-advisor-Lord-Monckton-to-pursue-fraud-charges-against-Climategate-scientists-Will-present-to-police-the-case-for-numerous-specific-instances-of-scientific-or-economic-fraud
This is huge !
From the Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/dec/16/russia-canada-kyoto-protocol
Spiralling subsidies for UK “green” power – interesting snip from this week’s Private Eye on the UK considering “socialisation” of wind farm costs.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/75880287/pi
“after prompting
behind-the-scenes from the windfarm—obsessed
government, the energy regulator Ofgem has now
been persuaded to consider “socialising” these
costs by making all electricity pay the same
transmission fee no matter how far it travels. This
is another subsidy for remote windfarms, who are
very excited at the prospect.
….the additional
windfarms would be at the expense of new nukes
and clean coal, both of which are key planks in
government low-carbon schemes.
Ofgem faces an interesting dilemma: does it
tilt the playing field in favour of wind — or nukes
and clean coal? The report mentions a way around
this – bung even more money at the nukes to
compensate them.
You are probably already aware, but Fox News now has an article on ClimageGate 2.0 on their home page! It prominently mentions Anthony, WUWT and Steve McIntyre.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/12/16/complicit-in-climategate-doe-under-fire/
Finally some significant traction at the highest levels in traditional media outlets!
Steve
Gov. Moonbeam and Pachauri….we are all ‘cultists’ now.
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/15/4125242/governor-vows-to-prepare-calif.html
New foxnews.com article mentions interview with Anthony Watts:
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/12/16/complicit-in-climategate-doe-under-fire/
Lord Monckton has a very interesting article here talking about how one could initiate legal charges against IPCC authors for fraud:
http://www.climatedepot.com/a/14156/Fmr-Thatcher-advisor-Lord-Monckton-to-pursue-fraud-charges-against-Climategate-scientists-Will-present-to-police-the-case-for-numerous-specific-instances-of-scientific-or-economic-fraud
Russians discover extensive methane plumes in arctic.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/methane-discovery-stokes-new-global-warming-fears-shock-as-retreat-of-arctic-releases-greenhouse-gas-6276278.html
A lot of well documented bits of fraudulent pseudo-scientific propaganda by the environmentalists and their sympathizers in the media, in this (Dec 16, 2011) editorial by Peter C. Glover, the co-author of the book ‘Energy and Cimate Wars’.
http://www.energytribune.com/articles.cfm/9401/Lies-Damned-Lies–Enviro-Fraud
Anthony Watts is quoted in this Fox News story:
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/12/16/complicit-in-climategate-doe-under-fire/
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/10/05/answering-a-reader-question-on-climate-web-traffic/
It would be interesting to revisit the traffic stats again. I think in my original comment I predicted the drop off in readership in Climate sites…but WUWT is more than just climate science…I guess I gave myself some wiggle room in my prediction!
http://www.theage.com.au/national/freerange-hens-boost-carbon-20-20111216-1oyvp.html Chickens are changing the earth’s orbit again
For anyone in the UK who may have missed it, I have just finished listening to yet another patronising and insulting propaganda piece on BBC Radio 4 – Lisa Jardine’s “A Point of View”. You will want to hear the repeat at 8.50 am, also on R4, on Sunday (or on the iplayer), and you will want to complain.
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nrk.no%2Fvitenskap-og-teknologi%2F1.7904533&hl=en&langpair=auto|en&tbb=1&ie=UTF-8 Interesting about Dead Sea disappeared 100,000 years ago (was hotter of course)
Jim Hansen warned us about killer coal trains.
“The couple appeared to have died as the coal, about 12,500 tons total, was dumped from the train, plunging the equivalent of multiple stories.”
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/16/9498324-young-couple-buried-under-tons-of-coal-in-florida?threadId=3298150&commentId=60801562#c60801562
Tool enables scientists to uncover patterns in vast data sets
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-12/nsf-tes121611.php
“With support from the National Science Foundation, researchers from the Broad Institute and Harvard University recently developed a tool that can uncover patterns in large data sets in a way that no other software program can.”
Bear Says: Big deal. Mike Mann and Phil Jones have been finding patterns no one else can for years.
Carl “Bear” Bussjaeger
Author: Net Assets, Bargaining Position,
The Anarchy Belt, The Anarchists
Books: http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&sort=relevancerank&search-alias=books&ref_=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1&field-author=Carl%20Bussjaeger&_encoding=UTF8&tag=bussjaegesworld&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957
Site: http://www.bussjaeger.org
Blog: carlbussjaeger.blogspot.com
Hot Damn! ClimateGate 2.0 is gaining further traction, in main stream press!
Climategate Bombshell: Did U.S. Gov’t Help Hide Climate Data?
By Maxim Lott
Published December 16, 2011
| FoxNews.com
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/12/16/complicit-in-climategate-doe-under-fire/?test=latestnews#ixzz1gjmemjzx
Irene Downgrade. http://www.mysuncoast.com/news/national/story/Irene-was-tropical-storm-over-NJ/_WouF97OJUay2PVG9DEmIg.cspx
Anthony;
This image might be good image if someone does a bit on biofuels.
The ignorance captured by this image is stunning.
We all, must in fact, eat carbon. That is about 95+% of the food (non-liquid) intake all living things, plants and animals.
There are many variation: Google Images “Let them eat carbon”
http://markcnewton.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Let-Them-Eat-Carbon-031-540×360.jpg
For what reason I don’t know, but I’m going to ask you to address my post at your page ‘The IPCC gives me a shock’. I need to know why you are not making this the last great story of 2011. Frankly, I feel I am swimming through a major shoal of whales with no directional sense whatsoever. A press release on the topic of “Shunned derided climate sceptic invited to contribute” with discussion points from both sides would make global global global headlines across the weekend, but you are all too puritanical to be able to observe a major media opportunity when you see one. Am I the only one seeing this? Please, surely not.
14th Dec 20011: E-Cat Update: LENR Confirmed by Mainstream Scientists
http://earthbagbuilding.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/e-cat-update-lenr-confirmed-by-mainstream-scientists/
The Earthchron sidebar widget is stuck on Oct 17; it appears the sorce website may have gone away.
This is interesting Climategate emails on a green site, and they are not defending them.
“If your wondering why this is on an Eco site its because we are interested in fact led science research that leads to a better future for all; ClimateGate is very indicative that at the very core of climate research the high standards that we all expected for such core science research are not being upheld. See this article and its conclusion for how we think this is adversely effecting the science and in this case is such a big issue.”
http://www.ecowho.com/foia.php
Vaguely on-topic.
Damian Thompson ( who normally wrires articles poking fun at the pompous fools who run the English Catholic and Anglican churches ) has a hilarious go at Moonbat.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100124794/euro-maniacs-are-losing-their-marbles/
November PDO is -2.33. Last time it was lower was March 1956 at -2.75.
With the AMO also now in negative territory what are the chances that in 12 months time the media will be discussing “Ice Age” topics?
Hey Anthony,
I’ve started my own blog and I touched on the environmental movement today. I would be humbled and honored if you would take a look. If you like it I’d love a link provided to your great readers.
http://cumgranosalisdossetto.blogspot.com/2011/12/arrogance-of-environmentalism.html
Thanks for your patience and understanding,
Grant
I don’t see a post about the recent press mis-reporting about methane being seen off the coast in Siberia. Good thing, too. The methane is being released due to warming — since the gas-laden permafrost became submerged 8,000 years ago.
http://www.worldclimatereport.com/index.php/2011/12/16/methane-time-bomb-in-arctic-seas-apocalypse-not/
Anthony, more temperature data “Manipulation”, this time by Australia’s BOM.
They removed all the old record temperatures from their website. See-
http://jennifermarohasy.com/
More Adjusting of Temperature Records by Rob
The National Hurricane Center has just released their report on Irene, in case anyone’s interested:
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL092011_Irene.pdf
Highest sustained winds reported in New England was 53 knots, with most much less. Last hurricane strength winds were around North Carolina, and then barely.
this seems noteworthy, from agu:
http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2011/2011GL049811.shtml
“…….sufficient to allow prediction of a GSMi onset.”
We are now far from the predictions at the turn of the century that in the UK snow would be a thing of the past. Thursday night the BBC weather forecaster predicted snow for Friday, and then commented that we “shouldn’t be surprised, as it is December, after all”. If I’d had anything in my mouth I would have spat it out then in my burst of laughter.
Sun :
Ap index = still 0
K index = 0 for the third day in a row.
Never seen between 2007 and 2009.
I bet it much more than the semi annual variation.
Anthony,
You are mentioned and quoted in this Fox News piece. Need a repost to toot your own horn just a bit. http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/12/16/complicit-in-climategate-doe-under-fire/
More arrant nonsense from the BBC.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16215244
Scepticism is now seen as some kind of mental dysfunctionism.
This from AAP in the Newcastle Herald 17/12/2011. Can’t find it on line so
“Cats Embrace Change”. Climate change is having anotheralarming effect-too many unwanted moggies. The RSPCA’s Michael Beatty said cat breeding cycles were getting longer and now stretched from October through to May. The lengthened cycles have been blamed on climate change. As cats favour a warm spring or summer climate, the shorter wintershave seen numbers soar. Mr. Beatty urged people not to rushinto buying a pet and encouraged desexing animals.
“In 1954, a Chicago housewife, Dorothy Martin, started receiving messages from the planet Clarion. The aliens seized control of her hand, and through the medium of “automatic writing” she issued startling prophecies. The bad news: on the night of December 21, the world would be destroyed in a flood. The good news: Dorothy and her followers would be lifted to safety by a flying saucer.”
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/damianthompson/100124794/euro-maniacs-are-losing-their-marbles/
“Poor Dorothy! Not only did the flood and the spaceship fail to materialise, but it turned out that her cult had been infiltrated by social psychologists. They were busy taking notes as she and her followers desperately tried to explain what had gone wrong. Curiously, some true believers became more fervent despite being made to look like fools.”
Past begins to repeat itself
Vaclav Havel died. He was one of the few state heads who didn’t buy CAGW. Perhaps worth some attention?
JP
“Václav Havel, a Czech writer who was imprisoned by his country’s former communist rulers, only to become a symbol of freedom and his nation’s first president in the post-communist era, died Sunday morning at his weekened home in the Czech Republic, the Associated Press reports. He was 75.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/vaclav-havel-dissident-playwright-and-former-czech-president-dies/2010/09/21/gIQATAeD2O_story.html
The Met Office has launched its own fashion range, complete with its famous weather symbols.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/8963146/Met-Office-on-trend-with-new-weather-fashion-range.html
RU sure you’re not confusing him with Vaclav Klaus? Many do.
Anthony checkout these funky Kevin-Hemlholtz clouds over Birmingham,AL. I don’t recall ever seeing any clouds like that before anywhere I’ve lived.
http://www.alabamawx.com/?p=55225
Luboš Motl has written a wonderful memorial to Vaclav Havel.
Willis might enjoy reviewing the following two articles on RE and Costs.
“Renewable Energy Adoption and the Increasing Cost of Electricity in the U.S.”
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/12/renewable-energy-adoption-and-the-increasing-cost-of-electricity-in-the-u-s?cmpid=rss
and reposted in part by “ThinkProgress>>> Climate Progress”
http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/12/18/390865/states-most-installed-wind-solar-power-least-increase-in-electricity-prices/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Progress%29
“The findings presented here show quite clearly that states with high volumes of wind and solar PV have seen well below average cost increases. When this fact is considered in conjunction with the various health, environmental, energy security, and job creation benefits of renewable forms of generation, it helps to form a compelling argument in their favor. The next time someone tells you that they would support renewable energy if the costs weren’t so high, share these findings with them and see if their perspective changes.”
My PG&E rates over time spreadsheet tell a different story by the way:
E-1 residential rate schedule
Year Kwh (AVERAGE price)
2005/1 0.137
2006/5 0.158
2010/6 0.189
It seems that 99 million should occur on Christmas day.
January 13, 2012 – Deadline to join NOAA’s Climate Stewards Program
You are Invited to Join the Climate Stewards Education Program (CSEP) and help build a climate-literate public that is actively engaged in climate stewardship activities.
We have had much success during the first few years of the program and are now seeking 40 new educators to join us in 2012.
From the NOAA overview
NOAA Climate Stewards also receive modest financial assistance and expert evaluation as they design and launch action plans for their communities. … Climate Steward Sylvia Quinton used the knowledge and motivation she gained from the program to successfully apply for, and receive, a $2 million National Science Foundation grant for her project in Suitland, Maryland.
I have a copy of the 2012 letter of invitation, but have not been able to find a current link via google. This is the 2011 invitation.
What a shock, a BBC “Point of View” that provides some balance!
Haha got you there… it’s actually the usual science-free condescending drivel that paints anyone not buying into the concensus as conspiracy theorist nuts who are “fearful” and can’t be convinced by “facts” (what facts exactly?).
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16215244
Monday morning and I’m grinding my teeth already.
“It should not come as a surprise to public authorities to have the clarification that information held in private email accounts can be subject to Freedom of Information law if it relates to official business,” said Information Commissioner Christopher Graham. “This has always been the case – the Act covers all recorded information in any form.”
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/12/19/civil_servants_private_public_email/
Have a look at this from the BBC in the UK. It’s not about climate, it’s about quantum theory. The passage from 5 minutes to 6 minutes in is Professor Brian Cox describing how science is; Should be, done. On quantum theory he says ‘If the observations don’t fit the theory then we find a new theory’. If only climate science was done like that!!!
Australia has coldest start to summer for 50 years, Brisbane coldest December day for 123 years.
http://www.coastalwatch.com/news/article.aspx?articleId=9886
Hi Anthony. Last episode of Frozen Planet (http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00zj35m/Frozen_Planet_Summer/) seems all of a sudden to have plummeted into full on Warmist Rhetoric. I usually have alot of time for Attenborough but I fear he has accepted all too readily the honour bestowed upon him as a principal defender of AGW Science.
Ben
Hi again Anthony… sorry that was the wrong link to Frozen Planet – I can’t find the most recent episode on BBC i player, which is the offending episode.
Tasmanian tree ring data over 4000 years – temp rise since 1900, but no hockey stick – Fig 5A-C
Cook E.R., Buckley, B.M. and D’Arrigo, R.D. 1999. Warm-Season Temperatures since 1600 B.C. Reconstructed from Tasmanian Tree Rings and Their Relationship to Large-Scale Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies. Climate Dynamics
ftp://atmosfera.cl/pub/rgarreau/GF600_2011/cook_et_al_2000.pdf
Evidence for a ‘Medieval Warm Period’ in a 1,100 year tree-ring reconstruction of past austral summer temperatures in New Zealand
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 29, NO. 14, 1667, 10.1029/2001GL014580, 2002
http://ruby.fgcu.edu/courses/twimberley/EnviroPhilo/CookPalmer.pdf
Apparently Lisa Jackson and her boss didn’t get the memo. The American people are fed up with this backdoor power grab in the name of Environmental Protection. The memo reads in part: BACK OFF (W) ITCH!
Excerpt: Jackson compared the new approach, it would articulate to “the difference between treating disease and pursuing wellness.” It was, she said, “a new opportunity to show how environmentally protective and sustainable we can be,” and would affect “every aspect” of EPA’s work.
According to the study itself, the adoption of the new “sustainability framework” will make the EPA more “anticipatory” in its approach to environmental issues, broaden its focus to include both social and economic as well as environmental “pillars,” and “strengthen EPA as an organization and a leader in the nation’s progress toward a sustainable future.”
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/12/19/epa-ponders-expanded-regulatory-power-in-name-sustainable-development/?test=latestnews#ixzz1gzpX0oEF
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/12/19/epa-ponders-expanded-regulatory-power-in-name-sustainable-development/?test=latestnews
“The panel who wrote the study declares part of its job to be “providing guidance to EPA on how it might implement its existing statutory authority to contribute more fully to a more sustainable-development trajectory for the United States” (the NAS)
” the study urges EPA to “create a new culture among all EPA employees,” and hire an array of new experts in order to bring the sustainability focus to every corner of the agency and its operations. Changes will move faster “as EPA’s intentions and goals in sustainability become clear to employees,” the study says”
A moment of uncertainty for Keith Briffa?
“I for one still believe that we are seeing the manifestation of greenhouse warming but I know the evidence presented to date leaves many questions still unanswered .” 1999 email below
cc: ???@unixg.ubc.ca (Steve Calvert), ???@ocean.seos.uvic.ca
date: Thu Aug 5 12:07:07 1999
from: Keith Briffa
subject: Re: Skeptics
to: Tom Pedersen , ???@climate1.geo.umass.edu
Temperature reconstructions based on ring density have an opposite bias – reduced density in recent years that may similarly be expressed to different degrees depending on the method of data processing and which would in any case suppress evidence of recent warming. This may or may not be associated directly with the effects of CO2 or other fertilization.
Our density reconstructions still show the 20th century to be anomalously warm in a several hundred year context , and perhaps much longer one.
The problem here is a genuine paucity of long series and statistical problems in processing and calibrating such data.
We need to and are, doing much more work to explore these……
I for one still believe that we are seeing the manifestation of greenhouse warming but I know the evidence presented to date leaves many questions still unanswered .
I too believe that solar variability is a potential forcing factor that has likely contributed to the variability of 19th and 20th century observations .
The extent of the effect surely requires much more model-based research.
Simply correlating Hoyt’s series against observations or reconstructed temperatures does not get us far.
I also believe we have major uncertainty surrounding global or hemispheric estimates of centennial or millennial reconstructions , and real problems with spacial patterns on long timescales.
Saying this does not make me an outlaw in the palaeo family – I hope! – just someone anxious to maintain our objectivity.
We should all resist the attempts of those who try to push us into the pro or anti greenhouse camps.
I think Hoyt’s comments betray someone who is perhaps lacking the degree of objectivity I had previously thought him to have.
Temperature reconstructions based on ring density have an opposite bias – reduced density in recent years that may similarly be expressed to different degrees depending on the method of data processing and which would in any case suppress evidence of recent warming. This may or may not be associated directly with the effects of CO2 or other fertilization.
Our density reconstructions still show the 20th century to be anomalously warm in a several hundred year context , and perhaps much longer one.
The problem here is a genuine paucity of long series and statistical problems in processing and calibrating such data.
We need to and are, doing much more work to explore these……
I for one still believe that we are seeing the manifestation of greenhouse warming but I know the evidence presented to date leaves many questions still unanswered .
I too believe that solar variability is a potential forcing factor that has likely contributed to the variability of 19th and 20th century observations .
The extent of the effect surely requires much more model-based research.
Simply correlating Hoyt’s series against observations or reconstructed temperatures does not get us far.
I also believe we have major uncertainty surrounding global or hemispheric estimates of centennial or millennial reconstructions , and real problems with spacial patterns on long timescales.
Saying this does not make me an outlaw in the palaeo family – I hope! – just someone anxious to maintain our objectivity.
We should all resist the attempts of those who try to push us into the pro or anti greenhouse camps.
I think Hoyt’s comments betray someone who is perhaps lacking the degree of objectivity I had previously thought him to have.
A little off the normal track, but I’ll make the connection as quick as I can…
I received today (19 December 2011) a most amusing unsolicited email that appears to be a fairly well-constructed scam. My concern started with a few typos (Subject: “Amaizing chance” [sic]) purportedly from the “International Telecomunication Union” [sic]; for an “International Call-In Prize Giveaway” ($10,000 prize). To enter, one is required to call one of numerous numbers provided in the body of the email. There is a disclaimer about the cost of the initial call ($0.12/min and no need to remain connected for more than a minute), however they state: “If you are the winner a person from our staff will contact you within moments from your call to the number you called from to ask you for your details.” Also stated is the following: “REMEMBER: YOU could be the winner on any number and you can call as many times as you want! You are guaranteed to win as long as you are the person number 1000 to call!” Graphics for numerous “sponsors” are listed, including AT&;T, Verizon, the Broadband Commission, China Mobile, and Cisco Systems, as well as a series of graphics touting “As seen on:”; that include Wall Street Journal, Fox News, USA Today, & BBC America (among others).
Here’s the kicker: There is an International Telecommunications Union. It’s a part of the UN, and both countries and telecommunications firms may become members. It’s also started to support the UN Climate Change Agenda. See: http://www.itu.int for more. One of the top banner ads on the site what their news and activities leads to a page that has this summary:
“The United Nations has launched a new report that offers guidance for coordinating the transition to a Green Economy at the international and country levels. Such action will require investing in natural capital, clean-technologies, such as information and communication technologies (ICTs), as well as in in human and social capital, including education, health care, cultural development and social protection.”
(See: http://www.itu.int/themes/climate/events/rioplus20/index.html)
Oh, gee, now they are going to offer cultural development, education, health care, and “social protection’s part of the new “Green Economy.” I can hardly contain myself. An interesting twist that identifies an ever-widening range of activities in which the UN wishes to assert itself globally.
sorry, double pasting above : this is better:
A moment of uncertainty for Keith Briffa?
“I for one still believe that we are seeing the manifestation of greenhouse warming but I know the evidence presented to date leaves many questions still unanswered .” 1999 email below
cc: ???@unixg.ubc.ca (Steve Calvert), ???@ocean.seos.uvic.ca
date: Thu Aug 5 12:07:07 1999
from: Keith Briffa
subject: Re: Skeptics
to: Tom Pedersen , ???@climate1.geo.umass.edu
Temperature reconstructions based on ring density have an opposite bias – reduced density in recent years that may similarly be expressed to different degrees depending on the method of data processing and which would in any case suppress evidence of recent warming. This may or may not be associated directly with the effects of CO2 or other fertilization.
Our density reconstructions still show the 20th century to be anomalously warm in a several hundred year context , and perhaps much longer one.
The problem here is a genuine paucity of long series and statistical problems in processing and calibrating such data.
We need to and are, doing much more work to explore these……
I for one still believe that we are seeing the manifestation of greenhouse warming but I know the evidence presented to date leaves many questions still unanswered .
I too believe that solar variability is a potential forcing factor that has likely contributed to the variability of 19th and 20th century observations .
The extent of the effect surely requires much more model-based research.
Simply correlating Hoyt’s series against observations or reconstructed temperatures does not get us far.
I also believe we have major uncertainty surrounding global or hemispheric estimates of centennial or millennial reconstructions , and real problems with spacial patterns on long timescales.
Saying this does not make me an outlaw in the palaeo family – I hope! – just someone anxious to maintain our objectivity.
We should all resist the attempts of those who try to push us into the pro or anti greenhouse camps.
I think Hoyt’s comments betray someone who is perhaps lacking the degree of objectivity I had previously thought him to have.
Emails: Problems with lack of winter warming this century, and warmer winters in early part of century – Siberia and China
http://www.ecowho.com/foia.php?file=5221
Mr. Peter Scholefield Chief, World Climate Data and Monitoring Programme Division
World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland
(…) Peter
I have managed to have a quick look at 2.8 and 2.9, both spreads. ……….
…..Regarding 2.9, cold winters and cool summers, I have some concerns. I
assume that Phil Jones would have looked at this spread (….) .
Firstly with respect to the trends, I find it difficult to reconcile what is said here
with what is said generally about global warming.
We are saying here that there is very little change in winter temperatures over Europe, the USA and
central and eastern Siberia (or even an opposite trend!!).
Phil Replies:
As for the text of 2.9 Bill’s discussion of trends depends a lot on the period (the 20th century). Your attachment marked 3 bits in dark green. The problem with some of these relates to variability from winter to winter, which is high in many of the mid-latitude regions that Bill is discussing.
1) 20th century over Northern Europe. There has been little trend in winters over this region during the 20th century because winters were mild in the first 40 years of the century.
2) Central and Eastern Siberia. Data is sparse for these regions earlier this century. What Bill has said here is defensible, but it would seem best to remove this sentence, because it is very difficult to be certain either way.
The trends in N. China relate to the period since 1951. Since 1951 winters in C and E Siberia have warmed, but they were milder in the first part of the century as in parts of Europe.
“Global malaria death toll falling”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-16161907
“When I began working in the malaria field in Africa we were fighting a losing battle. Now all that has changed.”
End Quote
Dr Richard Cibulskis
World Health Organization
India has made some big noise about its plans to cut carbon intensity and press is full of stories on how hard this is:
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/05/india-balances-development-against-emissions
However, India’s carbon intensity is 7 times higher than in Japan. In reality, Indians have calculated that by maintaining vigorous growth the carbon intensity targets will be achieved anyway:
New Delhi: An internal note prepared by the Planning Commission, and endorsed by the Prime Minister, says India by simply maintaining the current growth tempo, can cut its carbon emission intensity of GDP by up to 39% by 2020 from the 2005 base. Therefore, the voluntary target of 20-25% cut in emission intensity announced by the government in Parliament on Thursday actually does not commit to any big reduction in carbon emissions in absolute terms. In fact, India’s new proposal merely seeks to keep its own carbon space for development while pushing the developed economies to respond to the new formulation of “carbon intensity of GDP.”
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/carbon-intensity-indias-new-gambit/550122/
Just awesome!
http://m.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/12/the-year-in-volcanic-activity/100209/
New Stalinist admits Reagan was right about acid rain! Most of it comes FROM trees, not goes TO trees.
This throws a nice spanner into all those forest-planting CO2 offsets, doesn’t it? You may be absorbing carbon but you’re making acid rain.
Gotcha!!!!!
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21298-trees-do-bear-some-blame-for-acid-rain.html
Hi Anthony,
A while back your site had a story on the effects of massive WWII bomber contrails possibly lowering the earth’s temperature. The last picture in the link http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2075565/Vivid-new-Battle-Bulge-photos-offer-seen-look-war-weary-soldiers-braving-frigid-weather-fight-Nazi-Germanys-major-offensive-World-War-II.html?ITO=1490 shows what those contrails might have looked like.
Phil, Ottawa
Most Himalayan Glaciers NOT melting
“In the first comprehensive study of a part of what is called High Asia, the scientists found that 96 percent of the water that flows down the mountains of Nepal into nine local river basins comes from snow and rain, and only 4 percent from summer glacier melt. Of that 4 percent, says Armstrong, the lead author, only a minuscule proportion comes from the melting away of the end points of the glaciers due to global warming.”
High glaciers may be safe from warming
OneWorld.netBy Christopher Pala, Inter Press Service (IPS) | OneWorld.net – Thu, Dec 15, 2011
http://news.yahoo.com/high-glaciers-may-safe-warming-100200885.html
It would appear that Richard Black over at the BBC is up to his old tricks of biasing the science news again.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16247150
Richard seems to be quite happy to use his position of trust to smear an elected President all in the guise of what he calls ‘climate freedom.’ I’ve already complained about him implying that President Vaclav Klaus is a homophobic, right-wing, anti-European AGW denier. Hopefully others will also feel that Richard has yet again chosen to use a forum, which should be about balanced reporting, to put forward his own agenda. So much for the famed BBC impartiality!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/complain-online/
Anthony — it’s past time for an update to
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/08/13/is-jim-hansens-global-temperature-skillful/
This is the most important topic covered here, as it relates to the fundamental scientific principle of falsifiability.
The acid rain,
it is plain,
falls mainly
due to forests boreal
and tropical
http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo1354.html
Anthony,
I have to admit the curiousity is getting to me. Exactly what did dear dana post?
Just in case we never see it again and our Children won’t know what it is. Try typing “Let it snow” into Googles search box
Enjoy
The effective slow drift downwards of the white fluffy flakes are a close facsimile to what we used to call Snow before the atmosphere became fully saturated with 0.03902% of CO2
That slow opaquing of your screen is what we used to see on our windows, a build up of frozen condensation in a delightful crystalline fashion. We used to call it Frost before it was all but eliminated around the turn of the Century due to us popping to the shops, for a bite to eat, in the nasty fossil fuelled automobile
The whole greenhouse effect argument hinges upon whether or not the infra-red “back radiation” coming from GHG molecules and heading for the oceans or land surfaces actually increases the temperature thereof. There has never been, and never will be any empirical evidence that such is the case. Indeed, Prof. Nahle has proved in September 2011 that it most certainly is not the case. Furthermore, standard physics can be used to prove that such radiation from a colder atmosphere cannot warmer a surface which is already warmer. The radiation is rejected and, in effect, bounces off the surface without causing any warming whatsoever. There is more radiation coming out of the warmer surface and it is rather like directing a fire hose at a garden hose.
If you buy two identical electric bar radiators and face them towards each other,and turn them on simultaneously neither will cause the other to warm any faster. But turn one on first and, when it is hot, turn the other on and the second one will indeed warm faster. That’s all it takes to debunk the AGW hypothesis.
So, in effect, when carbon dioxide captures a photon it will very quickly radiate another photon with equal or lower energy. The energy involved will transfer in and out of numerous GHG molecules moving around in a random fashion. Hence, some will end up getting to space and some will approach the Earth, but get “bounced” off. So the surface molecules are just like air molecules in that regard. Hence the energy involved only has one permanent “end” to its zig-zag path and that is to space. One can liken it to a pool table, without pockets, but with one end removed so that balls bounce around until they fall on the floor.
One other interesting fact is that direct incident solar radiation contains plenty of energy in the infra-red band and, when observed from the Earth, it is quite clear that water vapor and carbon dioxide have absorbed some of this IR radiation on its way to Earth, and sent some back to space, thus preventing some warming. I wonder why they never talk about this cooling effect of carbon dioxide?
It occurred to me that having belief in the forecasts of our climate scientist actually requires something of an act of faith.
CERES satellite data (measuring incoming and outgoing energy at the top of the atmosphere) tell us there is an imbalance of 6.4 W m−2.
Calculations from knowing the absorption spectrum of CO2 is that a doubling CO2 would account for 3.4 W m−2.
But, from the ‘known’ amount of recent global warming (partially dependant of tree ring data) the amount of energy imbalance ‘required’ is estimated to be only 0.85 ± 0.15 W m−2 (Hansen et al. (2005)).
It is the models, with their programmed in physics, forcings, fudge factors, and offsets which then tell us that CO2 is the main culprit.
To have absolute faith in the predictions means one has to either completely understand the intricacies of the many models put forward….
…or simply have absolute faith.
abstract: Loeb etal 2009 ‘Toward Optimal Closure of the Earth’s Top-of-Atmosphere Radiation Budget’ J. Climate, 22, 748–766
This study provides a detailed error analysis of TOA fluxes based on the latest generation of Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) gridded monthly mean data products [the monthly TOA/surface averages geostationary (SRBAVG-GEO)] and uses an objective constrainment algorithm to adjust SW and LW TOA fluxes within their range of uncertainty to remove the inconsistency between average global net TOA flux and heat storage in the earth–atmosphere system.
What’s a grid operator to do when PV output (production) drops by 65% in 40 minutes ………… http://www.energy.ca.gov/research/notices/2011-12-16_workshop/presentations/02_CAISO-Blatchford.pdf or when wind output goes through the roof…………
Anthony, here’s a link to another Climate 101 type video, people really believe this stuff?
Superb interview of James Delingpole by Peter Robinson.
This theory holds as much credibility as the models used in the theory (scam) of AGW.
Climate sceptics might just be captive to basic emotions
Instant gratification is a powerful, but flawed, human motivator.
If you are down a blind alley searching for that perfect Christmas gift for your climate sceptic friend, you could do worse than slinging them a book on Emotional Intelligence. Why? Research is mounting that your friend is the victim of one of the brain’s many computing glitches. More particularly, he has been derailed by an emotional response that is at best unhelpful and at worst catastrophic. He has capitulated to the pleasure of the here and now.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/climate-sceptics-might-just-be-captive-to-basic-emotions-20111219-1p2hl.html#ixzz1h2kCTtSt
From the N.Y. Times, Andrew Revkin makes a lot of sense with his latest piece:
Climate Panel Needs to Follow its Own Advice
“I believe it’s time for Rajendra K. Pachauri to take a new approach to discussing climate change or leave the chairmanship of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change after nearly a decade in that position.”
“To my eye, Pachauri has strayed too often into policy statements that appear to go well beyond what the panel, in its charter and its new communication plan, is supposed to do “to ensure objectivity and transparency as well as safe-guard the IPCC as a policy-relevant but policy-neutral organization.”
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/climate-panel-needs-to-follow-its-own-advice/#more-40925
Hadn’t been to Minnesotans For Global Warming in a while – thought this was good ;-) :
“For a morning, the sky looked like a surfer’s dream: A series of huge breaking waves lined the horizon in Birmingham, Ala., on Friday (Dec. 16), their crests surging forward in slow motion. Amazed Alabamans took photos of the clouds and sent them to their local weather station, wondering, “What are these tsunamis in the sky?”
Experts say the clouds were pristine examples of “Kelvin-Helmholtz waves.” Whether seen in the sky or in the ocean, this type of turbulence always forms when a fast-moving layer of fluid slides on top of a slower, thicker layer, dragging its surface.”
http://news.yahoo.com/giant-tsunami-shape-clouds-roll-across-alabama-sky-192102289.html
Anthony & MODS, there is an Excellent article and collection of Jones emails at this site
http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/17760
BBC is running an interesting story about electrically conducting iron oxide in Earth’s core…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16265510
Anthony:
In the comments for the “Thou shalt not question . . .” thread, you asked about Bananas:
The Chiquita banana company was pressured by “forestetchics” to make a public statement that they would try to stop using oil from the Canadian “tar” sands. How they would figure out where the oil was from is not mentioned, and Chiquita complied. Below are a few links to Canadian news items. I particularly like the Ezra Levant bit. It should be noted that Ezra is associated with “ethicaloil.com”.
JE
http://business.financialpost.com/2011/12/16/oil-sands-embroiled-in-banana-wars/
“http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/featured/prime-time/867432237001/chiquitas-gone-bananas/1331946778001/page/3″
http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/News/1221258968/ID=2178595373
Anthony, this is not climate related but it is about scientists proving that the financial collapse in 2007 was due to “mystery predators”. If the 99% crowd wants to protest something even I would support, this is it.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-12-mystery-predators-contributed-fiscal-collapse.html
James Delingpole’s half hour interview by Peter Robinson on Uncommon Knowledge
was fantastic, interesting start to finish. Maybe you should queue this up, all will enjoy it and are guaranteed to know him better, much better.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100124626/god-im-brilliant/
What the hell has happened to The Weather Channel and when did it start hiring fools like this guy?
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/meteorologist-climate-change-its-raining-harder-out-there
The EU is worried about the low price that carbon is trading at. http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/dec/19/eu-carbon-trading-scheme-vote
Google, KKR Set California Solar Deal -
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204058404577108892724557610.html
……”Financial terms of the deal weren’t available. A person familiar with the matter said that KKR and Google beat out other bidders…..”
“….Recurrent has a 20-year agreement to supply the Sacramento Municipal Utility District with roughly enough electricity to power 13,000 U.S. homes. The customer-owned utility serves about 1.4 million people over 900 square miles……”
Anthony:
Starting today, when I go to any page of your site other than the home page, I get the following threat detection from AVG:
The page you are trying to access has been identified as a known exploit, phishing, or social engineering web site and therefore has been blocked for your safety. Without protection, such as that in the AVG Security Toolbar and AVG, your computer is at risk of being compromised, corrupted or having your identity stolen. Please follow one of the suggestions below to continue.
URL: s1.wp.com/wp-content/mu-plugins/post-flair/sharing/sharing.js?m=1322684386g&ver=0.2
Name: Virus found HTML/Framer
Maybe there is a bad ad?
Just FYI–
Is Global Warming killing White Christmas? Compare the NEW NOAA map to the old one on my blog at http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-blogs/weathermatrix/map-updated-white-christmas-vs-global-warming/59304
While checking out the Glacial Tap article, I came across this one.
In hot water: Ice Age findings forecast problems
http://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/news/item/?item_id=212872
Dec. 19, 2011
Data from end of the last Ice Age confirm effects of climate change on oceans
The first comprehensive study of changes in the oxygenation of oceans at the end of the last Ice Age (between about 10 to 20,000 years ago) has implications for the future of our oceans under global warming. The study, which was co-authored by Eric Galbraith, of McGill’s Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, looked at marine sediment and found that that the dissolved oxygen concentrations in large parts of the oceans changed dramatically during the relatively slow natural climate changes at the end of the last Ice Age. This was at a time when the temperature of surface water around the globe increased by approximately 2 °C over a period of 10,000 years. A similar rise in temperature will result from human emissions of heat-trapping gases within the next 100 years, if emissions are not curbed, giving cause for concern.
Most of the animals living in the ocean, from herring to tuna, shrimp to zooplankton, rely on dissolved oxygen to breathe. The amount of oxygen that seawater can soak up from the atmosphere depends on the water temperature at the sea surface. As temperatures at the surface increase, the dissolved oxygen supply below the surface gets used up more quickly. Currently, in about 15 per cent of the oceans – in areas referred to as dead zones – dissolved oxygen concentrations are so low that fish have a hard time breathing at all. The findings from the study show that these dead zones increased significantly at the end of the last Ice Age.
“Given how complex the ocean is, it’s been hard to predict how climate change will alter the amount of dissolved oxygen in water. As a result of this research, we can now say unequivocally that the oxygen content of the ocean is sensitive to climate change, confirming the general cause for concern.”
This research was funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR).
Large climate-driven changes of oceanic oxygen concentrations during the last deglaciation
http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo1352.html
Sacramento Bee Editorial today: “Havel’s legacy of freedom, dissent lives on for all”
……..”He described how totalitarian societies worked – through rituals of hypocrisy, such simple acts as a grocer routinely and unthinkingly posting communist slogans in his shop. The grocer need not believe the lies but he has to act as if he does: “In doing so, however, he has himself become a player in the game, thus making it possible for the game to go on, for it to exist in the first place.” Havel understood that small, seemingly meaningless acts that accepted the totalitarian system as unchangeable “helped to perpetuate it.” Thus, totalitarianism in its essence wasn’t just about overwhelming government power, but about individual responsibility: “None of us is just its victim. We are all also its co-creators.” ” ………..
http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/20/4134044/havels-legacy-of-freedom-dissent.html#storylink=cpy
From The Australian newspaper 21 Dec 2011
ONE hundred years after Douglas Mawson’s first Australian-led Antarctic expedition was almost defeated by thick pack ice, the same problem has stumped those seeking to follow in his wake.
Unusually dense ice floes off the coast of East Antarctica, and particularly Mawson’s landing spot of January 1912, Commonwealth Bay, have in recent days repelled private expeditions seeking to commemorate the centenary of the historic event.
Three tourist expeditions have been unable to make planned visits to Mawson’s Hut, the timber shack used as a base for the landmark 1911-1914 Australasian Antarctic Expedition.
Instead they have been treated to a vast sea of densely compacted ice floes that experienced expeditioners describe as unprecedented in recent history.
Howard Whelan, expedition leader aboard the Aurora Expedition’s ice-strengthened ship Akademik Shokalskiy, said: “I’ve never seen it like this.” A veteran of 50 trips to Antarctica, including five to East Antarctica over 14 years, Mr Whelan said the Shokalskiy tried for several days to penetrate the pack ice, which is driven by wind and waves………………………
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/douglas-mawson-centenary-trip-to-antarctica-frozen-as-cold-reality-sets-in/story-e6frg8y6-1226227156367
There is an e-petition being run by HM government in UK, in support of investment in Thorium power R&D at https://submissions.epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/743/signature/new
There are times when scientific research shouldn’t be published or open for replication. This is one of them FOR SURE! And folks are so worried about climate change?!
Alarm as Dutch lab creates highly contagious flu
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/alarm-as-dutch-lab-creates-highly-contagious-killer-flu-6279474.html
Looks like the black hole at the center of our galaxy could be in for a wake up.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21288-cloud-suicide-will-wake-black-hole-sleeping-giant.html
I have just spent an interesting hour watching this documentary on Channel 4 here in the UK concerning the various ‘extreme’ environmental events the world has experienced this past year – earthquakes, tsunami, tornados etc.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/the-year-the-earth-went-wild/4od#3272507
A whole hour without a SINGLE WORD about global climate whatever!!! Got to be a first! Is the tide turning? One stat intrigued me – a statement that the number and/or power of tornados in the US this year was unprecedented. Is this so?
Hi Anthony,
I just noticed that you have added a sidebar category for other blogs – “Unreliable” – with Skeptical Science as the sole entry.
I think you ought to consider moving RealClimate to that category for uncritical support of “science” that utilises proxies innapropriately upside down, innapropriately right side up. and often just innapropriately.
Or maybe, a new category. In accordance with the reation they have to critisms of their favoured papers, create a “Doesn’t matter” category to list them under.
Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.
Here we go, let’s censor the studies:
U.S. asks journals to censor bird flu studies.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/20/us-birdflu-usa-censorship-idUSTRE7BJ1O720111220
What is up next, eh ?
Anthony, if you haven’t seen this already, I think you will LOVE it!! Absolutely phenomenal surfer’s paradise in the clouds – incredible series of curling ‘breaking wave’ clouds rolled over Alabama…
http://news.yahoo.com/giant-tsunami-shape-clouds-roll-across-alabama-sky-192102289.html
“…..Experts say the clouds were pristine examples of “Kelvin-Helmholtz waves.” Whether seen in the sky or in the ocean, this type of turbulence always forms when a fast-moving layer of fluid slides on top of a slower, thicker layer, dragging its surface. …..”
From an Avaaz.org newsletter: ” At critical climate talks in Durban, more than 800,000 of us helped salvage the UN climate treaty from a cabal of polluters determined to kill it. Our team on the ground in South Africa delivered our message day in, day out through hard-hitting actions like this ad in the Financial Times — released on the final day of tense negotiations. Despite massive pressure by oil-backed planet killers like the US and Canada a deal was struck to save the vital Kyoto Protocol and give us a fighting chance by keeping climate negotiations alive.
EU Climate Chief Connie Hedegaard said: “Thanks to the over 800,000 people from around the world — your voices made a vital impact at the end of the talks.”
At any future gathering about climate, there will need to be an equivalent number of people making it clear that they disagree with the position of Avaaz and the other environmental campaigns, and doing similar lobbying only with more concrete proposals than Avaaz.
Anthony, this is probably opening a can of worms. But……
“Is that Hewlett as in Hewlett Packard? If so I’ll never buy another HP product ever.”
Don’t know how big your extended readership is, but it IS a potent weapon……..
6. “Sea-Level Rise: Meeting the Challenge” – New Zealand Climate Change Centre Conference 10-11 May 2012, Wellington
Demand for science-based advice to assist coastal planning for sea-level rise due to climate change is growing. In light of this the New Zealand Climate Change Centre (NZCCC) invites you to attend a conference focussing on sea-level rise and addressing associated coastal planning challenges.
The conference will include keynote speakers from overseas and New Zealand as well as case study examples illustrating how sea-level rise projections have been incorporated into coastal planning. The conference will provide ample opportunity for interaction between attendees through panel and breakout group discussions.
Further information, including details of how to register will be made available from late February 2012 but in the meantime, please save 10-11 May 2012 in your diary for the NZCCC Conference 2012 “Sea-Level Rise: Meeting the Challenge.”
Contact Richard Nottage (NZCCC) for additional information or to note your interest in the conference: r.nottage@nzclimatechangecentre.org (04 386 0327) or visit http://www.nzclimatechangecentre.org/events
The Arctic is pretty warm atm. Why?
http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/meant80n.uk.php
Anthony,
Here is an interesting story that might fit into your ‘climate craziness of the week’ category.
http://www.ebroadcast.com.au/cgi-bin/TV/detail?date=Friday_16_December&chan=7&state=Perth&descrip=NATURAL+MYSTERIES&fta=1&fox=0&opt=0&time=10.30+pm
Apparently man eating lions are caused by global warming.
Cheers
Menelaos
INSANITY:
From BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16282692
21 December 2011 Last updated at 06:57 ET
EU airline carbon tax backed by European Court
EU plans to levy an emissions tax on airlines are valid, according to the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
The decision means all airlines flying to and from the 27 states of the European Union will face a tax on emissions from 1 January.
…
The EU has made it clear that it will not bow to US pressure following Wednesday’s decision.
“We will neither abandon nor delay [the Emissions Trading System]. The measure will fully enter force on 1 January 2012,” said the spokesman for EU climate change commissioner, Connie Hedegaard.
Just announced at http://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/breaking-news-norfolk-police-to-hand-over-climategate-inquiry/
“Norfolk Constabulary have decided that climategate is too big for them to handle. According to an un-named source, they intend to hand over the inquiry to another force.”
International air carriers will no longer land at EU airports in order to avoid having to pay the carbon fee. Instead, they will issue passengers parachutes. http://www.foxnews.com/travel/2011/12/21/european-court-approves-carbon-trade-for-aviation/
Tallbloke says Norfolk Police to hand over Climategate inquiry
Another one bites the dust
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/solon-german-solar-vendor-files-for-insolvency/
I watched a BBC documentary on the wonders of ice, last night, which was, in general quite interesting. What really annoyed me was, as usual, the typical BBC attempt to insert some propaganda. In the final section, the presenter visited the facility where Antarctic ice cores have been stored for analysis, and spoke to one of the scientists. On the subject of carbon dioxide trapped in the ice cores he quite clearly said (excuse the slight paraphrasing, I will take another look via the iPlayer to confirm):
“So you can see, temperatures go down, CO2 levels go down. Temperatures go up, CO2 levels go up”
Clear enough to me, what he meant, in fact absolutely no doubt what his meaning was. However the presenter, in voice-over, parrotted the usual BBC drivel about “we can now see how our CO2 emissions are impacting the global climate…”
NOOOO – he did not say anything which supports that statement!!!
Jeez – when will they give up on this fantasy.
Anew evaluation of the level of government subsidy for the Chevy Volt
http://www.michigancapitolconfidential.com/16192
Chevy Volt Costing Taxpayers Up to $250K Per Vehicle
Analyst: ‘This might be the most government-supported car since the Trabant’
British High Court rules that the Government’s intention to reduce solar feed-in tarriff is illegal:-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16291768
The Government will appeal, but may have to delay the halving of the FIT a month or two. It’s easy to create thousands of ‘green’ jobs if someone else is effectively paying their wages!
HI Anthony, did you see this yet? More on Tallbloke, and even MORE more heavy-handedness by US Dept. of Justice! Now you know why I post anonymously. Merry Christmas to you and yours, Chuck the DrPH
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2011/12/20/climate-crackdown/
How do these guys come up with this rubbish? Even the Chernobyl numbers are bollocks. . .
http://www.thedailybell.com/3392/Safe-Nuclear-Meme-Shattered-by-Fukushima-Expose-in-Leading-Journal
In full disclosure, I am an employee of AEP – American Electric Power. The opinions I express on this blog are my own and do not necessarily represent those of AEP.
Below is todays announcement by the EPA that I believe will have a direct and negative impact on the USA’s energy security. The announcement includes a great deal of the EPA’s fuzzy statistics complete(ly) lacking substantiation. The EPA appears to have disregarded the refutations of most of the electrical utility companies in the US. The utility industry tried to meet them in the middle and ask for more time to meet their demands because the research and plant modelling, labor, materials, and permit process simply wouldn’t allow for power plants to be retrofitted with the necessary pollution control equipment in less than three years. They (EPA) merely said they would look at a case by case need but nothing was gauranteed.
Anthony, I’ve included my disclosure, you are welcome to put this up complete, or source uncited. Either way is fine with me.
U.S. EPA News Release
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, the first national standards to protect American families from power plant emissions of mercury and toxic air pollution like arsenic, acid gas, nickel, selenium, and cyanide. The standards will slash emissions of these dangerous pollutants by relying on widely available, proven pollution controls that are already in use at more than half of the nation’s coal-fired power plants.
EPA estimates that the new safeguards will prevent as many as 11,000 premature deaths and 4,700 heart attacks a year. The standards will also help America’s children grow up healthier – preventing 130,000 cases of childhood asthma symptoms and about 6,300 fewer cases of acute bronchitis among children each year.
“By cutting emissions that are linked to developmental disorders and respiratory illnesses like asthma, these standards represent a major victory for clean air and public health – and especially for the health of our children. With these standards that were two decades in the making, EPA is rounding out a year of incredible progress on clean air in America with another action that will benefit the American people for years to come,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards will protect millions of families and children from harmful and costly air pollution and provide the American people with health benefits that far outweigh the costs of compliance.”
“Since toxic air pollution from power plants can make people sick and cut lives short, the new Mercury and Air Toxics Standards are a huge victory for public health,” said Albert A. Rizzo, MD, national volunteer chair of the American Lung Association, and pulmonary and critical care physician in Newark, Delaware. “The Lung Association expects all oil and coal-fired power plants to act now to protect all Americans, especially our children, from the health risks imposed by these dangerous air pollutants.”
More than 20 years ago, a bipartisan Congress passed the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments and mandated that EPA require control of toxic air pollutants including mercury. To meet this requirement, EPA worked extensively with stakeholders, including industry, to minimize cost and maximize flexibilities in these final standards. There were more than 900,000 public comments that helped inform the final standards being announced today. Part of this feedback encouraged EPA to ensure the standards focused on readily available and widely deployed pollution control technologies, that are not only manufactured by companies in the United States, but also support short-term and long-term jobs. EPA estimates that manufacturing, engineering, installing and maintaining the pollution controls to meet these standards will provide employment for thousands, potentially including 46,000 short-term construction jobs and 8,000 long-term utility jobs.
Power plants are the largest remaining source of several toxic air pollutants, including mercury, arsenic, cyanide, and a range of other dangerous pollutants, and are responsible for half of the mercury and over 75 percent of the acid gas emissions in the United States. Today, more than half of all coal-fired power plants already deploy pollution control technologies that will help them meet these achievable standards. Once final, these standards will level the playing field by ensuring the remaining plants – about 40 percent of all coal fired power plants – take similar steps to decrease dangerous pollutants.
As part of the commitment to maximize flexibilities under the law, the standards are accompanied by a Presidential Memorandum that directs EPA to use tools provided in the Clean Air Act to implement the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards in a cost-effective manner that ensures electric reliability. For example, under these standards, EPA is not only providing the standard three years for compliance, but also encouraging permitting authorities to make a fourth year broadly available for technology installations, and if still more time is needed, providing a well-defined pathway to address any localized reliability problems should they arise.
Mercury has been shown to harm the nervous systems of children exposed in the womb, impairing thinking, learning and early development, and other pollutants that will be reduced by these standards can cause cancer, premature death, heart disease, and asthma.
The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, which are being issued in response to a court deadline, are in keeping with President Obama’s Executive Order on regulatory reform. They are based on the latest data and provide industry significant flexibility in implementation through a phased-in approach and use of already existing technologies.
The standards also ensure that public health and economic benefits far outweigh costs of implementation. EPA estimates that for every dollar spent to reduce pollution from power plants, the American public will see up to $9 in health benefits. The total health and economic benefits of this standard are estimated to be as much as $90 billion annually.
The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards and the final Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, which was issued earlier this year, are the most significant steps to clean up pollution from power plant smokestacks since the Acid Rain Program of the 1990s.
Combined, the two rules are estimated to prevent up to 46,000 premature deaths, 540,000 asthma attacks among children, 24,500 emergency room visits and hospital admissions. The two programs are an investment in public health that will provide a total of up to $380 billion in return to American families in the form of longer, healthier lives and reduced health care costs.
More information: http://www.epa.gov/mats/
Anthony,
Some ten years ago a CRU scientist in an article in The Independent (UK) decleared that “Children just aren’t going to know what snow is”. That was a ridiculous statement as we all know.
But what about the winter country of Norway, the home of ski sport? Today, the newpaper Dagbladet manages to say the same thing about Norway:
http://www.dagbladet.no/2011/12/21/nyheter/innenriks/klima/ekstremver/meteorologisk_institutt/19513067/
“- Ut fra forskningen på dette, vil vinteren mange steder være borte om 50 år
Det er på tide å bli nervøs. Hvit jul vil etter hvert være historie i vinternasjonen Norge.”
” – Based on the science, winter will be gone in many places 50 years from now. It is time to become nervous. White Christmas will be history in the wintry nation of Norway”
Google translate from Norwegian
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dagbladet.no%2F2011%2F12%2F21%2Fnyheter%2Finnenriks%2Fklima%2Fekstremver%2Fmeteorologisk_institutt%2F19513067%2F&sl=no&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8
This is desperate stuff. Norway is “North Korea of climate science”. I know, because I live here.
I forgot to add that it is -10C outside. They live in a fantasy world.
This book may interest some of you:
“In the new book Our Explosive Sun – A Visual Feast of Our Source of Light and Life (Springer) Pål Brekke provides a detailed introduction to the dynamics of the Sun and how it affects Earth. The book examines the many ways that the Sun impacts our world, including the beautiful northern and southern lights, and how greatly the Sun affects our technology-based society.
Our Explosive Sun includes 143 color illustrations and photos of the Sun, several of which were made especially for the book and have never been published before. Additional material, available via Springer Extras, includes a large number of animations and video material. A PowerPoint presentation of the book is a useful resource for teachers.”
More info, electronic version and sample pages:
http://www.springer.com/astronomy/extraterrestrial+physics%2C+space+sciences/book/978-1-4614-0570-2
EU Energy Roadmap Calls for Energy Efficiency, Power Prices to Reflect Costs
http://www.powermag.com/POWERnews/4271.html?hq_e=el&hq_m=2350396&hq_l=10&hq_v=bb09315ba5
“..Using a number of possible outlooks, including current trend scenarios and decarbonization scenarios (ranging from high energy efficiency and high renewables to low nuclear), the report concludes that decarbonization “is possible” and could be less costly than current policies in the long run. One reason for this is that “Exposure to fossil fuel price volatility would drop in decarbonisation scenarios as import dependency falls to 35-45% in 2050, compared to 58% under current policies.”
All decarbonization scenarios show that by 2050, the EU could have an energy system based on higher capital expenditure and lower fuel costs, the report claims. The scenarios would require immense development of the grid, however, which could result in investment costs of between 1.5 trillion and 2.2 trillion euros by 2050 (with the higher end of the range reflecting support of renewables)…..”
And the roadmap- http://ec.europa.eu/energy/energy2020/roadmap/doc/com_2011_8852_en.pdf
” (5) Household expenditure will increase
In all scenarios, including current trends, expenditure on energy and energy-related products
(including for transport) is likely to become a more important element in household
expenditure, rising to around 16% in 2030, and decreasing thereafter to above 15% in 205013.
This trend would also be significant for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In the
long term, the rise in investment costs for efficient appliances, vehicles and insulation
becomes less important than the reduction of expenditure on electricity and fuels. The costs
include fuel costs as well as capital costs such as costs of purchasing more efficient vehicles,
appliances and refurbishments of housing. However, if regulation, standards or innovative
mechanisms are used to accelerate the introduction of energy efficient products and services,
this would reduce costs.”
“(6) Energy savings throughout the system are crucial
Very significant energy savings (see graph 3) would need to be achieved in all
decarbonisation scenarios. Primary energy demand drops in a range of 16% to 20% by 2030
and 32% to 41% by 2050 as compared to peaks in 2005-2006. Achieving significant energy
savings will require a stronger decoupling of economic growth and energy consumption as
well as strengthened measures in all Member States and in all economic sectors.”
Polar bears suffer from heat stress; New concerns:
John F Bruno is a marine ecologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at The University of North Carolina, and has made some assertions that may have grave consequences for the survival of the species, that have nothing to do with seals or sea-ice.
His following quotes can be found at:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/12/17/polar-bears-becoming-a-problem-in-some-arctic-towns-survey-accuracy-questioned/#comment-837479
I was so concerned at some implications of this, that I Emailed him at his university, and here is the text:
Hi John,
Following your advice at WUWT that male polar bears relieve their heat stress caused by AGW by contacting their genitals with the ice, I’ve searched around for information on this, and was surprised by what I found. There are many reports from around 2006, giving that their testicles are shrinking, probably as a consequence of pollution. However, there does not seem to be much follow-up on the issue, so maybe those concerns are no longer as bad as we thought.
However, it seems to me that If the bears over-do the cooling practice, that their testicles will get colder than intended from their original adaptations prior to AGW. Furthermore, from human observations, cold conditions tend to cause contraction of testicles, and loss of albedo. Sperm count and quality, might also become an issue, and I worry if we might see a reduction of the size and number of cub litters as a consequence of this aspect of AGW.
If not already in progress, may I suggest that you or your colleagues conduct some research on this hypothesis? If it turns-out that it is a serious reality, it would then seem to be appropriate to engineer some management strategies; difficult though that might be. A tricky one; maybe some kind of belt or girdle to protect the testicles. After all, the female bears seem to cope without the luxury of testicular cooling.
Yours sincerely,
Bob Fernley-Jones
If anyone shares my concern, John F Bruno’s contact details etc are here:
[SNIP: WUWT is not going to place Dr. Bruno's contact details online without his permission. -REP]
REP,
But John Bruno’s contact details and Bio etc are there for prominently and severally for everyone in the public domain at his university pages, he also has his own website.
How about we change it to:
If you want to know more about him see here: http://johnfbruno.web.unc.edu/
EU court upholds carbon trade plan for aviation
U.S. airlines failed Wednesday to block an EU law charging airlines flying to Europe for their carbon pollution. The decision by an EU court was widely hailed by environmentalists but the Fitch ratings agency said it raised the spector of a global trade dispute.
The European Court of Justice in Luxembourg dismissed arguments that imposing the European Union’s cap-and-trade carbon credits program on flights to and from European airports infringes on national sovereignty or violates international aviation treaties. U.S. and other non-European airlines had sued the EU, arguing that they were exempt from the law.
Environmentalists called the law a first step in controlling carbon emissions in a key economic sector, and EU officials said they expected airlines to comply.
….
“Today’s court decision further isolates the EU from the rest of the world and will keep in place a unilateral scheme that is counterproductive to concerted global action on aviation and climate change,” Airlines for America said in a statement from Washington. “Today’s decision does not mark the end of this case.”
…
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2011/12/21/international/i023226S70.DTL#ixzz1hEJTnh9s
Scientists at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have had funding of $200,000 (£131,000) suspended by the US government in a row over e-mails.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-10712286
Any photoshop experts here? The picture in the following politico article definitely looks photoshopped:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70758.html
Opps, forgot to add that the section that looks photoshopped is the white smoke coming out of the smokestacks…
Cancel my holiday in Europe, go to Hawaii or Thailand, maybe the Brits will opt out of the Aviation Carbon tax. But good for them. Send the tourists to asia or the middle east and save Europe./sarc off
+++++++++++++
But the point of my post is the Arctic Ice Flow over the last few months. It appears we have a dipole set up with high pressure over North America and Low Pressure over Russia/Siberia that is pumping a lot of warm air into the Arctic and all the way across to the Berring straight based on the ice flow charts, and the DMI temperature above 80 information. I have read about this phenomenom, but it has been working this year for a long time. It seems quite strong and unusual based on what we have seen before. The establishment of gyres has been rather weak and the ice flow has been rather linear which seems very odd.
Comments on implications?
Do you know where your teenage daughter is right now? Is she in school learning how to swim and climb trees??
Headline: Teen girls face heaviest risk from climate impacts – report
“The loss of education that results widens the already-existing gap in key survival skills between boys and girls. Studies have found that a lack of basic skills, like knowing how to swim or climb trees, puts women more at risk from disasters.”
http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/teen-girls-face-heaviest-risk-from-climate-impacts-report
Anthony, as soon as the first magazine/journal/professional organization/etc. runs a genuine recant of their former endorsement of AGW, I would like to see your website start a “check-off” list as sort of a countdown in a contest to see who will be last to leave the warmista camp of believers. You could even start a list now, to see who will be first to leave. It would be great fun for office pool bets. If an editorial in some of my former reading material (- e.g. Scientific American and National Geographic) makes it clear that there has been a cimate change in belief on their part, I might even resubscribe to them.
From the New Yorker a week ago (December 13th 2011) an article on the decline effect in scientific reaserch [The Truth Wears Off - Is there something wrong with the scientific method? by Jonah Lehrer]
“According to Ioannidis, the main problem is that too many researchers engage in what he calls “significance chasing,” or finding ways to interpret the data so that it passes the statistical test of significance—the ninety-five-per-cent boundary invented by Ronald Fisher. “The scientists are so eager to pass this magical test that they start playing around with the numbers, trying to find anything that seems worthy,” Ioannidis says. In recent years, Ioannidis has become increasingly blunt about the pervasiveness of the problem. One of his most cited papers has a deliberately provocative title: “Why Most Published Research Findings Are False.”
…
The disturbing implication of the Crabbe study is that a lot of extraordinary scientific data are nothing but noise.”
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/12/13/101213fa_fact_lehrer?currentPage=all
Kerry Emanuel says attacks on Climate Scientists are ideologically driven:
http://www.nas.org/polArticles.cfm?Doc_Id=2325
REUTERS Dec 21:
German court finds six guilty in CO2 fraud trial:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/21/us-germany-carbon-fraud-idUSTRE7BK0W820111221?feedType=RSS&feedName=everything&virtualBrandChannel=11563
(Reuters) – A German court on Wednesday sentenced six men to jail terms of between three years and seven years and 10 months in a trial involving evasion of taxes on carbon permits.
Judge Martin Bach said the men, aged between 27 and 66, were guilty of having participated in a conspiracy to evade around 300 million euros ($393 million) in value-added tax (VAT) between August 2009 and April 2010.
Yet another “save the polar bears” scam. http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20111220/canadian-duo-set-for-north-pole-adventure-111221/
Note they are taking donations of $40, $400, and $1,000 and for each donation they will give $5 to the WWF. Guess the rest of the money goes to pay for their vacation.
“All publicly-funded research data should be made freely accessible to benefit business and society, the government has said”
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/12/22/gov_reveals_plans_for_publically_funded_research_to_be_made_freely_available/
Anthony,
I think this should be filed under “Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16291768
Richard Black’s take on it.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16288267
http://www.energybiz.com/article/11/12/google-changes-green-energy-formula&utm_medium=eNL&utm_campaign=EB_DAILY2&utm_term=Original-Member
Google Changes Green Energy Formula
………….”Private Capital
Much of that growth is because of the 1603 program. If that is allowed to expire, the association says that 37,000 jobs will not form next year — a big deal, it adds, considering that 100,000 people currently work in the solar sector, which is double that of 2009.
“The U.S. solar industry is on a roll, with unprecedented growth in 2011,” says Rhone Resch, chief executive of the solar association. “Solar is now an economic force in dozens of states, creating jobs across America. But our industry needs stable policy on which to make business decisions, and unfortunately an underlying mechanism for financing solar projects is scheduled to expire on December 31.”
Google has been a critical part of the solar sector’s growth. It has invested $280 million in SolarCity that builds residential solar panels. It has also ventured into utility-scale solar by placing $168 million into BrightSource Energy’s 370- megawatt Ivanpah plant in the California desert.
The search engine giant’s most recent foray came this week when it announced that it would team with Kohlberg Kravis Roberts to develop four rooftop solar units to provide power to the Sacramento Municipal Utility District in California. Google will spend $94 million while the private equity firm that specializes in leveraged buy-outs will invest $95 million.
When completed next year, the “Recurrent” wind farms will supply 88 megawatts at peak, or enough to power 13,000 homes within the utility’s domain. The electricity will be purchased in a 20-year contract. Such a move is on top of Google’s earlier effort this year to provide a financing mechanism to homeowners who would like to install rooftop solar panels.”
WUWT Gang!
Guess what – there’s more! Went back to Climategate 1 code and guess what I found – what looks like nearly a decade of code ‘hiding the decline’ across a bunch of supposedly independent studies.
http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/17772
TallBloke on YouTube
http://youtu.be/10lUiNvpOYM
heh, I came hear to tell you AJ might have a hide the decline smoking gun. Apparently it’s from CG1, so why didn’t anyone catch it already?
========
So, is this the way a green leaning President should act? Flying his dog in (from Hawaii no less) just for a photo – op? How much CO2 did that cost?
http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2011/12/22/bo-shipped-hawaii-obamas-photo-op/
Just in: Europe chooses this moment to wage economic World War 3: the european high court has today upheld carbon taxes on all Europe bound flights, making allies out of the USA and China in a new global trade war against Europe:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16305488
So Europe chooses THIS moment to wage economic war on the rest of the world together?! (What happened to the lessons of 1945??)
This is where head-in-the-clouds CAGW idealism-religion will really begin to cost money.
For starters: China has just BLOCKED a multi-billion sale of Airbus airliners to a Hong Kong airline.
Time for all good green Europeans to put on their (home-manufactured) hair shirts. Nettle soup for supper anyone?
Would it be a good idea to nuke a volcano? No.
http://io9.com/5844668/what-would-really-happen-if-you-nuked-a-volcano?tag=geology
Getting Bombed in Hawaii
“Modern aerial bombing has a substantial probability of success for diversion of lava from most expected types of eruptions on Mauna Loa’s Northeast Rift Zone, if Hilo is threatened and if Air Force assistance is requested. The techniques discussed in this paper may be applicable to other areas of the world threatened by fluid lava flows in the future. ”
http://www.springerlink.com/content/52087t1517154368/
Lubos Motl has the low-down on the latest EU carbon scam and how a very few are making lots and lots of money by just raising their hands!
http://motls.blogspot.com/2011/12/carbon-allowances-jump-32-percent-after.html
Disclaimer: No “Big Oil” payments were received for posting the following: ;-)
From Gizmodo
A Gallon of Gas Can Power an iPhone for 20 Years
According to Bill Colton, a VP at ExxonMobil, a single gallon of gas has enough energy to charge an iPhone once a day for 20 years. Of course, that’s never going to happen but it’s a point ExxonMobil uses to stress the fact that there is a lot of energy in gasoline.
ExxonMobil goes on to say that gas is one of the lightest and most energy dense fuels there is, which I could care less about because all I want now is somebody to figure out how to transform a gallon of gas into a chargeable resource for my iPhone
http://gizmodo.com/5870501/a-gallon-of-gas-can-power-an-iphone-for-20-years
Lots of interesting info at the ExxonMobil link listed at the article above:
“In ExxonMobil’s recently released Outlook for Energy, we predict that by 2040, about 90 percent of the global transportation fleet will still be powered by liquid petroleum fuels – that is, gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.”
“Clearly, there’s a lot of energy in a gallon of gasoline. And energy density is one of the key factors behind the reliability, affordability, versatility and convenience of any fuel. These are key elements that drive consumer choices today and will continue to drive consumer choices in the future.”
“Even though I talked about the current challenges of fueling vehicles with electricity and biofuels here, that doesn’t mean we don’t expect further technology advances in this area that will greatly expand the use of such vehicles. In fact, you might be interested to know that in our Outlook for Energy, we actually predict that hybrids and other advanced vehicles will account for nearly 50 percent of the vehicles on the road in 2040, compared to just 1 percent today.”
“More efficient vehicles will mean that global demand for fuels to power the light-duty vehicle fleet is likely to actually plateau and gradually start to decline about 10 to 15 years from now, while still meeting the needs of consumers.”
http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/energy_outlook_event.aspx
Hi Anthony, Thank you so much for tireless work in getting the truth out. Your efforts have literally helped the world save 10′s of trillions of dollars in wasted CO2 taxes and grossly inefficient alternative energy projects/legislation.
Could you please provide an update on the 2011 sea level fall. I’ve searched the web and see some blogs suggesting the 2011 fall maybe even greater than the -6mm experienced in 2010.
Also a story on the largest Dec Arctic Ice extent since 2005(?) would be nice.
Thanks again Anthony, and Happy Holidays!
Christchurch, NZ rattled by a series of stronger quakes. A 5.8, 5.3, and a 5.9, along with the smaller aftershocks. These where centered just offshore which helped reduced the impact within the city. Looks like minor damage, and a further weakening of the already damaged structures. My prayers to all in the region this Christmas season.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10775043
Merry Christmas and the Best Wishes for a Happy & Prosperous New Year in 2012 to Anthony & Mrs. Watts & family, the Mods and their families and WUWT writers and readers + families.
From Australia.
1921
SAID HANRAHAN by John O’Brien
“We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan,
In accents most forlorn,
Outside the church, ere Mass began,
One frosty Sunday morn.
The congregation stood about,
Coat-collars to the ears,
And talked of stock, and crops, and drought,
As it had done for years.
“It’s looking crook,” said Daniel Croke;
“Bedad, it’s cruke, me lad,
For never since the banks went broke
Has seasons been so bad.”
“It’s dry, all right,” said young O’Neil,
With which astute remark
He squatted down upon his heel
And chewed a piece of bark.
And so around the chorus ran
“It’s keepin’ dry, no doubt.”
“We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan,
“Before the year is out.”
“The crops are done; ye’ll have your work
To save one bag of grain;
From here way out to Back-o’-Bourke
They’re singin’ out for rain.
“They’re singin’ out for rain,” he said,
“And all the tanks are dry.”
The congregation scratched its head,
And gazed around the sky.
“There won’t be grass, in any case,
Enough to feed an ass;
There’s not a blade on Casey’s place
As I came down to Mass.”
“If rain don’t come this month,” said Dan,
And cleared his throat to speak -
“We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan,
“If rain don’t come this week.”
A heavy silence seemed to steal
On all at this remark;
And each man squatted on his heel,
And chewed a piece of bark.
“We want an inch of rain, we do,”
O’Neil observed at last;
But Croke “maintained” we wanted two
To put the danger past.
“If we don’t get three inches, man,
Or four to break this drought,
We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan,
“Before the year is out.”
In God’s good time down came the rain;
And all the afternoon
On iron roof and window-pane
It drummed a homely tune.
And through the night it pattered still,
And lightsome, gladsome elves
On dripping spout and window-sill
Kept talking to themselves.
It pelted, pelted all day long,
A-singing at its work,
Till every heart took up the song
Way out to Back-o’-Bourke.
And every creek a banker ran,
And dams filled overtop;
“We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan,
“If this rain doesn’t stop.”
And stop it did, in God’s good time;
And spring came in to fold
A mantle o’er the hills sublime
Of green and pink and gold.
And days went by on dancing feet,
With harvest-hopes immense,
And laughing eyes beheld the wheat
Nid-nodding o’er the fence.
And, oh, the smiles on every face,
As happy lad and lass
Through grass knee-deep on Casey’s place
Went riding down to Mass.
While round the church in clothes genteel
Discoursed the men of mark,
And each man squatted on his heel,
And chewed his piece of bark.
“There’ll be bush-fires for sure, me man,
There will, without a doubt;
We’ll all be rooned,” said Hanrahan,
“Before the year is out.”
Around the Boree Log and Other Verses, 1921
source: http://www.middlemiss.org/lit/authors/obrienj/boreelog.html
A big thank-you to Mrs Watts and family (including Kenji) for sharing Anthony with us all at wuwt. We know we have more of his time than we should. Have a merry Christmas.
Inquiring minds want to know if WUWT will pass 100,000,000 views before the turn of the year.
Good interview with Christopher Monckton:
http://www.sunnewsnetwork.ca/video/religion-of-fear/1342914739001
“From The Source, Dec. 22, 2011: The world’s most published man on global warming skepticism, Lord Christopher Monckton, on the quasi-religion of environmentalism.”
Stop Online Piracy Act — A Toxic bill to kill free speech and the internet.
From Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act
The House version requires Court approval for actions against Search engines (silent on other sites). The Senate version does not.
Stop Online Piracy Act is HR 3261
Sponsors: Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX).
31 Cosponsors:
Mark Amodei [R-NV2]
Joe Baca [D-CA43]
John Barrow [D-GA12]
Karen Bass [D-CA33]
Howard Berman [D-CA28]
Marsha Blackburn [R-TN7]
Mary Bono Mack [R-CA45]
John Carter [R-TX31]
Steven Chabot [R-OH1]
Judy Chu [D-CA32]
John Conyers [D-MI14]
Jim Cooper [D-TN5]
Ted Deutch [D-FL19]
Elton Gallegly [R-CA24]
Robert Goodlatte [R-VA6]
Tim Griffin [R-AR2]
Tim Holden [D-PA17]
Peter King [R-NY3]
John Larson [D-CT1]
Ben Luján [D-NM3]
Thomas Marino [R-PA10]
Alan Nunnelee [R-MS1]
William Owens [D-NY23]
Ben Quayle [R-AZ3]
Dennis Ross [R-FL12]
Steve Scalise [R-LA1]
Adam Schiff [D-CA29]
Brad Sherman [D-CA27]
Lee Terry [R-NE2]
Debbie Wasserman Schultz [D-FL20]
Melvin Watt [D-NC12]
From http://www.redstate.com/erick/2011/12/22/stopping-sopa/
Nothing to do with AGW, but a lot in common with climate scientists
http://wimp.com/buildit/
What happens to new about drafting legislation when most, almost all, media businesses is for it?
List of Supporters of HR 3261: Stop Online Piracy Act.
http://judiciary.house.gov/issues/Rouge%20Websites/SOPA%20Supporters.pdf
Inclided in the list are,
ABC, CBS, Comcast/NBCUniversial, News Corporation, Time Warner, Viacom.
And in their company are:
Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies
Council of State Governments
Fraternal Order of Police (FOP)
International Union of Police Associations
Major County Sheriffs
National League of Cities
National Narcotics Offers’ Associations’ Coalition
National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA)
National Troopers Coalition
The United States Conference of Mayors
Plus more law firms tha you can shake an “LLP” at.
Opponents to the bill include
Google, Yahoo, Facebook, Wikimedia, the Electronic Frontier Foundation
http://omnispeak.com/?p=4337
Google, Facebook, Zynga, Twitter, and other Internet companies who oppose the measure took out a full-page ad in the New York Times, while Mozilla turned its home page black at midnight in protest; and a slew of other groups publicly came out against the bill yesterday.
Others: AOL, eBay, LinkedIn, Mozilla, Yahoo
Wow Anthony, check out this….
http://websitevaluerank.com/www.wattsupwiththat.com
WUWT is worth $121,000
Beats all the other warmist websites. Keep on crushing the warmists.
Techdirt: Masnick Nov 22, 2011: <a href=http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111122/04254316872/definitive-post-why-sopa-protect-ip-are-bad-bad-ideas.shtmlThe Definitive Post On Why SOPA And Protect IP Are Bad, Bad Ideas
BREAKING: GoDaddy No Longer Supports SOPA Dec. 23, 2011.
Following a maelstrom of Internet backlash, GoDaddy has withdrawn its support…….
Techdirt: Masnick Nov 22, 2011: The Definitive Post On Why SOPA And Protect IP Are Bad, Bad Ideas
BREAKING: GoDaddy No Longer Supports SOPA Dec. 23, 2011.
Following a maelstrom of Internet backlash, GoDaddy has withdrawn its support…….
I have just updated my website with a new page: http://users.skynet.be/fc298377/EN_media.htm .
You can find here the two Swedish sources.
This subject has also been treated by Kevan Shaw. I borrowed two short assertions from his website (savethebulb.org).
In this articles, the finger is put on the wound: lamps with mercury do more damage than good and have to be banned. I didn’t know that also in Sweden, the situation of CFLs is so distressing!
Are these two stories related?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/8976219/La-Senza-prepares-for-administration.html
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/brendanoneill2/100125840/the-exploding-breast-implants-panic-confirms-that-theres-nothing-feminists-hate-more-than-dumb-double-d-essex-birds/
The Face of the High Arctic
Dalton Muir, 1958
http://www.nfb.ca/film/face_of_the_high_arctic
A poster on BH provides link to a 1986 newspaper column which discusses James Hansen’s testimony to Congress that by 2001 (he says within 15 years) “global temperatures will rise to a level which hasn’t existed on Earth in 100,000 years.”
the BH post:
========================================================================
Some time ago I spoke to a PR guy at the Met Office who acknowledged that scientists there had been wont to exaggerate in the past. However the rise of the sceptical blogs meant that this kind of behaviour would be seen and criticised
Speaking of exaggerating. it might be a good idea to dredge up some of the old exaggerations and post them, so the gits’s claims of yesteryear can be held up to the light.
Yesterday on Judith Curry’s blog another commenter led me to a 1986 article by Sandy Grady in the Charlseton, S.C., New and Courier on June 17, 1986.
http://tiny.cc/jnslp
Entitled “The Heat Is On”, it had two quotes that were so over the top I was nauseated. I Had not paid close enough attention to be nauseated back then, but I cannot believe how over-the-top these are:
“Within 15 years,” said Goddard Space Flight Center honcho James Hansen, “global temperatures will rise to a level which hasn’t existed on Earth for 100,000 years.”
“We’ve had enough research,” said Sherwood Rowland, a Califonria chemist who discovered the link to the Greenhouse Effect. “We can predict the temperature rise will extinguish human life in 500 to 1,000 years.”
These were in testimony before an unnamed Congressional committee.
Dec 24, 2011 at 12:01 AM | Unregistered CommenterSteve Garcia
Richard Muller has offered his definition of a denier. I posted this over at DotEarth as well.
Maybe a candidate for QOTW?
The well-known climate skelarmitic/alarptic Richard Muller has a remarkable comment in an interview in this month’s Nature Climate Change 1, Dec 2011, pp 437.
“The deniers are people who start with a conclusion and only pay attention to the data that support it.”
I believe this is the canonical definition of the IPCC.
link here-
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v1/n9/full/nclimate1292.html
The atmospheric “greenhouse effect” is a physical impossibility because a blackbody re-emits the radiation it receives (without being warmed) up to a “cut-off” frequency determined by Wien’s Displacement Law (see Wikipedia.) All radiation with a frequency greater than the cut-off is not immediately re-radiated: rather it is absorbed and the energy converted to thermal energy, thus causing warming.
Radiation captured by carbon dioxide will be re-emitted if the carbon dioxide molecule has a cut-off temperature above that of the radiation, but such re-emitted radiation cannot have a higher frequency than the radiation from the surface that was captured.
Hence, whatever radiation gets back to the surface will be “cooler” and thus has to have a frequency less than the cut-off frequency, which incidently is proportional to the absolute temperature. So back radiation cannot cause warming. Only high energy incident solar radiation warms the surface.
This simple fact based on sound physics completely dismantles the claimed greenhouse effect.
For a detailed mathematical proof of all the above see Prof. Claes Johnson’s Chapter 19 in “slaying the Sky Dragon.”
Don’t know if you’ve seen this on SDA, but What’s Up With Canada?
According to today’s London Daily Telegraph, police want to charge Chris Huhne mp (the energy and climate change minister) over claims he got his now ex wife to take penalty points on her license when he was spotted speeding. Apart from the speeding offence, they want to chage him with perverting the course of justice, which would scupper his political career. IT’S BEGINNING TO FEEL A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS
Hey WUWT – I can’t find the tallbloke thread:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/12/14/uk-police-seize-computers-of-skeptic-in-england/
Temporary glitch or have you had to pull it?
Thanks
[Reply - reposted here: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/12/23/uk-police-seize-computers-of-skeptic-in-england/ ~ jove, mod]
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150466313199299&set=o.161071526559&type=1&ref=nf
I hope this link works. Love this cartoon. Happy Christmas everyone.
This is why “back radiation” is a fiction and infra-red cameras are not in fact measuring downwelling radiation at all. The camera measures frequency. Then Wien’s Displacement Law is used to connect frequency with temperature. This Law states that absolute temperature is directly proportional to frequency.
Now, remember, the camera is only measuring frequency. But when pointing upwards at the atmosphere, the interpretation of temperature is somewhat meaningless because there is no one body from which that radiation actually emanates. The interpretation gets worse when this temperature is then put into the SB equation and a volume of radiation is then assumed to be causing this temperature. For a start, blackbody radiation calculations should apply only to bodies which are substantially hotter than their surrounds, the latter preferably being at absolute zero. But the upper atmosphere is on average colder than near surface temperatures, so how can such a volume of “downwelling radiation” be calculated anyway? Remember, we only had the frequency in the first place.
Professor Claes Johnson shows why any radiation in the infra-red spectrum will not be absorbed by the surface and converted to heat. He goes on to explain that “back radiation” is a complete fiction also in his note here which all should study: http://www.csc.kth.se/~cgjoh/blackbodyslayer.pdf
Watch Prof. Ross McKitrick, Prof Ian D. Clark, Prof.Jan Veizer and Prof Timothy Patterson give testimony to the 2011 climate science hearing before the Senate Standing Committee on Energy, Environment and Natural Resources on the real state of Climate science to date, that was held Dec 15 2011. Watch it here,,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=xW19pPFfIyg or at the official Parliament of Canada website, here http://senparlvu.parl.gc.ca/Guide.aspx?viewmode=4&categoryid=-1&eventid=7941&Language=E#
The fact that these dissenting scientists are even being allowed a forum to speak is a positive step forward.
Anthony, et al….
You guys planning something special….for the 100,000,000 milestone…that is rapidly approaching?
98,887,684 views
Take that Al Gore!
Merry Christmas guys… or Happy Hanukkah…or just Have a nice day!
Andrew
Why is this in the Science section of the NY Times? And, why isn’t it in the opinion section?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/24/us/provision-may-halt-keystone-pipeline-but-oil-is-still-likely-to-flow.html?hpw
“Politics Stamps Out Oil Sands Pipeline, Yet It Seems Likely to Endure
By JOHN M. BRODER and DAN FROSCH
Published: December 23, 2011
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration confirmed this week that a provision in the payroll tax bill requiring a quick decision on the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from western Canada to the Gulf Coast will probably lead to cancellation of the project.
Related
*
Congressional Memo: Lessons Learned in Congress, or a Sign of Things to Come? (December 24, 2011)
*
Times Topic: Keystone XL Pipeline
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But does that mean the $7 billion pipeline project is dead forever? Will its cancellation curb the inexorable global demand for the exploitation of Canada’s huge oil sands deposits? Will it affect the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide in beneficial ways and slow the pace of climate change?
The answer to all three questions, barring unexpected changes in the politics and economics of oil, appears to be no.
The tax cut and unemployment insurance extension approved by Congress on Friday included a Republican provision that requires President Obama to make a decision on the pipeline within 60 days. The State Department, which has authority over cross-border pipelines, said that it would not be able to complete the required environmental review within that short a period and would be unable to recommend that the project be approved. White House officials said Mr. Obama would honor the agency’s advice.”
Oops, didn’t realize I copied a menu too.
Anthony: I have been monitoring the hits at your website since Dec 18 hoping to predict when you reach 100,000,000 hits. The graph does not look anything like a hockey stick and so increases linearly at 100,000 hits per day. Today you are approaching 99,000,000 and will achieve that milestone on Christmas Day sometime in the afternoon. So, I offer you Merry Christmas and congratulations for hosting and outstanding website. If I am correct, the 100,000,000 hits will have occurred ten days from December 25, 2011. Maybe we can have a web party.
For those with Netflix streaming, Bjorn Lomborg’s “Cool It” is now available. Lomborg uncritically accepts that human-generated CO2 will increase to levels that will cause alarming temperature increases along with corresponding dangers to our very survival that will need to be mitigated. I kind of wish he had questioned that premise, but he (probably correctly) chooses to not claim any expertise in a field he is not trained in and just accept what the “experts” say.
Instead, he uses his own field, economics, to show that the claimed consequences are grossly exaggerated and that the costs to mitigate the (presumed true) effects of a global temperature increase are actually quite small and manageable. Interestingly, quite a bit of video of alarmists like Hansen and Schneier are used to support his arguments.
I really recommend this. From the standpoint of “even if what they are saying is true, what are the consequences?”, this video demolishes the non-skeptic conventional wisdom that civilization needs to return to a stone age economy in order to save the planet. In particular, carbon taxes, cap-and-trade, and “renewable energy” are exposed for the ludicrous money pits that they are and how they negatively impact the world’s poorest most of all.
Hi Anthony, many years ago Monty Python did a skit about village idiots. Here is a YouTube link, http://youtube.com/watch?v=jNBNqUdqm1E. It is very funny, especially the bit about 2min 40sec where he advises village idiots do their training at none other than the University of East Anglia. I really did laugh out loud when I heard that!
Merry Christmas and a happy new year,
Robin Pittwood
I have made several posts on Skeptical Science with content similar to my two posts above but they have been deleted within a few minutes and my account blocked. It would be interesting to see if anyone can get a post regarding Prof Claes Johnson’s note to stick on SkS because I strongly suspect it is the one “denier” claim they were not prepared for. You can see screen captures of my deleted posts here: http://www.climate-change-theory.com/SkS_errors.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/science/earth/climate-scientists-hampered-in-study-of-2011-extremes.html?_r=1&hp
NY Times, “Politics prevents studies to tie extreme weather to global warming.”
For stargazers, here are some nice photos of Comet Lovejoy, which recently survived a very close encounter with the Sun and has cut a blazing path over south eastern Australia just in time for Christmas:
http://the-riotact.com/we-have-seen-his-star-in-the-east-and-are-come-to-worship-him-comet-lovejoy-over-tharwa/62634#comment-374536
Apparently it was discovered by an amateur astronomer called Lovejoy. It is awesome that amateurs can make contributions to science like this.
Apparently Bo NEVAH flies in the same plane as the Prez. Unclean, you know!
aaron beat me to it:
in the NY Times. Money quote:
Time for another statistical refutation?
/Mr Lynn
The ethanol shuffle between US and Brazil.
This is even crazier than the original concept of subsidizing and mandating ethanol in the first place. and reveals the insanity that exists in the Washington EPA and California CARB. This is costing the California drivers an additional 16 cents per gal.
http://www.ethanolrfa.org/exchange/entry/the-ethanol-shuffle/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=RFA+Issue+Brief+The+Ethanol+Shuffle&utm_content=RFA+Issue+Brief+The+Ethanol+Shuffle+CID_cb13a230dc0347f2b8242732b5ea5cf9&utm_source=Email+marketing+software&utm_term=here
Posted on: December 12, 2011 inBrazil, Engines, Ethanol, Exports
“There’s a hot new craze called the “Ethanol Shuffle” that’s sweeping seaports from Sao Paulo to Los Angeles and Houston to Maceio. It’s not a new dance for longshoremen and ship captains; no, this is a shuffle of an entirely different sort. This shuffle is all about the confounded realignment of the global ethanol trade.”
“The rearrangement is occurring exclusively as the result of state and Federal fuel regulations that treat Brazilian sugarcane ethanol as if it were the Holy Grail of biofuels. Both the California Air Resources Board (CARB) and U.S. EPA have decided that producing sugarcane ethanol results in fewer lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions than producing corn ethanol. They’ve bought into the hype that sugarcane ethanol is somehow better and cleaner than corn ethanol, and they’ve used questionable analyses to support their positions. For example, EPA’s land use change analysis for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) mysteriously concluded that sugarcane ethanol expansion won’t induce any land use change emissions in Brazil, despite the fact that sugarcane acreage there has doubled in the past decade (an issue we discussed in detail here). Meanwhile, EPA’s analysis suggested about two-thirds of the land use change emissions hypothetically resulting from U.S. corn ethanol expansion come from land conversions in Brazil. Go figure.”
“CARB’s analysis of sugarcane ethanol is full of similarly questionable assumptions. For instance, CARB allows Brazilian ethanol producers to claim that their sugarcane was mechanically harvested, when much of the sugarcane crop is still manually harvested after burning the field (a practice that releases significant GHG emissions). CARB also assumes sugarcane ethanol is transported from remote sugar mills to export terminals exclusively by rail and pipeline, when everyone knows trucks carry the majority of cane ethanol to market (this is important because emissions from transportation of the fuel are included in the overall carbon footprint, and shipping ethanol by rail and pipeline emits far fewer GHGs than shipping it by truck).”
“So, under CARB’s Low Carbon Fuels Standard (LCFS), sugarcane ethanol generates far more credits for compliance than corn ethanol. And EPA considers sugarcane ethanol to be an “advanced biofuel,” meaning it is one of only two options available to obligated parties today for compliance with the RFS2 advanced biofuels requirement (biodiesel being the other). In short, the LCFS and RFS2 strongly compel regulated parties (typically oil refiners) to import sugarcane ethanol to meet their regulatory obligations.”
“Given the sugar/ethanol shortage situation in Brazil, one wouldn’t expect to see the country exporting much—if any—sugarcane ethanol to the U.S., right? They need to keep every drop for themselves, right? Wrong…the U.S. imported nearly 40 million gallons of sugarcane ethanol for fuel use from Brazil from July through October, with much of the product coming in through the ports of Los Angeles and San Francisco. The volumes were imported strictly for compliance with RFS2 Advanced Biofuel standard and the California LCFS, as there would be absolutely no economic reason to import sugarcane ethanol otherwise. Meanwhile, the U.S. exported 123 million gallons of corn ethanol to Brazil during the same four months to offset the volumes they sent to us and to meet additional demand resulting from their shortage situation.”
So, that’s how the “Ethanol Shuffle” works. California imports sugarcane ethanol from Brazil rather than corn ethanol from Nebraska or Kansas; and in turn, corn ethanol from the Midwest travels to Houston or Galveston via rail, then is shipped to Brazil via tanker to “backfill” the volumes they sent to the U.S. Picture the irony of a tanker full of U.S. corn ethanol bound for Brazil passing a tanker full of cane ethanol bound for Los Angeles or Miami along a Caribbean shipping route. Remember, this is all being done in the name of reducing GHG emissions. But what are the real GHG implications of the shuffle? And what are the economic impacts?”
“But here’s the rub: sugarcane ethanol is in short supply after consecutive disappointing sugar crops in Brazil. Sugarcane yields in 2011 were about 19% below the 30-year trend and on par with average yields from the mid-1980s. USDA’s attaché on the ground in Brazil estimates the country will produce just 5.8 billion gallons of ethanol in 2011/12, down 20% from last year’s 7.2 billion gallons. The shortage of sugar resulting from three consecutive years of declining cane yields means Brazil’s ethanol output hasn’t been able to keep up with domestic demand—let alone demand from traditional cane ethanol importers like the European Union. In fact, Brazil cut its mandatory nationwide ethanol inclusion level from a 25% blend to 20% because the domestic supply just isn’t there and sugarcane ethanol prices have been sky-high. Certainly, the subtext of Brazil’s cut to its blend rate is that they simply don’t want to dramatically increase imports of U.S. ethanol—apparently, they’d rather import (lots) more gasoline.”
The CEC data means E10 made with imported Brazilian ethanol would theoretically be nearly 16 cents/gallon more expensive on average in California than E10 made with ethanol from the Midwest. In other words, a one-day supply of E10 made from Brazilian sugarcane ethanol would cost the state’s drivers $5.8 million more than the same amount of E10 made from Midwest corn ethanol (the state burns through about 38 million gallons of E10 per day). Looked at another way, the average California household would spend about $130 more on gasoline over the course of a year if that gasoline was E10 made with sugarcane ethanol rather than U.S. corn ethanol.
“
Thanks, DeN; watched the whole 2 hrs worth. Fascinating (as a Canadian), both the quality of the presentations, and the insight into the range of concerns and lack of “subject awareness” even amongst Senators most concerned with the issue. The ridiculous smearing put-down summation by the (minority) vice-chair of the committee near the end is a perfect sample of the brain-shielding which has been in effect so far. But I think he’s pretty much out of touch with the rest of the senators.
RE: lab-created deadly flu virus strain
http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/censorship-of-science-is-acceptable-when-lives-are-at-stake-20111225-1p9an.html
Hope they don’t extend this censorship of science to climate science in the name of “climate change kills!!”, “precautionary principle”, etc.
But chances are they **will**… invoking the current censorship as precedent for “saving lives”.
Dr. Mo;
Draco to the rescue:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16165605
Colds, + ebola, bird flu, polio, etc. Killed and treats all 15 viruses it was tried on so far.
“Chiefio” has a post on a paper that shows a very pronounced fall from the MWP to the LIA in……
South America!
http://chiefio.wordpress.com/2011/12/26/s-america-mwp/
I tried some time ago to put some thoughts on the greenhouse theory. As a non specialist I can point at some flaws but would like to see the discussion and feedback from specialists to learn from it. Possibly a review would be of value. Below are my thoughts, but trust this can be better put together by a physician, this is to be seen as a list of points that could be interesting from a layman point of view to increase the understanding of greenhouse gas theory and its effect.
A (layman) look at the greenhouse theory and greenhouse effect.
Some of the divergences and unclarity around “greenhouse” come from the different understanding what greenhouse effect is and what various greenhouse theories are. In the below I try to highlight the line between greenhouse effect and greenhouse theory and where are the uncertainties of the theory.
As basis for the discussion the current wikipedia “greenhouse effect” article, there is no description for the “greenhouse theory” or the “greenhouse hypothesis”. Being a common accessed medium wikipedia mirrors more or less the average understanding of the effect. I try to clarify that the “greenhouse effect” page cover also parts of the greenhouse theory and thus adds to the confusion.
A: The greenhouse effect:
“The greenhouse effect is a process by which thermal radiation from a planetary surface is absorbed by atmospheric greenhouse gases, and is re-radiated in all directions. Since part of this re-radiation is back towards the surface, energy is transferred to the surface and the lower atmosphere. As a result, the temperature there is higher than it would be if direct heating by solar radiation were the only warming mechanism” – (wikipedia)
In my view the correct description of the effect is slightly different: the greenhouse effect is a process by which certain infrared wavelenghts are absorbed by the atmosphere resulting in a heat exchage through radiation with the surface and whithin the atmosphere itself slowing down the heat loss to space. The greenhouse theory describes how this heat transfer is slowing down the heat loss of the surface and results in a relative warming of it and how much extra warming is achieved at the surface through the effect.
The theoretical effective temperature, the re-radiation process as well as the value attributed to the relative warming are parts of the greenhouse theory.
B: The greenhouse theory:
1) The effective temperature:
“If an ideal thermally conductive blackbody was the same distance from the Sun as the Earth is, it would have a temperature of about 5.3 °C*. However, since the Earth reflects about 30% (or 28%) of the incoming sunlight, the planet’s effective temperature (the temperature of a blackbody that would emit the same amount of radiation) is about −18 or −19 °C, about 33°C below the actual surface temperature of about 14 °C or 15 °C. The mechanism that produces this difference between the actual surface temperature and the effective temperature is due to the atmosphere and is known as the greenhouse effect.“ – (wikipedia)
Attributing the difference between the calculated and the measured temperature to the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere belongs to the greenhouse theory.
Furthermore the planet’s theoretical effective temperature is calculated based on a flat world model with a quarter of the solar insolation distributed uniformly over the whole surface. The validity of this model needs to be demonstrated. The effect of a much higher (4X) solar radiation on a spherical surface in rotation may be completely different to the averaged value.
2) Direct sunlight warming of the atmosphere
The greenhouse theory ignores the heating of the atmosphere from direct sunlight.
The earth is receiving radiation from the sun in the form of electromagnetic radiation, most of it infrared (near infrared), visible and UV. Part of it is absorbed in the atmosphere before reaching the ground. This part is ignored in wikipedia as “most of which passes through” “without being absorbed”. Well yes, most of it passes through but not all.
The greenhouse theory needs to prove that the direct heating from the sun of the atmosphere can be ignored in comparison with the heating from the surface to the atmosphere.
3) The oceans warming from direct sunlight
Greenhouse theory assumes that the oceans are not relevant for describing the difference in warming, are therefore regarded only as heat storing and redistribution mechanism, and not in defining what the planet’s effective temperature is.
Intuitively it is difficult to assume the warming of the oceans as a result of heating from the atmosphere and the shore and not by the sun.
The oceans are warmed in the first meter by the near infrared radiation from the sun, but visible light goes deep (up to 1-200 m) water being almost transparent to visible light, but not 100% so light is gradually absorbed in the deep water columns. How do the oceans cool? There is infrared radiation, at the very superficial layer, as water is opaque to infrared and enthalpy (evaporation heat loss). Even at the surface the infrared radiation is very much reflected by the water vapor there. The long wave infrared in the infrared exchange with the atmosphere does not penetrate the oceans beside the very superficial pellicle.
I found on John Daly’s site the diagram which shows the penetration of the different wavelengths (the Sverdrup radiation chart):
http://www.john-daly.com/polar/arctic.htm
The assumptions that the oceans do not influence the effective temperature belongs to the greenhouse theory where the oceans are treated as a solid surface.
As almost 3 quarter of the Earth surface is covered with water, whose heat capacity, light absorption and cooling process are very different to that of solid surface I see it as one of the major omissions of the greenhouse theory.
4) The equivalence between the blackbody and the solid surface of the earth – belongs to the greenhouse theory.
What do I understand by this? The calculated effective temperature “the actual surface temperature of about 14 °C or 15 °C” is for the solid surface of the earth. However the Earth is surrounded by an atmosphere. There is radiation leaving the earth coming from the atmosphere, therefore it is incorrect to asume only the surface of the Earth is radiating. The “average” temperature of the atmosphere might be around -19° C (there is a gradient of temperature per km in the atmosphere). Ignoring the atmosphere in calculating the average temperature of the equivalent black body is part of the greenhouse theory.
5) The re-radiation process for well mixed gases
“Since part of this re-radiation is back towards the surface, energy is transferred to the surface and the lower atmosphere”
5a) re-radiation process: The assumption is that higher atmosphere levels – like a greenhouse ceiling – are re-radiating and heating the surface and the lower atmosphere levels.
Carbon dioxide is considered a well mixed gase in the atmosphere. The absorbtion bandwidths of CO2 are the same throughout the atmosphere. The transmition range of radiation whithin these absorption wavelenghts is of about 10 meters.
The heat exchange between the atmosphere and the surface is done in 2 ways: through direct contact (convection and conduction) and radiation.
Through radiation absorbtion – the greenhouse effect (A) – there is a transfer of heat. For “carbon dioxide greenhouse effect” this heat transition is Q1(t0-t1) where t1 is the average temperature of the atmosphere below 10 meters and t0 the temperature of the surface.
We can define Q2(t0-t1) the transmition of heat at contact of the surface and convection and conduction whithin the 10 meters layer of the atmosphere that we defined above with average temperature t1.
We can thus conclude Q1+Q2= Qlevel1 is the transmition of heat from the surface to the first 10 meters of the atmosphere through convection, conduction and radiation.
There is no re-radiation from this 10 meters level, as the radiation from it is included in the heat transfer Q2(t0-t1).
5b) the higher atmosphere source of warmth
Gases absorb and radiate in the same specific bandwidth, carbon dioxide is not an exception. Radiation from the surface is absorbed within 10 meters in the absorption bands and does not penetrate further the atmosphere. The first level of the atmosphere radiates in all directions. The radiation towards the surface is included in the Q2(t0-t1) transfer. There is further transfer to the above levels. Radiation from above level (level 2) does not penetrate the below level (level1). There is a transfer Q3(t2-t1) between level 1 and level 2 – the level to 20 meters through radiation. This transfer includes radiation from level 2 to level 1 (the so called back-radiation).
There is additional heat transfer between level1 and level 2 through conduction and convection Q4(t2-t1) and a total Qlevel2(t2-t1)= Q3+Q4
The way how the transfer of heat through radiation within the atmosphere influences heat transfer and thus increases or decreases the temperature values of the atmosphere belong to the greenhouse theory.
Intuitively one would say the greenhouse effect is increasing the heat transfer to the atmosphere as we have the added Q1 value that we would not have without radiation transfer, but this does not fully clarify how does this heat transfer influence the convection & conduction heat transfer through movements inside the atmosphere. It is also more difficult to see how a shortened radiation free way from 10 meter to 9 meters or 8 meters would influence the temperature gradient.
It does not directly influence how much radiation escapes in the end from the systems itself.
Further comments:
Based on this we can say that there is “a greenhouse effect”, as there is a radiation transfer between the surface and the atmosphere that adds to the conduction and convection heat transfer and slows down certain heat loss directly to the void. There is very much discussion how the effective values are calculated. From the above the values might be several digits smaller then values calculated to create a 33°C warming of the planets surface, possibly undetectable.
The diagrams where the energy transfer are shown through “forcings” belong to the greenhouse theory, Q1 would be represented as a result of 2 opposite “forces”, one directed up and one down which represent the total radiation of the respective elements in analogy to the energy transfer from the sun.
The representation may be very confusing as the respective “force” or “power unit” is not effectively transmitted. It represent Q1=S1-S2 where S1 is the radiation from the surface per unit of time and S2 the back-radiation from the atmosphere. The “forces” cannot be used for calculation for energy transfer, as the energy transfer is solely dependent on the relative temperature values and conductivity through all channels (convection, conduction and radiation).
* It was interesting to realize the average temperature of the oceans is very close to the calculated blackbody value being around 4.2°C versus 5.3°C. Thus the total greenhouse warming is only a fraction of the difference between the oceans temperature 4.2°C and the 14°C of the average atmosphere, being somewhere between 2 to 6°C. The doubling of CO2 would be somewhere at 0.2°C which seems to be in line with observations.
Saw this article about the increase in extreme weather because of climate change and how the political climate is not giving the scientists the funding they need.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/25/science/earth/climate-scientists-hampered-in-study-of-2011-extremes.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
Just for jollies, I rigged up an animation of annual temps in the 10 ‘climate divisions’ of the state of Wash over the last century. Play with it if you want….
http://www.polistrasmill.blogspot.com/2011/12/century-temperature-animated.html
26 December 2011 – 1:25 pm
Researchers have established that war and pestilence
did not reduce significantly Earth’s CO2 level, detailing
their findings in the study,
“Coupled climate–carbon simulations indicate minor
global effects of wars and epidemics on atmospheric CO2
between AD 800 and 1850.”
Even Mongol hordes’ belicose tourism didn’t amount
atmospherically to much: “Only the Mongol invasion
could have lowered global CO2, but by an amount
too small to be resolved by ice cores”.
In fact none of the four mass human disasters studied
[ Mongol Invasion in China, Black Death in Europe,
European Conquest of the Americas, and Manchu
attacks on China causing the fall of the Ming Dynasty ]
produced much more than a faint, minuscule reduction
of CO2.
A conclusion that calls into question the much-loved
proposition of a return to Middle Ages living standards
by Warmeristas bent on terrorizing the gullible with
their ever-imminent climate global catastrophes.
– http://hol.sagepub.com/content/21/5/843.short
– http://hol.sagepub.com/content/21/5/843.full.pdf+html
These findings have been noted in the mini-Annals of
Improbable Research (“mini-AIR”), December 2011,
– http://www.improbable.com/airchives/miniair/2011/mini2011-12.htm,
which thanks Karel Klika for bringing them to their attention.
Miguel Rakiewicz
MRakiewicz@gmail.com
Tallbloke’s blog has a suggestive review of Hulme’s book on the “Climate Determinism” fallacy and simplification.
Wrong page to be posting this, Lars. It’s for one-off pointers to stories for Anthony’s attention. No discussion wanted or allowed.
This Was The Moment
That the rise of the oceans began to slow and there-election coffers began to fill…
Here is another off the wall study with out of bounds conditions.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/12/26/seeking-cause-for-deadly-ice-avalanches/?test=faces
It included the obligatory “holy crap climate change is at fault” claim and the highly suspect claim that a large avalanche can “melt solid rock several meters thick” (insert wide eyed are you kidding me look here!)
Larry
1958
http://www.nfb.ca/film/face_of_the_high_arctic
There is an excellent note here http://www.csc.kth.se/~cgjoh/climatethermoslayer.pdf by Prof. Claes Johnson in which he explains how the atmosphere responds to an increase in ocean temperatures. Additional evaporation increases the heat capacity, yes, but this decreases the moist adiabatic lapse rate. If the actual lapse rate is greater then this also leads to more cooling by causing turbulent convection.
It is worth noting also that the lapse rate is determined by pressure and is thus not related to carbon dioxide “trapping” at all. The arguments about carbon dioxide causing all the warming above 255 deg.K are absurd. And even the 255 deg.K figure is not applicable to the surface itself but rather is a weighted mean for the whole Earth + atmosphere system as seen from space.
Hi Anthony and Moderators,
First, happy holidays.
This may be of interest:
http://www.dailytech.com/New+Paper+Estimates+74+Percent+of+Warming+is+Manmade/article23590.htm
‘New Paper Estimates 74 Percent of Warming is Manmade’
Saludos – Oso Politico
John Daly’s article http://www.john-daly.com/polar/arctic.htm not only puts forward cogent arguments as to why Arctic ice melting and formation follows natural cycles, but it also leads me to consider the implications of historic ocean data. He presents a plot showing ocean currents which extend over most of the world in a large loop from the North of the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, via the Indian Ocean.
Now, the oceans and sea ice may well contain about 90% of the thermal energy (above the crust) and so long term ocean temperature data may be more representative than land data which was very prone to urban crawl errors. I realise that it may be debatable that temperature records in one location in the Arctic prove very much, but I suggest that they could be fairly representative because of the large area through which these ocean currents circulate.
For what it’s worth then, here is a plot from Daly’s article showing warmer temperatures in the 1930′s: http://climate-change-theory.com/arcticice.jpg . This plot certainly shows the Arctic has not warmed, but perhaps it also shows much more about the whole world – should those land measurements be less reliable than we have been led to believe.
interesting they talk about a feedback system and don’t cry GLOBAL WARMING.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/12/26/seeking-cause-for-deadly-ice-avalanches/?test=faces
How tall can Ice get before it breaks?
“The most conservative bound assumes that the ice is entirely intact with no crevasses. For a depth-averaged yield stress of 1 MPa, this predicts a maximum dry calving front height of approximately 220 m. Failure of the cliff is predicted to occur even in the unlikely event that no crevasses are present once the ice cliff exceeds this critical threshold.”
http://io9.com/5862320/just-how-tall-can-a-glacier-get-before-it-breaks?tag=geology
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/12/26/seeking-cause-for-deadly-ice-avalanches/?test=faces
The next scare for climate change.
Hi Anthony:
According to Hinkel et al (2003) UHI increased temperature in Barrow (Alaska) about 1.1 C on a yearly base, almost 100% due to the use of local natural gas. In the period from 1950 up to now that means that lineair temperature trend in Barrow is not 2.1 C according to GISS adjusted, but less than 0.9 C. See http://www.klimaatgek.nl .
If this strikingly high UHIM in an otherwise rural settlement should be normative for more Arctic settlements, then one can have doubts about the temp data of Arctic weather stations. Has anyone more information about this phenomenon?
http://www.cas.umt.edu/geography/documents/Hinkel_etal_2003_winter_UHI.pdf
Cryosphere Today: Moving The Pea!
http://blackswhitewash.com/2011/12/27/cryosphere-today-watch-the-pea-under-the-cup/
Merry Christmas Anthony! Hope you all had a wonderful day with the family.
Finally got around to buying Montford’s excellent book and started to connect some interesting dots. One I found was how an email from Wahl to Briffa catches them and Mann in a huge cover up (the r2-RE wars before the NAS panel). <a href="http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/17791"The post is here:
http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/17791
The book is great for those of us who came late to the party. I like to do my own research and establish my own conclusions before diving into something that in depth. But the book really makes reading the emails easier.
Cheers, AJStrata
GISS monthly anomalies URL has changed from
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/tabledata/GLB.Ts+dSST.txt
to
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/_tabledata3/GLB.Ts+dSST.txt
See http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/updates_v3/ for details. It’ll be interesting to see which way the adjustment goes.
27 Dec, 2011, 03.03PM IST, PTI
India not to sign legally binding pacts on emission cuts: Govt
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/india-not-to-sign-legally-binding-pacts-on-emission-cuts-govt/articleshow/11266233.cms
India will not sign any legally binding global agreement for emissions reduction, as the country needs to eradicate poverty through economic growth, Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan said today.
“There is no question of signing a legally binding agreement at this point of our development. We need to make sure that our development does not suffer,” Natarajan said in Rajya Sabha.
She was responding to clarifications on her December 21 statement in the House after she returned from the United Nations Climate Change Conference at Durban early this month.
Seeking clarification, Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley said if India was made legally bound to cut emissions, the country’s economic growth would suffer.
Natarajan said, “Our emissions are bound to grow as we have to ensure our social and economic development and fulfil the imperative of poverty eradication.”
On the Green Climate Fund, she said a decision was taken at the Conference to set up a USD 100 billion corpus which would start operations soon with an interim secretariat and a Board.
“The fund will help a large number of vulnerable countries in taking effective mitigation and adaptation actions. India played a facilitating role in Durban in ensuring that the Fund is established,” she said.
Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M) questioned the significance of the Kyoto Protocol on the ground that the signatories account for only 15 per cent of the total global emissions.
RCS has ClimateGate 2.0 on their “Top 10″ List of science news stories of 2011!
December 26, 2011
RealClearScience’s Top 10 Stories of 2011
By Alex B. Berezow & Ross Pomeroy
2011 was truly a breathtaking year. From the Arab Spring to the Eurozone crisis, each day had the potential to bring earth-shattering change– for better or for worse.
Just as in politics and world affairs, this same intrigue held true for science. We were awed by many events in 2011– some wonderful, some catastrophic. So, before charging on to 2012, we pause to count down the top 10 science stories of 2011.
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Alex B. Berezow & Ross Pomeroy RealClearScience
science Top 10 Lists
#10. Posthumous Nobel Prize.
Ralph Steinman became the first posthumous recipient of the Nobel Prize, winning the award in medicine for his 1973 discovery of the dendritic cell, a vital part of our immune systems. In many ways, a Nobel Prize immortalizes its recipient. But this year, Steinman was confronted with his own mortality before being given the prestigious award. Steinman had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and he extended his life by using a therapy he designed. Sadly, he passed away three days before his prize was announced, which technically disqualified him from being considered. However, the Nobel Assembly was not aware of his death during their deliberations. This conundrum left them in a sticky situation: honor the rules or stand by their decision? The assembly wisely stuck with Steinman.
#9. Resurrecting the woolly mammoth is possible.
Scientists announced the possibility of cloning a woolly mammoth within 5 years. Just like Dolly the Sheep, the new mammoth would be cloned by a process called “nuclear transplantation.” Using a preserved femur recovered from the Siberian permafrost, scientists plan to extract the nucleus of a bone marrow cell and transplant it into an elephant egg cell. Following a 22-month gestation period in a surrogate elephant mother, a woolly mammoth could be born. However, because the DNA inside the bone marrow may be severely degraded, resurrecting the woolly mammoth is still a long shot– but well within the realm of scientific possibility.
#8. Climategate 2.0 & BEST Study.
The son of Climategate returned as Climategate 2.0. Yet another batch of unflattering emails — around 5,000 — were leaked onto the Internet in mid-November. The emails showed an apparent attempt by prominent climate researchers to be less than transparent about the scientific evidence of anthropogenic global warming. In stark contrast to the scandal redux, a leading team of scientists released the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature (BEST) study in October. Analyzing temperature data from over 39,000 temperature stations worldwide, BEST found that global warming is indeed real, reporting, “reliable evidence of a rise in the average world land temperature of approximately 1 degree Celsius since the mid-1950s.”
Anthony Watts defended on Daily Telegraph blogs
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100125720/more-bad-news-for-the-anti-energy-green-greed-brigade/#comment-394953819
Anthony
found this via Bishop Hill, it’s worth to pick up:
http://www.realclimategate.org/2011/12/challenging-thoughts-for-the-bbc-and-guardian-bbcs-michael-buerk-at-the-fifth-column-blog/
you may also read my comment there
Regards and have a Happy and healthy New Year!
Deaths from malaria declined 25% in the past decade: http://who.int/malaria/world_malaria_report_2011/en/index.html
But, but, but, but…. doesn’t global warming cause MORE malaria death? How can that be? /sarc off
Nice post on advocacy in science.
The Dangers of Advocacy in Science
Today’s entry was written by Steven Benner. Steven Benner is a Distinguished Fellow of the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution in Gainesville, FL. He received his doctorate in chemistry from Harvard University. Benner and his group of researchers initiated synthetic biology as a field and invented dynamic combinatorial chemistry, which is currently being used in pharmaceutical development.
Intro: This blog is the last in a series by Steven Benner (the first can be found here), which can now conveniently be accessed in a Scholarly Essay. Throughout the series, Benner discusses the nature of scientific progress and the difficulty of defining what is and is not science. Discussion questions are included at the bottom of each post. (Note: this blog was first posted May 1, 2010).
In my previous blogs, I outlined several reasons why non-scientists often have a difficult time understanding what scientists do. Scientists study many different things using very different techniques. Science cannot easily be pinned down by being stated in falsifiable hypotheses, and science is a thoroughly human endeavor. Sometimes there is sufficient real evidence to challenge a paradigm, but often this challenge is blocked by the sociology of the field.
Non-scientists rarely see the kind of uncertainty that drives science forward. The high school science classroom and the distribution science course in college are the end of science education for most lay people. Introductory science courses at both levels are all about teaching fact under the authority of the teacher. A good grade is the desired outcome. Belief in the authority of the teacher is a key to a good grade.
Nor is this perspective on science often on display in the popular press. When scientists appear in the news, they are generally sought for their advice on a matter of public policy. They are asked for certainty, not to express the uncertainty that is at the core of science correctly done.
Accordingly, the public routinely sees scientists as advocates. The supermarket checkout magazines have scientists in white lab coats announcing a new cure for cancer. Should we brush our teeth up and down, or side to side, or in circles? Chances are that someone in a white lab coat has told us to do each of these at some point in our lives. When President Obama appears on television with doctors to support health care reform, his staff has the doctors remove their jackets and don white lab coats. When I first blogged on this site, a principal complaint by intelligent design supporters was that the scientists that they saw were no less advocates than they were.
There is no mystery as to why non-scientist co-opt readily recognized symbols of science. Biology, physics, and chemistry have been empowering in society. Every politician, advertiser, or lawyer wants to have the respect offered to scientists to apply as well to the politics, product, or client that they are advocating. Creation science, Scientology, even social science—the names were chosen to appropriate the mantle of respect that out culture gives to science. It is no accident that Mary Baker Eddy founded the “Church of Christ, Scientist” in 1879, just as our culture was beginning to give science this privileged position of respect.
This provides another reason why it is easy to be confused about what science is and what scientists do. The imagery of science and scientists is widely expropriated in the public square by non-scientists.
The temptation to participate in the public dialogue as an advocate is considerable. I myself have been interviewed by reporters who become impatient if I actually practice science before their eyes. It is generally simpler give an answer rather than to present the context, including all of its uncertainty.
For this reason, it is important, here and elsewhere, for scientists to emphasize that uncertainty is central to science, and advocacy is disruptive of it. When a scientist becomes an advocate, he loses for himself the power to use scientific discipline to discern reality.
So how do things every get settled in science, at least to the point where personal action or public policy can be based on it? As I described in my book Life, the Universe, and the Scientific Method, science proceeds through the successive movement of the burden of proof from one side of propositions to the other as each side meets the culturally accepted standard-of-proof. That standard is met when a preponderance of evidence favoring one view over another is assembled to the point where it satisfies a community of interested people.
In law, the standard-of-proof is defined by statute. Proof “beyond a reasonable doubt” is required to convict individuals of a felony (O. J. Simpson was not convicted in criminal court under this standard). “Preponderance of evidence” is the standard-of-proof used in a civil court (O. J. Simpson lost his civil case to the Brown and Goldman families under this standard).
In science, standards-of-proof are neither legislated nor dictated by authority. Instead, they evolve as part of the culture of a community of scientists. That process is poorly understood, and does not follow clear rules. Because no authority stands above any field to legislate its standards-of-proof, many arguments in science are arguments over what those standards should be.
The intellectual discipline that allows our students to apply this process to come to believe things other than what they want to believe, is key to the training of practicing scientists. This process is not easy to teach, not easy to learn, and not painless to apply. It is as difficult for scientists to admit that they were wrong as anyone else. It is as painful to come to believe what one really does not want to believe. But this is the process that leads to knowledge, or at least a view of nature that, if not itself knowledge, certainly does what knowledge was supposed to do: provide predictive and manipulative power.
Discussion Questions: Dr. Benner states that “when a scientist becomes an advocate, he loses for himself the power to use scientific discipline to discern reality.” Do you think it is possible to advocate for a particular view of science and still retain the ability to discern reality? Do you agree with him that politicians, advertisers, and others expropriate the image of science to gain a mantle of power in the public square?
The Novim Group (Main sponsor and driving force behind the BEST global temp study) has released an I-phone app that visually recreates land temperature changes from 1800 to 2009 using BEST data.
“The app, named “Just Science” (to highlight Novim’s non-agenda focus on data-driven facts) features an interactive map of the planet, displaying how the Earth’s land surface temperature changed between 1800 and 2009.”
http://www.novim.org/apps
Might be some articles of interest here:
http://www.meteohistory.org/
[Usually, it is considered best form if you (not Anthony) review the information and tell us where the "articles of interest" are actually located, what those "articles of interest" actually are. 8<) Robt]
Easterbrook: 1 IPCC: 0
Using the pattern established for the past several hundred years, in 1998 I projected the temperature curve for the past century into the next century and came up with curve ‘A’ in Figure 5 as an approximation of what might be in store for the world if the pattern of past climate changes continued. Ironically, that prediction was made in the warmest year of the past three decades and at the acme of the 1977-1998 warm period. At that time, the projected curved indicated global cooling beginning about 2005 ± 3-5 years until about 2030, then renewed warming from about 2030 to about 2060 (unrelated to CO2—just continuation of the natural cycle), then another cool period from about 2060 to about 2090. This was admittedly an approximation, but it was radically different from the 1° F per decade warming called for by the IPCC. Because the prediction was so different from the IPCC prediction, time would obviously show which projection was ultimately correct.
Now a decade later, the global climate has not warmed 1° F as forecast by the IPCC but has cooled slightly until 2007-08 when global temperatures turned sharply downward. In 2008, NASA satellite imagery (Figure 6) confirmed that the Pacific Ocean had switched from the warm mode it had been in since 1977 to its cool mode, similar to that of the 1945-1977 global cooling period. The shift strongly suggests that the next several decades will be cooler, not warmer as predicted by the IPCC.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=10783
Radical warming apocalypse coming on NOVA 12/28, 9PM EST:
I don’t know whether this is new or just a rerun of an earlier show.
On further search, Nova’s “Extreme Ice” has been around since at least 3/09: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/extreme-ice.html .
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-12-27/tata-agrees-to-buy-bp-s-51-stake-in-indian-solar-joint-venture.html
BP gets out of Solar….and Tata buys it.
Tata formed Tata Energy Research Institute….years ago. It is headed by….
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Energy_and_Resources_Institute
It is run by…Rajendra K. Pachauri.
Any dots to connect here?
There is quite an interesting little article at Notrickszone by a guest writer who uses surfacestations data to assess how far warming temperatures are due to thermometer sitings.
Worth a look. Here:
http://notrickszone.com/2011/12/27/heated-thermometers/
Kindest Regards
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70878.html
The conservative and liberal blogospheres are unifying behind opposition to Congress’s Stop Online Piracy Act, with right-leaning bloggers aruging their very existence could be wiped out if the anti-piracy bill passes.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70878.html#ixzz1hmms6JMw
Congress has done something astonishing: Allowed the ethanol subsidy to expire!
Most astonishing part: this happened JUST BEFORE the Iowa Caucuses, which have always been the sole reason for this famine-causing subsidy. Millions of people have starved, millions of acres of forest have been cut down, solely to influence a few thousand voters in Iowa.
I’m sure things won’t change immediately, but with 45 cents per gallon suddenly gone, the American ethanol industry will evaporate fairly soon.
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20111224/AUTO01/112240320
NWS out of Chicago posted this last week. Explains why this winter has been warmer (for Midwest but applies to East Half of US) than last year’s winter by looking at the La Niña and AO/NAO.
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/lot/newsletter/Rest_of_Winter_12_Outlook.pdf
Just before the Ice Ages started, a 90 bar atmosphere, mostly CO2?
http://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2011/12/25/palestine-sagan-and-atmospheric-physics/#comment-11984
Australia – Media Ban on Asylum Seekers – more like ban oppressing the women accompanying asylum seekers and freedom of speech
‘NEW restrictions announced by the media watchdog that limit the ability of TV news crews to film asylum-seekers appear to be politically motivated, the opposition says.
Under newly-announced Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) privacy guidelines for broadcasters, vulnerable groups such as asylum-seekers will be subject to the protection of “seclusion”, which may prevent TV networks from showing images of them arriving by boat…’
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/media-ban-politically-driven-coalition/story-e6frg996-1226231807840
Meanwhile, from the San Jose Mercury News’ Business section:
First Solar’s lobbying efforts paying off
Arizona-based First Solar, a solar panel maker that decided to chop 60 jobs in Santa Clara and lowered its profit forecasts this month, has won government aid while cultivating political relationships from California to the White House.
First Solar moved to eliminate the jobs in its South Bay research center after receiving $3.43 million in state sales tax credits.
The federal government provided $3 billion in loan guarantees to the company, the most of any recipient.
Government aid to renewable-energy companies and their lobbying efforts have been under scrutiny by lawmakers since the collapse of Fremont-based Solyndra, a solar panel maker that filed for bankruptcy in September after winning $535 million in U.S. loan guarantees.
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_19627477?source=rss&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Read an interesting article on flywheels and its use in the power generation business as reserve capacity for solar and wind installations. I was not aware of the ability to usefully utilize this process on a large scale. It also looks like GE may be moving this direction since it comes from thier web site. The history on this technology looks like there is another Solyndra story behind it.
http://www.ecomagination.com/the-comeback-king-flywheels-make-a-surprise-return-to-the-21st-century
slow to follow says:
December 27, 2011 at 9:41 am
Sorry Robt – happened upon it and it looks like there is relevant/interesting material in the back issues contents which I thought WUWT readers might want to see – I wasn’t saying anything more!
FWIW – I was interested to see the write up of the CLIWOC project which I’d heard about but forgotten:
http://www.meteohistory.org/2005historyofmeteorology2/10wheeler.pdf
http://www.ucm.es/info/cliwoc/index.htm
Climate Change and the Arctic Ocean
Pacific Science Center’s Science Café with Polar Science Center Oceanographer Mike Steele, Ph.D.
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
T.S. McHugh’s Irish Pub & Restaurant
21 Mercer St., Seattle, WA 98109
7:30 PM
Price: Free
For more information about this event, contact:
Pacific Science Center
206-443-2001
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/mbase/cgi-bin/DisplayPage.pl?document_id=2017055192
Unified Climate Theory sans Greenhouse Effect :
http://tallbloke.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/unified_theory_of_climate_poster_nikolov_zeller.pdf
Could make for a “lively” discussion…..
Hi Anthony, I thought you might find this interesting.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16317090
The revised data in the new link has been adjusted upward within the current year, most notably in the four preceding months of July thru Oct. They were/are:
July 59/65
Aug. 61/65
Sep. 48/50
Oct. 54/55
The new method gives a Nov. figure of 48. The new method’s Sept / Oct / Nov (SON) figure is 51. The total anomaly for the first six months of the year is 292 under both methods, or a monthly average of 48.7.
The yearly figures for 2006 thru 2011 (6 years) are unchanged. The old/new figures for the earlier years in the noughties are:
2000 33/35 (Up 2 points)
2011 47/48 (Up 1 point)
2002 56/57 (Up 1 point)
2003 55/56 (Up 1 point)
2004 48/49 (Up 1 point)
2005 63/62 (The only decline in this group: 1 point)
OMG! ROFLMAO! Cuddly polar bear cub makes the big time! http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/12/28/meet-siku-polar-bear-cub-heart-and-ice-melter/?hpt=hp_c2
DOE Report: Wind Turbine Makers to See Critical Rare Earth Metal Supply Disruptions
POWERnews http://www.powermag.com/POWERnews/4279.html?hq_e=el&hq_m=2352931&hq_l=10&hq_v=bb09315ba5
A report released on Thursday by the Department of Energy (DOE) examining the role that rare earth metals play in the manufacture of wind turbines, electric vehicles, and photovoltaic (PV) thin-film solar cells finds that these clean energy technologies may see supply disruptions for five rare earth metals (dysprosium, neodymium, terbium, europium, and yttrium) in the short term, though risks will generally decrease in the medium and long term.
DOE report can be found here-
http://energy.gov/sites/prod/files/CMS%202011%20FINAL%20Dec%2027-11.pdf
The News Hour tonight carried a piece on extreme weather for 2011, featuring Kathryn Sullivan (NOAA) and Jeff Masters (Weather Underground). Mr. Masters was on cue, blaming warming for everything from southeastern tornadoes to Russian droughts to the Arab Spring. Sullivan seemed much more objective, describing the extreme events that the News Hour reporter had used to open the segment, and seeming to evade the clear invitation to attribute them to global warming. Here’s a link to the transcript:
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/environment/july-dec11/weather_12-28.html
It has been a very cold December in California for citrus growers. I heard this report about it on the local Bay Area news radio station:
California citrus growers spend $87 million to protect crops from freeze
Joel Nelsen, president of the Exeter-based California Citrus Mutual, said growers have used frost protection on at least 25 days in December, costing growers tens of millions of dollars.
Temperatures in the Valley’s citrus belt on Monday and early Tuesday ranged from the mid-20s to the low 30s, forcing growers to again use wind machines and irrigation water to raise the surface temperature.
Read more here: http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/12/27/2662706/california-citrus-growers-spend.html#storylink=cpy
From Accuweather:
It has been a rough month in terms of chill in California and the Southwest, but a pattern change will allow some warmer weather next week.
Temperatures have averaged significantly below normal during this December over a large part of the Southwest.
Over much of the active growing areas in the region, this departure has been on the order of 3 to 6 degrees below normal and includes a few locations with even greater departures.
According to Western Weather Expert Ken Clark, “The biggest reason for the departures has been very cold nights.”
“In Porterville, Calif., there have been at least 16 nights where the temperature dropped to or below the freezing mark (32 degrees Fahrenheit). The normal average low for the area during December is 38 degrees,” Clark said.
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/warmup-coming-to-california-ci/59439
NOW WIND FARMS PAID TO TURN OFF
OPERATORS of Britain’s wind farms are being paid millions not to produce power.
Almost £7million was paid by the National Grid to 17 operators to turn off their turbines in the first nine months of this year.
It is estimated that the payments for the whole of 2011 could amount to £9.9million for firms to disconnect their wind farms from the National Grid.
Full story here:
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/292188/Now-wind-farms-paid-to-turn-off
Anthony have you seen the article “Unified Theory of Climate” posted on Tallblokes site? It contains a link to a PDF doc that I’m yet to digest having just come across it. First glance suggests it’s kind of off the reservation, so reading it should be interesting.
anything;
Paradigm-detonating paper! Atmospheric mass rules.
“only a sizable increase of total atmospheric mass can bring about a significant and sustained warming. However, human-induced gaseous emissions are extremely unlikely to produce such a mass increase. Hence, there is no anthropogenic forcing to global climate.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/greenpolitics/8980982/Greener-energy-will-cost-4600-each-a-year.html
I see it’s not just the Guardian that uses dodgy Photoshop images.
Don “Antonio (Anthony) de La Mancha”, as a modern Quixote, is having success in tearing down all those Windmills:
14000 Abandoned Wind Turbines In The USA
http://toryaardvark.com/2011/11/17/14000-abandoned-wind-turbines-in-the-usa/
ttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2011667/Global-warming-new-ice-age-YOURE-paying-politicians-hysteria.html
MF Global exec chairs EPA financial advisory committee
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/43553
Note: this article originally appeared in The Washington Times.
More on Bradley Abelow who is the MF Global executive who chairs the EPA financial advisory committee..
http://mba.yale.edu/alumni/alumni_profiles/abelowb.shtml
Prior to joining MF, Brad was a founding partner of NewWorld Capital Group, a private equity firm investing in businesses active in environmental opportunities (alternative energy, energy efficiency, waste and water treatment, and environmental services).
AJ Strata seems to be onto some very “interesting” problems with certain CRU data sets which seem to receive unexplained “adjustments” all tending warmer. It does not necessarily imply conscious fraud with the figures, perhaps, since various forms of “confirmation bias” might affect someone’s judgments in deciding how to “adjust” problematic data sets. But I don’t know how so-called “scientists” can blithely adjust data always in one direction and not believe that thorough, transparent, public justifications are required.
=========================================================================
More CRU “Fun With Numbers“
Published by AJStrata at 12:06 am
http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/17801
“I am confounded as to how CRU was able to take averages over regions and increase the variability, and also have three series that are clearly skewed to the warm side (since they are supposed to be regional anomalies compared to the regional ‘norm’). How convenient that both of these mathematical quirks increase the warming of modern day in comparison to yester-years.
Coincidence? How many coincidental mistakes can one group of people have before the probabilities run out?”
Laugh of the Week?
Climate ‘scientist’ Michael Schlesinger complains to Chris Matthews for suggesting that men wearing crewcuts could not be lefties:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/12/folicalism-as-racism-inside-the-mind-of-a-climateer.php
The picture of Schlesinger himself is worth a chuckle.
/Mr Lynn
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=subcontinental-smut-himalayas
Soot be one of the main causes of melting glaciers in the Himalayas
You have to be seriously bipolar to decouple socio-political reality from the climate debate. The dynastic transition in North Korea (that pseudo-communist regime revealed as a feudal monarchy) brings an important climate issue to the fore. Those familiar images of a country without lights (how “green” can you get?), so symbolic of a country without freedom, also indicate a surface observation data vacuum. In general, the less democratic the system, the less reliable are the numbers emitted by a government (e.g., Soviet Russia, one-sixth of the land surface of the Earth). Hence it would behoove those who produce color-coded maps of global climate (current or “projected”) to accompany them with color-coded maps of relative despotism that indicate the believability, or lack thereof, of their product. Indeed, sources that fail to provide such a gauge of relative reliability deserve to be regarded not just with “skepticism” but with downright suspicion.
Don’t know these guys credentials but they are promising a release of more climategate emails tomorrow.
https://mobile.twitter.com/unileaks_org
CA “low carbon” fuel rules put on hold by the federal court system. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204720204577128972816077652.html
“Another Ian”:
Your humour on Conservative vs Liberal has one unfortunate error.
In reality, some Conservatives do try to force religion – they are serious and have an agenda.
Some Conservatives also try to manipulate economics by funding chosen companies or industries, and by supporting monopolies.
We need more freedom, as explained by Andrew Bernstein in his book “Capitalist Solutions: A Philosophy of American Moral Dilemmas”.
2 years ago, Professor Denis Dutton wrote a great skeptical column in the New York Times – http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/01/opinion/01dutton.html?pagewanted=all
Denis died a year ago – 28th Dec 2010, but his message about catastrophism needs to be regularly repeated. In the article his main example is y2k alarmism and in the final paragraph he includes climate alarmism:
‘This applies, in my view, to the towering seas, storms, droughts and mass extinctions of popular climate catastrophism. Such entertaining visions owe less to scientific climatology than to eschatology, and that familiar sense that modernity and its wasteful comforts are bringing us closer to a biblical day of judgment. As that headline put it for Y2K, predictions of the end of the world are often intertwined with condemnations of human “folly, greed and denial.” Repent and recycle!’
A web site of Denis’ work is maintained at http://www.denisdutton.com/
A New Range Extender Kit for Hybrid cars:
http://bacontime.wordpress.com/2011/12/29/a-new-range-extender-kit-for-hybrid-cars/
Others may have linked this story, in NYT 12/24/11, which inadvertently outlines a begging session for more grants to ‘prove’ AGW caused extreme weather events.
There are so many stories like this in the media, that the story may be completely unimportant.
Cadae – thanks for Denis Dutton reminder and link – excellent article and his death was a great loss.
Wang, Ruifang, Liguang Wu, Chao Wang, 2011: Typhoon Track Changes Associated with Global Warming. J. Climate, 24, 3748–3752. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00074.1
This paper is being used by some to “prove” that Typhoon Washi that just hit the Philippines is our fault.
Has there ever been a study done where they placed a whole bunch (maybe thousands?) of (calibrated data-logging) thermometers in and around a single city (and in the rural areas around this city) in order to see how things like UHI and placing thermometers next to AC units and on light and dark colored roofs, near roads, etc. affect the data?
If not, seems to me that this would be a great way to show how poor placement of them and UHI affects the data. You’d end up with maybe a thousand (depending on how many sensors one used) of traces and we’d see exactly how poor placement biases the temperature readings.
BBC propoganda machine swings into action:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16366078
Al Gore’s car company recalling vehicles.
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/201751-company-that-received-doe-loan-recalling-239-vehicles
Fisker (AFOO – Another Friend Of Obama) recalls its pricey cars over battery problems: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20111230/AUTO01/112300333/1148/auto01/Fisker-recalls-plug-hybrids-EV-safety-concerns-revived
@ ShrNfr,
The chevy volt has the same problem and a puncture issue as well. An investigation is in order as public safety issues keep cropping up with these vehicles. I have served as a volunteer fire chief in the past and would not own nor allow family or friends to own one of those vehicles.
Electric Car Safety Tips Shared at Firehouse Expo
http://www.firehouse.com/news/top-headlines/electric-car-safety-tips-shared-firehouse-expo
Each of the two vehicles, the Volt and Nissan’s Leaf, have two electrical systems, one that is purely high-voltage, up to 400 volts, used to propel the vehicle and another 12-volt system that is used much as a conventional vehicle to power accessories and lights.
“You must disconnect both,” Moore said to the more than 200 people gathered to listen to his words of wisdom.
Throughout the presentation, Moore had several tips that he called “teaching points.” Among those were the paramount need to make sure the vehicle is completely off while tending to patients or trying to make extrications. He said both the Volt and the Leaf have keyless, push-button “start” systems that can be de-activated by pushing the button on the dash or console once, if the vehicle is still on. Both vehicles’ start mechanisms are illuminated, although Moore said neither is easy to see, especially in daylight.
Moore said both vehicles, which are not to be confused with hybrid vehicles, like the Toyota Prius, have master disconnects which are plugs in the center tunnel of the car accessible from inside the vehicle. It’s also important to cut the 12-volt battery systems as well in accordance with manufacturers’ requirements.
In both the Volt and the Nissan, the batteries are under the vehicle and cribbing and jacking is not recommended, Moore said.
“You will puncture the batteries if you do that and that would not be a good thing,” he said. There are places were vehicles can be jacked and he recommended firefighters visit a dealership to crawl around under the rigs to get an idea where jacking can be done safely. He commented that the manufacturers do not offer suggestions on that score.
The batteries in the plug-in vehicle are remarkably different, he said, noting the Leaf and Nissan use lithium ion batteries, not the nickel hydride batteries found in hybrid vehicles.
“If you ever come across one of these that are burning, you must wear full packs,” Moore said, noting that respiratory protection is essential. “It will be a respiratory problem. We are talking lethal, lethal gases. It’s a very big deal. Pack up and keep it on to the very end when it’s completely cooled and there are no more fumes or vapors coming off of it.”
@John, thanks. I have an all electric that is lead acid. Yeah, if you drop a spanner on the terminals it can get rather hot and rather bright. I suppose I could get one of the deep cycle marine cells to explode if I did it for long enough. Nothing against electric cars, just a lot against high density energy sources that pose a hazard during a crash. Gasoline is bad enough. These Li cells have demonstrated their liability in numerous laptops and other gadgets. I am just pissed that my government sees fit to subsidize this stuff. One thing for a purely private enterprise to bring things to market, another for us to pay off Al Gorge, investor in Fisker.
@John, btw the all electric has a top speed of 70 mph and was built on a Saturn platform. Range is not great, but it’s a hobby. Us EEs are like that you know.
“Calif. wins OK to abolish redevelopment agencies.”
…..The ruling was the worst-case scenario for cities, which argued they needed the program to spur economic development in blighted areas and create jobs – but it was a win for Gov. Jerry Brown……….”
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/12/29/BA6R1MI73D.DTL#ixzz1i2ps2eZz
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2822937/posts Parents advocate Wi-Fi ban despite evidence and
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Parents%2Badvocate%2Bdespite%2Bevidence/5879367/story.html cover the same kind of irrationality that we see among the public about climate science.
Dave Michelson is a hard-working EE professor, who organized a number of symposia I’ve attended. His field is primarily radio signal propagation at higher frequencies, much at cellular/WiFi as need is there but up through Ka band at least.
Another intrepid ‘explorer’ goes to Antarctica to draw attention to global warming, to find that mid-summer there is a toasty -27C.
“In the last week temperatures have plunged to -27C and Mr Wood is believed to have lost a lot of weight.
In an online blog Mr Wood said he was “cold to his bones”, but remained on schedule.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-16363540
Am i missing something or does recent Envisat sea level data seem to be disappearing from the web. Can’t find any recent data posted even at the official site.
the moderators here at WUWT are the finest i’ve ever seen on any forum anywhere in all my time on the net. har! had to say it even tho it’s not news.
[REPLY: On behalf of myself and my fellow Mods, thank you for that. Our many commenters make it worthwhile. -REP]
Just came across this in this month’s issue of GSA Today (Volume 22, Number 1, January 2012) and thought you and others might find it of interest relative to the global warming debate, especially since he notes that “…many criticisms of global warming models are specious and fail to reflect an understanding of the basic science behind the models and the extensive history of the development of radiation transfer codes in modeling planetary and stellar atmospheres.”
“An Astrophysicist Looks at Global Warming” by Dr. Richard D. Schwartz
http://www.geosociety.org/gsatoday/archive/22/1/pdf/i1052-5173-22-1-44.pdf
Replace Psychology with Climate Science in this article and a pattern is emerging me thinks.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/12/30/how-one-man-got-away-with-mass-fraud-by-saying-trust-me-its-science/
“Southern California Edison (“SCE”) appreciates the opportunity to provide comments on the
2011 Integrated Energy Policy Report (“IEPR”): http://www.energy.ca.gov/2011_energypolicy/documents/comments_draft_iepr/SCEs_Comments_TN-63209.pdf
“Fundamentally, SCE supports the State’s environmental goals and direction. However, SCE
has an increasing concern about the economic consequences that additional environmental policy
requirements are having on our customers’ rates and the State’s economy. California’s current
electric rates are among the highest in the nation.4″ …………..
“F. Reconsideration of Costs Associated with Renewables Targets (page 6)
The Draft Report does not weigh appropriately the significant costs associated
with procuring and delivering renewable electricity. For example, in discussing the costs
of procuring renewables, the Draft Report states that “[w]hile costs of both [transmission
and renewable integration] appear significant, they are certainly not insurmountable.”6
5 Draft Report at p. 42.
6 Draft Report at p. 42.
7
This language downplays the extreme customer burden associated with renewable
procurement. Direct costs related to renewable procurement have and will continue to put
upward pressure on customer rates. Additionally, procurement of variable renewable
resources on the scale required by SB 2 1x and other renewable energy targets, will
require major upgrades to the transmission and distribution system. This will impose
significant costs on California’s electricity customers….”
All the comments to the “2011 IEPR Lead Commissioner Draft” – http://www.energy.ca.gov/2011_energypolicy/documents/comments_draft_iepr/index.php
The comments from LADWP are worth a read- energy efficiency and cost effectiveness wise
http://www.komonews.com/weather/blogs/scott/In-2011Washington-was-coldest-state-in-lower-48-relative-to-normal–136388173.html
In 2011,Washington was coldest state in lower 48, relative to normal
With 48-state map from NCDC for both temp and precip.
We have snow in the Cascades, rain in Seattle (about to dry-out a little); total for the year there is a tiny bit below normal
Precip Since 1/1 36.33″ normal 37.17″
Anthony et al. it would be really interesting to see an article summarizing the most important climate news, articles, papers, and blog posts in the past year.
Happy New Year.
Bloomberg reports that a Federal Appeals Court has sided with SO and other utes and put the cross state emissions regs from the EPA on hold pending a hearing in what is likely to be April. The EPA did not comment.
hey anthony,
just doodeling a stream of thoughtsand here it is for what (if anything )its worth
I heard today
The sky is falling
I looked to see
This sight appalling
A scream apocalyptic
The world is ending
I was apoplectic
At this world’s bending
The end is near
We hear each night
We must have fear
And do what’s right
Worse than we thought
Our destruction is nigh
Its what big oil has bought
From hope we cannot shy
We must heed the crew
The planet is at stake
They will tell us what to do
Even if their on the take
E-mails fill the web
Truth be known by all
Oh what a tangled web
Every man(n) we must call
For the chicken is little
And the sky falls not
In my eye is spittle
And I’ll stand for it not
A travesty of science
Our fires will stoke
And not stand the offence
To our oh so tallbloke
So the sky won’t fall
Glaciers will stand tall
Man(n) is too small
To effect a cause at all
It’s carbon dioxide for me
Energy will keep us free
And everyone gets a tree
The truth will out you’ll see
Oh yeah and coal in a stocking
For me…Yippee
EPA story available at http://www.star-telegram.com in the business section. Love to cut and paste the URL, but Bloomberg won’t let me
WTF @ 4.40pm
Good comment. EPA also?
Applies to the use of ‘scientific studies’ in the development of public policies – or to put it more bluntly; the schemes developed for collection of taxes and the justification in spending public $ thereof by the bureaucracy.
Extracted from the link you provided:
‘Technically known as the incorrect rejection of the null hypothesis, a false positive is “perhaps the most costly error” a scientist can make, according to a trio of leading American researchers who this fall published “False-Positive Psychology: Undisclosed Flexibility in Data Collection and Analysis Allows Presenting Anything as Significant.”
At worst, correcting a false positive can cost lives and fortunes. At best, it is a distraction.’
Full paper False-Postive….. mentioned can be downloaded here:
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1850704
Additionally, a link in the tip you posted, also posted by Colin Wernham says: December 21, 2011 at 11:49 pm (Tips n Notes 21/12 ) The Truth Wears Off, Jonah Lehrer (The New Yorker) 13 Dec 2010 is well worth reading
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/12/13/101213fa_fact_lehrer
People in the United States are either really thick or have way too much (borrowed) money on their hands. The Canadian government does not do the ‘global warming’ thing, so Canadian companies apply for and get large amount for US taxpayer money. Love the Canadian headline:
“Western Wind snags $109M US grants, tax breaks”
‘Snags’, as in catching a dead-head when fishing. Hmmm, dead-head, O who might that be….
—
Western Wind Energy Corp. said Friday that it had taken delivery of photovoltaic panels for the Yabucoa project in Puerto Rico that make it eligible “for the 30 per cent U.S. federal tax free cash grant which is estimated to be approximately $45 million US.”
It also qualifies for $64 million US of Puerto Rican investment tax credits, “which are both marketable and monetizeable,” the company said.
The $109 million US total “is over and above the plus-$100 million US Western Wind has received and will be receiving for the Kingman and Windstar projects,” in Arizona and California, respectively.
“This brings the aggregate amount of cash grants, tax credits, and tax shield benefits totaling over a half a billion dollars. It will only be a matter of time before Bay Street analysts realize the full value of Western Wind Energy,” president Jeff Ciachurski said in a news release.
For the nine months ended Sept. 30, Western Wind reported a loss of $3.2 million on revenue of $2.3 million
—
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2011/12/30/western-wind-grants.html
Surely the proper terminology is that WA. is the most negatively anomalous. Or should that be anomalously negative?
This is close to UNBELIEVABLE! You HAVE to look at this!! This morning the latest issue (9 Jan 2012) of ‘Time’ fell onto my mat containing a lengthy advertisement for the Maldives. In the article is this incredible quote from Minster of Tourism, Arts and Culture Mariyam Zulfa:-
‘We have been getting negative press because of concerns about rising sea levels, but we have put in place a number of innovative measures to solve this and, in fact, recent studies have shown that the situation is not as bad as we initially thought.’
And this from the government that set up that absurd undersea publicity stunt precisely to raise concerns about rising sea levels! Now they have realised that you don’t get people to invest in your nation by telling them it’s about to sink beneath the waves! It seems that, as far as the Maldives are concerned, the scam is well and truly over. If you can get a copy of this issue of ‘Time’, do so and cut out and keep this advert. It may be of historic significance!
Seems the little white cells are bosses of the little grey cells:
http://www.kurzweilai.net/more-than-glue-glia-cells-found-to-regulate-synapses
Just hours to go for most of the world’s population. 4500 million to die from global warming by 2012.
Which might be easy for you people in the far Northern hemisphere, but down-under, the dead get “ripe” pretty quickly in this heat if left out in the open. I have 4 shovels in the shed but only two hands and a dodgy ticker.
I’ve not heard reports of carnage in NZ or the East coat, so things must be pretty bad if the media aren’t reporting.
38 minutes to go … time for another drink to fortify myself against the new year. Beware of zombies in the streets tomorrow.
Maldives in the news:
http://news.yahoo.com/maldives-closes-hundreds-resort-spas-muslims-complain-anti-185705266.html
“Maldives ordered hundreds of its luxury resorts to close their spas nearly a week after a protest led by opposition parties demanding a halt to “anti-Islamic” activities, the government said Friday.
A statement from the president’s office said “the government has decided to close massage parlors and spas in the Maldives, following an opposition-led religious protest last week calling for their closure.”
Anthony;
Looks like you have a broken Antarctic graph on the Ice Page, too:
http://www.iup.uni-bremen.de:8084/amsr/ice_ext_s.png
Mild weather redefines winter landscape
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/mild-weather-redefines-winter-landscape/2011/12/29/gIQAPV8vQP_story.html
I just logged in to post David L. Hagen’s link.
I was thinking that I didn’t see a similar inferred link to global warming when this happened pre-Halloween in the same areas mentioned in the new article:
“3 million powerless as pre-Halloween snow surprises Northeast ”
http://www.nwcn.com/news/3-million-powerless-as-October-snow-surprises-Northeast-132889508.html
I wonder how many BILLIONS of dollars were spent cleaning up from that “unexpected” snowstorm?
I live in New Jersey, and can tell you that if you drive anywhere up in North Jersey, you will still see massive damage to hardwood trees everywhere you go. The CO2 from both the decaying branches and the reduced photosynthesis next year will be astounding.
Anthony
It seems to me that the following, although addressing fraud in psychology, equally applies to aspects of climate research:
http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/12/30/how-one-man-got-away-with-mass-fraud-by-saying-trust-me-its-science/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+NP_Top_Stories+%28National+Post+-+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=FeedBurner
Have a great New Year
Al
Why is WUWT only on page 35 in a google search for “global warming” and what can be done about it?
http://scottishsceptic.wordpress.com/2011/11/09/wuwt-page-35-when-searching-for-global-warming/#more-1300
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/fisker-recalling-239-karma-electric-cars-for-fire-hazard/#
I tried to comment…at the NYT…we shall see if they will post this:
” Funny “Ads by Google”…probably not the best time to link ads for hybrid cars based on ‘keywords’ there Google…since you guys have deeply invested into hybrid cars…also with taxpayer support…I bet a lot of taxpayers hope you guys make even more money through your $500 million dollar loan to Tesla Motors…”Tesla Motors, whose prime backers include PayPal mogul Elon Musk and Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin”
And the religion continues it’s gospel
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/mild-weather-redefines-winter-landscape/2011/12/29/gIQAPV8vQP_story.html
This study examines the hazard wrt urban firework displays-
Effect of fireworks events on urban background trace metal aerosol concentrations: Is the cocktail worth the show?
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389410009672
Oh Noes! Will they be coming after our New Year’s festivities next?
That being said, Happy New Year to Anthony and the Mods- Hope that 2012 continues to be prolific for all of you!
Booker has quite an interesting New Year article chiefly about the Euro but also AGW and little green fairies at the bottom of the garden. Very much a UK perspective of course.
Here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/8986379/Europe-cannot-save-the-euro-nor-save-itself-from-the-euro.html
Or you can get it thru the sidebar at WUWT.
Doesn’t tell us anything we do not already know but worth a quick read.
And with that may I wish everybody a Happy New Year which will arrive here shortly, we are on GMT.
Kindest Regards
Canada may have renounced Kyoto, but there is no end of stupidity afoot. This article explains how they plan to spend money on climate change research for third world countries at the rate of about 400 million dollars Canadian per year, although they’re not sure what they’re going to do or how they will evaluate the results.
http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Fund+proponents+find+projects/5921623/story.html
But our environment minister is OK with this because “he’s been a journalist”, so I guess that makes it all better.
Post on Climate Audit provides link to “insider” account (boasting) of how the origins of the IPCC in the ’80s were controlled by “activist” so-called experts from the start. It was NEVER meant to be some impartial, objective, scientific process. It was controlled by “activist” elements from the start to produce an ideologically desired set of outcomes:
“…Advisory Group on Greenhouse Gases (AGGG). Perhaps AGGG’s main accomplishment was to provide official auspices for a more activist group of experts”
How the IPCC Got Started
By Michael Oppenheimer | Bio | Published: November 1, 2007
http://blogs.edf.org/climate411/2007/11/01/ipcc_beginnings/
Anthony, don’t waste too much effort thinking about google ranking. The main reason you site does not come up well is quite simply the huge volume of material that does not include those words.
I’ve done quite a lot of this , with top results, so I know the ropes.
A brief site will a few well places uses of the keywords will always come up far higher than ANYTHING you could do to the huge content you have.
If you want to start playing the SE game to catch traffic, you will need to create bespoke sites with their own domain names that target specific phrases like “global warming” or what ever other public you want to target. Then try to build some page rank for them by external links.
As for tags AFAIK G stopped taking those into account well over five years ago.
All the best to 2012 , may the forcing be with you.
Hi Anthony, a simple graphic of the British Isles from Wikipedia’s plant “Hardiness zone” page beautifully illustrates the effect of ocean current, altitude and UHI on local climate. Kind regards, Paul.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hardiness_zone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UK_zonemap.png
N.B. The red blob in the south east corner is London and its urban sprawl.
Brian H says:
December 26, 2011 at 11:57 am
Lars P. says:
December 26, 2011 at 4:01 am
Wrong page to be posting this, Lars. It’s for one-off pointers to stories for Anthony’s attention. No discussion wanted or allowed.
—————————————
Thanks Brian, I understand this. I did not ment to start here a discussion, my suggestion was to have setup a page or article debating “greenhouse theory” or “global warming theory” which could go the way wikipedia does, being a summary of what the skeptics say on the respective subject – can be updated based on the comments with proper tracking of update – not as SKS does, but a litle in the way some of SKS pages are – but with proper archiving.
If one goes google “sea ice page” you get WUWT nr 1.
The same could be for greenhouse theory – or global warming theory – even if it is only “skeptics most popular points on global warming theory” reference page.
More grant-induced academic glacier alarmism in the Nepal Himalaya.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16317090
It’s a little ironic that the hamlet of Pangka – just at the bottom of the glacier and the obvious target of any possible “breach” of the glacial lakes – is also at the bottom of a dangerous avalanche slope. More than 35 Japanese trekkers and their guides were killed there by a single avalanche in Nov. 1995.
Oh the irony:
” BOISE, Idaho — Idaho Power Co. told a struggling southeastern Idaho solar-industry manufacturer that the utility could shut off its power by Jan. 3 if it doesn’t pay its $1.9 million electricity bill from November.
Honolulu-based polysilicon maker Hoku Corp., which has survived so far with help from Chinese financiers, lodged a formal protest with Idaho Public Utilities Commission regulators after getting a termination of service notice on Dec. 22. The company’s Hoku Materials unit told Idaho Power that it can’t pay its November power bill until January due to cash flow problems.”
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700211639/Struggling-Idaho-solar-plant-fears-power-cutoff.html?pg=1
I think I’ve mentioned “Eureqa” before; it takes raw data and fumbles and bumbles and trims and fits until it has the most economical and elegant equations needed to characterize the variations etc. in the set.
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/337207/title/Software_Scientist
IMO, it should be tried on various climate data sets. It’s free, and in use in all sorts of fields already.
http://creativemachines.cornell.edu/eureqa_download
I would like to recommend that you add http://scienceheresy.com to your list of “sceptical” sources of information.
IanM
Utility may cut off power to solar plant
January 1, 2012 by Don Surber
Idaho Power plans to cut off electricity on Tuesday to plant in Pocatello, Idaho, that makes material for solar energy, because the factory owes $1.9 million in unpaid utility bills. The dispute is with Honolulu-based Hoku Scientific, Inc., which is backed by Chinese financing and enjoys federal and state incentives.
http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/48931
More on the State of Idaho
Today, the Sacketts owe more than $40 million in fines.
‘….The EPA compliance order ended all of their hard work and saddled them with exorbitant financial costs. They faced monstrous-level fines — currently set at $37,500 for each day they failed to comply with the order.’
http://pjmedia.com/blog/support-the-sacketts-epa-suit-goes-to-supreme-court/
source: http://pjmedia.com/
Australians will remember stories of Peter Spencer, Matt & Janet Thompson and Lindley Boseley.
http://joannenova.com.au/2010/07/tyranny-how-to-destroy-a-business-with-environmental-red-tape/
http://www.familyfirst.org.au/files/The-Story-of%20Matt-and-Janet-Thompson.pdf
A substantial fall in solar activity experienced this month with LSC 46.5, SIDC 73, NOAA unadjusted 106.4 (prov). SIDC for the 9th straight month over counting compared with NOAA, the difference I believe coming from a concerted effort from the SIDC to increase their count after wrongly believing they have been under counting in the past. The main area of difference seems to be the increased splitting of NOAA regions which adds 10 to the raw value each time a region is split. This is going against the Wolf method and I will be selectively isolating this inconsistency from the LSC record where there appears to be a blatant misuse. Some examples this month of heavily specked days along with inconsistent region splitting occurred on day 8, 24, 29. (region 1389 split into 3 regions).
SC24 is still on track to matching SC5.
http://tinyurl.com/2dg9u22/images/sidc_noaa_comp.png
http://www.specola.ch/drawings/2011/loc-d20111229.JPG
http://www.specola.ch/drawings/2011/loc-d20111224.JPG
http://www.specola.ch/drawings/2011/loc-d20111208.JPG
http://tinyurl.com/2dg9u22/?q=node/50
I am a serious and committed scientist with a scathing opinion on the state of modern climatology. On two recent occasions, I submitted what I thought were polite, pithy and pertinent comments about articles posted on wattsupwiththat but these comments disappeared without a trace. On the second of these occasions, I spent two hours in composing my comment but this effort was wasted by the failure of my comment to be posted for discussion in your blog. In the same period, numerous comments that were evasive, rambling and impolite appeared in the same blog. Among the evasive, rambling and impolite comments which you published were ones by your regular feature writer Willis Eshenbach. Have you abandoned the search for scientific truth in favor of a search for journalistic success via popularized sensationalism? What’s going on?
Please note the risible quotation from the notorious Michael Mann, to the effect that only “actionable intelligence” could account for the raid on Tallbloke.
Is Michael Mann really so stupid or is that just the usual bloviating misdirection?
Police Inquiry Prompts New Speculation on Who Leaked Climate-Change E-Mails
By LESLIE KAUFMAN
Published: January 1, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/02/science/earth/new-speculation-on-who-leaked-climate-change-e-mails.html?_r=1&ref=lesliekaufman
,,,It set off six separate official inquiries, all of which cleared the researchers of scientific misconduct….
….
“It seems to me the authorities wouldn’t have acted without some actionable intelligence,” said Michael Mann, a scientist at Pennsylvania State University who specializes in climate modeling and whose messages came in for particular scrutiny in 2009. “They must know something that we don’t yet know.”
There is an interesting paper, Jelbring 2003, up at Tallbloke which casts an interesting light on the Unified climate theory recently posted on WuWT
Here:
http://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/hans-jelbring-the-greenhouse-effect-as-a-function-of-atmospheric-mass/#more-4075
Kindest Regards.
A new book came out just before Christmas, by Harold Ambler. You may remember his post on Huffington, “Mr Gore: Apology Accepted” which you featured, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harold-ambler/mr-gore-apology-accepted_b_154982.html. He says on his website that ever since that posting he has been banned by Huff and Puff.
His book is called “Don’t Sell Your Coat; Surprising facts about Climate Change”. Good comments from Bastardi, Delingpole and Dyson. It is an excellent read for the layman and does a good job of explaining the hype about and the reality of our current climate.
(We share the same name but I am in the UK and he is in Rhode Island.)
An article by James Lenfestey cailing Anthony Watts ‘mad’ and goes on to say Lord Monckton is not a lord.
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/otherviews/136455378.html
I have nothing but contempt for the author
The New York Times has a big article this AM on the police inquiry into Climategate 1-2: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/02/science/earth/new-speculation-on-who-leaked-climate-change-e-mails.html .
Roger Tattersall is quoted that “The police have stated that I am not a suspect,” but the reporter Leslie Kaufman apparently made no attempt to confirm or disconfirm this directly from the police.
(Skiphil also provides this link, above at 10:41 PM last night)
How about … a light bulb watch?
Are 100W incandescents still available in your community?
Happy New year Anthony
BBC to participate in an evaluation of the accuracy of weather forecasts
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/8987789/BBC-to-carry-out-weather-forecasting-test.html
Recommend developing a small icon for WUWT to symbolize your site. This shows up at the upper left next to the URL address line in Thunderbird. e.g. see
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/
http://www.econbrowser.com/
http://www.aspo-usa.com/
http://www.peakoil.net/
You might like to hold a competition.
I suggest:
W?
in arial narrow with interesting coloration.
e.g. Green on yellow gives the strongest visual contrast to the human eye.
http://www.colorsontheweb.com/colorcontrasts.asp
Hybrid shark numbers “may be an indication the creatures are adapting to climate change”
http://lightyears.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/02/scientists-dozens-of-hybrid-sharks-found-off-australia/?hpt=hp_c2
A miracle has happened. The Washington Post editorial board wrote an op-ed stating that Congress should kill the subsidies for electric cars. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/overcharged/2011/12/30/gIQAzQ0yUP_story.html
I was told that Arctic Sea Ice is above 2000-2010 do you know if this is true?
Anthony,
A neighbor of mine is a statistician at UC Berkeley who has had some connection with
the BEST program. When I spoke to him at a neighbor’s New Years brunch party, he
mentioned that the people in charge still have not given him the data in the form he wants
it so he will not do an analysis of it.
Not your fan club:
” mad Anthony Watts is a major source for the misinformation she dumps on her listeners.
Watts is an anti-climate-science blogger with a background in television meteorology, not climate science. His mocking assertions have provided no end of fuel for climate-change “skeptics,” particularly his misguided alarms about records showing an upward trend in global temperatures.
His shrill “skepticism” on this front led to an expensive study by independent physicists at Berkeley Earth, funded by grants from both the conservative Koch Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to see who was right, Watts or the world’s climate scientists.
The results, announced this fall, showed — no surprise — that climate scientists have been right all along in their understanding of temperature data, and that the blogging skeptic Watts has been full of hot air.”
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/otherviews/136455378.html
Who is really mad?
Shark interbreeding blamed on climate change – another one to add to the list
http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/hybrid-sharks-found-in-australian-waters/story-fn5fsgyc-1226235304370
Hunting the e-mail “leaker”…”private” e-mails not stolen anymore…
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/getting-warmer-in-the-hunt-for-climate-change-email-leaker-20120102-1piez.html
Time to update the Mean Temperature above 80deg North on the Sea Ice Reference page to:
http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/plots/meanTarchive/meanT_2012.png
You are linking to last years NORSEX graphs. Th is 2012, you know.
There seems to be an awful lot of sea ice around at the moment.
http://news.yahoo.com/world-first-hybrid-shark-found-off-australia-070347608.html
A wild video…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWfph3iNC-k&feature=share&mid=55
source: GeoPub newsletter, Australia
I didn’t know shark knew about climate change and apparently they are so smart that they decided to plan for their own genetic modifications in order to survive. /sarc
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jSSrbGuxzcnD2BZ2DBN8k-xmQO5w?docId=CNG.9df9789394ff7fed0db488d27e023895.191
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/02/science/earth/new-speculation-on-who-leaked-climate-change-e-mails.html?_r=2&ref=global-home
FYI, I just looked in google under ‘global warming’ and found WUWT on page 38.
More bad karma for “green” companies making claims of energy savings.
http://news.yahoo.com/woman-takes-unique-road-sue-honda-over-mileage-084530601.html
“Heather Peters says her car never came close to getting the promised 50 miles per gallon, and as its battery deteriorated, it was getting only 30 mpg. She wants Honda to pay for her trouble and the extra money she spent on gas.”
Seriously, is every new discovery the result of climate change
Hybrid sharks swarm east coast
“The scientists say interbreeding between the two shark species is a sign the animals are adapting to climate change and they also warn that hybridization could make the sharks stronger.”
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/hybrid-sharks-swarm-east-coast/story-e6frg8y6-1226235110122
NASA is at it again. This ones a doozy!
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/climate20111214.html
Hybrid sharks found off Australian coast…
Quote: ” sharks are adapting to climate change and could be getting stronger…” also ” ‘tropical’ sharks found as far south as Sydney…”
How do they know it shouldnt be the other way around i.e. Temperate sharks found as far north as North Queensland??
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/01/03/hybrid-sharks-found-in-australian-waters/
lol..sorry didnt see all of the “tips” on this already!
James Delingpole takes this shark thing (mentioned above) to it’s logical conclusion.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100126796/could-climate-change-create-deadly-mutant-sharks-which-kill-us-all/
As with all things climate science, it is far worse than we thought. ;-)
Excellent article re Peter Andrews and his views on Australian land-use v climate issues.
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/more-storms-on-the-way-unless-we-learn-to-manage-the-land-20120101-1ph66.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/03/uk-lufthansa-emissions-idUSLNE80100Z20120103 not surprising news, EU attack on carbon fuels will raise air fares (but note the deniers).
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,805505,00.html
Germany’s Wind Power Revolution in the Doldrums
Because of lack of grid infrastructure, Germany’s new ocean wind farms near Helgoland will be burning diesel fuel on calm days to keep the turbines and blades turning (presumably to keep the equipment in working condition).
Que the JAWS soundtrack. Wait is that the shark from the NORTH side of the reef?
The fraud continues:
http://news.yahoo.com/lufthansa-warns-eu-scheme-raise-fares-222428699.html
FRANKFURT/PARIS (Reuters) – Germany’s Lufthansa told passengers on Monday to brace for higher ticket prices as it refuses to shoulder the costs of a carbon trading scheme at the centre of a brewing trade spat.
The world’s second largest long-haul carrier after Dubai’s Emirates said it faced 130 million euros ($169 million) in extra costs this year and became the first major operator to announce possible surcharges since the EU scheme took effect on January 1.
(…)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/deep-sea-vents-just-north-of-antarctica-flourish-with-species-never-seen-before/2011/12/19/gIQAX4NgYP_story.html
I was struck by the opening qoute:
“It’s remarkable that we can be in the 21st century and still not know fundamental things about what lives on our planet,” said Cindy Van Dover, director of Duke University’s marine laboratory
Plus, how does a 800 degree vent near antarctica affect glacial melt.
Erics note on hybrid sharks also found here: http://www.news.com.au/technology/sci-tech/hybrid-sharks-found-in-australian-waters/story-fn5fsgyc-1226235304370
The question has been asked what the 100,000,000th visitor to WUWT gets. Maybe Anthony can convince Big Oil to make the payout to the visitor twice what the rest of us get.
I saw you here:
http://www.skepticalscience.com/co2-coming-from-ocean.htm
Is this really a science website? They claim they’re sceptics…I’m not sure what to believe. Are there many scientists who disapprove of Global Warming? Are most of these statistics about the ‘end of the world’ made up? What is solid evidence?
There is another paper out with a very broad and negative view of AGW and of climate science in general.
Which is here together with a link to source:
http://antigreen.blogspot.com/
I suppose once the dam of censorship and suppression breaks a lot of things come to light that we were never supposed to see.
Kindest Regards
Apparently Global Warming is Causing Sharks to Inter-Breed
Hybrid sharks ‘evolution in action’
http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/6212537/Hybrid-sharks-evolution-in-action
“Two cents” worth of comments, as a contribution toward some “change” for the WUWT site –
The Home Page Image with the Blue WUWT on the Black Background is not appealing and is a significant downgrade in the blog look. The darker Blue seems to be swallowed by the Black Background.
Also, the Graph added above the earth is clutter, irrelevant and is a distraction as well. If the idea is to project a scientific image, fine, but that isn’t the answer. Perhaps it’s the choice of dark colors on the black background, but I suspect it’s just an idea worth trying that didn’t work out. There is a lot of detail in the earth/cloud/sun reflection image already and the dark red and blue graph is totally out of place. It doesn’t complement the attractive detailed image features you’ve already got. It’s like wearing dark red and blue socks with a Tuxedo. It just doesn’t fit.
Perhaps other variations may work, but so far those two (Dark Blue Block WUWT and Red/Blue Line Graph) are considerable steps backwards. Neither one comes across as “clever” or “professional” imo and they don’t visually project the high quality of work presented on this blog site. The photo and the black atmosphere are classy, so care is needed to not destroy the higher quality image you’ve already provided.
Consider how impressive looks are created with suits, shirts and ties. One method is to pickup colors from the suit or shirt and reflect one or more of those colors appropriately in the tie. Perhaps incorporating some of the Cloud scene’s colors in the WUWT, with more than just a tired set of block letters might work. The Block WUWT isn’t necessarily bad, but that shade of blue with the block letters is awful with the black background.
Consider that the very impressive earth image has a sun reflection. It’s like the dawn of a new day. If you have block letters in the same shot, perhaps there is a clever way to also show a progressively lighter to shaded pattern that better matches the earth/cloud image and colors, so it looks like it fits. Just some suggestions, meant to be constructive.
BTW – FWIW, when you initially created the blog, you changed from blue lettering at the bottom of the image to the white lettering. Now “Commentary…” is white. That was a big improvement. It’s readable and projects a professional image, imo.
Sometimes “less is more” is a good guide with graphics. If multiple items fit together with common colors, in some fashion, it projects being clever. If they look like they were created by the color blind segment of society… well, that’s what is projected.
Finally – Fantastic blog content. Relevant, substantive, timely and informative. A huge contribution to the climate science field. Keep up the great work. Best regards.
Oh dearie dearie me.
Did I not say in my post above that we are now seeing what we we never supposed to know about. For our own good you understand.
Anyway the indefatigable Tom Nelson has this on his site about CO2 levels.
Its an old paper of course and tells us little we did not know except that it was all known before.
Here:
http://www.warwickhughes.com/icecore/
I hope I got that right
Kindest Regards
The sea ice page has a side by side comparison that is labeled:
Arctic Sea Ice Concentration – Same Date Compared With 2007
Except it now shows 2012 and 2008. Seems like maybe it was coded as “Date = today – 4 years” and now needs to be changed to 5 years.
Happy New Year!
Any publication in WUWT on the work of Nir Shaviv?
He has hypothesised that passages through the Milky Way’s spiral arms appear to have been the cause behind the major ice-ages over the past billion years (our solar system is orbiting the galaxy centre once every 225–250 million years, so about 1/1250 of a revolution since the origin of humans. The Solar System orbits the galactic centre in a presumably elliptical orbit at a speed of approximately 220 km/s).
Nir Joseph Shaviv an Israeli/American physics professor, researches in the fields of astrophysics and climate science. He is currently an associate professor at the Racah Institute of Physics of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
He is most well known for his solar and cosmic rays hypothesis of climate change. …… ….. later work, co-authored by Jan Veizer, a low upper limit was placed on the climatic effect of CO2.
Theory is Available here: http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/astro-ph/pdf/0209/0209252v1.pdf
Published here:
The suggestion that cosmic ray flux variations spiral arm passages could give rise to ice-age epochs is found at: N. Shaviv, “Cosmic Ray Diffusion from the Galactic Spiral Arms, Iron Meteorites, and a Possible Climatic Connection”, Physical Review Letters 89, 051102, (2002).
Some interesting comments on cosmic rays here: http://www.sciencebits.com/CosmicRaysClimate
Interview with Ivanka Charvátová:
The inertial motion of the sun controls the climate
Source: Klimaskeptik.cz
Original text in Czech
May 25, 2011
An interview with Dr. Ivanka Charvátová Ing, CSc, the Geophysical Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague. The story of a politically incorrect scientific discovery.
http://www.mitosyfraudes.org/calen13/charvatova_entrevista.html via Google Translate
I have sent the following brief communication to Bill Chapman, who maintains The Cryosphere Today, a site whose summary graphs many (including WUWT) use in public discourse about sea ice. But several times over the last few years their graphical data has either been internally inconsistent or diverged from the raw data sets. I only noticed this particular problem because it appeared, in
…sorry, continuing. It appeared, in his global sea ice graph that, for the first time, the anomaly remained negative for an entire calendar year. But in fact if NSIDC’s data is correct, the anomaly went positive in December and stayed that way for a period of weeks.
—————–
Hi Bill
It seems that once again your Southern sea ice extend graph has gone out of kilter. Comparing it to NSICD’s graph here, http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/daily_images/S_stddev_timeseries.png
their current anomaly is about exactly 10^6 km^2 whereas your graph
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/current.anom.south.jpg
appears to have gotten stuck at about half that.
Further, for a good chunk of September, NSICD’s graph had an anomaly of just under 2×10^6 whereas in the same period your graph was below 0.5 x 10^6.
The discrepancy appears to have also crept into your world anomaly graph
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/global.daily.ice.area.withtrend.jpg
I’m inferring that the latter is simply calculated by adding the northern and southern anomaly sets.
Is there a reason for diverging so far from NSIC’s published set at this point? It really does change the character of the last couple of months’ sea ice progression. I haven’t been monitoring this for about half a year so I can’t say how far back the discrepancies go.
Peace, Rob
—————–
Bill is pretty good at fixing such problems when they are pointed out, although like most academics he is often too busy to do so right away. It is worth monitoring this to see that it is fixed, as this happens to be a particularly interesting point on the world sea ice graph.
I consider this the most important book or paper yet on debunking GHE.
http://www.csc.kth.se/~cgjoh/ambsblack.pdf
Surely this is worth an article.
Hi
Just found a new version, study, of historic climate and CO2 that is much more UNFCCC conform.
ref
http://www.forskning.no/artikler/2011/desember/308788
http://intern.forskning.no/per/multimedia/startMultimedia.jpg
Or simply download the multimedia last 600 millions years:
http://intern.forskning.no/arnfinn/polaraaret/klimahistorie.exe
Until now science told us that there was bad corelation between historic climate and CO2.
Now suddenly there is?
FiT’s for the UK.
http://www.edie.net/news/news_story.asp?id=21598&channel=0&title=Government+in+court+for+FITs+appeal
‘The continuing legal fight also worries many in the solar industry with some now saying the legal fight, led by Friends of the Earth’
Sorry forgot a couple of other links :-
First the voice of AGW in blighty – http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/03/solar-subsidy-confusion-government-appeal?newsfeed=true – ‘Barker responded: “Clearly court case prolongs uncertainty but many installers r telling us @ 21p solar pv still makes sense for right home.” – something wrong with this line appearing in a tabloid?
And my favorite named site – http://www.heatingandventilating.net/news/news.asp?id=9338&title=FoE+slams+'damaging'+Government+appeal+over+solar+power
Bill Jamison says:
January 3, 2012 at 10:18 pm
>Except it now shows 2012 and 2008. Seems like maybe it was coded as “Date = today – 4 years” and now needs to be changed to 5 years.
Might be:
# Try to fetch the latest comparison image. url = 'http://igloo.atmos.uiuc.edu/cgi-bin/test/print.sh?\ fm=%02d&fd=%02d&fy=%4d&sm=%02d&sd=%02d&sy=%4d' % \ (month, day, year - 4, month, day, year) page = readurl(url)I think I was planning to do a 3 year trail, but last year realized the text in the web page would have to be updated, so just made it “- 4″ before talking with Anthony, but comparing to 2007 seems to make the most sense, and now the code reads:
# Try to fetch the latest comparison image, comparing back to 2007, the # record low year and one with compplete data, IIRC. Except for Feb 29. url = 'http://igloo.atmos.uiuc.edu/cgi-bin/test/print.sh?\ fm=%02d&fd=%02d&fy=%4d&sm=%02d&sd=%02d&sy=%4d' % \ (month, day, 2007, month, day, year)BTW, Cryosphere needs an update themselves – if you use their form at http://igloo.atmos.uiuc.edu/cgi-bin/test/print.sh you can’t select 2012. :-)
New Year’s Resolutions For Climate Scientists
Real Science, 28 December 2011
Steven Goddard, Real Science
http://www.real-science.com/new-years-resolutions-climate-scientists
I will admit that warming has been much slower than we expected
I will admit that recent sea level rise is nothing unusual or threatening
I will admit that our forecasts of declining snow cover were wrong
I will admit that Arctic temperatures are cyclical, and that we have no idea what will happen to Arctic ice over the next 50 years
I will admit that our forecasts of Antarctic warming have been a total failure
I will admit that Polar Bear populations are not threatened
I will admit that climate models have demonstrated no skill, and are nothing more than research projects
I will admit there was a Medieval Warm Period
I will admit that that there was a Little Ice Age
I will stop pretending that we don’t have climate records prior to 1970
I will admit that the surface temperature record has been manipulated and is contaminated by UHI
I will stop making up data where none exist
I will honestly face skeptics in open debate
I will quit trying to stop skeptics from being published
I will admit that glaciers have been disappearing for hundreds or thousands of years
I will stop telling people that the climate is getting more extreme, without producing any evidence
I will admit that hurricanes are on the decline
I will admit that severe tornadoes are on the decline
I will admit that droughts were much worse in the past
I will admit that efforts to shut down power plants have potentially very serious consequences for the future
I will pay for my own tickets to tropical climate boondoggles like Cancun, rather than improperly using taxpayer money for political activism
I will admit that there is no missing heat
I will admit that temperatures have [not been rising] for at least the last decade
I will publish the raw data and not lose it.
etc. etc. etc.
This should be worth a few thousand posts:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/spaceship-earth-a-new-view-of-environmentalism/2011/12/29/gIQAZhH6WP_story.html
More and more environmentalists and scientists talk about the planet as a complex system, one that human beings must aggressively monitor, manage and sometimes reengineer.
Change in NZ seismic activity
The NZ aftershocks are still going on; however, since about 23 December, there is a major (to my mind) change. Most of the earthquakes since about 23 Dec are under the water in a limited area off of the coast at Christchurch/New Brighton/Diamond Harbor. Do we have a seismologist who can talk about the significance of this? Is it possible that this represents the start of new volcanic activity, since it is near the old volcanos on the peninsula?
Thanks
Ben
Aaaaaah! Sea ice extent anomaly numbers vanish for Arctic and Antarctic just as we were getting to zero global anomally….
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45857260/
OMG a MWP signal in SE Asia !
December Solar Cycle Progression page has been updated.
Check out the Ap. Is that a new low, or just a tie?
http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/SolarCycle/
Looks as if or friendly climate alarmists are flooding New York City. Something else for Bloomberg to steal federal tax-payer funds for:
A tide of concern is rising over risk of storm surges … (posted by Admin)
http://www.thevillager.com/?p=1382
Cheers,
PhilM.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-002&cid=release_2012-002&msource=12002&tr=y&auid=10095983
Russian runoff freshening the Canadian Arctic
http://www.scc.ms.unimelb.edu.au/whatisstatistics/weather.html
I wonder how the temps here compare to the “official” record.
Penn State worries about funding and secrecy…..
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-pennstate-abuse
The parallels between Mann and Sandusky with Penn State are fascinating….and might be legal fodder for someone embroiled in a libel lawsuit over FOIA..
Hello Anthony.
“An Ethical Analysis of the Climate Change Disinformation Campaign: Is This A New Kind of Assault on Humanity?”, article on PennState website, authored by Donald Brown:
http://rockblogs.psu.edu/climate/2011/12/an-ethical-analysis-of-the-climate-change-disinformation-campaign-is-this-a-new-kind-of-assault-on-h.html
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
Carefully-reasoned new paper finds no support for any global warming theory
Natural Science, Vol.3 No.12, December 2011
Scrutinizing the atmospheric greenhouse effect and its climatic impact
by Gerhard Kramm, Ralph Dlugi
ABSTRACT
In this paper, we scrutinize two completely different explanations of the so-called atmospheric greenhouse effect: First, the explanation of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) quan- tifying this effect by two characteristic temperatures, secondly, the explanation of Ramanathan et al. that is mainly based on an energy-flux budget for the Earth-atmosphere system. Both explanations are related to the global scale. In addition, we debate the meaning of climate, climate change, climate variability and climate variation to outline in which way the atmospheric greenhouse effect might be responsible for climate change and climate variability, respectively.
In doing so, we distinguish between two different branches of climatology, namely 1) physical climatology in which the boundary conditions of the Earth-atmosphere system play the dominant role and 2) statistical climatology that is dealing with the statistical description of fortuitous weather events which had been happening in climate periods; each of them usually comprises 30 years.
Based on our findings, we argue that 1) the so-called atmospheric greenhouse effect cannot be proved by the statistical description of fortuitous weather events that took place in a climate period, 2) the description by AMS and WMO has to be discarded because of physical reasons, 3) energy-flux budgets for the Earth-atmosphere system do not provide tangible evidence that the atmospheric greenhouse effect does exist. Because of this lack of tangible evidence it is time to acknowledge that the atmospheric greenhouse effect and especially its climatic impact are based on meritless conjectures.
Found the above at Greenie Watch via Tom Nelson. Interesting read.
The UK MET office have a new public beta site. I’m not sure exactly how new, but it was new to me, so apologies if it’s old news to everyone else. It looks very pretty:
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/public/beta/
I do wonder whether some useful pages might disappear, for example I wasn’t able to track down the equivalent of this page on the beta site (although it might just be that it’s not finished yet):
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/stationdata/
Nor was I able to find the CET data, which is currently available for download here:
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/data/download.html
Nothing sinister, I’m sure, it’s just not yet finished.
Beesaman says:
January 4, 2012 at 9:06 am
Aaaaaah! Sea ice extent anomaly numbers vanish for Arctic and Antarctic just as we were getting to zero global anomally….
Link(s)?
My guess is that the whole article is based on funny math…the taking of eagles,…the sizing of the wind farm…the number of homes that might be powered…
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/04/9952873-feds-propose-allowing-wind-farm-developer-to-kill-golden-eagles
04 January 2012 – 5:49 pm
Not Global Warming, Climate Change or whatever algore is
scaremongering with these these days.
……………………………………………………………………………………………
“There is nothing exceptional” about the fluctuations in temperature
we have seen in the recent days, said Environment Canada today.
It’s January and you can expect it to be cold for a while now.
Several factors contributed to the mild December weather, including La Nina,
a weather phenomenon that is centered in the Pacific but can affect eastern Canada.
Although La Nina is still happening, January is expected to be mainly seasonal, EC said.
Montreal Gazette, 04 January 2012
http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/used+January+cold+Environment+Canada/5946385/story.html
Federal Court Blocks Implementation of CSAPR- http://www.powermag.com/POWERnews/4290.html?hq_e=el&hq_m=2355702&hq_l=4&hq_v=bb09315ba5
“The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit temporarily blocked the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) just two days before it was set to go into effect. The federal court ordered the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to continue administering the previously promulgated Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) until a final decision can be made on the merits of the rule, likely this summer or fall.
In a two-page per curiam order in the case EME Homer City Generation L.P. v. EPA, the three-judge panel of the appeals court on Dec. 30 granted, among other measures, the consolidated motions to stay the rule issued by the EPA last July. Among entities opposing the rule are Southern Co. EME Homer City Generation, the state of Texas, the National Mining Association, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Six states and a few power companies had intervened in support of the EPA.”…………………………….
Prof Donald Brown, Penn State, on Climate Ethics (“a commentary site [blog] on climate change science and policymaking by those working on climate change ethics”) is starting a series:
Ethical Analysis of the Climate Change Disinformation Campaign
Looks well worth drawing attention to.
Bee colony collapse disorder may be caused by a parasitic fly: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/01/03/zombie-fly-parasite-killing-honeybees/
Surprised??? Not.
From the Washington Post:
Delta, Lufthansa among first airlines raising fares to cover new European emissions rules
Within days of new European rules on carbon emissions produced by passenger jets, two major airlines say they will raise fares.
Delta Air Lines Inc. began adding $6 per round trip to the price of tickets sold in the U.S. for travel to Europe. And Deutsche Lufthansa AG said it will raise prices but not right away.
Under European regulations that took effect this week, airlines flying in and out of Europe must get certificates to pay for the carbon dioxide emissions produced by their flights. They will get free credits to cover most flights this year but must buy or trade for credits to cover the rest.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/delta-lufthansa-among-first-airlines-to-signal-higher-fares-to-cover-european-emissions-rules/2012/01/04/gIQAa41caP_story.html
Anthony, You should ask these guys to contribute to the discussion on peak oil – they’ve been writing about it for a few years now and seem eminently qualified to write about it: http://www.masterresource.org/
You can contact them at: robbradley58@gmail.com
Keep up the great work!
Just a quick note on the NZ Christchurch earthquakes: they’ve gone progressively eastwards and are now 10 km offshore. This trend was evident a long time ago, see the eastward march here:
http://www.geonet.org.nz/var/storage/images/media/images/news/2011/chch_seismicity_01_01_2012/59087-1-eng-GB/Chch_Seismicity_01_01_2012.jpg
Mods — MISSING POST ALERT
I just got a notice that there’s a new post at http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/01/04/abrupt-changes-in-station-level-temperature-records-contradict-the-anthropogenic-global-warming-agw-claims/
but it comes up 404.
http://www.cjr.org/the_observatory/climate_coverage_crashes.php
Colombia school of journalism decrys the crash in climate reporting
one wonders why they need to ask, obviouslt never heard of WUWT
Words fail me
Future generations risk ‘enslavement’ without a vote now
The issue of intergenerational justice underpins the need to act on climate change. So would a “super-jury” stop us bequeathing a damaged and dangerous planet to our descendants?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/damian-carrington-blog/2012/jan/04/climate-politics-future-generation-justice?commentpage=all#start-of-comments
BBC-ho-ho ran a fascinating 10-minute interview with Joe Golden, one of the pilots who participated in ‘Project Storm Fury’ back in the ’60s. Golden thinks we should be urgently reconsidering the idea, since cloud-seeding is unquestionably known to work for ordinary storms. (He says it’s used all the time by private rain-making firms and governments, but kept fairly quiet.)
Apparently some new tricks for hurricane control have been developed recently but not yet tested, and Golden says the experience of Katrina should force us to test those methods pronto!
Podcast here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00mmnr0
I was reading about Chico on wikipedia and was suprised when I got to the notable residents section that your name was missing. Have you moved recently or do they think that a blogger with 100 million hits doesn’t make you notable I wonder?
More nonsense from BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16408327
During the Climategate 2 discussions medical research was discussed by several commenters. This appears in the BMJ…..
Assessment of publication bias, selection bias, and unavailable data in meta-analyses using individual participant data: a database survey
http://www.bmj.com/content/344/bmj.d7762
Richard Black: International Man Of Mystery
http://blackswhitewash.com/2012/01/05/richard-black-influencing-world-policy/
Global sea ice anomaly is 0
http://wattsupwiththat.com/reference-pages/sea-ice-page/
Not that it’s likely to be reported anywhere, especially not on the BBC……
ethonal plant sold cost ing us taxpayers 65million drudge report
Did you guys know that thanks to an ICO ruling ICO you can now make FOI requests for any personal e-mail accounts accessed during working hours. They can’t hide behind those anymore. Anyway I went ahead and made a One
Judith Curry reproduces and comments upon a very interesting blog article on the topic of “error cascades” in relation to climate science. I think it could be very interesting to have a discussion of this here on WUWT:
http://judithcurry.com/2012/01/05/error-cascade/#more-5780
Error cascade
Posted on January 5, 2012
by Judith Curry
….IMO the error cascade in the IPCC argument starts here: multidecadal and longer modes of natural internal variability are dismissed in the attribution arguments, based upon a flawed ‘detection’ of unusual warming (relative to natural variability) using climate model simulations that produce natural internal variability on time scales longer than ~20 years that is substantially lower (factor of 2-3) than observed variability (which is itself uncertain). Dangerous climate related impacts are then attributed to AGW, which leads to a policy prescription of CO2 mitigation. When people say the hockey stick and millennial climate reconstructions don’t really matter, I strongly disagree, since these data are crucial for empirical support of detection arguments.
this article and data could be of fundamental importance to assessments of all IPCC and CAGW-related assertions:
http://notrickszone.com/
Scafetta: IPCC Warming Claim Is “Erroneous…IPCC Projections For The 21st Century Cannot Be Trusted”
By P Gosselin on 5. Januar 2012
A new paper has been published by the Journal of Atmospheric and Solar Terrestrial Physics, authored by Nicola Scafetta, 2012: Testing an astronomically based decadal-scale empirical harmonic climate model versus the IPCC (2007) general circulation models….
….
….What does Scafetta conclude from this (emphasis added)?
“We show that the IPCC GCM’s claim that all warming observed from 1970 to 2000 has been anthropogenically induced is erroneous because of the GCM failure in reconstructing the quasi 20-year and 60-year climatic cycles.”
In the conclusion of the paper, Scafetta also writes:
“Consequently, the IPCC projections for the 21st century cannot be trusted.”
Foothills: “December weather worrisome” http://www.mtdemocrat.com/opinion/editorials/december-weather-worrisome/attachment/minerrgb-76/
“Seven times out of the last 138 years December has recorded less than an inch of rain. Two of those Decembers had zero rain. December 2011 had a total of 0.15 inch. What does that indicate for the rest of the rain season through June 30?……….
The other low dry Decembers were 0.0 in 1876, with the 1876-77 rain year totaling 25.63 inches; 0.69 inch in December 1917 for a total of 25.97 in the 1917-18 rain year; and 0.87 inch in December 1963, with the 1963-64 rain year totaling 28.99 inches”………………
Update on my tip here http://wattsupwiththat.com/tips-notes-2/#comment-852539
TCT has not replied to me personally but they have updated the Southern Sea Ice and World Sea Ice graphs so that a slight positive anomaly in the world data occurs so close to the end of 2011 it is indistinguishable from 2012. My view is that they are trying, by way of a relatively small tweak of the data, to turn a year in which the global anomaly was negative MOST of the year into one in which, for an ENTIRE year it remained negative “for the first time”. Observe that every year the global anomaly swings both positive and negative, suggesting some internal damping mechanism whose effect is to reduce the likelihood of “tipping points” or cataclysmic decline in total sea ice. Also, while the Southern data gets shorter shrift, it is arguably more important because the Sea Ice there sits at a lower latitude and so has a more significant effect on the planet’s albedo.
The fix in the southern/global data is tricky. As it stands now it does not reflect the data but it does — technically — show a positive anomaly by the tiniest margin in 2011, which would argue against the charge that they attempted to artificially create a totally negative-anomaly year. But the uptick is so tight on the 2012 line that 2011 is likely to be treated as totally negative regardless, if this graphic is one’s sole source.
And the relatively large positive anomaly in the middle of December still is not in evidence, and the uptick shown is smaller than the actual value according to the NSICD data.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2082840/Wind-farm-company-given-permit-allowing-kill-legally-protected-golden-eagles.html
Wind farm company to be given permit allowing them to kill legally protected golden eagles
Hey, look Volts are being recalled.
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/317361
CLIMATEGATE I’M STEAMED! HOW ABOUT YOU!
EVERY CLIMATE SKEPTIC NEEDS THIS BUMPER STICKER!!!!
See the WUWT Sea Ice reference page as at today: the Northern Hemisphere anomaly (from the 1979-2008 mean) is -0.531 and the Southern Hemisphere anomaly +0.557, so global sea ice is now greater than the 1979-2008 mean for this date.
Wattsupwiththat is being mentioned in Peter Gleick’s ‘Bad Science Award’. What an awful screed. From junkscience.com– http://junksciencecom.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/climate_bs_award_2011.pdf
At last! An alternative view from The Daily Telegraph in the UK:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/8996412/Climate-change-pp-boost-British-farmers.htm
Apparently,we might not die in the uk as a result of a slightly warmer climate. Apparently, we will be able to grow more/better crops, produce more food, feed more people,etc.
This must be stopped now.
Wind turbines having problems with the wind strength
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2083149/Wind-turbines-cope-UK-weather-3-blown-pieces.html
Presumably, the ones planned for the North Sea will not have this problem? What is the life expectancy of a wind turbine?
Oh my.
Here is the link to the article mentioned above from the ever so humble climate alarmist Peter Gleick in Forbes:
“The 2011 Climate B.S. of the Year Awards” B.S. means Bad Science
http://www.forbes.com/sites/petergleick/2012/01/05/the-2011-climate-b-s-of-the-year-awards/
Fifth Place: Anthony Watts for his BEST, and worst, climate hypocrisy
One of the Runners up: Steve McIntyre
With regards to adapting to climate change, apparently the octopus edits its RNA to survive cold temperatures.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/01/octopus-cold-survival/
he researchers also gauged the amount of RNA editing in two more tropical species, two temperate species, and two species that live in the Arctic. The colder the species’ habitat, the more likely it was to make RNA edits at the I321V site. “What our paper really adds,” Rosenthal says, “is that this process can be used to help adapt to the environment.”
Other researchers praise the study for revealing a new way for organisms to adapt. “There’s this whole different molecular mechanism for increasing protein diversity,” says molecular neurobiologist Ronald Emeson of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. Whether RNA editing shapes other traits is the next question to answer, adds geneticist Brenton Graveley of the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington. The paper “sets the stage for showing that RNA editing can have a big role in adaptation,” he says.
Over at Chiefio’s place, he’s searched for “Anthony Watts” in FOIA’s latest release.
Makes for interesting reading. It shows that WUWT is very necessary reading for the Warmistas.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/5/epas-statistics-not-science-but-nonsense/
Not directly related to climate, however it does go to EPA’s scientific credibility … or lack thereof
A couple of notes, both to with the UK Met Office..
1. They’re sticking their necks out with a prediction– the world is going to warm by 0.48′C in the next year..
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/archive/2011/2012-global-temperature-forecast
2. They claim that 2011 was the 2nd warmest year since blah blah.
Just 3 miles from me is a Wunderground station. Its very meticulous, well maintained, used by the Met Office itself and puts out readings every 5 minutes (it has done since July 2003)
Station in North Eastern Cumbria UK at ~100M above sea level and as rural as you’d ever wish for.
I used an average of the missing months from ’04, ’05 and ’06 to fill in for the first half of 2003.
According to it…..
2003 Av Temp= 10.0.
2004 Av Temp= 10.0
2005 Av Temp= 10.4
2006 Av Temp= 10.0
2007 Av Temp= 9.2
2008 Av Temp= 8.8
2009 Av Temp= 8.9
2010 Av Temp= 7.6
2011 Av Temp= 9.3 Degrees centigrade.
See the Met Office figures here…
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/archive/2011/december-and-annual-statistics
They claim that England was 1.2′C above its ’71-’00 average of 9.4 and 2011 was the 2nd warmest ever??????
Things might not be so bad in the African Rain Forest as originally predicted
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16428306
More bird mincers blown away in England’s recent stormy weather.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2083149/Wind-turbines-cope-UK-weather-3-blown-pieces.html
100 million hits – come on… come on…
Congratulations in advance Anthony – been watching tonight but have to crash!
Hey Anthony
I think this new paper might be up your alley
The Effects of Climate Change on Harp Seals (Pagophilus groenlandicus)
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0029158
Although the paper talks about climate change, it doesn’t necessarily blame AGW, but rather correlates the NAO phase with reductions in sea ice cover which in turn effects mortality rates of harp Seal pups.
This would be a good paper to refer to when alarmists invoke AGW for loss of sea ice and or seal population declines.
Full paper at the link.
regards
Anthony, check out this! Suzuki actually allowing a discussion about CR and climate on his Nature of Things show. Starts about the 28 minute mark.
http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/Shows/The_Nature_of_Things/1242300217/ID=1678474875
Have you noticedx that the ‘arctic + antarctic se ice’ total is now above long-term average?
A fleeting visit or a sign of things to come?
More garbage….
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/acid-test-for-evil-twin-of-climate-change-20120107-1pp64.html
Anthony, et.al.
Is there an issue with updating comments on your blog? I’ve tried posting on your 100m hit and my comment is not appearing, even as awaiting moderation….
Currently at 09:20 EST you are at 99,992,199 views
Congratulations
At least here, my comment appeared normally…
NOne- except some word or phrase trigger it to be put in the spam filter – recovered
Check out the last “top iPad app for 2011″
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/05/technology/personaltech/amid-an-avalanche-of-ipad-apps-the-best-of-2011-app-smart.html?_r=1&src=me&ref=general
“AL GORE – OUR CHOICE ($5) Even if you’ve read enough on climate change to chart your own course on the issue, Our Choice is a must read because it demonstrates the vast potential for interactive books. The text anchors the book, but the supporting graphics, photos and videos play a major role. Pages are filled with great photography and animated graphics that expand, collapse and disappear with the sweep of a finger. The videos are also shot and narrated with professional polish. If you suffer from climate fatigue and still want a cool interactive book experience, try The History of Jazz ($10). It’s more reliant on Wikipedia and YouTube for content, but it’s still powerfully educational and entertaining.”
It never ends. “Living Earth” is quite nice, though.
Tom
http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/doing-good-science/2012/01/06/the-research-works-act-asking-the-public-to-pay-twice-for-scientific-knowledge/
January 6, 2012 article on the Research Works Act would allow ‘scientists’ operating on the public dime to keep their information from being disseminated under foia.
http://jasonbairdjackson.com/2012/01/05/behind-the-research-works-act-which-u-s-representatives-are-recieving-cash-from-reed-elsivier/
May well be in response to Climategate.
From http://publishing.umich.edu/2012/01/05/more-legislative/
(quote)The term ‘private-sector research work’ means an article intended to be published in a scholarly or scientific publication, or any version of such an article, that is not a work of the United States Government (as defined in section 101 of title 17, United States Code), describing or interpreting research funded in whole or in part by a Federal agency and to which a commercial or nonprofit publisher has made or has entered into an arrangement to make a value-added contribution, including peer review or editing.(end quote)
This may be worth looking into… as it’s one of the more egregious trespasses I’ve seen in a while into public access.
This paper is worth a read
http://tropical.atmos.colostate.edu/Includes/Documents/Publications/gray2009.pdf
Climate Change: Driven by the Ocean not Human Activity
William M. Gray
Professor Emeritus, Dept of Atmospheric Science,
Colorado State University
I think it says a lot about changing attitudes that “Climate Change Denial” isn’t top of a list like this:
http://www.crispian.net/PTIR/Nonsense.html
Keep up the good work :D
The Atlantic: Why Is Open-Internet Champion Darrell Issa Supporting an Attack on Open Science?
Congressman Darrell Issa has received a lot of positive press for his criticism of SOPA, the anti-piracy bill that has provoked an outpouring of anger across the web.
. . . All of this makes his support for a new bill, the Research Works Act, incomprehensible. That bill would prohibit all federal agencies from putting any privately published articles into an online database, even — and this is the kicker — those articles based on research funded by the public if they have received “any value-added contribution, including peer review or editing” from a private publisher.
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/01/why-is-open-internet-champion-darrell-issa-supporting-an-attack-on-open-science/250929/
Shortly after this commenter raised the issue of steps or ramps in temperature data in one thread a posting appeared by Jens Jensen on that very topic, though in a different context. Unfortunately that thread quickly devolved into a food fight (pity the Moderators!). Nevertheless we could do with a more, shall we say, moderate discussion of this general subject. Aside from measurement uncertainty (remember, 100 billion tons of Antarctic ice is still “up in the air” for this reason) there are some interesting possibilities. For example, an apparent “step” may be a J-curve-S-curve transition, with over-shooting and subsequent oscillations. Conversely, it might represent the recovery phase of an asymmetric trough. Ask that proverbial froggie in the pot about the relevance of rate changes.
Acid test for evil twin of climate change
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/6226939/Acid-test-for-evil-twin-of-climate-change
Nome is iced in, required delivery of fuel oil by a Russian oil tanker, helped by an American Coast Guard icecutter to break through 200 miles of ice.
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_19695527
Hmm. How could this be? Everyone knows the Arctic is boiling!
Maybe this is Steam Ice, a new form of matter that results when water is heated beyond plasma temperatures and condenses into ultra-massive faster-than-light Higgs Bosons.
Anthony, et al. I need some help! Recently, I’ve had a few interactions with Paul Clark of http://www.woodfortrees.org/ We’re all familiar with his altruism. He’s set up a tip jar of sorts. A link to a charity donation to the Woodland Trust. I’m working through a “lost security password” difficulty. (I only have one vehicle to make such donations on-line.) But, I’ve noticed that he’s only gotten one contribution. I thought as much as the climate blogs use his site, there should probably be more. He hasn’t highlighted the link very well and many could skip right over it without notice. I’ve recently posted about this, but obviously my traffic isn’t near WUWT. https://suyts.wordpress.com/2012/01/07/hansen-and-gav-asleep-at-the-wheel/
I was just thinking, I could try to make up for my lapse in memory by pointing this out to the generous readers of WUWT. We’re all familiar with Paul. He’s an honest and sincere person. Can you help me do right by him?
Thanks guys!
James
great article from reason magazine
http://reason.com/archives/2012/01/04/postenvironmentalism-and-technological-a
A devastating critique of Malthusian environmentalism is offered by Daniel Sarewitz in his essay “Liberalism’s Modest Proposal, Or the Tyranny of Scientific Rationality.” He begins by citing Jonathan Swift’s famous satirical essay, “A Modest Proposal,” in which Swift suggested that the problem of Irish famine might simply be dealt with by eating Irish babies. Sarewitz argues that Swift’s goal was to show that “pretty much any position, however repulsive, could be advanced on the back of rationality.” Sarewitz argues with regard to the problem of climate change modern environmentalists have adopted a form of scientific rationality in which the fact that burning fossil fuels to produce cheap energy harms the climate suggests that solution is to “make energy more expensive.” Sarewitz then points out that the access to cheap energy is, in fact, “a basic requirement for human development and dignity.” He adds, “This fact is so blindingly obvious that nearly any large developing country has treated the idea of a global agreement to raise the price of energy as a joke of Swiftean character. The difference being, of course, that it was not a joke.”
Sarewitz then identifies the political incoherence that lies at the heart of environmentalism. On the one hand, environmentalists want to avoid the risks of new technologies and on the other Malthusian hand they worry about declining stocks of natural resources. Consequently, environmentalists “find themselves, for reasons of risk, opposing new technologies that could help resolve issues of scarcity.” As an example of this political and scientific incoherence, Sarewitz cites the case of genetically enhanced crops which environmentalists oppose because of their alleged risks to human health although such crops would ameliorate environmentalist concerns about soil and water depletion, pesticide residues, and population growth. Sarewitz cuts through the current incoherence by rejecting the environmentalist scheme to raise energy prices by means of a global cap-and-trade regime on fossil fuels. Sarewitz instead argues for an intensive research effort aimed at developing cheap low-carbon energy sources.
if superluminal motion of matter is not settled science, how can climate science be settled?
Will Winter Kick into High Gear Soon?
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/pattern-change-winter-coming-snow-cold/59847
Good graphics on changes in the jet stream and consequent very cold weather.
Hi Anthony and happy new year. Congratulations on such a successful blog.
I m wondering why you do not have the http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/12/12/historical-video-perspective-our-current-unprecedented-global-warming-in-the-context-of-scale/ info on your reference pages. At least I cannot find it and have to go to my web page where I quote the post when I need it.
I think it is the most comprehensive data argument that shows there is nothing unprecedented in the temperatures we live now, both in magnitude and behavior.
Geoffrey Lean, Telegraph, UK, Jan. 7th
“Australian scientists announced that they had found the first hybrid species of the giant fish [sharks] – evidence they said that the creatures were adapting to climate change”
The scientists press release mentions neither global warming nor climate change;
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/01/04/australian-hybrid-fish-story-media-jumps-the-shark/
I have informed Jessica Morgan and I am making a complaint to the press complaints commission.
Jim murphy @ 1.30 pm
Thanks for posting, just reading now and it is a great article.
And more news…………
Oops, what happens when one strays outside of territorial waters with activists on board………….. Hope there isn’t a dispute between parties of readings with GPS instruments and locations ;)
Whalers hold WA trio; govt urged to act
WA = State of Western Australia
Cherry picked sentences:
“The federal government is under pressure to take swift action to secure the release of three Australian activists detained aboard a Japanese whaling security ship.
The men climbed past razorwire and spikes to board the ship and deliver a message: ‘Return us to shore in Australia and then remove yourself from our waters.’
……said the men had boarded the vessel well outside Australian territorial waters – about 40km from the coast – and any suggestion otherwise was false.
The Sea Shepherd and Forest Rescue say the incident happened 16.2 miles off the coast – outside territorial waters but inside Australia’s 24-mile contiguous zone.
‘It is likely that these three Australians may be taken back to Japan,’ she [new Aus Attorney-General Hon Nicola Roxon MP] said.
Forest Rescue issued a statement saying they had ‘come from the forests of Australia’ to defend the whales.”
Source: http://bigpondnews.com/articles/TopStories/2012/01/08/Whalers_hold_WA_trio_govt_urged_to_act_705072.html
From AFP via http://thegwpf.org/international-news/4711-doomed-every-solar-job-in-germany-costs-250000.html
“Every job in Germany in the solar sector costs 250,000 euros to electricity consumers, meaning they are doomed.”
The looming cost of Germany’s (lack of) energy policy.
Hi,
1. Great blog, thanks.
2. I searched for the keyword Fiddler, no results, so I’m leaving a reply.
3. Maybe someone from Green (Photoshop) Jobs Department wants to take a look at photos of Fiddler’s Ferry Power Station (“green” vs. normal) here:
http://nedjeljnikomentar.wordpress.com/2012/01/08/o-konkurentnosti-energije-vjetra-i-vjesnikovim-zelenim-poslovima/. I collected quite a few shots as I wasn’t sure (now I’m 95% sure) I identified the right power station…
Cheers
NK
On the Sea Ice page, the Bremen Antarctic Sea Ice Extent graph hasn’t been updated since Oct ’11!!
Specifically, 2011/11/05 — October 5th.
Genuine pollution control: removing animal ammonia from barn air, plus heat-pumping.
typo above: 2011/10/05 not 11/05.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/podcast/at-work/innovation/reinventing-the-scientific-method/?utm_source=techalert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=010512 REF is interesting discussion on amateurs doing science, not just the annointed. Light but has some good thoughts.
“So it was a very transparent, very easily checked kind of a process and so in that sense almost a slightly different style of doing peer review. Now with that said at the end of the day, they still published some peer-reviewed papers and said that was still the final outcome, but early on there was only a slightly different process of checking than is ordinarily the case.”
“And from a scientific career point of view, the answer is of course pretty simple: You should work on the scientific papers, because there’s not going to be much credit for you if you adopt these more radical, newfangled tools.”
“So really it seems like academia has to catch up with the Internet and start rewarding behavior that’s pretty useful to society.”
(I comment that slashing government funding would put more research possibilities into private companies who have an interest in making something work for the long haul. I recall a medical industry person saying that a very high proportion of research findings are found to be flawed when someone tries to make a product using the claims.)
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/
Journalistic Sun Stroke
Sometimes our intrepid media class chooses to cover a story that perfectly (if inadvertently) illustrates the real problem: our intrepid media class.
Case in point: the Washington Post’s Sunday feature on the Solyndra scandal.
In reading the headline one initially takes some solace that, however overdue, the WaPo finally has gotten around to cover this half-billion dollar backdoor heist of the public treasury by cronies of the President. Even more so in the fact that they actually label it correctly as a “scandal.” But it soon evaporates as one digests the lede, which helpfully chooses a human face to represent the victims of this scandal – one Linda Sterio.
- – - -
In the Post’s sob story narrative, the problem is not that a politically-connected network of donors devised a con to loot taxpayers of a half billion dollars
- – - –
But let’s be clear: the scandal is not that she lost her job at Solyndra, it’s that she ever had a job at Solyndra. And that she, and countless others, were deprived jobs at legitimate businesses because government sucked $500 million out capital markets to endorse and underwrite the “clean-energy” hustles of its favorite check-writing eco-crooks.
- – - –
But would it kill the Post’s editors to occasionally re-examine its J-school narratives and acknowledge sometimes failure is not the result of Government Not Doing Enough?
Warm and cold-water octopi share the same DNA. They just use mRNA tweaks to fiddle one part of the neural transmission gating:
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/337413/title/Eight-legged_evolution_exploits_editing
Clearly such adaptability must itself be coded into the DNA. Almost as though life was used to environmental variations …
The article is abstracted from Jan. 5 Science online.
A new post by Prof. Nir Shaviv, On IPCCs exaggerated climate sensitivity and the emperor’s new clothes. This latest post follows a recent meeting between Shaviv and prominent Australian sceptic journalist Andrew Bolt.
Nir Shaviv quips,
Will someone please tell our watermelon government about this?
Wind power is expensive and ineffective at cutting CO2 say Civitas
Wind power could actually produce more CO2 than gas and increase domestic fuel bills because of the need for “back up” power stations, a think tank has warned.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/9000760/Wind-power-is-expensive-and-ineffective-at-cutting-CO2-say-Civitas.html
David Mackay has contrived to appear here and there as a voice of reason, relatively speaking, from the toastier side do of the lukewarmist camp, one who emphasizes numbers and sane solutions. He is the UK’s senior advisor on Climate Science, so that sounds good.
But, as Trenberth demonstrated not so long ago here, it appears to be mere emulation of sanity, not the real Mackoy. We see his name in this Booker article, as developer of a computer model that duplicates and extrapolates the Huhnian delusions of the DECC report:
…
(screen image, jpg, of Booker’s article).
Since it’s what he’s being paid to do, perhaps he just held his nose and cranked it out. But his official association with this looniness is pretty damning. Nothwithstanding his (not altogether successful) efforts to appear rational in his book Sustainable Energy — Without the Hot Air.
That he’s a Fellow of the Royal Society must have Sir Isaac spinning like a freewheeling wind turbine in a Scottish gale.
typo: toastier side
doof the lukewarmist campAt John Rays “Greenie Watch” today
http://antigreen.blogspot.com/
Is guy who says:
“The simple reality is that greenhouse gases cause global cooling and lots of it. It is only by stepping outside the radiative feedback paradigm foisted upon us by warmists and sceptics alike and then viewing the system as a whole using overarching energy arguments that we begin to glimpse the truth. ”
His analogy seemed quite plausible to me but is it ?
Feds slam ‘radical’ greens
‘Jet-setting celebrities’ trying to hijack regulatory system, resources minister says
By Peter O’Neil, Edmonton Journal January 9, 2012 6:42 AM, front page (in print edition)
Full story: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Feds+slam+radical+greens/5966067/story.html
Here is a related story, also on the front page of the Edmonton Journal’s Jan. 9 print edition:
Economic impact: Think huge numbers
Pipeline would add $270B to GDP: Enbridge
By Dave Cooper, Edmonton Journal January 9, 2012
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Economic+impact+Think+huge+numbers/5966068/story.html
Another related story is contained in the Business Section of the Jan 9, 2012 print edition of the Edmonton Journal:
Arithmetic on Northern Gateway pipeline adds up to big numbers
By Dave Cooper, edmontonjournal.com January 8, 2012
http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Arithmetic+Northern+Gateway+pipeline+adds+numbers/5964649/story.html
The Peter Principle in action once again …
MIT Scientist Demands Gas Tax to Make Cars More Efficient
The overpaid and underperforming slack brain wants humans to travel around at 55 – 75 MPH in little steel coffins. Death for humans is the real plan of the eco-Nazi’s.
Never ever elect a socialist, and never hire one either. It’s that simple. We have the power to correct the current insanity. We just need to use that power.
Anthony
Just a note
WUWT is down to page 30 in Google search on “global warming”
The recent article I think has gotten some activity to up the rating.
Europe Tries to Stem a Plunge in Carbon Prices
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/09/business/global/09iht-green09.html
excerpt:
A withholding of 1.4 billion E.U.A.’s would certainly help restore price tension, as a renewed E.U.A. shortage would force power generators to switch from burning high-carbon coal to natural gas, implying a carbon price of about €21, given present coal and natural gas prices. That is three times the current carbon price.
But the Union may not agree to such an ambitious proposal, which might affect fuel bills at a time when many member states are enduring harsh austerity measures. The European Commission has previously suggested withholding a smaller 500 million to 800 million E.U.A.’s from 2013-20……
……How many E.U.A.’s should be removed? Carbon market analysts forecast that a glut in E.U.A.’s and other carbon credits will persist through 2020 and beyond.
They project a net surplus in 2020 of 650 million E.U.A.’s (Barclays Capital); 1,200 million to 1,300 million (Point Carbon); 800 million (UBS); 800 million (Société Générale); or 566 million (Deutsche Bank).
http://www.c3headlines.com/2011/12/science-by-lubchencos-noaa-fake-global-warming-by-changing-historical-temperature-data.html
“Correlations Between Biofuels and Related Commodities Before and During the Food Crisis:
A Taxonomy Perspective
Ladislav Kristoufek, Karel Jandaa, and David Zilberman
Abstract
In this paper, we analyze the relationships between the prices of biodiesel, ethanol and related fuels and agricultural commodities with a use of minimal spanning trees and hierarchical trees. To distinguish between short-term and medium-term effects, we construct these trees for different frequencies (weekly and monthly). We find that in short-term, both ethanol and biodiesel are very weakly connected with the other commodities. In medium-term, the biofuels network becomes more structured. The system splits into two well separated branches — a fuels part and a food part. Biodiesel tends to the fuels branch and ethanol to the food branch. When the periods before and after the food crisis of 2007/2008 are compared, the connections are much stronger for the post-crisis period. This is the first application of this methodology on the biofuels systems.
”
Download this paper in Adobe Acrobat: http://www.uce3.berkeley.edu/WP_030.pdf
Turning real bugs into sensors, really strange, but kind of wild.
http://www.pddnet.com/news-implanted-biofuel-cell-converts-bugs-chemistry-into-electricity-010612/
Oh dear, Greenland’s ice caps is growing darker, the rock bed is shining through triggering even more ice melt.
You don’t believe it but this crap comes from NASA Earth Observatory.
Check it out
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=76916
Heads up! This presenter is NOAA and Penn State connected, and is working on ocean models… but how does MikeyMann (PhD in Oceanography) not understand the ADO, PDO … ? ! ?
He’s talking on Sea Ice?
Hopefully my business travels will be over by then, and I can attend and take notes for WUWT.
Annapolis Café Scientifique
The Annapolis Café Scientifique is open to anyone with a curious mind and everyone is welcome…
http://www.cafescientifique.org/annapolis
February 23, 2012
Speaker: Robert Grumbine, Ph.D., NOAA
Title: State of Sea Ice 2011-12
Abstract: Robert Grumbine’s first glaciological paper, on continental ice sheets and ice ages, appeared 26 years ago. He has been using satellites to analyze sea ice cover at NOAA for 17 years now. In that time, a typical September’s Arctic sea ice extent has dropped from about 7 million square km to about 4.8. The difference is greater than the size of Alaska, and about 3 times the size of Texas. Antarctic extents have held even or, arguably, increased in that period — in agreement with climate model expectations from up to 20 years ago. His entries in the Sea Ice Outlook, trying to guess the September 2011 monthly average sea ice extent, did fairly well again this year, with a couple more lessons learned since last year’s attempts.
Biography: Bob is a Physical Scientist in the Marine Modeling and Analysis Branch of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction, NOAA. His work has been largely on polar processes in meteorology, oceanography, and glaciology. Sea ice remote sensing and modeling, and sea surface temperature remote sensing are also included in his expertise. Robert earned a NOAA Bronze Medal for work towards implementing an Atlantic basin numerical ocean model. Prior to this, he was a Postdoctoral fellow in the UCAR ocean modeling program, at Penn. State, where he studied paleocean circulation driven by polar ocean processes. He earned his PhD from the University of Chicago, Department of the Geophysical Science, studying polar water mass formation. As an undergraduate, he confused quite a few people by getting his BS degree from Northwestern University in Applied Math, but from the school of Engineering, doing his honors project on continental ice sheets and ice ages, but making his area of application Astrophysics.
ACS News Service Weekly PressPac: January 4, 2012
New materials remove CO2 from smokestacks, tailpipes and even the air
http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PP_ARTICLEMAIN&node_id=223&content_id=CNBP_029012&use_sec=true&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=cfaa5be8-3978-439a-a6f6-7b1188e9bac1
pdf of the paper-
Carbon Dioxide Capture from the Air Using a Polyamine Based Regenerable Solid Adsorbent
Alain Goeppert*, Miklos Czaun, Robert B. May, G. K. Surya Prakash*, George A. Olah*, and S. R. Narayanan
Loker Hydrocarbon Research Institute and Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, University Park, Los Angeles, California 90089-1661, United States
J. Am. Chem. Soc., 2011, 133 (50), pp 20164–20167
DOI: 10.1021/ja2100005
Publication Date (Web): November 21, 2011
Copyright © 2011 American Chemical Society http://pubs.acs.org/stoken/presspac/presspac/full/10.1021/ja2100005
An earlier comment referred to government mandated increase MPG increasing traffic fatalities. The first link is to the more recent article but the second older article is more interesting.
I think the quickest way to increase mpg is to put the full size station wagon in the SUV category. The lower profile vehicle can be made just as safe with less weight, less wind resistance, one third the chance of rollover. You give up some vertical storage room that you rarely use. Roof racks can be made to smooth air turbulence and make up for their drag.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2011/08/16/new-auto-fuel-economy-standards-will-regulate-us-to-death/print/
The next article is interesting because of the numerous studies referred to and the footnotes.
http://www.nationalcenter.org/NPA546CAFEStandards.html
The next article is about SUV safety and has driving tips that we should read once a year. Basically the more powerful the vehicle the more carefully it needs to be driven. Those of you driving tin cans, go for it. The SUVs will squash you like the bugs that you are.
http://www.edmunds.com/driving-tips/cargo-weight-and-rollovers-know-the-limits-of-your-suv.html
Radicals working against oilsands, Ottawa says
Environment groups ‘threaten to hijack’ system, natural resources minister says
[Sources say the government isn't just talking, CBC's Margo McDiarmid reports, but will be targeting environmental groups when the House finance committee reviews charitable funding next month.
The committee could recommend changing the rules to stop them from getting U.S. money. Sierra Club's John Bennett says he's worried.]
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/01/09/pol-joe-oliver-radical-groups.html
Harper warns pipeline hearings could be ‘hijacked’
Northern Gateway seeks to carry oilsands crude to West Coast
[Prime Minister Stephen Harper says his government will look into measures to prevent the approval process for energy projects from being "hijacked" by opponents of the developments.
Harper told journalists Friday he's heard concerns expressed about the use of foreign money by interveners opposed to an oilsands pipeline proposed for northern B.C. by Calgary-based Enbridge.
The prime minister said the government is prepared to review how public consultations are conducted to ensure they don’t get overloaded for the purpose of slowing down the process.]
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/01/06/harper-northern-gateway-hearings.html
The NGOs really hate the Canadian Government :-)
Following the tip above about a talk on this season’s sea ice, have a look at what is happening in Nome:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/us/icebreaker-slowly-carves-path-for-tanker-to-bring-emergency-fuel-to-alaska.html?hp
These are people who would not be sad to see some global warming!
“…CO2 and other deadly toxins”
Link below to article re researchers “…Dr. Hamed Sanei …, Steve Grasby … Dr. Benoit Beauchamp…”
http://www.speroforum.com/a/JZOLCUGEUK19/66428-Earths-massive-extinction-The-story-gets-worse
“The generally accepted idea is that volcanic eruptions burned though coal beds, releasing CO2 and other deadly toxins. Direct proof of this theory was outlined in a paper that was published by these same authors last January in Nature Geoscience.”
If your looking for a new car with all that oil money your rolling in thought this loooked like something that might intrest you.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2084658/Smart-unveils-new-electrically-powered-concept-car.html
In the UK, the CIVITAS group has just released an economic analysis of wind power:
http://www.civitas.org.uk/press/prleaelectricityprices.htm
Anti-Open Access Rises Again
A newly introduced U.S. bill that aims to block public access to publicly-funded research echoes similar bills that have been tried in the past.
“The Research Works Act is the latest push in a series of efforts to reverse the NIH’s open-access policy…”
http://the-scientist.com/2012/01/09/anti-open-access-rises-again/
Well, I nearly choked on my coffee reading this in my ‘Daily Telegraph’ today here in London.
Their science page has long-since been seriously pro-AGW, but this article ‘Republicans turn their back on the Enlightenment’ is just so ridiculous, and repeats the old trick of lumping climate sceptics in with ceationists (judging by the comments on the web, a ploy that’s worked spectacularly well), that ….. I’m speechless – so here’s the weblink to the article:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100128559/republicans-turn-their-back-on-the-enlightenment/
H/T The View From Here;
Canada bells the cat: A War On Green Radicals.
Oliver’s original open letter here:
http://www.joeoliver.ca/news/an-open-letter-from-the-honourable-joe-oliver-minister-of-natural-resources-on-canada%E2%80%99s-commitment-to-diversify-our-energy-markets-and-the-need-to-further-streamline-the-regulatory-process/
Astonishing!
This is funny/weird/pathetic. Another terrible horror caused by global warming, via the luminaries at Greenpeace:
““The ice is melting. It’s exposing new fossil-fuel reserves, so we’re rushing in to grab them.”
http://www.straight.com/article-450621/vancouver/tzeporah-berman-takes-world
Add to the list of absurdities that result when the gov’t starts picking winners and losers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/business/energy-environment/companies-face-fines-for-not-using-unavailable-biofuel.html?scp=2&sq=biofuel&st=cse
Mann defends computer models – Sci. Am. article: http://news.yahoo.com/michael-mann-defends-climate-computer-models-152708741.html
Scientists, Share Secrets or Lose Funding
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-10/scientists-share-secrets-or-lose-funding-stodden-and-arbesman.html
http://on-climate.com/conference-2012/
“Fourth International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts and Responses. In 2012, the conference will be held in The University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA from 12-13 July 2012.
“The Climate Change Conference is for any person with an interest in, and concern for, scientific, policy and strategic perspectives in climate change. It will address a range of critically important themes relating to the vexing question of climate change. Plenary speakers will include some of the world’s leading thinkers in the fields of climatology and environmental science, as well as numerous paper, workshop and colloquium presentations by researchers and practitioners.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/business/energy-environment/companies-face-fines-for-not-using-unavailable-biofuel.html
Unrelated link:
http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=252605
“A senior employee of the US think tank Center for American Progress (CAP) appears to have admitted in an e-mail sent from his CAP account that a blogger for the policy organization used anti-Semitic language to attack supporters of the Jewish state.”
I do not believe it to be fair to link Joe enRomm to anti-Semitic rants from another blogger. However, both are bloggers employed by the same website, Think Progress.
From Joe’s Bio:
Joe Romm is a Fellow at American Progress and is the editor of Climate Progress, which New York Times columnist Tom Friedman called “the indispensable blog” and Time magazine named one of the 25 “Best Blogs of 2010.″
Progress we can believe in!
…and why fight fair…
New law to deny access to government funded data.
Story at http://the-scientist.com/2012/01/09/anti-open-access-rises-again/
Wall Street Journal:
52 “main species” of oil and gas eating bacteria are cleaning up the gulf oil spill:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203436904577150910025591788.html?mod=WSJ_hps_editorsPicks_2
The UK secretary of State for Energy and “Climate Change” has set the police onto a protester against windmills. The Bishop reports http://www.bishop-hill.net/blog/2012/1/10/government-surveillance-of-windfarm-protestor.html (with link)
The target is suing for 2.5 million pounds sterling.
“A Fine for Not Using a Biofuel That Doesn’t Exist”
“When the companies that supply motor fuel close the books on 2011, they will pay about $6.8 million in penalties to the Treasury because they failed to mix a special type of biofuel into their gasoline and diesel as required by law.
But there was none to be had. Outside a handful of laboratories and workshops, the ingredient, cellulosic biofuel, does not exist. [Ed: but that never stopped an eco-Marxist, did it?]
In 2012, the oil companies expect to pay even higher penalties for failing to blend in the fuel, which is made from wood chips or the inedible parts of plants like corncobs. Refiners were required to blend 6.6 million gallons into gasoline and diesel in 2011 and face a quota of 8.65 million gallons this year.”
http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2012/01/genius-companies-being-fined-by-epa-for.html
From ZeroHedge.com : Soaring Debt To GDP Is More Reponsible For Global Warming Than Rising CO2 Levels.
There is a 0.79 correlation with ‘global leverage’ (expressed as debt to GDP) against a 0.69 correlation with CO>2 levels.
The ZH article even gives the corresponding graphs. (No sign of any ‘missing heat or money’!)
More Greenland fearmongering
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=76916&src=eoa-iotd
The readers may get a chuckle out of this article
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/soaring-debt-gdp-more-reponsible-global-warming-rising-co2-levels
and from the correlation does not equal causation camp….
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/soaring-debt-gdp-more-reponsible-global-warming-rising-co2-levels
Scanning through the latest Nature Online, I noticed an award-winning picture by Andrew Pearce, which at first sight was a tug at the old heart-strings about the Ozzie Floods
But NO – they unashamedly state that this is an artificial composite.
This notwithstanding, the fake photo won first-prize in the Mott MacDonald’s Changing Climates category of the environmental photographer of the year competition run by Chartered Institute of the Water and Environmental – a pommie-based NGO
At least it’s better than exploding kids, faked lab experiments, shrinking polar flows, and filming polar cubs in the zoo – this lot at least admit it is fake before awarding the top prize !!!!
Full article here http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/v2/n1/full/nclimate1342.html
Anthony, I submitted this shortly after you announced you were taking the weekend off. …… given your recent use of Paul’s web app, (“Oh noes! Doomsday clock 1 minute closer to midnight thanks to global warming, other concerns”) , I thought that perhaps you missed my appeal. Of course it could be that I worded the appeal entirely insufficient. So, I’ll try once more and only once more. Just point people to the donate button. What’s the harm?
Repeating the appeal……
Anthony, et al. I need some help! Recently, I’ve had a few interactions with Paul Clark of http://www.woodfortrees.org/ We’re all familiar with his altruism. He’s set up a tip jar of sorts. A link to a charity donation to the Woodland Trust. I’m working through a “lost security password” difficulty. (I only have one vehicle to make such donations on-line.) But, I’ve noticed that he’s only gotten one contribution. I thought as much as the climate blogs use his site, there should probably be more. He hasn’t highlighted the link very well and many could skip right over it without notice. I’ve recently posted about this, but obviously my traffic isn’t near WUWT. https://suyts.wordpress.com/2012/01/07/hansen-and-gav-asleep-at-the-wheel/
I was just thinking, I could try to make up for my lapse in memory by pointing this out to the generous readers of WUWT. We’re all familiar with Paul. He’s an honest and sincere person. Can you help me do right by him?
Thanks guys!
James
‘The clock, which last moved in January 2010, is a universally recognized indicator of the world’s vulnerability to catastrophe from nuclear weapons, climate change and emerging technologies’ – nuclear weapons and climate change?
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2084588/Doomsday-Clock-moves-minute-closer-midnight-Fukushima-Irans-nuclear-pursuit-North-Koreas-leadership-change.html#ixzz1j8Nc4zE8
I would like to bring readers’s attention to the post on Bishop Hill in regard to George Watson.
The post Abuse of power against anti-wind farm movement can be read here:-
http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/2012/1/10/government-surveillance-of-windfarm-protestor.html#comments
I remind readers of Matt t& Janet Thompson, and of their Operations Manager, Lindley Boseley who committed suicide, Peter Spencer, Dr Tim Ball and many many others.
Thompsons: http://www.familyfirst.org.au/files/The-Story-of%20Matt-and-Janet-Thompson.pdf
Spencer: http://www.abc.net.au/rural/content/2009/s2778535.htm
Ball: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/04/08/help-asked-for-dr-tim-ball-in-legal-battle-with-dr-mann/
DOH!!! or try :-
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/01/10/oh-noes-doomsday-clock-1-minute-closer-to-midnight-thanks-to-global-warming-other-concerns/
:p
It’s a wonderful thing in the UK our unusually wild winter has been on the BBC all the time with references to climate change/global warming. However there has been no mention of this recording breaking situation.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/snowandski/9006670/Skiing-Is-this-the-best-ski-season-ever.html
An excellent article ,,,
http://principia-scientific.org/publications/History-of-Radiation.pdf
If you want to see just how deluded some folks are have a peek at this.
Environ MentalLook forward to two more years of this insanity. This isn’t entirel down to the zealots however. It is thanks to our political leaders that we will be forced to endure such blinkered fanaticism. Note how this fellow keeps changing the subject to what he “believes” whenevr he gets cornered. Also note the malicious shit eating grin on his mug. He is enjoying this. Show this to as many people as you can. This is the sort of animal that we are up against.
Sorry for my poor spelling etc. My hands are shaking too much to type.
Random volcano notes:
The watch page for Iceland’s volcanos at http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/myrdalsjokull/ showed only one earthquake, and a stretch of 30 hours with none.
Much more interesting of late is El Hierro, off the Canary Islands, where there is talk of a Surtseyan eruption in a few months if the underwater eruption continues. I check out http://earthquake-report.com/2011/09/25/el-hierro-canary-islands-spain-volcanic-risk-alert-increased-to-yellow/ every morning.
Richard Black chairing meetings between government ministers and NGO’s:
http://blackswhitewash.com/2011/01/11/man-of-mystery-2
For a more un-balanced view on the record ski season :-
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2012/01/this-snow-is-not-happening.html
More climate change hysteria from Norfolk (UK):
http://autonomousmind.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/more-climate-change-hysteria-from-norfolk/#comments
Just wunderin’… if the FOIA 2 files contain 5349 emails and all the numbers (1-5349) were added together would that number be large enough to meet the criteria for the FOIA 3 password?
http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/independent/windfall/
Anthony, have a look at this trailer. Someone has done a counter consensus documentary about wind turbines.
Coal problem solved? Has technology once again triumphed over political nonsense? Almost too good to be true. If this works coal is back on the table at least from a burning perspective. I’m sure the opponents will find other reasons to refuse to allow anyone to use it.
http://mpbiomass.com/
“MP BioMass has developed patented technological systems that can make use of the fly ash. First, their process can recover carbon from the fly ash, which still has a calorific value. They state fly ash may contain 8% to 14% of carbon residue, which can be utilized to produce energy. Secondly, their process removes heavy metals and toxins from the waste which makes it a more environmentally friendly substance. Finally, they are able to extract valuable ferrous and non-ferrous metal deposits from the fly ash, which have value.
Basically, the result of this processing of fly ash are that energy is produced, toxins are removed, and valuable metals are extracted. Instead of simply being put into a landfill, the fly ash serves a practical and economic purpose.”
Anthony,
I ran across a cartoon today that I saved as “The warmist view of human history.jpg.”
It is the old image of ape man > Homo Habilis > Homo Erectus > Homo Sapiens Sapiens. Except the cartoonist has the human headed back the beginning, telling them, “Go back. We f[***** -REP] up everything.”
A little photoshopping could change the ‘F’ word, if you want to post it.
I think it is apropos as the warmist view because they DO seem to want to take us all back to the trees.
Link: http://tiny.cc/1jjcx
[REPLY: Yeah, if Anthony wants to post it, we'd prefer changing the "F" word. -REP]
California Governor angers environmentalists by shifting the state’s new cap-and-trade fees to offset the defecit.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/01/10/BAAL1MNFM4.DTL
Hi Anthony, mods.
Remember the great Gulf Oil Spill Disaster? How it was supposed to kill the environment for years to come?
Well it seems there is hardly a trace of the stuff left according to a study by the national Acadamy of sciences funded by the feds
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203436904577150910025591788.html?mod=WSJ_hp_LEFTTopStories
No disaster from the oil spill
No disaster from Nuclear fallout at Fukishima
No disaster from Global Warming…no wait..lol
Now I know how a warmista feels when he hears a report that CO2 has essentially no effect on temperature. The red-wine cardiovascular benefit was faked: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gYqtHTeDH0skzvDnO33XDXtBqRdg?docId=afd3d1e4bbfa4a6480a035cbc59025ad
http://toryaardvark.com/2012/01/10/huhne-uses-anti-terror-legislation-against-wind-farm-protestors/
After Tallblokes experience it seems that the new tactic by the British government is to use the police and anti-terrorist legislation to intimidate their voters. Bit off more than even the Huhnatic can chew this time perhaps!
Tom Nelson is writing about this email. The content doesnt put the IPCC in a good light;
“following the IPCC approach where a small set of leaders does the dirty deed and then sends it out for review.”;
http://tomnelson.blogspot.com/2012/01/email-5251-1999-revealing-email-on-how.html
You may wish to do an article contrasting this with GISS data for the year when it comes out. 19th warmest year since 1909 does not sound like monotonic warming.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10778223
“In 2011, fewest lightning deaths than any year on record”
Yet another “extreme” event related to AGW no doubt.
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/news/story/2012-01-09/lightning-deaths-storms-weather/52504754/1
An alternative interpretation is that this shows the value of adaptation.
whoda thunk, It is was interstellar energy cloud all along.
http://oilprice.com/Environment/Global-Warming/Interstellar-Energy-Cloud-may-be-as-much-to-Blame-for-Climate-Change-as-CO2-Emissions.html
It’s comforting to know that as part of its concern for the environment, Mercedes has selected Che Guevara as its icon for its “greener future.”
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57356428/mercedes-channels-che-guevara-for-car-tech/
On the subject of Arctic Sea Ice Extent, here’s a recent article about the difficulties an icebreaker is having getting through the thick ice (2-3 feet) in the Bering Sea. Apparently, an early winter storm hit Nome, Alaska before it was able to get its last shipment of oil and gasoline to tide the town over until spring. As a result, they are now trying to get a 370-foot tanker filled with 1.3 million gallons of fuel through the ice to save the city. The icebreaker leading the ship through the ice is having great difficulties with both the ice and strong currents. They have made little to no progress and when they are able to progress through the ice, the current pushes them back to where they started.
“Jason Evans, chairman of Sitnasuak Native Corp., the company arranging the delivery, said the mission remains challenging.
“I think there continues to be a lot of pressure on the ice, so when they break the ice it wants to immediately squeeze together, or the broken ice wants to shoot back into the hole they just made,” he said Tuesday.
Shifting ice, described as dynamic ice, has slowed the progress of the paired vessels. The ice tends to close in, cutting off the path between the two ships. When that happens, the icebreaker doubles back and makes a relief cut to take pressure off the tanker and open a pathway.”
The article appears in USA Today at this link:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-01-11/alaska-tanker-stuck/52501022/1?csp=34news&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+usatoday-NewsTopStories+%28News+-+Top+Stories%29
WUWT is not on the list. Not yet.
Homeland Security Monitoring Drudge Report
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/technology/2012/01/homeland-security-monitoring-drudge-report-new-york-times/47300/
Little tiny planets ’round a little tiny sun:
Since red dwarfs last much longer than yellow suns like ours, and are far more common, there’ll be quite a few like this.
Next up: Pellegrino’s Pancakes? Physicist Charles Pellegrino posited the even-smaller brown dwarfs with unconsolidated disks of dust and rock and ice scattered throughout space, 10X more common even than red dwarfs, but invisible until your spaceship tries to go thru one. Wrote a novel “The Killing Star” based on it.
>;)
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/media/abc-forced-to-back-down-on-biased-csg-coverage/story-e6frg996-1226242145043
“ABC forced to back down on biased CSG coverage
by: Amos Aikman
THE ABC has been forced to remove content from its website following claims that its “error-prone coverage” misled the public over the dangers of coal-seam gas extraction by presenting anti-gas advocacy as science.
Early ABC Radio news bulletins on Tuesday led with a report on a US study linking gas drilling to health problems. A story on the broadcaster’s website, entitled “CSG extraction linked to animal deaths”, began: “American research linking chemicals from coal-seam gas extraction to the deaths of scores of animals has prompted calls for a freeze on new drilling licences in Australia.”
A spokesman for the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association said the article was removed after an eight-hour battle in which the ABC at first refused to back down.
The US study focused on shale gas – not CSG, as reported by the ABC – and included anecdotal accounts of health problems in people living near drilling sites. It was carried out by a veterinarian and a pharmacology professor, both based in New York – rather than at the University of Massachusetts, as the ABC claimed – who both have links to the anti-gas movement.”
Interesting guest blog “Climate change and extreme events” at Nature.com
http://blogs.nature.com/soapboxscience/2012/01/06/climate-change-and-extreme-events?WT.mc_id=FBK_NPG
Amazingly the author actually admits that the climate models can’t model severe storms and that they ” struggle to get past the fact that, however much they can improve in the future, these models are still the best and only tool we have for making climate projections”.
Then, turning on a dime, we are told that it’s fine to rely on these models (that can’t model storms) in order to predict extreme storms because, well, “our current analyses are consistent with the things that we’re pretty sure of”.
Phew, for a minute there I was worried that they were just guessing!
‘Some homeowners who install solar panels and eco-friendly ‘heat pumps’ have seen their energy bills increase more than eightfold because of bad installation.’
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/9008131/Overhaul-of-nations-homes-needed-to-meet-carbon-target.html
Hands up if you where part of the consensus, ‘Red wine researcher accused of falsifying data’
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gYqtHTeDH0skzvDnO33XDXtBqRdg?docId=afd3d1e4bbfa4a6480a035cbc59025ad
Hi Anthony,
How about the following story? Outrageous and very, very sad. An actor has apparently lost out on lucrative work simply because he doesn’t believe in global warming. Story here:
http://www.deadline.com/2012/01/ferris-buellers-ben-stein-files-suit-alleging-religious-political-discrimination/#more-213516
Best
Harry
Just a quick note on your ocean reference page: The first image is from the broken AMSR instrument, so it is still dated Oct 4. I think you should just remove that image.
Interesting quantification of the current force of the Arctic polar vortex from an unbiased source:
“Nonstop Flights Stop for Fuel
Dozens of Continental Airlines flights to the East Coast from Europe have been forced to make unexpected stops in Canada and elsewhere to take on fuel after running into unusually strong headwinds over the Atlantic Ocean.”
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203436904577152974098241982.html
Just one more I promise.
‘So it is that the Norwich Evening News reports today that Norfolk’s Fire and Rescue Service is spending £3.2 million on new 4×4 vehicles:
“because climate change is causing more floods and heath blazes in Norfolk.”‘
Be intresting to see if they put that down as the reason they needed this 4×4′s.
http://autonomousmind.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/more-climate-change-hysteria-from-norfolk/
Researcher accused of falsifying data on benefits of red wine
‘A US researcher known for his work on red wine’s benefits to cardiovascular health falsified his data in more than 100 instances.’
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/researcher-accused-of-falsifying-data-on-benefits-of-red-wine/story-e6frgcjx-1226242328409
I see there’s a US Office of Research Integrity.Why don’t they investigate climate research?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/wellbeing/6247281/Red-wine-researcher-falsified-data
“UConn officials said their internal review found 145 instances over seven years in which Das fabricated, falsified and manipulated data, and the US Office of Research Integrity has launched an independent investigation of his work.”
Australian Skeptics to test E-cat machine – 200K prize if verified
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/energy-smart/mullumbimby-helping-to-save-world-20120112-1pxj2.html
From the Associated Press-
“Astronomers see more planets than stars in galaxy”
http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-11-Plentiful%20Planets/id-633dc7ce603646d59229b23ca3a098cc
One astronomer involved with the Kepler project believes that conservatively, there are 2 or more Jupiter/Saturn size planets per star in the Milky way galaxy, on average. We finally have some numbers we can plug in to the Drake Equation. Using the above average and a very conservative multiplier of 1%, I come up with 20,000,000 planets that harbor life in the Milky Way galaxy alone.
More on the Drake Equation here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drake_equation
This is exciting stuff!
I can’t believe this article has been discussed on the blog yet.
http://news.yahoo.com/michael-mann-defends-climate-computer-models-152708741.html
Capt Dallas! that is a big find! http://wattsupwiththat.com/tips-notes-2/#comment-861166
http://oilprice.com/Environment/Global-Warming/Interstellar-Energy-Cloud-may-be-as-much-to-Blame-for-Climate-Change-as-CO2-Emissions.html
“…..On July 14th 2010 it was officially revealed that information from the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 satellites prove that our solar system is passing through an interstellar cloud of electrical energy. According to astrophysicist Alexei Dmitriev the energy in the cloud is being absorbed by the sun, causing it to be more active and in turn give off much more energy. It is also exciting the atmospheres of the planet…….”
Ran across this Discovery News post dated Tue Jan 10, 2012.
“This Winter’s Weirdly Warm Weather Explained”
http://news.discovery.com/earth/weird-warm-weather-120110.html#mkcpgn=emnws1
“BSkyB axes Al Gore’s Current TV from its pay-TV lineup”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jan/11/bskyb-al-gore-current-tv?INTCMP=SRCH
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57357720-10391704/red-wine-researcher-dr-dipak-k-das-published-fake-data-uconn/
Red Wine helps the heart, claimed Dipak K. Das, director of cardiovascular research at the University of Connecticut. However, in 145 instnaces in 11 journals, Dipak, alledgedly, falsified or fabricated data according to UConn’s 3 year investigation…
Of course CBC is on the bandwagon again…
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2012/01/12/mb-nasa-ecological-change-canada-manitoba.html?cmp=rss
************************************
A new NASA study predicts massive ecological changes for Canada’s Prairies and boreal regions by the year 2100.
Those areas are in “hot spots” highly vulnerable to massive environmental changes this century due to global warming, the study states.
The NASA model used a global temperature increase of two to four degrees this century, as predicted by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
**************************
Heaven help us…
“WASHINGTON — When the companies that supply motor fuel close the books on 2011, they will pay about $6.8 million in penalties to the Treasury because they failed to mix a special type of biofuel into their gasoline and diesel as required by law.
But there was none to be had. Outside a handful of laboratories and workshops, the ingredient, cellulosic biofuel, does not exist.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/business/energy-environment/companies-face-fines-for-not-using-unavailable-biofuel.html?_r=1
New NASA video promoting L.E.N.R. (Cold Fusion) technology as a viable, clean and cheap energy source!
http://technologygateway.nasa.gov/media/CC/lenr/lenr.html
http://technologygateway.nasa.gov/
Ben Stein fired for expressing doubt about human cause of GW:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/12/idUS265209529320120112
It doesn’t pay to be a denier, or even one that questions human involvement..
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/12/idUS265209529320120112
Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?
Unbelievable!
Hansen in a new video:
Maybe if Ben Stein was saying:
Algore? Algore? Algore??
He would have kept his job? Gotta respect a person who sticks up for his beliefs….
Ahhh, those windmills… is there anything they can do?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/story/2012/01/12/nb-caribou-wind-farm-turbines-ice.html
And then this from Nasa:
http://technologygateway.nasa.gov/media/CC/lenr/lenr.html
What a day.
Ben Stein fired over global warming doubts:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/12/idUS265209529320120112
A new molecule has been detected in the earth’s atmosphere which could help produce a cooling effect, scientists said, but it remains to be seen whether it can play a major role in tackling global warming.
Criegee biradicals found to oxidize Sulfur Dioxide to to Sulfuric Acid with potential to cause a cooling effect.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/12/us-molecule-climate-idUSTRE80B1U820120112
New molecule could cool the earth
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/12/us-molecule-climate-idUSTRE80B1U820120112
Accumulation of hubris accelerating
Ben Stein Sues: Ad Agency Replaced Me Over My Global-Warming Position
The conservative pundit and actor — and former Nixon speechwriter — alleges that his position on climate change had him kicked off a $300,000 acting gig, only to be replaced by a lookalike.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/12/idUS265209529320120112
More evidence of the impracticality of unreliable wind power.
Vestas To Lay Off Over 2,300 Workers
Thu, 01/12/2012 – 9:10am
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Vestas A/S, the world’s biggest maker of wind turbines in terms of revenues, said Thursday it will lay off around 2,300 employees, mainly in Denmark, because of a market downturn caused by the global financial crisis.
The company, headquartered in Aarhus, Denmark, said a potential slowdown in the United States could also result in the layoff of an additional 1,600 employees there.
Vestas said it will reduce its fixed costs by more than euro150 million ($190.1 million) by the end of 2012 by streamlining support functions and closing a factory to align capacity with market demand.
Aside from having already cut its 2012 sales forecasts, it has also abandoned its 2015 sales target of euro15 billion ($19.1 million)…
http://www.manufacturing.net/news/2012/01/vestas-to-lay-off-over-2300-workers?et_cid=2421820&et_rid=54680111&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.manufacturing.net%2fnews%2f2012%2f01%2fvestas-to-lay-off-over-2300-workers
Ben Stein is suing Kyocera because he was fired for his skeptical position on global warming: http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/01/12/actor-ben-stein-sues-kyocera-over-ad-campaign/#
Mosquitoes are disappearing in Africa and Climate Change is apparently being blamed. Meanwhile potential victims of malaria are celebrating. .
http://www.reuters.com/video/1/1/1/reuters-tv?videoId=227514452
@coldlynx:
What a great video. I hope Anthony and other people take action on this.
The first time I have seen Hansen so out of this earth.
I saw this article on the Drudge Report about 4:30 today. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/12/us-molecule-climate-idUSTRE80B1U820120112
@coldlynx
Please keep on feeding this stuff.
The e-cat – or LNER – was great, too.
But the Hansen video really made my day :)
Have you come across a Professor Kevin Anderson Director, Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Manchester, UK?
His 2009 paper was just used in a blog post at the Guardian,and was entitled:
“ANDERSON, Kevin. 0.5 billion climate holocaust survivors”
The link is:
http://sites.google.com/site/climategenocide/anderson-kevin
An international team of scientists says it’s figured out how to slow global warming in the short run and prevent millions of deaths from dirty air: Stop focusing so much on carbon dioxide.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2017221026_apussciwarmingfix.html
How I upload a picture I grabbed from my TV ported through to my computer? I snagged an image of a Russian Tanker stuck in the ice, released by a coast guard vessel…I believe the tanker was delivering heating fuel to Nome Alaska.. but I may have heard that incorrectly… please advice.
Global warming might make lizards super-intelligent:
http://io9.com/5875545/global-warming-might-make-lizards-super+intelligent
Of orbits and ice ages … Researcher confirms that axis shifts help to propel temperature changes
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/01/of-orbits-and-ice-ages/
Though it was first suggested well over a century ago, the hypothesis that changes in Earth’s orientation relative to its orbit influence the growth and decline of ice sheets was only recently tested.
As described in a paper recently published in the journal Nature, Harvard Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences Peter Huybers confirmed that slow changes in both the tilt and orientation of Earth’s spin axis combined to help determine when the major deglaciations of the past million years occurred.
“These periods of deglaciation saw massive climate changes,” Huybers said. “Sea level increased by 130 meters, temperatures rose by about 5 degrees C, and atmospheric CO2 went from 180 to 280 parts per million. We ought to understand what caused these massive changes in past climate if we are to predict long-term changes in future climate with any confidence. And at least now we know with greater than 99 percent confidence that the interaction between obliquity and precession are among the factors that contribute to deglaciation.”
Of course this finding is somewhat inconvenient to the whole AGW “cause” so he quickly backpedals:
Though his work suggests that orbital configuration contributes to the loss of glacial ice, Huybers was quick to emphasize that it is only one factor among many.
“It could also be that orbital forcing causes a rise is atmospheric CO2, and that it’s the increased CO2 that drives the loss of ice sheets,” he said. “In all likelihood, both CO2 and increased summer radiation contribute to deglaciation.
Harvard researcher confirms Milankovitch cycles:
http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2012/01/of-orbits-and-ice-ages/
And this odd paragraph at the end:
/Mr Lynn
Looks like A. Scott beat me to it. I sow the link on HotAir. /Mr L
Hi Anthony,
An Australian team are today visiting Commonwealth Bay in Antarctica to commemorate 100 years since Mawson’s historic expedition. The big difference is that this time, unlike Mawson’s visit where he was able to sail right into to Commonwelath Bay, the Aurora Australis has had to stop 12 N.Miles short of Mawson’s Hutt and helicopter in.
This is due to massive amounts of sea ice floes and bergs that simply were not there in the summer of 1912.
The main stream media in Australia of course are picking up on the current visit, but is there any outcry stating that “here is real evidence of current global cooling.”
Not a peep……….
They still say warming is due to human activities.
And that there science is solid.
Another record breaker: 2011 warmest La Niña year ever
As officials meet at the 17th UN Climate Summit in Durban, South Africa, the world continues to heat up. The UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has announced that they expect 2011 to be the warmest La Niña year since record keeping began in 1850. The opposite of El Nino, a La Niña event causes general cooling in global temperatures. Despite La Niña, it was a very, very warm year to the point that it is the warmest decade on record,” explained WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud during a press briefing in Geneva.
Even with the cooling impact of La Niña, this year is on track to becoming the 10th warmest yet. In fact, the 13 warmest years on record have all occurred in the last 15 years with the 2000s being the warmest decade to date.
“Our science is solid and it proves unequivocally that the world is warming and that this warming is due to human activities,” Jarraud said.
http://www.enn.com/climate/article/43635
Newly discovered molecule ‘could reverse global warming’
Newly detected compounds work as ‘clean up’ agents
Create water droplets – and cooling clouds
Will have ‘wide-ranging implications for climate change’ – researchers
By Rob Waugh
Last updated at 4:46 AM on 13th January 2012
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2085836/Newly-detected-molecule-reverse-global-warming-say-researchers.html#ixzz1jJdXclCf
Michael Mann Defends Climate Computer Models
Scientific American – Tue, Jan 10, 2012
Failure is well rewarded in the UK:-
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2085748/Met-forecasters-wrongly-predicted-freezing-winter-BBQ-summer-receive-30-boost-BONUSES.html
Dear Anthony.
I seem to remember that you asked for statements/articles forecasting the future of the climate including a time frame.
Maybe this is something:
http://www.bitsofscience.org/no-more-horror-winters-europe-winter-forecasts-4668/
Union chief: Congress controlled by ‘climate change deniers’
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/203875-afl-cio-chief-congress-effectively-controlled-by-climate-change-deniers
Trumka is the problem, not global warming. I would challenge that an independent authority drug test all IBEW members (and management) working on these projects immediately. I know for a fact that only the new apprentices and older workers who obviously do not abuse substances and show up to work sober are tested. Then there are the sweetheart insurance deals….
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/video/27111481/detail.html
I knew it all along as Mr. Green told me so. Just was waiting for the study to prove it to everyone.
“Albatross wing it faster under climate change ”
[img]http://images.smh.com.au/2012/01/13/2891420/port-wandering-albatross-420×0.jpg[/img]
“Stronger winds over the Southern Ocean around Antarctica have helped the wandering albatross fly faster and breed more successfully, European scientists said this week.
However, the study published in the US journal Science cautioned that those benefits may be short-lived if the globe continues to warm and wind speeds shift more in the coming decades.”
http://www.smh.com.au/environment/albatross-wing-it-faster-under-climate-change-20120113-1pz4p.html
“There was one omission. The debate lasted two hours but nobody mentioned cheap gas. Simply replacing the UK’s coal production with gas would allow it to meet its carbon targets quicker and much more cheaply. The Department of Energy’s 2050 calculator notoriously doesn’t let you choose cheap gas as an option – it’s a propaganda tool steering you to outcomes they want. Not one peer mentioned shale gas or shale oil.
For whatever reason, a narrower range opinions was heard from the lords than you might expect to hear in a pub or a Starbucks”
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/13/lords_green_debate/
Record breaking December snow in Iceland
…the depth of snow was 33 centimetres in Reykjavík and neighbouring municipalities; which is a record. Since records began being kept in 1921 there has never been a 24 hour period in December with more snowfall over the Icelandic capital.
Read more: http://www.icenews.is/index.php/2011/12/30/record-breaking-december-snow-in-iceland/#ixzz1jLePVXuY
Note: It also looks like we’ll see an Ice Bridge to Greenland this year.
I submitted this earlier from a different source and it seems to have widespread pickup. Since it is highly relevant to the warming/cooling debate, perhaps this should be elevated to a post.
According to a new paper, Criegee biradicals can clean up the atmosphere naturally by reacting with pollutants produced by combustion, such as nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide. Further, these oxidation reactions can generate nitrate and sulphate in the atmosphere, which can lead to more cloud formation and thus a cooling effect on planet Earth.
Scientists have shown that a new molecule in the earth’s atmosphere has the potential to play a significant role in off-setting global warming by cooling the planet.
In a breakthrough paper published in Science, researchers from The University of Manchester, The University of Bristol and Sandia National Laboratories report the potentially revolutionary effects of Criegee biradicals.
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/335/6065/204.abstract
Anthony,
Would one of your moderators be able to confirm the provenance of this NASA slideshow shown to be prepared at the Langley Research Center? (I opened successfully without any viral detection). I realize this may be an elaborate hoax and also that if NASA employes Jim Hansen there are likely other kooks as well. But the implications on my business, if true, could be profound.
Tiny url preview: http://preview.tinyurl.com/84u6clj
http://www.scribd.com/mobile/documents/75267974/download?secret_password=29y9femq4udlny35adqy
Thank you,
Tom Hendricks
Mike Mann has a little problem now….
Virginia court hears Cuccinelli’s defense of climate suit
Anti-fraud law cited for probe
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/12/virginia-court-hears-cuccinellis-defense-of-climat/?page=1
Study suggests warm arctic summer = cold boreal winters.
http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/7/1/014007/article
Hello Anthony:
Did you see this article?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45975663/ns/technology_and_science-science/
Thanks, Don Healy
Is Fox News too balanced? http://jewishworldreview.com/0112/fox_too_fair.php3
It appears that the warmists are beginning to switch their focus to other sources of warming, i.e. black carbon, ozone, CFC’s and methane. Taken together, these other forcing agents are more significant than CO2. In addition, they really are pollutants that have only negative impacts on the environment, and they are things that can actually be controlled or reduced. Most of these pollutants originate in developing and undeveloped areas, where there should be lots of low hanging fruit. This is something that we should all be able to get behind. It makes me wonder why the warmists target only CO2. Could it possibly be because the control of CO2 would result in the control of everything, whereas reducing these other factors is actually beneficial to all? Was it all really just driven by their desire to control the planet?
Much of the world heats and cooks with whatever fuel they can find, burning it in dirty, inefficient stoves which waste fuel and put out lots of soot. Improvements in their stoves would reduce the amount of land denuded of vegetation, and the amount of soot generated, not to mention the reduction in lung problems resulting from breathing smoke all day. There have been efforts made to improve wood stove efficiency for years. A little more money spent in this effort could have dramatic results. Just think what could be done if half of the $billions spent on climate study went into supplying new, high efficiency stoves to Africans. Half of the $78B spent to prove CO2 is the issue would buy 78 million wood stoves at $500 each. A good start. ($500 is an arbitrary number, but should be enough to build a pretty good, portable stove).
Just thinkin’
http://www.denverpost.com/commented/ci_19728805?source=commented-
And now, another warming causes cooling study.
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/01/global-warming-may-trigger-winte.html
My summary of the study: Weather causes more weather. Who’da thunk it.
Anthony,
One from the upper house in the UK parliament:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld/ldtoday/l_20.htm
Lord Turnbull doubting the IPCC and climate change science.
Well done on the magnificent “hits” milestone – remarkable achievement.
Guardian reports that the National Center for Science Education is helping US teachers to defend their practice of spreading warmist propaganda:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/13/teachers-support-climate-change-lessons
Interesting article on scientists falsifying data:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2085814/Scientists-falsify-data-research-published-whistleblowers-bullied-keeping-quiet-claim-colleagues.html?ITO=1490
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/virginia-politics/2012/jan/13/tdmet02-va-supreme-court-takes-up-cuccinelli-uva-c-ar-1607802/
Va. Supreme Court takes up climate case
By: Jim Nolan | Richmond Times-Dispatch
Published: January 13, 2012
The legal fight between the University of Virginia and Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli over Cuccinelli’s inquiry into grant money used by former U.Va. climate scientist Michael Mann is in the hands of the Virginia Supreme Court.
Lawyers for U.Va. and the attorney general on Thursday spent just more than 45 minutes presenting arguments to the seven-member panel.
****
A decision on the case is expected in early March.
Meanwhile, the attorney general’s office has petitioned the Albemarle court on the matter with a revised inquiry that focuses on only the state grant obtained by Mann and provides greater detail on why it believes there is reason to investigate.
Stephen Harper, the prime minister of Canada and 3 others minister are being sued by an Ex-Bloc Mp for abandonning Kyoto. They want too force us back into Kyoto and claim that a majority of Canadian approve Kyoto even if polls shows the opposite…. except in Quebec.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/01/13/ex-bloc-mp-takes-harper-g_n_1205245.html
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/bc6f7204-3d1f-11e1-8129-00144feabdc0.html?ftcamp=rss&ftcamp=crm/email/2012113/nbe/ScienceEnvironment/product#axzz1jNUUniYx
January 12, 2012 5:21 pm
Misconduct pervades UK research
By Clive Cookson, Science Editor
UK research is plagued with misconduct, according to a survey of 2,700 scientists by the British Medical Journal. It found that 13 per cent had first-hand knowledge of UK-based researchers deliberately altering or fabricating data, while 6 per cent were aware of misconduct that had not been properly investigated.
“Inside the Fed in 2006: A Coming Crisis, and Banter”
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/inside-fed-2006-coming-crisis-124207691.html
…..”Meanwhile, by the end of 2006, the economy already was shrinking by at least one important measure, total income. And by the end of the next year, the Fed had started its desperate struggle to prevent the collapse of the financial system and to avert the onset of what could have been the nation’s first full-fledged depression in about 70 years.
The transcripts of the 2006 meetings, released after a standard five-year delay, clearly show some of the nation’s pre-eminent economic minds did not fully understand the basic mechanics of the economy that they were charged with shepherding. The problem was not a lack of information; it was a lack of comprehension, born in part of their deep confidence in economic forecasting models that turned out to be broken.
“It’s embarrassing for the Fed,” said Justin Wolfers, an economics professor at the University of Pennsylvania. “You see an awareness that the housing market is starting to crumble, and you see a lack of awareness of the connection between the housing market and financial markets.”
“It’s also embarrassing for economics,” he continued. “My strong guess is that if we had a transcript of any other economist, there would be at least as much fodder.”……….”
This quote- “The problem was not a lack of information; it was a lack of comprehension, born in part of their deep confidence in economic forecasting models that turned out to be broken.” sounds a lot the problems with the AGW models and the banter revealed in the 2009 and 2011 climate communications……………
Increasing the amount of carbon in the ocean should reduce the levels of nitrates and phosphates from farm runoff: http://www.qualitymarine.com/News/Feature-Articles/Gimme-a-Vodka%2C-on-the-Live-Rocks%2C-with-a-Splash-of-Heavy-Skimming.-%2803/30/10%29
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203436904577152974098241982.html reports stronger than normal winds across the North Atlantic, so airliners are having to stop for fuel more often.
That’s normal flight operations, not an oceanic-remote problem, as much of the flight to their destinations well down the US east coast is over areas with many airports. Flights to destinations further west have diversion options such as Greenland (notably Sondre Stromfjord), Frobisher, and airports in populated areas.
(Prevailing winds are from the west of course, exact flight path will vary to take advantage of wind variations. Limiting payload may help, balancing less revenue against the cost of a refuelling stop.
Early in 757 operations I was on flight from Seattle to London, tailwinds were quite light so our route was more southerly than normal (IIRC over Churchill MB).)
Found this in Canada:
Warmer summers could be causing colder winters
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20120113/climate-cold-winters-weather-climate-change-20120113/
Wouldn’t warmer summer and colder winter cancel out each other from a “warming” standpoint?
A zero sum game by my reckon.
For those who live in the San Francisco Bay Area, it has been a cold winter; and for many days – including Christmas Day and New Years Day, using your fireplace was forbidden.
This at the direction of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District who determine which days are “Spare the Air Days”. You risk a big citation from Air Quality Government employees who drive around looking for scofflaws.
On tonight’s NBC evening news – this report:
Questionable ‘Spare the Air’ Days Issued
Forecasting is not an exact science, but officials seem to be making a lot of errors.
Another “Spare the Air” alert was issued for Saturday, bringing the total to 15 “Spare the Air” days this winter, the most since 2006. But how do officials with the Bay Area Air Quality Management District decide when to issue alerts? Are they even accurate? NBC Bay Area uncovered some questionableforecasts made for the “Spare the Air” program.
The Investigative Unit went through all of the Air District’s predictions and compared them to the actual air quality readings…..
And the Air District was wrong many wrong more times than right..
So far this season…for 14 days residents couldn’t burn wood. However, the report found the air quality was unhealthy on just four of those days.
http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/green/Questionable-Spare-the-Air-Days-Issued-137323543.html
11 more Solyndras ?
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2012/01/13/cbs_news_11_more_solyndras_in_obama_energy_program.html
ATI to depose UVA and Dr. Mann
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/12/virginia-court-hears-cuccinellis-defense-of-climat/?page=1
The group plans to depose the university and Mr. Mann in mid-February, said David Schnare, director of the ATI Environmental Law Center.
OT. Not science related
A Rex Murphy commentary about Big Green, mostly Greenpeace.
Thou must not question Big Environment
http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/01/14/rex-murphy-thou-must-not-question-big-environment/
Hi, Question please:
I’m happy with the idea that there is a flow of Long Wave Radiation up and down and that the nett flow is out to space. However I’m trying to reconcile this with Pierre R Latour’s (PE, PhD) words that a warm body cannot absorb IR from a colder body: the photons are merely scattered or reflected. Comments please as this concept obviously throws teh warmist ideas out of the window?
See: http://www.slayingtheskydragon.com/en/blog/185-no-virginia-cooler-objects-cannot-make-warmer-objects-even-warmer-still?showall=1
Thanks.
Please make a post on the need for freedom of information, openness and transparency in the IPCC.
See Steve McIntyre on Stocker’s Earmarks at Climate Audit
http://climateaudit.org/2012/01/12/stockers-earmarks/#more-15404
And my comment at Climate Etc.
Also McIntyre on sealing review comments:
http://climateaudit.org/2012/01/12/stockers-earmarks/#more-15404
More on Downdraft’s post (1/13/2012 9:52am):
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/scientists-cut-soot-methane-curb-warming-15348267
NASA scientists are developing another bird’s nest on the funding teat by claiming to save 700,000 to 4.7 million lives a year (love those error estimates!) by reducing soot and methane in the atmosphere. How do they know? COMPUTER MODELS!
No mention of just how they plan to reduce methane produced in land fills and who knows where else. But it’s good for another round of funding! I think it;s time to shut down NASA. They have lost their way.
Anthony -
You posted about the Younger-Dryas Impact theory some time back. You posted when the skeptical scientists went public with their skepticism. If you post when studies argue against the YD Impact, it seems you should at least periodically post the avalanche of evidence on the pro side, too.
Got to:
http://cosmictusk.com/trust-but-verify-independent-confirmations-of-evidence-for-the-younger-dryas-impact-boundary
to see that there is a LOT of work being done by scientists who take the theory very seriously. They are finding a LOT of evidence supporting the idea. Some of those who found supporting evidence were formerly leaning toward the skeptical side.
Note this in the upper left:
I would like to offer two thoughts for consideration:
1> That the ozone hole has appeared over whichever pole is the coldest at the time. It seems to me, that it is yet another climate mechanism for regulating the Earth’s overall temperature, as it would allow a range of temperature frequencies a more direct route out of the atmosphere?
2> In all of my reading, one of the things I have noticed is that volcanic activity dropped, to some extent, just about the time we began rising out of the Little Ice Age. At that point in time, if I am not mistaken, the sun was being somewhat quiet, though not as quiet as it has become now.
And now that it has become quiet, volcanic and seismic activity seem to be ramping up?
When I see this, I think of Io, in orbit around Jupiter. Io is massively affected by Jupiter’s magnetic field… could there be a similar effect between the Earth and the sun?
All speculation, but I have to wonder.
UK looking at an ‘integrity overhaul’, though addressing medical research specifically. Still might codify ethics and oversight in other subject areas wanting similar attention.
http://www.nature.com/news/british-science-needs-integrity-overhaul-1.9803
Some green idiot is preparing to pump 24 million gallons of water into a dormant volcano in Oregon later this year.
Sounds like fracking on a mega-scale, but nobody is protesting, and EPA doesn’t seem to be placing any obstacles in its path.
Easy to see why. This is Holy Fracking because it’s done in the service of Holy Geothermal Power. The usual fracking causes earthquakes because it’s done in the service of Profane Natural Gas. So this Holy Fracking will be exempted by the Planet Goddess.
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/jan/15/oregon-volcano-holds-energy-hopes/
And if the volcano blows as a result, the thousands of dead people will simply be Virgin Sacrifices To An Angry Gaia. No need to worry.
Headline:
Warmer summers may be causing colder winters
http://www.ctvbc.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120114/bc_warm_summers_cold_winters_120114/20120114?hub=BritishColumbiaHome
Article Excerpt:
=—
“When that oscillation is strong, it creates powerful east-west winds that block cold polar air from drifting south. But when the oscillation is weak, more of that air starts moving north-south, pulling the Siberian High downwards.
“I like to think of Siberia as a refrigerator for the entire northern hemisphere,” Cohen said.
“If you have less snow, it’s like keeping the refrigerator door closed. The cold air stays locked up in the Arctic. But if the snow cover is much more expansive, it’s like opening up the refrigerator door — the cold air spills out into the kitchen.”
Cohen said his group’s work explains why North American winter temperatures and Siberian snowfalls aren’t doing what climate models predict they should.
“The model projections for the other three seasons turned out very good. The one season they’re not doing so well is winter.”
—=
(bold emphasis added to highlight refrigerator analogy)
Also Noteworthy:
One commenter claims the Spanish Armada is responsible for 1000 years of anthropogenic-CO2-warming.
Apparently the Galapagos Tortoise is tougher than we thought. Not so extinct after all. Life finds a way.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/01/15/galapagos-researchers-find-extinct-tortoises-are-really-alive-well/
More consumer resistance to smart meters, this time from the UK:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/9015415/Which-urges-halt-to-smart-meter-installation.html
“The consumer group Which? said the cost of fitting the digital meters would fall on hard-pressed consumers, but the benefits would be reaped by energy companies which have announced record profits in recent years.”
Saw this at C3. looks like a good topic for Leif
http://www.c3headlines.com/2012/01/peer-reviewed-study-increased-solar-flux-drove-global-warming-during-20th-century.html
There are now more charging points in Britain than there are electric cars.
Revealed: There are more charging points than electric cars in UK as sales slump
Sales of electric cars have slumped so badly that there are now more charging points than vehicles on the road. Just 2,149 electric cars have been sold since 2006, despite a government scheme last year offering customers up to £5,000 towards the cost of a vehicle. The Department for Transport says that around 2,500 charging points have been installed…
The Nissan Leaf still costs £25,990 even after the £5,000 grant has been deducted.
Nearly $50 grand for a tiny car which goes 50 miles on a good day before needing to be charged for 8 whole hours? And that’s after $7.5k subsidy?! Who are they kidding?
Bruce of Newcastle says:
January 15, 2012 at 1:09 pm
Nearly $50 grand for a tiny car which goes 50 miles on a good day before needing to be charged for 8 whole hours? And that’s after $7.5k subsidy?! Who are they kidding?
I guess it’s horses for courses (although the price would have to drop considerably – say under a couple of £k) but my transport needs are pretty modest. If I travel 20 miles in a week, that’s a lot, so a 50 mile range with an 8-hour recharge time would be fine, as long as I wasn’t stupid enough to try to use it for longer trips – for which I usually take the train: I can’t be bothered with sitting in 10-mile plus tailbacks on the motorways for hours at a time.
So: bring it on – but cheaper.
Anthony, in view of further restrictions on the IPCC review process smuggled in by Stocker (see the Stocker’s Earmarks thread over at Climate Audit), do you have any further comments on your participation as a reviewer? In particular, note that they are proposing not to let even reviewers see other reviewers’ comments until they have issued the final report, which is a further restriction that did not previously apply.
Does anyone know why the sea surface temperature is running so high (80 Deg North from Norsex) when the sea ice seems to be fine? It this some sort of anomaly?
Research, led by Drew Shindell shows NASA’s bad science tendency.
14 key air pollution control measures that, if implemented, could ?????slow the pace of global warming,????….erm..slow the pace of WHAT global warming
???agricultural gains from emissions reductions???…erm…how does that work?
???Black carbon, a product of burning fossil fuel’s darken ice and snow, reducing their reflectivity and hastening global warming ???.erm..that doesn’t seem to be working at all.
???While carbon dioxide is the primary driver of global warming over the long term….erm that doesn’t seem to be working at all either!.
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/jan/HQ_12-017_NASA_Study_Pollution_Health_Food.html
Steve Goddard posted a few whoppers of adjustments by GISS recently. Check these out:
http://www.real-science.com/science
http://www.real-science.com/cooling-nuuk
i hope this wasn’t mentioned already – i saw it on Weather.com…basically says melting sea ice (caused by global warming) is leading to deaths of baby harp seals…
http://gizmodo.com/5875917/melting-ice-is-crushing-and-drowning-baby-seals
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/01/120106-harp-seals-global-warming-sea-ice-science-environment/
Anthony, have you seen this NASA video for low energy nuclear physics (LENR)?
Independent – Steve Connor praises Michael Mann:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/michael-mann-the-climate-scientist-who-the-deniers-have-in-their-sights-6290232.html
Telegraph – “Climate change helps albatross”:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/wildlife/9016632/Albatross-boosted-by-Climate-Change-study-suggests.html
Outrageous Overreach of the EPA
Hi Anthony,
Interesting piece about new research on high-atmosphere aerosol formation at The Register:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/16/criegee_biradicals/
My take-home from this is that the key ingredients are being produced by plants – so forests have another trick up their sleeve in helping global homeostasis.
Best wishes
Paul
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/16/criegee_biradicals/
Pollution-gobbling molecules in global warming SMACKDOWN
Model that AGW cultists, science is settled my great uncle Bonzo!
“It was worse than we thought, even back then!”
Actual reprint of 1951 news report
http://www.real-science.com/1951-article-blows-hockey-stick-hansens
Actual reprint of 1950s news report –
Ships ply the White Sea and The Gulf of Bothnia three or four weeks longer than they used to.
In Iceland and the higher latitudes of Norway farmers are growing barley in soil that was once frozen for seven months each year.
AND…
(…….)
GLACIERS SHRINKING : All glaciers examined from Green land through Scandinavia to Europe are shrinking. And the shrinkage is not limited to high latitudes. Some glaciers in the European Alps have vanished completely. In East Africa, the glaciers on three high volcanoes— Kilimanjaro, Mt. Kenya and Ruwenzori — have been diminishing since they were first observed in 1880.
The vast Muir Glacier in Alaska’s Glacier Bay has retreated a full 14 miles’ since 1902.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/reef-fish-at-risk-as-carbon-dioxide-levels-build-20120116-1q361.html
The last line in the article – in a warm-mongering newspaper – says it all…
Haven’t they heard of adaptation??
http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/its-chic-to-be-as-cool-as-ice-on-the-catwalk-20120116-1q36y.html
If Westwood is concerned about climate change, she chose a really baffling way to show it!
I don’t think the joke is on the clownfish but rather on those that did this study…
Carbon dioxide encourages risky behaviour in clownfish
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21355-carbon-dioxide-encourages-risky-behaviour-in-clownfish.html
“The Long-Term Energy Efficiency Potential: What the Evidence Suggests
Research Report E121
http://aceee.org/research-report/E121
Authors:
John A. “Skip” Laitner, Steven Nadel, R. Neal Elliott, Harvey Sachs, and A. Siddiq Khan
Description:
The U.S. economy has tripled in size since 1970 and three-quarters of the new demand for energy comes from an amazing variety of advances in energy efficiency—not from other energy supplies. Going forward, the current economic recovery, and our future economic prosperity, will depend much more on energy-efficient behaviors and investments than we’ve seen in the last 40 years. In this report we outline three scenarios under which the U.S. could either continue along its current path, or by which we might encourage a greater level of productive investments in energy efficiency so that by the year 2050, we can reduce overall energy consumption by 40 to 60 percent. The savings would benefit all parts of the economy including the residential, commercial, industrial, and transportation sectors. These savings come from many current and advanced technologies but also from improved optimization of building, transportation, industrial, and electric power systems as existing systems are renovated or replaced. Critically, a pattern of productive efficiency investments would drive a net gain of almost two million jobs even as consumers save an average of $400 billion per year (the equivalent of about $2,600 per household). Indeed, the evidence suggests that without a greater emphasis on the more efficient use of our energy resources, there may be as many as three jokers in the deck that will constrain the robustness of our nation’s future economy. These include the many uncertainties surrounding the availability of conventional and relatively inexpensive energy supplies, a slowing rate of energy and therefore economic productivity, and a variety of pending climate constraints that may create further economic impacts of their own. Given all of this, advances in large-scale energy efficiency are by far the smartest investment for America.”
An interesting story on how a small variance in geography can account for a large difference in temperature. Ottawa and Gatineau are on opposite sides of the Ottawa River, but the Gatineau side is lower. Notice too, how the article states that the Environment Canada thermometres are located at the airports. The Ottawa airport is much busier than the Gatineau airport. I wonder if that has any affect?
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Seven+degrees+separation+Gatineau+colder+than+Ottawa/6002328/story.html
Climate change skepticism seeps into science classrooms
Some states have introduced education standards requiring teachers to defend the denial of man-made global warming. A national watchdog group says it will start monitoring classrooms.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-climate-change-school-20120116,0,2808837.story
“Twenty top predictions for life 100 years from now”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16536598
“4. We will be able to control the weather (mariebee_)
IP: Likelihood 8/10. There is already some weather control technology for mediating tornadoes, making it rain and so on, and thanks to climate change concerns, a huge amount of knowledge is being gleaned on how weather works. We will probably have technology to be able to control weather when we need to. It won’t necessarily be cheap enough to use routinely and is more likely to be used to avoid severe damage in key areas.
PT: Good chance. We will certainly attempt to. A majority of scientists in the US support a federal programme to explore methods for engineering the Earth’s climate (otherwise known as geoengineering). These technologies aim to protect against the worst effects of manmade climate change”.
CBS News – The New Solyndras
http://dailybail.com/home/cbs-news-the-new-solyndras.html
Hi Anthony,
I saw an anouncement for a new movie: an inconsistent truth, opening friday January 27
http://www.aninconsistenttruth.com
Don’t know if it’s going to be any good, but it sounds promising
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/16/scientists-want-climate-change-young-minds/
Who’s funding this outfit?
/Mr Lynn
Rare Caterpillar-like Horizontal Earthquake Discovered
http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/2269-rare-caterpillar-horizontal-earthquake-discovered.html
Anthony,
California is at it again
Regulate battery chargers!!
http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-california-regulates-energy-vampires-20120112,0,3477814.story
Reporting from Sacramento—
“California’s cellphones, tablet computers, power tools and hundreds of other portable electronic devices will be required to have energy-stingy battery chargers beginning next year.
The California Energy Commission, by a 3-0 vote Thursday, approved first-in-the-nation efficiency standards designed to drive stakes through the hearts of about 170 million so-called vampire charging systems that waste as much as 60% of the electricity they suck from outlets.
The regulations, which generated strong opposition from appliance and consumer products makers, are expected to save enough electricity to power 350,000 homes, equivalent to a city the size of Bakersfield. The rules also should shave an estimated $306 million a year off residential and commercial electricity bills.”
Anthony,
Will you please post a reminder for the Bolggies voting for 2012 ?
Some might forget. Thanks.
Anthony!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/2147879.stm
Could you do a post? Apparently its has the seal of Dr. Benny Peiser.
There will be MSM reports of a major snow storm in Puget Sound and other parts of the PNW. The general storyline is that a winter storm will target the Pacific Northwest this week, with heavy accumulations expected, even in Seattle. In the Cascade Mountains, snow will be measured in feet and passes will likely close. Parts of Puget Sound lowland could get nearly a foot of snow. Last big snow in the region was 1985.
Snow is not unknown in the lowland but serious snow is infrequent.
So a little history:
http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=3681
“Snow and Other Weathers — Seattle and King County”
Anthony. Environmental devastation is about to happen at Musselroe Bay, one of the most fragile environments in Tasmania , Australia, encompassing some of the most beautiful places on Earth.
The hypocritical Labor/Green Government has given the go-ahead for arguably the most useless, unnecessary and environmentally destructive project in Tasmanian history in the Musselroe Bay Conservation area right next to Mt.William National Park, home to many native animals, endangered raptors and other species.
Hydro Tasmania has the gall to show beautiful photos of the area which will be severely impacted by the development. See them while you are still able at
http://www.hydro.com.au/energy/musselroe-wind-farm
A documented template of what is about to happen was recorded by those locals who unsuccessfully opposed the Cefn Croes wind development, the largest onshore windfarm in Wales. They made a photographic record of the whole environmentally disastrous venture..
Google Cefn Croes campaign website and check the photo gallery.
The huge irony is that Tasmania has the dubious “honour” of being the current home of both Bob Brown and Christine Milne, the palpably hypocritical Leader and Deputy Leader of the Australian Greens, champions of the environment(?) (apart from Musselroe Bay) and chief doomsayers in the CAGW scare campaign.
I’m trying to raise world awareness of this insanity. Can you help please?
——————————————————————————–
This looks like it may work to our benefit!
http://www.thegwpf.org/energy-news/4759-energy-for-1000-years-gas-hydrate-tests-to-begin-in-alaska.html
‘The world’s first tidal current energy turbine, in Northern Ireland’s Strangford Lough, has been given an environmental all-clear by a group of scientists.’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-16595752
Heavy Snow Kills
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2012/01/heavy-snow-kills.html
Many deaths in northern India from lack of AGW. http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/winter-chill-freezes-north-india_751631.html
First snow for 40 years in Pathankot, 60 years in Dehradun. Highways closed, power lines down.
Washington Post wackyness
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/climate-and-the-culture-war/2012/01/16/gIQA6qH63P_story.html
Mock ecocide trial in UK supreme court:
http://climateforce.net/2012/01/17/solutions-climate-trial-convicts-fossil-fuel-bosses-of-ecocide/
If you make to the end you’re treated to the statement that it would only take 86 people in the world (reps of UN) to get the legislation enacted by amending existing international law. I think (HOPE) thats about as false as it can be.
FYI: The issue of climate change in the classroom is being supported by the same group that helped block the efforts of folks to teach creationism in the classroom… they’re equating climate skepticism with creationsism!
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/01/climate-change-education/
Bruce
Yesterday (January 16, 2012) The National Center for Science Education announced its climate change initiative for educators.
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2012/01/science-education-group-decides-its-time-to-tackle-climate-change.ars
Notably, the NCSE (http://ncse.com/) position is that just as ‘religious creationists’ find evolution controversial, ‘global warming deniers’ also fall into that same category. Their position is that there is no longer any debate amongst scientists regarding human caused ‘climate warming’, just as there is no longer a debate regarding evolution. Because anti-evolutionists are ideologically motivated rather than scientifically educated, it follows that those arguing against human caused ‘climate warming’ cannot be scientists, and must be engaged in an ideological argument and not one based on science.
quote from article:
“The details of the arguments differ—”creationists don’t talk a lot about sun spots,” Scott joked—but the NCSE considers the structure of the arguments to be very similar. Ultimately, “Both [groups] are making a pedagogical argument, that it is somehow good pedagogy, good critical thinking, for students to learn both. That it is somehow a good pedagogy for students to learn good science and bad science.”
From Nature.com
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate1352.html
Near-future carbon dioxide levels alter fish behaviour by interfering with neurotransmitter function
Göran E. Nilsson, Danielle L. Dixson, Paolo Domenici, Mark I. McCormick, Christina Sørensen, Sue-Ann Watson & Philip L. Munday
Nature Climate Change (2012) doi:10.1038/nclimate1352
Received 18 August 2011, Accepted 29 November 2011, Published online 15 January 2012
Abstract:
Predicted future CO2 levels have been found to alter sensory responses and behaviour of marine fishes. Changes include increased boldness and activity, loss of behavioural lateralization, altered auditory preferences and impaired olfactory function1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Impaired olfactory function makes larval fish attracted to odours they normally avoid, including ones from predators and unfavourable habitats1, 3. These behavioural alterations have significant effects on mortality that may have far-reaching implications for population replenishment, community structure and ecosystem function2, 6. However, the underlying mechanism linking high CO2 to these diverse responses has been unknown. Here we show that abnormal olfactory preferences and loss of behavioural lateralization exhibited by two species of larval coral reef fish exposed to high CO2 can be rapidly and effectively reversed by treatment with an antagonist of the GABA-A receptor. GABA-A is a major neurotransmitter receptor in the vertebrate brain. Thus, our results indicate that high CO2 interferes with neurotransmitter function, a hitherto unrecognized threat to marine populations and ecosystems. Given the ubiquity and conserved function of GABA-A receptors, we predict that rising CO2 levels could cause sensory and behavioural impairment in a wide range of marine species, especially those that tightly control their acid–base balance through regulatory changes in HCO3− and Cl− levels.
mwhite says:
January 16, 2012 at 11:21 am
Also, scroll down to question 9, where the futurologists admit that wind power will not be around, and look at question 16, where it is pointed out that deserts are greening right now.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16536598
The future is green, but not in the way that some think.
And so the backtracking and ducking and weaving gather pace. This time from the latest post at that seat of hypocrisy Sceptical Science:
Sorry, I fouled up on the HTML. The blockquote ran into my own remarks and the link didn’t work. See http://www.skepticalscience.com/new_research_2_2012.html
http://www.toledoblade.com/Energy/2012/01/17/Solar-panel-company-lays-off-40-employees.html
Another Gov’t- funded Solar firm in crisis…
“On Monday, he{Michael Cicak, the company’s chief executive officer and chairman of the board} said the company was in the research stage of developing a powerful solar panel that would put it ahead of its competitors.
“We’re going to be way ahead of the world,” he said.
Watch out! Here comes the Propaganda/Indoctrination machine: http://ncse.com/news/2012/01/ncses-climate-change-initiative-launched-007149
A couple of interesting items.
In California (who’d have guessed it?) Arguments against CAGW are equated with Creationism vs evolution http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2012/01/education-advocates-enter-the.html?ref=hp
From GWPF. Shutting nukes in Germany will cost 1.7 trillion euros (2.15 tr USD). A trillion here, a trillion there, soon you’re talking real money. (but it was billions in the original quote)
http://thegwpf.org/international-news/4780-peanuts-germanys-green-energy-shift-to-cost-17-trillion-euros.html
Imagine all these soccer balls tied to the grid.
http://www.ecnmag.com/News/Feeds/2012/01/blogs-the-cutting-edge-footballs-providing-light-to-those-without-electri/?et_cid=2426202&et_rid=45567491&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.ecnmag.com%2fNews%2fFeeds%2f2012%2f01%2fblogs-the-cutting-edge-footballs-providing-light-to-those-without-electri%2f
Mann claims to be a skeptic. Welcome aboard, Mike!
http://www.readthehook.com/102682/mann-act-hockey-stick-scientist-returns-uva
In keeping with willingness to be wrong, Mann told the crowd in UVA’s Clark Hall to remain open to new information.
“We should all be skeptics,” he said. “I’d like to think I’m a skeptic.”
In the IPCC WG1 report of 1990 Chapter 2 Radiative Forcing of Climate, Table 2.5 and 2.6 lists the changes in conc and forcings for various GHG’s from 1765 to 1990. This is attributed to Wigley (1987).
I thought I could replicate these using my Chem eng knowledge of radiant heat transfer.
I decided to do CO2 and methane since I only had data on emissivities for these two. From emissivity data in Hottel and Sarofim Co2 Fig 6-9 and methane Fig 6-21 I was able to equation fit the emissivities at 500R and from this calculate lower atmosphere emissivities.
It can be shown that forcing or change in downwelling due to GHG’s is proportional to the change in emissivity. So I attempted CO2 first. To do this I needed to know the base forcing ie in 1765 I calculated this from the change between 1765 and 1900 and then used this to predict 1960 to 1990.
The base downwelling in 1765 works out to be 226 ie =0.37/emiss change
Year CO2 ppm Forcing IPCC Emissivity Predicted Forcing from emissivity change
1765 279 0 .030038 0
1900 295.7 0.37 .031676 0.37
1960 316.2 0.79 .033488 0.78
1970 324.8 0.96 .034265 0.96
1980 337.3 1.20 .035270 1.18
1990 353.9 1.50 .036633 1.49
Flushed with this success I attempted methane using the same original downwelling of 226
Year CH4 ppm Forcing IPCC Emissivity Predicted Forcing from emissivity change
1765 0.79 0 .001552 0
1900 0.974 0.10 .001606 0.02
1960 1.272 0.24 .001686 0.06
1970 1.421 0.30 .001721 0.07
1980 1.569 0.36 .001755 0.09
1990 1.717 0.42 .001788 0.10
Not so good.
Look what happens when I substitute the CO2 concentrations for methane
Year CH4 ppm Forcing IPCC Emissivity Predicted Forcing from emissivity change
1765 279 0 .019388 0
1900 295.7 0.10 .019904 0.12
1960 316.2 0.24 .020488 0.25
1970 324.8 0.30 .020744 0.31
1980 337.3 0.36 .021080 0.39
1990 353.9 0.42 .021545 0.49
Looks reasonable considering I did not include the methane –nitrous oxide overlap term. These forcings were then regressed against the actual methane concentrations to yield the equation in Table 2.2 So the question is have they inadvertently used CO2 concentrations for methane. If so the whole idea that methane is 21 times stronger than CO2 collapses and the section on GWP’s is nonsense.
A 1ppm increase from 1990 values for both methane and CO2 yields a methane to CO2 forcing ratio of 4.7 and this ratio falls with increasing concentration. I also find that methane needs to be 49 ppm to get the same 1.5 forcing of a 75 ppm change in CO2.
Anyone with access to Modtrans maybe able to confirm.
A prickly case of cart before horse reported from the BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16597723
Report on future climate threats in China
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/18/us-china-climate-idUSTRE80H06J20120118
has all the CAGW-specs from alarming temperature rise to rise of sea level…
Photo caption
Up and down: The probe looked promising at the beginning of it’s trip but then burns red hot as it approaches earth’s atmosphere (right) as seen by the German Tracking and Imaging Radar facility.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2088054/Phobos-Grunt-Did-US-radar-send-170m-Russian-Mars-probe-Pacific-Ocean.html
Just heard on our local radio here that Obama is going to reject the keystone pipeline…haven’t heard anything ‘official’ yet…
Just wondering. Perhaps someone can comment. See Arctic sea ice chart from NSIDC:
http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/daily_images/N_timeseries.png
Despite extreme cold in the Arctic the past couple of weeks, the chart shows that there is less sea ice today than a few days ago.
I am aware that ocean currents and winds can affect sea ice, but this chart seems simply wrong.
Clive
Breaking: Obama Considering Larry Summers To Head World Bank
http://dailybail.com/home/obama-considering-larry-summers-to-head-world-bank.html
This was story appears after Obama kills the Keystone pipeline. Larry Summers worked for DE Shaw who has ownership interest in First Wind. First Wind has been the recipient of significant bailout money and loan guarantees.
Climate Change Doubts Heat Up the Classroom
Teachers reportedly are getting push-back on middle and high school curricula that fuel the speculation that man is warming the planet. Their frustration is almost worthy of a celebration.
http://news.investors.com/Article/598184/201201181847/climate-change-global-warming-teachers-skeptics.htm?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/for-the-washington-area-no-snow-in-sight-in-a-winterless-winter/2012/01/17/gIQAbzGT6P_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines
/Mr Lynn
Anthony. Further to the Musselroe Bay Wind Farm Travesty in Tasmania, Australia. Please help just by publicising it if you can, even if it’s only a mention in a main post. Thanks .
http://papundits.wordpresscom/2012/01/18/wind-power-australia-the-musselroe-wind-farm-travesty-in-tasmania/
Anthony. Further to the Musselroe Bay Wind Farm Travesty in Tasmania, Australia. Please help just by publicising it if you can, even if it’s only a mention in a main post. Thanks .
http://papundits.wordpress.com/2012/01/18/wind-power-australia-the-musselroe-wind-farm-travesty-in-tasmania/
Hopefully link is now correct
Hello Anthony
An unusually balanced piece about solar power from the English language edition of Der Spiegel you might like to cover…
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,809439,00.html
Best regards
Robin
The UK independent, sister paper to the Guardian.
Michael Mann: The climate scientist who the deniers have in their sights.
Read the comments,
licensed_to_chill
oppugner posted this below…I’m just moving it to the top because it is a thing of beauty.
Collapse Climategate 2.0 e-mails;
Fudge. Sweet!
Email 636 Solution 1:fudge the issue. Just accept that we are Fast-trackers and can therefore get away with anything.
Email 5175-Tom Wigley – 2004but my point is that it *does* come in by accident due to the quadratic fudge factor.
Email 5054, Colin Harpham, UEA, 2007I will press on with trying to work out why the temperature needs a ‘fudge factor’ along with the poorer modelling for winter.
Email 1461, Milind Kandlikar, 2004Tuning may be a way to fudge the physics.
Email 1047, Briffa, 2005The use of “likely” , “very likely” and my additional fudge word “unusual” are all carefully chosen where used.
Email 723, Elaine Barrow, UEA, 1997Either the scale needs adjusting, or we need to fudge the figures…Briffa_sep98 code;****** APPLIES A VERY ARTIFICIAL CORRECTION FOR DECLINE*********;yrloc=[1400,findgen(19)*5.+1904]valadj=[0.,0.,0.,0.,0.,-0.1,-0.25,-0.3,0.,-0.1,0.3,0.8,1.2,1.7,2.5,2.6,2.6,$ 2.6,2.6,2.6]*0.75 ; fudge factor if n_elements(yrloc) ne n_elements(valadj) then message,’Oooops!’
Well done Oppugner.
It’s like the Trailer for the big feature….”climategate3″ …
just when they thought it was safe to start spouting warmist drivel again….
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/michael-mann-the-climate-scientist-who-the-deniers-have-in-their-sights-6290232.html
I saw someone wearing this t-shirt the other day & the 1st thing that came to mind was the climate debate :
http://www.cafepress.com/+madison_crisis_quote_light_tshirt,518308767?cmp=pfc–c–us–007–518308767&utm_term=518308767&utm_campaign=Light+T-Shirt&utm_medium=productfeed&sourcecode=affiliate&utm_source=cj&pid=5185601&CMP=CJ-CLICK-10467594&tid=102932&sid=102932&cjpid=2624679&PID=7532081&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=none&utm_source=cj&utm_term=2171799
Someone could certainly develop a full blown post around this quote / concept.
Maybe AGWers should be relabeled “CTs” (climate tyrants )
Listened to The Diane Rehm show this morning ‘discussing’ Obama’s cancelling of the Keystone pipeline. Bill 350 McKibben (of course) was a guest and he praised James Hansen for providing the CO2 proof that persuaded Obama to use the environmental threat to kill the project. There was also a lot about how few temporary construction jobs would actually be created. Where was this talk while the stimulus checks were going out? I’m sure the other drivers around me were wondering what all the yelling and pointing was about.
From Disqus comes an interesting little aside on the statistics with regard to commenters, pseudonyms and net habits…
http://venturebeat.com/2012/01/15/pseudonyms-vs-real-names/
…..6 degrees of climate change.
I propose a board game similar to 6 degrees of separation, where everyone in the movie industry can be linked to Kevin Bacon.
My variation in the game would be to link every negative event weather or otherwise with climate change caused by AGW.
This could be a hot seller to the alarmists.
You could even link Kevin Bacon to climate change caused by AGW, in three links
Kevin Bacon had a dog ( Paulie)
Dogs get more fleas when the weather warms.
The earth is warming globally
Mainly due to AGW.
Is uncouth rhetoric an indicator of inner doubt? One of the “luke-warmers” calls those who disagree with him “idiots”. Bill McKibben (LATimes yesterday) uses the terms “dumb” and “insane”. He even emits the toxic “D-word” despite repeated warnings that it is counter-productive. Maybe we need a Civility Index?
it’s not exactly what I’d normally consider a reliable news source, but since you were a big supporter of the anti-SOPA blackout – and Wikipedia and Google had such obvious support campaigns going as well – I thought this might be interesting information to pass along on the website:
http://www.infowars.com/google-is-already-using-sopa-like-censorship/
A win for the people!
Environmentalist’s stopped Meridian Energy (NZ’s largess energy company) from developing a $2Billion dollar wind farm the Central Otago area of New Zealand.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/business/6283707/Meridian-quits-energy-project
It’s official: Warming causes cooling!
Environmental Research Letters:
“Arctic warming, increasing snow cover and widespread boreal winter cooling ”
http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/7/1/014007/article
It is not just conservatives who shy away from science
Over in the Telegraph, Ed West has a remarkably insightful blog regarding the scientific method
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/edwest/100131109/it-is-not-just-conservatives-who-shy-away-from-science/
Anthony, good to see a story on weather coming out of NASA which doesn’t mention AGW:
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/17jan_missingsnow/
Germany’s solar money pit: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,809439,00.html
Don’t misunderstand me, I have my own 10KW plate solar system with 100 KWH of lead acid behind it. But it is more of a “engineer’s hobby” than a realistic solution to how I can get my power. Still, its a really, really big UPS for my computer and such.
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/01/19/4198219/dan-walters-jerry-brown-puts-his.html
Dan Walters: Jerry Brown puts his contradictions on display
……………….”In the beginning of the computer industry, jobs were numbered in the thousands,” Brown said. “Now they are in the millions. The same thing will happen with green jobs. And California is positioned perfectly to reap the economic benefits that will inevitably flow.”
It’s an immense gamble, not only for Brown, but for the state because, unlike the computer industry’s history, Brown wants California taxpayers, businesses and utility ratepayers to divert countless billions of dollars from more conventional private and public purposes into green development.
If he pulls it off, he’ll go down as a visionary. If it fails, he’ll go down as a narcissistic daydreamer.”
Extensive defense of fracking by Casey Research:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/guest-post-dont-frack-me
Tom Fuller is back:
http://3000quads.com/
I always enjoyed his blog and let’s not forget he co-authored “Climategate the CRUTape Letters” with Steven Mosher. Check out his new blog.
Good, thorough analysis of the unfalsifiable “climate change” non-hypothesis:
“Moral Capitalism”, as guided and directed by our Ethical Politicians, anyone?
http://www.martindurkin.com/short-thoughts/politicians-call-moral-capitalism-criminals-are-scolding-their-victims
Yeah, that’ll work!
Reuters story about impending climate disaster in…..China.
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE80H06J20120118?irpc=932
One glaring error in the story is its discussion of rapid sea level rise in the vicinity of Shanghai…itself located on the Yangtze delta. Like New Orleans, location on an active delta depocenter means natural subsidence will outpace sea level rise. This is not mentioned in the news story, providing a convenient cause for alarm. There is just too much to pick at in this story!
AUSTRALIANS interested in protecting freedom of speech, individual liberties and ensuring small government[s]
In February, the Australian Institute of Public Affairs [IPA] brings two great speakers out from Canada and the UK to speak in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, three capital cities of the states in Australia.
Mark Steyn
http://www.steynonline.com/
AND
Daniel Hannan
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/author/danielhannan/
Sorry Perth city of Western Australia And Darwin of our Northern Territory, well what can we say! Oops Hobart in Tasmania……. well pompousgit suggested on the http://wattsupwiththat.com/about-wuwt/wuwt-supports-the-sopapipa-blackout/#comment-868722 entertainment otherwise .
IPA previously supported the visit in 2011 to Australia of Vaclav Klaus to speak on the folly [and horrors] of communism and the proposed Australian govt Gillard and Brown carbon tax.
Please visit the IPA website and register to attend tthe Steyn and Hannan events. http://www.ipa.org.au/
If you cannot attend these events due to time, distance or circumstance at least email the IPA and offer to support these talks with request they put the talks into the public sphere.
And offer support for these ventures, as you do to Anthony and his work, as free citizens, by way of fling funds button or comment.
Though you will have to look hard on WUWT page, in the vast amount of excellent posts and free science to find THAT button.
Something that is the future, now, freaking amazing!
iphone 5g hologram
One more, Samsung Transparent Smart Window
Anyone know where 0.5 million square km of Arctic sea ice has gone in the last few days NSIDC and Cryosphere seem to have misplaced it?
Barents -0.35 million square km, Kara Sea -0.05 million square km and Bering +0.1 million square km all the other areas at normal extents. So we should have an anomoly around -0.3 not -0.8, or am I missing something obvious?
Anthony,
Really bad global warming causes tornadoes story in the Feb. Popular Science.
Anthony,
I saw this article and thought it would be a good one to include on WUWT. Apparently scientists have come up with a way to break down seaweed and get to the sugars in it. Then they can make biofuel out of it. I like the idea of this from a standpoint that it would not use valuable farmland. Seaweed is a fast growing plant and they believe it would out produce the sugar cane biofuel industry. I find the idea interesting. Here is the link.
http://news.yahoo.com/breakthrough-seaweed-biofuel-reported-140651710.html
Thanks,
William Mason
To Beesaman:
I’ve given up on Cryosphere years ago, wierd triangular grid anomalies started happening,
hmmm…… just about this time every year?
People complained and found out they adding software sensitivity proxies to their satellite data to correct data each year.
It got worse …..and then they declared(with a disclaimer) on their web site, of deteriorating data because of failing satellite and don’t trust the data…
Kind of strange…..?
Always to much ice needing sensitivity adjusting, dieing probes or bad software …..kind of like ARGO …….
Comment in response to: Gingrich: There is ‘evidence on both sides of the climate change argument’ http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/197489-gingrich-there-is-evidence-on-both-sides-of-the-climate-change-argument
Mauibrad 1 month ago
“Nuclear is a clean energy option”
Tell that to the Japanese. Cancer causing levels of radiation have polluted their country since last March in the whole northern half of their country all the way past Tokyo.
Even nuclear power plants here in American operate just barely on the verge of catastrophe, including the one in Virginia: North Anna. Newt shows his ignorance and unwillingness to independently study the issues.
Another example is with toxic geoengineering to address the unproven and supposedly harmful AGW carbon: Gingrich, “Geo-engineering holds forth the promise of addressing global warming concerns for just a few billion dollars a year,” Gingrich said back in 2008. “We would have an option to address global warming by rewarding scientific innovation. Bring on American ingenuity. Stop the green pig.”
Gingrich’s desperate back-peddling on his support for global warming alarmism and carbon taxes is yet more evidence that the former Congressman is a political chameleon who flip-flops whenever it’s convenient for him and whose political campaign has no principled foundation whatsoever.
Looks like the World Climate Widget has got a gremlin or two. Seems to have been stuck for about a month, as evidenced by the 127/128 sun stats.
Ribbon seal shows up on Seattle dock.
http://news.yahoo.com/rare-sea-creature-appears-seattle-womans-dock-152011178.html
I was shocked when the article did NOT attribute this rare event ( 2nd time since 1962) to global warming, artic sea ice melt, climate disasters, etc !!!
One Greenland bird in Massachusetts ‘might’ mean global warming!
http://www.boston.com/yourtown/news/concord/2012/01/in_concord_-_a_goose_from_gree.html?comments=all#readerComm
“The Bad Astronomer writes “Last year was the 9th hottest year out of the past 130 [http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/2011/], according to NASA and the NOAA. That’s no coincidence: nine out of the ten hottest years on record have been since the year 2000 [http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/2011/12]. It’s long past time to face facts: the Earth is getting hotter, and to deny it is an exercise in fantasy [http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/01/20/2011-the-9th-hottest-year-on-record/].”
http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/01/20/2154206/2011-was-the-9th-hottest-year-on-record
Bad Astronomer indeed.
Someone has probably already posted this
megaupload.com/
As previously mentioned, the Arctic is going through one heck of a downturn in ice cover. If this is an early start to the melt season it could be an interesting year.
http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/daily_images/N_timeseries.png
The official national day of Australia (Australia Day) is celebrated each year on the 26th January. Order of Australia awards and Australian of the Year is announced by the Governor-General and Prime Minister.
The Australian newspaper named Brian Schmidt their Australian of the Year this weekend.
‘HAVING unlocked one of the key mysteries of the universe, Australia’s newest Nobel laureate now wants his own country to shoot for the moon.
Astrophysicist Brian Schmidt is determined to help revolutionise the way science is taught in primary schools across the nation. If done properly, he believes it will lay the foundations for a new, more permanent era of Australian prosperity – one driven by the getting of wisdom rather than by the fickle fortunes of mining.
“The days of giving kids a book and throwing facts at them are over,” Professor Schmidt says.
“We need to teach our children to think through problems, to use facts and critical thought and learn about the world around us.
“Australians have a free spirit and an ability to think outside the box, and that is why I like Australia so much,” adds the American-born professor who has called Canberra home for the past 17 years.’
source: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/winner-brian-schmidts-noble-goal-to-teach-young-stars/story-e6frg6nf-1226249866593
Assoc Prof Qing-Bin Lu’s 2010 paper on “CFC’s not CO2″ spotted outside the paywall:
http://journalofcosmology.com/QingBinLu.pdf
Journal of Cosmology, 2010, Vol 8, 1846-1862
JournalofCosmology.com, June, 2010.
__________________________________________________________________
What is the Major Culprit for Global Warming: CFCs or CO2?
Qing-Bin Lu, Ph.D.,
Department of Physics and Astronomy and Departments of Biology and Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, CANADA
__________________________________________________________________
ABSTRACT
A recent observation strikingly showed that global warming from 1950 to 2000 was most likely caused by the significant increase of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in the Earth atmosphere (Lu, 2010). Here, three key questions are addressed: (1) How could CO2 play a negligible role in recent global warming in view of its extremely high concentrations of ≥300 ppm? (2) Is there other evidence from satellite or ground measurements for the saturation in warming effect of CO2 and other non-CFC gases? And (3) could the greenhouse effect of CFCs alone account for the rise of 0.5~0.6 K in global temperature since 1950? First, the essential feature of the Earth blackbody radiation is elucidated. Then re-analyses of observed data about global temperature change with variations of halocarbons and CO2, the atmospheric transmittance of the infrared radiation and the 1970-1997 change in outgoing longwave radiation spectra of the Earth are presented. It follows by new theoretical calculations of the greenhouse effect of halocarbons. The results strength the conclusion that humans were responsible for global warming in late 20th century, but CFCs, rather than CO2, were the major culprit; a long-term global cooling starting around 2002 is expected to continue for next five to seven decades.
Hi Anthony,
it’s a little off topic, but I think a story on The potential of Thorium/Floride Reactors as a possible way to meet future energy needs would be an interesting topic of discussion.
The whole theme behind the CAGW argument is that fossil fuels are destroying the planet. if Thorium/Floride reactors can actually produce electricity @ $0.01/kilowatt hour as theoretically claimed, it seems that the fossil fuel becomes moot….
There are some issues of nuclear waste disposal, but from what I’ve read the half lives are of Thorium/Floride reactors are in hundreds of years instead of thousands with Uranium-based reactors and Thoriumis about as plentiful as Lead in nature.
Thank you so much for the incredible work you’re doing!
This is Rich – The Green Movement “Energy Fair” are lodging complaints before the EU that the UK acts unfairly in Subsidising Nuclear”
Desirous of a “Open Market With a Level Playing Field” for energy, they want to see an end to subsidies – just wonder if these are the same groups wanting feed-in tarrifs for wind and wave?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16646405
Can we trust the NSIDC ice extent?
It seems at variance with the regional graphs.
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/tabledata_v3/GLB.Ts+dSST.txt
The December 2011 GISTEMP result has finally arrived
It’s not making progress towards the “6 degrees of change”
Dave
I’d like to see you cover this story: http://www.forecastthefacts.org/ There is apparently a concerted move going on to get TV meteorologists to [toe] the line on climate change with calls to get the AMS to issue a strong statement against the “nonbelievers” and get them “on the right side” of the issue. Really scary.
Al Gore is cruising to Antarctica next week with a host of the usual publicity hounds:
http://www.eenews.net/public/eenewspm/2012/01/20/6
“Former Vice President Al Gore is taking his fight against climate change to Antarctica next week as part of a cruise organized by his Climate Reality Project.
Gore and more than 100 fellow travelers will depart from Argentina late next week. Scientists, including climatologists James Hansen of NASA and Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, will give talks during the journey”
The Bad Astronomer is telling us we live in a fantasy land. Good night, humanity. It’ll likely kill us in the morning.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/01/20/2011-the-9th-hottest-year-on-record/
“If one wants to recreate pre-Columbian Amazonia, most of the forest needs to be removed, with many people and a managed, highly productive landscape replacing it,” said William Woods, a geographer at the University of Kansas who is part of a team studying the Acre geoglyphs.
“I know that this will not sit well with ardent environmentalists,” Mr. Woods said, “but what else can one say?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/world/americas/land-carvings-attest-to-amazons-lost-world.html?_r=3
See link – analysis of oceanic CO2 sinks
http://www.imber.info/index.php/content/download/1812/10072/file/Fay_presentation_2.pdf
Main conclusion : Some sinks are increasing, some are decreasing, but the bulk of the ocean is seeing no decrease in CO2 uptake related to temperature. This may say something about deep ocean circulation or potentially the accuracy of our temp measurements. If the atmosphere & ocean are in approx. equilibrium over time, then you would expect all sinks to be decreasing with time (decreased solubility with increased temps). However, since all sinks aren’t decreasing (only part of the Atlantic & Indian oceans with all others neutral or increasing & only part of the Atlantic change related to temps), it makes me think 1 of 2 things is going on : 1) Our temp data has serious issues (ie problems like Urban Heat Islands, poor station locations, etc) & temps aren’t actually rising as thought 2) There is much better deep circulation & the oceans are much better sinks for both CO2 & heat than is currently modeled (ie – yet another piece of data suggesting the AGW hypothesis is over-stated) 3) some combination of 1 & 2.
This might be worth expanding into a full post by someone.
Saw this this am: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,809439,00.html
Solar isn’t working how about that…
Anthony, I’ve just noticed on this map of Arctic Sea Ice Area, that there is no 90 North and all the others are in the wrong order. http://www7320.nrlssc.navy.mil/hycomARC/navo/arcticsstnowcast.gif
I just watched the video of Earth rise taken by the Japanese Kaguya probe in April 2008 and is it just me or was there a lot less cloud cover on Earth in 2008 that there was in 1968 when Apollo 8 took the first Earth rise shots?
HiI Anthony,
A news article from The Age, the last paragraph may be of some interest.
Go-ahead given for new superfast mobile phone
by: From correspondents in Geneva
From: AFP
January 22, 20124:57AM
UN approves new generation of mobile technology
Promises to make devices 500 times faster than 3G
GLOBAL radio experts have approved radio standards that are to usher in a new mobile phone operating system to replace third generation or 3G technology, the International Telecommunication Union says.
The newly-adopted IMT Advanced Spectrum promises to make devices 500 times faster than 3G smartphones.
The director of the ITU’s radiocommunication bureau, Mr Rancy, addressed media on the closing day of the organisation’s Radiocommunication Assembly in Geneva.
The newly-adopted IMT Advanced Spectrum promises to make devices 500 times faster than 3G smartphones.
The World Meteorological Organization warned, however, that increased pressure on the use of radio spectrum could hamper its observation work.
UAH channel 5 has hit -21.29, coldest in the record since mid-2002. I think the previous low was -21.28, about this time of year in 2008. Is the on-going La Nina going to keep driving it down?
Ben
“An Inconsistent Truth” is planned for theater release on Jan 27.
Among the cast are Dr. John Christy, Dr. Fred Singer and Dr. Roy Spencer.
Our new movie has done what no other anti-global warming alarmist movie has managed to do and that is to break through the Hollywood guard and make it into theaters. An Inconsistent Truth opens at the Regal Hollywood 27 in Nashville on January 27. Plans are to expand from there.
All that depends on you. You can purchase your advance tickets at http://www.fandango.com/nashville_tn_movietimes?date=1%2F27%2F2012&featureId=v555723
Check out the trailer on our YouTube page. http://www.youtube.com/user/AnInconsistentTruth?feature=guide
And pass this along to as many people as possible. We have a great opportunity to finally get the truth out about global warming and stop the socialists from using this issue to kill capitalism. It’s time to act. And it starts with seeing this movie.
Phil Valentine-Producer, An Inconsistent Truth
A clip from the film can be found here:
http://www.aninconsistenttruth.com/
Germany re-evaluates solar policy in light of recent problem: no sun.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,809439,00.html
US education advocates tackle climate change sceptics
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328483.300-us-education-advocates-tackle-climate-change-sceptics.html
A NEW front has opened in the battle over US school science curricula. After decades of fighting to keep creationism out of the classroom, US science education advocates are steeling themselves to face a new foe: climate change sceptics.
Over the past few years, several US states and local school boards have introduced measures that would mean teachers must include the views of those who are sceptical of a human influence on climate change in science lessons.
In 2011, the US National Earth Science Teachers Association informally surveyed 555 US teachers who discuss climate change issues in the classroom. Over one-third of them reported facing influence to teach “both sides” of a climate change debate.
So far, there are no reports that teachers have actually been forced to teach climate change scepticism in their classrooms. To make sure that doesn’t change, the NCSE announced this week that it is adding climate change to its portfolio. Until now, the organisation has focused on supporting the teaching of evolution in schools.
First an attack on teachers who would dare tech climate skepticism, and now an attack attack on meteorologists who by overwhelmingly majority believe warming is natural :
“Forecast The Facts” Exposes America’s Climate-Denier TV Weathermen. More from Think Progress:
http://thinkprogress.org/green/2012/01/20/407995/forecast-the-facts-exposes-americas-climate-denier-tv-weathermen/
“America’s television meteorologists are the primary source of climate information for most Americans, and are second only to scientists — who have much less access to the general public — in the level of trust they are given. Yet more than half of TV weather reporters don’t believe in human-induced climate change, even as our poisoned weather grows more extreme.”
This commentary from meteorologist Paul Douglas in the Star Tribune weather blog – a witch hunt is EXACTLY what he is advocating:
I’m not advocating a meteorological witch-hunt, but there needs to be some accountability when it comes to scientific inaccuracies and half-truths. Local TV meteorologists, like it or not, are the local science authorities in their markets, and should be accurately representing the state of science, including climate science. I don’t think that’s an unreasonable expectation. I know (and respect) many of the people quoted for the Think Progress story above. They’re at the top of their game, some of the best meteorologists in the nation, specializing in weather prediction looking out days, even weeks.
But when it comes to the long (long) range outlook (years and decades) I defer to climate scientists, 97.4% of whom have produced convincing, compelling scientific evidence that a). the atmosphere is warming, and b). much of that warming is probably tied to a nearly 40% increase in greenhouse gases. Actions have consequences. Why is that such a hard concept for some people to grasp?
It’s far easier to ignore the topic (because it makes some people uncomfortable), or believe in conspiracy theories (“Al Gore is getting rich off this, those money-grubbing climate scientists are just in it for the money, the grants!”). Yes, because I’ve seen so many climate scientists driving shiny new Porsches and Ferraris to their beachside villas. Of course.
Look, these TV meteorologists aren’t bad people, they’re not evil.
Misguided? Maybe. I was skeptical in the late 80s when Dr. James Hansen was testifying before Congress about this issue. But during the 1990s I began to see noticeable changes, shifts in the weather patterns I was tracking here in Minnesota. Something had changed, the patterns had shifted – and climate change was the most likely explanation. It was no overnight epiphany, and it had nothing to do with Al Gore. I don’t pretend to have the answers, but when it comes to the climate, I defer to the experts, the PhD specialists who’ve been studying this subject their entire careers. It’s sad that climate change has become a political football, an ideological litmus test (“you can’t be a good conservative if you believe what the climate scientists are saying.”) Really?
People can change, and faced with a growing mountain of evidence, I suspect many professional TV meteorologists will gradually change their minds in the coming years and realize that the climate scientists are probably correct. That’s my long-range forecast.
NOTE TO MODERATORS/ANTHONY:
I’ve been stuck on a slow connection last few days and this page is getting pretty long to load … perhaps a cleanup might be in order?
Against the wind: The pursuit of clean energy has relegated ordinary people to the status of ‘collateral damage’
Credit: Maurice Newman, The Spectator Australia, 21 January 2012 ~~
http://www.wind-watch.org/news/2012/01/20/against-the-wind-the-pursuit-of-clean-energy-has-relegated-ordinary-people-to-the-status-of-collateral-damage/
“Thunderstorms in Africa could influence weather thousands of miles away over Scotland, scientists have discovered.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/9029598/Red-sky-in-Kenya-Scotlands-delight-how-the-weather-in-Africa-can-change-conditions-above-Shetland.html
http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/4/1/014003/fulltext/
“Arctic Canada caught on 1919 silent film: One of the world’s early documentaries featured unique footage of the lives of Arctic fur trappers in 1919. After long being forgotten, it’s now been restored for modern audiences in Canada, including communities descended from those featured in the silent film.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16648847
In oil boom, petroleum engineers hottest commodity
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/18/us-energy-jobs-idUSTRE80H1GQ20120118
First Wind-Emera partnership under PUC scrutiny
http://www.mainebiz.biz/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120120/NEWS0101/120129994
note: you may have to look for that headline when you go to the link…
Dear Anthony,
I don’t know if this would be of interest, but I just noticed at the amsutemps site of UAH http://discover.itsc.uah.edu/amsutemps/execute.csh?amsutemps that the graph for the AQUA ch5 indicates January 19 2012 as having a temp of -21.29 C, which is an absolute record low for the whole period 2003-2012 – the next lowest temps were -21.29 C recorded in January 2008.
Perhaps you would like to highlight the fact that 19/01/2012 was the coldest day ever recorded by channel 5 at AMSU.
http://discover.itsc.uah.edu/amsutemps/execute.csh?amsutemps
Alan
More irrational nonsense
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2012/jan/22/weatherwatch-global-warming-climate-change?newsfeed=true
I can’t even bring myself to summarise – take a look – it will make your head explode like the 10:10 vid
Maybe if I rang a journalist and said Black is White, Pink is Blue and Yellow really is a lot like Orange, they would print that too. I despair.
ABC Australia running the following story – ‘High CO2 in ocean can cause brain damage in fish’
link http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2012/s3413187.htm
TONY EASTLEY: An international team of scientists says rising carbon dioxide concentrations in sea water can cause significant damage to the brains of fish.
More than two billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions are dissolved into the world’s oceans each year causing changes in the chemical makeup of the water.
Professor Philip Munday told AM’s Bronwyn Herbert that they found marked changes in the behaviour and sensory ability of young coral fish.
PHILIP MUNDAY: Higher CO2 levels in the ocean, the sorts of levels that we might see by the end of this century if we continue on our current carbon dioxide emission trajectory. Those sort of CO2 levels they actually influence the behaviour of baby coral reef fish. We found that the things that can be altered are behaviours such as their ability to smell predators, to turn left or right, to hear the sounds of reefs. These things are altered.
We’ve known this for a little while but we haven’t really understood what the common mechanism is that has linked all these sorts of diverse changes in behaviour and sensory ability and in our new work what we’ve found is that it is interference with a certain neurotransmitter in the brain called the GABA(A) receptor that is actually responsible for all these sorts of diverse effects on behaviour.
BRONWYN HERBERT: How significant is that damaged caused?
PHILIP MUNDAY: Well, the sorts of changes that we see in the fish even though you might just look at them in an aquarium or something like that and they look okay, the sorts of changes in behaviour could actually be quite significant. For example we found that normally these little coral reef fish they avoid the smell of predators and that is obviously quite a good thing to do. You wouldn’t want to swim up next to your predator.
But if they experience a higher CO2 levels their responses change quite significantly and they can actually be attracted to the smell of predators and so obviously that could have some pretty serious consequences.
BRONWYN HERBERT: How is it that dissolved carbon dioxide in the water actually damages the nervous system of fish?
PHILIP MUNDAY: That is what we have been trying to find out is exactly how the higher carbon dioxide levels affect the nervous system of the fish or affect their behaviour and what happens is that when they are actually experience higher carbon dioxide levels, it causes acidosis or it causes a change in PH in their tissues much as just putting extra carbon dioxide into water changes the PH of water. So they get a change in the PH of their issues.
To compensate for that, to make their PH back to normal, they actually change the concentration of irons in their blood and we’ve known for a long time that fish were actually very, very good at this but what it turns out is that of course, there are no free lunches in this world and changing the iron concentration then has an effect on these neurotransmitters.
TONY EASTLEY: Professor Philip Munday speaking to Bronwyn Herbert. That research published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
“A proposed law in South Africa would theoretically punish anyone who makes a prediction about severe weather or air pollution with heavy fines or jail time if they did not first receive written permission from the government-funded South African Weather Service (SAWS).”
http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/climate-weather/stories/south-african-weather-bill-creates-a-storm-of-controversy
Their weather service is evidently a branch of the South African Department of Environmental Affairs, which is reconsidering the proposed law in light of a public outcry.
It’s good to know our own EPA isn’t inclined to such overreach.
Former Senator Chris Dodd who is now running the MPAA has publicly admitted to bribing politicians, blasted them for not staying “bought” and said Hollywood money is being cut off to the Obama campaign.
Also, a petition has been launched on the whitehouse.gov website calling for the investigation of Dodd and the MPAA on charges of bribing politicians (no mention of investigating the bribed politicians, though).
http://www.cinemablend.com/new/MPAA-Publicly-Attacks-Politicians-Staying-Bought-Early-Rumblings-Hollywood-Boycott-28971.html
S
Konrad Hartmann: Experiment to determine the effect of pressure on temperature in Earth’s atmosphere
Posted: January 22, 2012 by tallbloke in atmosphere, climate, Energy, methodologyeen this at tallblokes
Care of one Peter Gleick:
“For readers of Forbes, the debate over climate change often takes the form of “tit-for-tat” blogs, conflicting commentary, and dogmatic ideological statements. Lost in this verbal debate are often the simple facts and data of climate change and the immense and definitive global observations of the ways in which our climate is actually changing around us.
So, without much commentary, here are just a few simple and clear pictures (and links) showing how the planet continued to warm and change around us in 2011. And these facts are just part of why all national academies of science on the planet and every major geophysical scientific society agree that humans are fundamentally changing the climate.
…. ”
http://www.forbes.com/sites/petergleick/2012/01/21/2011-climate-change-in-pictures-and-data-just-the-facts/
NEWT GINGRICH BUYS INTO “GLOBAL WARMING” HOOK, LINE, AND SINKER:
Writes Climate Depot’s Marc Morano:
Gingrich is not now and never has been an “agnostic” about man-made global warming claims. It is crystal clear from his long public life that Gingrich is and always has been a committed greenie and believer in the Al Gore/Sen. John Kerry/IPCC vision of man-made climate change. This has been obvious since 1989, when Gingrich teamed up with Nancy Pelosi to co-sponsor a climate bill. It has been obvious since his rejection of endangered species act reforms in the 1990s. It has been obvious since he preemptively conceded a climate debate to Sen. Kerry in 2007; it has been obvious since his atrocious claims in his 2008 book; since his slamming of fellow Republican colleagues in 2008 for opposing environmental extremism; since he sat on a love seat with Pelosi in 2008; to his 2011 faith in the now horribly corrupted and political National Academy of Sciences; and finally to his selection of a professor who is a committed believer in man-made climate fears for a chapter in his new book.
Climate Depot urges Newt to come clean and admit he has been misleading GOP presidential primary voters in 2011 about his views of man-made global warming. Mr. Gingrich, it is time for you to publicly admit that you still bitterly cling to a deeply held belief in man-made global warming fears.
Slashdot has picked up the story about the mantle conducting electricity. Paper link provided.
“When it comes to Earth’s rotation, you might think geophysicists have pretty much everything figured out. Not quite. In order to explain some variations in the way our planet spins, Earth’s mantle — the layer of hot, softened rock that lies between the crust and core — must conduct electricity, an ability that the mantle as we know it shouldn’t have. Now, a new study (academic paper) finds that iron monoxide, which makes up 9% of the mantle, actually does conduct electricity just like a metal, but only at temperatures and pressures found far beneath the surface.”
http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/01/21/1824236/electric-earth-could-explain-planets-rotation
More on Arctic Ice…
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16657122
It seems that the wind has stirred up lots of freshwater and also a load of warm water that been under there (that they’ve known about for aaaaages)
New rules could boost New England renewable power
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57363549/new-rules-could-boost-new-england-renewable-power/
excerpt:
Massachusetts U.S. Rep. Edward Markey and FERC Commissioner Cheryl LaFleur are keynote speakers and environmentalist Bill McKibben is a panelist at the summit.
Related:
http://www.windaction.org/news/34145
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16657122
Looks like an interesting article.
Update to earlier post (john says:
January 22, 2012 at 8:26 am)
re: First Wind-Emera.
PUC staff: No go for energy firms’ wind deal
http://www.power-eng.com/news/2012/01/1587670991/puc-staff-no-go-for-energy-firms-wind-deal.html
http://xkcd.com/1007/
XKCD is a fantastic cartoon. They are intending to make a greenie type statement but end up demonstrating the down-side of statistical projections that brought us AGW.
Big news at Bishop Hill .
A court victory for Don Keiller against UEA, forcing them to release the email Jones sent to Webster, which they had claimed they didn’t have.
Just saw this at RC http://visionprize.com/call and was wondering if anyone with the necessary credentials would look at the entire poll and comment. Just by the sample question, it appears that the questions are framed to support a predetermined outcome.
The Arctic continues chart continues to show flattening, will this be the first ice free summer at the pole ? As skeptics we pride ourselves on observational data, we can’t ignore the decrease for much longer!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/22/g20_facebook/
I bet this is beyond FOI, or at least that’s the intention.
At the Toronto based G20 summit in 2010, the men and women holding the purse strings of the world were forced to get on the Facebook-style network to access documents and communicate with each other, because email was strictly banned.
“The idea is that there are communities around concepts – in the case of the G20 that could be where to stay in Toronto but it could also be hey – we’ve got this climate change summit coming up what are we going to do about it,” said Heaslip.
More “Science is Settled” nonsense from Naomi Oreskes in the LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-oreskes-judging-climate-change-20120122,0,6437230.story
Judith curry has a post today entitled- “Open-mindedness is the wrong(?) approach”
http://judithcurry.com/2012/01/23/open-mindedness-is-the-wrong-approach/
The post is covering Naomi Oreskes LA Times piece- ” The verdict is in on climate change.”
Saw this on Climate Depot and wanted to pass it on.
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2012/01/19/bankrupt-solyndra-caught-destroying-brand-new-parts/
“After filing for bankruptcy last year, Fremont solar company Solyndra still owes American taxpayers half a billion dollars. But CBS 5 caught them destroying millions of dollars worth of parts.”
$2 tax on gasoline to fight climate change
“N. Gregory Mankiw is a professor of economics at Harvard. He is advising Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, in the campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.”
He says in the NYT
“Consider the tax on gasoline. Driving your car is associated with various adverse side effects, which economists call externalities. These include traffic congestion, accidents, local pollution and global climate change. If the tax on gasoline were higher, people would alter their behavior to drive less. They would be more likely to take public transportation, use car pools or live closer to work. The incentives they face when deciding how much to drive would more closely match the true social costs and benefits.
Economists who have added up all the externalities associated with driving conclude that a tax exceeding $2 a gallon makes sense. That would provide substantial revenue that could be used to reduce other taxes. By taxing bad things more, we could tax good things less. ”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/four-keys-to-a-better-tax-system-economic-view.html?_r=4
Declining ocean temperatures
http://reasonabledoubtclimate.wordpress.com/2012/01/20/sea-surface-temperatures-declining-over-past-decade/
Huge Solar Eruption Sparks Strongest Radiation Storm in 7 Years
SPACE.com Staff Date: 23 January 2012 Time: 11:47 AM ET
http://www.space.com/14319-huge-solar-eruption-sparks-radiation-storm.html
“Sunday’s solar flare was rated an M9-class eruption, which placed it just on the verge of being an X-class flare, the most powerful type of solar storm.”
Good figs.
Reducing Petroleum Consumption from Transportation
Christopher R. Knittel
January 2012
http://ei.haas.berkeley.edu/pdf/working_papers/WP227.pdf
From the conclusion:
“………….But ultimately,
the single biggest inuence on whether Americans reduce their consumption of petroleum-based
fuels will probably be whether the forces of supply and demand in global markets that have kept
oil prices relatively high since about 2005 continue to do so.”
http://www.space.com/14316-hundreds-meteorites-antarctica-scientists.html
“During their month-long stay, and at different camp sites, the group posted a series of dispatches from the field. Frequently, the noncooperating weather forced the team to spend lots of tent time: eating, reading, resting, writing.”
I hope Al Gore has as much fun.
Well this a doozy as I think you say in your part of the world.
Apparently the Met Office, on the basis of some computer model, says that despite that the Sun is cooling, and likely so for the next hundred years or thereabouts, this will make no difference to global warming. We are all going to fry you know.
True as Reuters report it.Upon my affidavy.
Here
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/23/us-sun-global-warming-idUSTRE80M1HG20120123
Kindest Regards
Wonder if any climate team scientists would have the guts to do research with an “open lab book”?
Nature article: http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110809/full/news.2011.469.html
The blog: http://rrresearch.fieldofscience.com/
Link to the UKMO description of the fall in Solar activity
‘The study also showed that if solar output reduced below that seen in the Maunder Minimum – a period between 1645 and 1715 when solar activity was at its lowest observed level – the global temperature reduction would be 0.13C.’
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/archive/2012/solar-output-research
“Revised metrics showing progress in meeting state energy policies identified in the California’s Clean Energy Future are now available at: http://www.cacleanenergyfuture.org . The Energy Commission worked jointly with the California Air Resources Board, California Environmental Protection Agency, California Independent System Operator Corporation, and California Public Utilities Commission to revise draft metrics presented at the July 6, 2011 Integrated Energy Policy Report interagency workshop on California’s Clean Energy Future based on careful consideration of oral and written public comments. The Energy Commission appreciates the participation of all those who attended the workshop and provided comments.”
In case you want to follow the metrics and our progress to the goals here ya go
“Progress- http://www.cacleanenergyfuture.org/progress.html
The vision of a clean energy future requires achievement in many key areas. Each of the 16 metrics shown below provides an understanding of the goals and progress being made in each integral part of this comprehensive effort (see greater detail by clicking on the thumbnail for each metric). These interdependent activities can be tracked from several perspectives and in relation to established milestones. Click here for a PDF document containing all 16 of the metric reports.”
I think some would find a discussion of this latest release by the Met Office worthy of discussion:
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/news/releases/archive/2012/solar-output-research
Seem at least one model and one solar expert would only expect a very small impact to global temps over the 21st century from either a Dalton or Maunder minimum happening, as the contribution to warming from increasing GH gases is just that much stronger of a positive forcing.
Sun hurls strong geomagnetic storm toward Earth
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/23/us-sun-storm-idUSTRE80M25Q20120123
Arctic freshwater doomsday:
“UK scientists are reporting today in the journal Nature Geoscience that a huge bulge of freshwater is forming in the Western Arctic Ocean caused by a large gyre of freshwater. The gyre appears to indicate that the ice is becoming thin enough over the Arctic Ocean that the wind is beginning to affect the motion of water under the ice. A sudden release of this water or its emergence to the surface will greatly accelerate the melting of the remaining polar oceanic ice and likely alter oceanic circulation in the North Atlantic.”
http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/01/23/2333206/huge-freshwater-bulge-in-arctic-ocean
NASA SDO – Chinese New Year Solar Flare, January 23, 2012, in upper half of sun
After deadly tornadoes ravaged Arkansas today, for those looking for the answer to this question:
…Are tornadoes normal in January?
Here is a response from Greg Carbin, the tornado warning coordination meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center, in Norman, Oklahoma:
“So far this month, at least 21 tornadoes have touched down across the South, from Texas to North Carolina, as well as northward into southern Indiana, according to preliminary estimates from the NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center.
The United States typically sees its first tornado of the year somewhere in the country about the second week of January, Carbin notes.
If current trends hold, this month could turn out to be an average one for tornado activity.
Counting only tornadoes that range from a relatively weak F1 on the damage-based Enhanced Fujita Scale to the strongest F5s, over the past 60 years January has seen anywhere from no tornadoes to a one-month total of 109 in 1999, Carbin says.
“Take the norm of that, and you’ll be somewhere in the 30 to 50 range,” he says.
The numbers omit the weakest category, F0, he acknowledges. The National Weather Service has improved its tornado reporting and verification methods over the past several years, so the number of F0s has been rising. Including F0s in the tally would make it harder to make long-term historical comparisons.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2012/0123/Tornadoes-hit-Birmingham-and-broader-South.-Is-that-normal-for-January
This is a bit strange, it’s from the EU.
They claim that it is for the ‘children’ but I can see a lot of ‘predictions’ being ‘forgotten’. Since it is technically impossible to implement (the internet never ‘forgets’) it will amount to a 1% tax on the gross revenues of almost all on-line information services. If you retain daily on-line backups for legal protection (for seven years) then this law would require you to selectively erase parts of those backups when requested or fail in your compliance with the law. Since you can’t do that you will have to pay the 1% (tax).
Since the term ‘internet user’ would include any email, posting, article or image that traversed the internet (everything), some climate scientologist or envirosocialist could ‘request’ to the ‘internet’ that what they said and did should be ‘forgotten’.
This proves that the EU can write even worse internet laws than the US.
—
“A new law promising internet users the “right to be forgotten” will be proposed by the European Commission on Wednesday.
It says people will be able to ask for data about them to be deleted and firms will have to comply unless there are “legitimate” grounds to retain it”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16677370
This excellent new paper shows exactly why the IPCC assumptions of “backradiation” are totally incorrect and thus the atmospheric greenhouse effect is also fictitious: http://www.tech-know.eu/uploads/IR-absorption.pdf For more detail see http://climate-change-theory.com/
Below are the questions to the poll I linked to yesterday. No preconceived bias here.
Copied from visionprize.com/appendix
dot What influence has human activity had on global average air and ocean temperatures in the last 250 years?
dot If governmental policies do not change, when will CO2 concentration in the atmosphere exceed 550 ppm for the first time?
dot If and when CO2 concentration in the atmosphere reaches 550 ppm, what will be the increase in global average surface temperature relative to the year 2000?
dot If governmental policies do not change, in the year 2050, what will be the increase in global average surface temperature relative to the year 2000?
dot When will the Arctic Sea become free of summer floating ice?
dot What is the likelihood that global average sea level will rise more during this century than the current worst-case scenario of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change?
dot What will be the total number of major hurricane landfalls in the U.S. from 2011 to 2020? From 2041 to 2050?
dot Given increasing levels of human activity, can CO2 concentration in the atmosphere be kept below 550 ppm with current technology?
dot What portion of annual global economic growth would need to be sacrificed to keep CO2 concentration in the atmosphere from exceeding 550 ppm?
http://www.csnne.com/blog/bruins-talk/post/Haggerty-Thomas-on-his-own-as-White-Hous?blockID=636986&feedID=5364
Boston Bruins goltender Tim Thomas does not believe in AGW. Nice to know
“Thomas went on to say … that he didn’t believe in the scientific theories powering the greenhouse effect and global warming. Instead Thomas felt like the efforts behind both notions were being pushed by those interested in growing the current green industry that’s turned into a cash cow in the United States over the last decade.”
Couple of things from the BBC one another doom laden prediction, of another peak resource.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16682177
The other an interesting development in dealing with oil spillages
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16681106
GISS is fiddling the GHCN-temperature-data again.
Paul Homewood of notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com is gathering evidence
http://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/giss-make-the-past-colder-in-reykjavik/
A guardedly critical editorial in EARTH (American Geosciences Institute) with reference to the recent AGU meeting (AGU is a member of AGI) suggests a renewed sense of scientific responsibility and a welcome turn toward reality-based research.
This was obviously caused by CAGW, just ask the Mann.
“New Mexico Is Stretching, Slowly but Surely
By NICK CARBONE | Time.com – Mon, Jan 23, 2012
The driving distance between Phoenix and Dallas is getting farther. It’s a minuscule difference — not even a millimeter a year — but it’s a tangible phenomenon, and you can blame on the middleman: New Mexico. The Rio Grande Rift, fault line that bisects the state, is bursting at the seams, pushing apart New Mexico’s borders and stretching the land around it.”
http://news.yahoo.com/mexico-stretching-slowly-surely-062500030.html
Somehow the Greenies never seems to be able to connect the dots, same newspaper one week apart
lead shot kills a dozen Eagles a year = hunting is bad
http://www.startribune.com/local/137358413.html
Windfarms kills thousands of eagles = windfarms are good
http://www.startribune.com/local/137803668.html
US Energy Plan:
http://climatologyplagiarism.blogspot.com/2012/01/us-energy-plans-revealed.html
Snow in the Sahara
http://www.9news.com/video/1400681956001/50183015001/Storm-brings-snow-to-Sahara-Desert
Great feature article on windfarms and infrasound problems in The Australian newspaper today by environment editor Graham Lloyd. Paywalled, unfortunately.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/features/what-you-cant-hear-can-hurt-you/story-e6frg6z6-1226252801681?from=hot-topics-home
Soros Mouthpiece Calls On Google To Police “Conspiracy Theories”
Stanford scholar wants search engines to flag global warming, vaccine skepticism as thought crimes
by Paul Joseph Watson
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Former fellow of George Soros’ Open Society and current Stanford University scholar Evgeny Morozov has called on Google and other search engines to become thought crime enforcers, by providing warnings about websites that contain “conspiracy theories” such as the belief, held by a majority of Americans, that global warming is not primarily man-made.
Morozov, whose biography confirms him as a well-connected insider, decries in a Slate piece how the Internet is a useful tool for “People who deny global warming” as well as “the anti-vaccination movement,” calling on Google to provide a “socially responsible curated treatment” that would marginalize such beliefs by amending search results.
His solution is to, “Nudge search engines to take more responsibility for their index and exercise a heavier curatorial control in presenting search results for issues like “global warming” or “vaccination.” Google already has a list of search queries that send most traffic to sites that trade in pseudoscience and conspiracy theories; why not treat them differently than normal queries? Thus, whenever users are presented with search results that are likely to send them to sites run by pseudoscientists or conspiracy theorists, Google may simply display a huge red banner asking users to exercise caution and check a previously generated list of authoritative resources before making up their minds.” …
Soros Mouthpiece Calls On Google To Police “Conspiracy Theories”
Stanford scholar wants search engines to flag global warming, vaccine skepticism as thought crimes
by Paul Joseph Watson
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Former fellow of George Soros’ Open Society and current Stanford University scholar Evgeny Morozov has called on Google and other search engines to become thought crime enforcers, by providing warnings about websites that contain “conspiracy theories” such as the belief, held by a majority of Americans, that global warming is not primarily man-made.
Morozov, whose biography confirms him as a well-connected insider, decries in a Slate piece how the Internet is a useful tool for “People who deny global warming” as well as “the anti-vaccination movement,” calling on Google to provide a “socially responsible curated treatment” that would marginalize such beliefs by amending search results.
His solution is to, “Nudge search engines to take more responsibility for their index and exercise a heavier curatorial control in presenting search results for issues like “global warming” or “vaccination.” Google already has a list of search queries that send most traffic to sites that trade in pseudoscience and conspiracy theories; why not treat them differently than normal queries? Thus, whenever users are presented with search results that are likely to send them to sites run by pseudoscientists or conspiracy theorists, Google may simply display a huge red banner asking users to exercise caution and check a previously generated list of authoritative resources before making up their minds.”…
At Davos, the Focus Is on Europe, Asia and Snow
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204624204577181042248459280.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
These are the architects of the Globalist concept, anti capitalism and the doctrine based on climate change. And they’re packed in snow.
Found at Journal of Geophysical Research-
“Hemispheric and large-scale land surface air temperature variations: An extensive revision and an update to 2010″ (CRUTEM4)
2012 Phillip D. Jones et al
“Hemispheric temperature averages for land areas developed with the new CRUTEM4 dataset differ slightly from their CRUTEM3 equivalent. The inclusion of much additional data from the Arctic (particularly the Russian Arctic) has led to estimates for the Northern Hemisphere (NH) being warmer by about 0.1{degree sign}C for years since 2001. The NH/SH warms by 1.12/0.84{degree sign}C over the period 1901-2010. The robustness of the hemispheric averages is assessed by producing five different analyses (sic) each including a different subset of 20% of the station time series and by omitting some large countries.”
http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/pip/2011JD017139.shtml
Heh. The 2001-2010 trend is warmer. Go figure.
Want to make sure British politicians are saying “the right thing” about your favourite religion? Why not buy access to them and make sure?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jan/24/companies-ministers-networking-events
‘”If you look at climate change, for example, we look at who is core to the debate,” he said. “There’s no point inviting someone who no one wants to speak to … ‘ – Mark Simon, chief executive of the Chemistry Club
“Ministers have serious questions to answer about whether lobbyists can buy influence with their government. The question remains, why would you pay thousands of pounds to network with civil servants if not to change policy or win a contract?” – Labour MP Lisa Nandy
We all knew it went on, but it’s … er … nice … to see it confirmed.
Desperate attempt to link everything to global warming by New Scientist
Hyperactive sun clears space junk – for now
11:15 25 January 2012 by Paul Marks
Magazine issue 2849. Subscribe and save
Low Earth orbit just got a free spring-clean, thanks to the sun. It turns out that increased solar activity in recent years has removed some of the satellite debris that clogs this regionMovie Camera, making it temporarily safer for other satellites and astronauts.
The sun will hit an 11-year peak in its activity – the solar maximum – in 2013. As this approaches, small increases in solar radiation warm the outer layer of Earth’s atmosphere, called the thermosphere, forcing it to expand into space. This places atmospheric molecules in the path of low orbiting debris, which brake their orbital velocity and cause them to re-enter the atmosphere sooner than expected, where they usually burn up.
In the latest edition of NASA’s Orbital Debris Quarterly News, the agency’s chief scientist Nicholas Johnson notes that the billowing thermosphere has accelerated the rate of burn up of debris from Fengyun-1C, a satellite China destroyed in an anti-satellite missile test in 2007, and from the 2009 collision between Russia’s Kosmos 2251 and the US Iridium 33. This is a “welcome, albeit brief, respite from an otherwise growing orbital debris population”, he says.
It’s a short-lived respite since, in the long term, climate change will warm the planet while cooling the thermosphere – and so keep junk aloft longer – says space debris researcher Hugh Lewis at the University of Southampton, UK.
How apropos. Today’s Wall Street Journal has an opinion article clearly linking science and politics, titled “How Green Became Obama’s Albatross” for all those who think WUWT shouldn’t be covering politics. Here’s the link: http://online.wsj.com/article/business_world.html?mod=WSJ_topnav_na_opinion and here is a summary:
➢ His first 2012 cam¬paign ad is a paean to green energy, but His relationship with global warming may indeed be perfunctory
➢ He knows China and India are opening a new coal plant every week.
➢ He knows the huge amounts of fossil energy ly¬ing at humanity’s feet won’t be abandoned just because an Amer¬ican president says so.
➢ He can’t fail to notice that Canada’s oil sands won’t remain undeveloped; the oil will go to the Far East.
➢ He seems enough of a free thinker to entertain the possibility at least that global warming theory may be wrong.
➢ Each time Mr. Gore is asked to de¬scribe the evidence of man’s role in climate change, he returns to some version of a “consensus of scientists” or “the most respected scientists whose judgment I think is the best.”
➢ Truth is, the theory may be popular, but the evidence has thus far eluded the tens of bil¬lions spent on climate science.
➢ The temperature data are so noisy that they reveal no pattern connecting rising CO2 in the in¬dustrial age with temperature trends.
➢ The known relation¬ship between carbon and climate doesn’t actually indicate a big reason to worry.
➢ Climate models must posit “feedbacks” that magnify the im¬pact of CO2 by 300% to 500%.
➢ Mr. Gore is not smart whereas Mr. Obama is smart and all these things have likely occurred to him.
➢ He’s also a political operator.
➢ He understands politics as a matter of power, and Democrat politics as a matter of powerful coalitions cultivated and maintained with money.
➢ In His world, oil is a Republican interest group; anything that’s good for the oil industry is bad for the alternate power structure he’s been trying to build with handouts and mandates for green energy.
➢ And He understands the necessity of shibboleths to rationalize and justify the “investments” he’s dishing out to manufacture a support base whose need for subsidies and reg¬ulatory favors jibes with the Dem¬ocratic Party’s need for dona¬tions. Oil sands are the “dirtiest” fossil energy, requiring great releases of CO2, To approve Keystone, then, not only would undermine his side’s crucial shib¬boleths, it would compromise his own credibility as a leader who can be trusted to deny advantage to “Republican” industries and deliver it to “Democratic” ones.
Presidents make traps for themselves:
➢ Signature initiatives CANNOT fail; they can only be dou¬bled down on.
➢ Solyn¬dra must be defended all the more fiercely now that solar is collapsing globally as countries repent of foolish subsidies.
➢ Green energy must be hugged all the more tightly as the shale revolution renders hopeless any chance of wind and solar becoming cost¬ competitive with fossil fuels.
➢ He is engaged in a “long game.” But there’s a difference between play¬ing the long game and playing it well.
➢ His long game is ex¬actly how green energy metamor¬phosed from a policy notion into a political strategy and then into a dead weight his campaign must lug to November and could make Him look like a chump if oil prices surge because of the world’s vulnerability to the narrowness of the Strait of Hormuz.
What? I have no idea what all thoes dashes are in the above post. They were not in the original. Sorry.
I wonder why the climate widget is stuck on November?
Alan Millar says:
January 22, 2012 at 12:25 pm
“Perhaps you would like to highlight the fact that 19/01/2012 was the coldest day ever recorded by channel 5 at AMSU.”
http://discover.itsc.uah.edu/amsutemps/execute.csh?amsutemps
Alan
—
And it’s still going down! Yikes.
Of course, a “record low” global temperature probably doesn’t mean anything…right? /sarc
Prostitution caused by climate change says http://greenanswers.com/news/274241/effects-climate-change-fuels-sex-trade-cambodia
The sex trade in Cambodia has been around since 1999. The sex trade is happening due to thousands of victims in need of natural resources like food, water and trees. Human trafficking affects 2-3 thousand children and young teens each year. Families are deceived by con artists telling them that their daughters will work for hotels, restaurants, hair salons or complete clerical work in order for them to bring money for their families. Truth is, con artists actually take their daughters into sex industries and force them to have intercourse with older men.
The livelihoods of most families that live in rural villages are affected by the changes brought on by climate change in that area. According to the United Nations, women feel these affects the most. United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reports that, “Lifestyle and well being of women is put in greater danger by climate change, associated with a high rate of human trafficking.”
The Grauniad on the Research Works Act:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/jan/16/academic-publishers-enemies-science
Author:
“Dr Mike Taylor is a research associate at the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol”
E-glass death ray melts Prius
http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/01/25/woman-claims-neighbors-energy-efficient-windows-are-melting-her-toyota-prius/
Fire detection from Space, first pictures:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=77025
Sun sets on weatherman’s career
Retiring NZ Weatherman suggests highs are getting higher !!!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/6317019/Sun-sets-on-weathermans-career
In June or July of 2009, I happened upon a webcast on Wunderground by Jeff Masters who stated that he was about to attend a 2 week seminar on how to better communicate weather issues and extremes with a number of others in Denver.
Do we know who attended and how the message has changed over the last 2 years?
How many times have we had to see “unprecedented” or “In recorded history” in the headlines over the last few years ?
Who attended and actually coordinated this meeting and how has their message changed since?
I have found the communication methodology we have viewed over the last few years psychologically fascinating.
I should say unprecedented!
Probably from pasting out of a Word Processor; it puts “soft hyphens” wherever the word-wrap breaks a word. WP formatting is often incompatible with blog software. Try using text only, or RTF, or composing directly on the site. The CA Assistant Greasemonkey script gives a number of options, including Preview.
Many won’t like this, but I do. He’ll be ridiculed.
Some things government can do better, and this is one.
Exploration…a positive national goal. We have the technology.
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/25/10237875-gingrich-promises-us-moon-colony-by-2020?pc=25&sp=200&threadId=3329220#discussion_nav
Re:
http://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2012/01/25/how-giss-has-totally-corrupted-reykjaviks-temperatures/
Does WUWT need an “Adjustment Records Page”?
Historical records are being changed – would a centralized record of this event by event be useful?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46134179
New federal map for what to plant reflects warming…
By SETH BORENSTEIN
updated 1/25/2012 1:03:55 PM ET
WASHINGTON — Global warming is hitting not just home, but garden. The government’s colorful map of planting zones, most often seen on the back of seed packets, is changing, illustrating a hotter 21st century.
An update of the official guide for 80 million gardeners reflects a new reality: The coldest day of the year isn’t as cold as it used to be. So some plants and trees that once seemed too vulnerable to cold can now survive farther north.
Anthony,
This is possibly of some interest to you:
eKlima Liberator – simplified access to Norwegian temperature data
http://klimaforskning.com/forum/index.php/topic,510.0.html
English version:
klimaforskning.com has the pleasure of presenting eKlima Liberator – a computer application simplifying access to Norwegian temperature data. The software is developed by klimaforskning.com. The goal is to provide and visualise all Norwegian temperature data from eKlima.no in a simple and user friendly manner.
The software can be downloaded via the link above. A database with monthly temperatures is included, it gives a good overview over monthly temperature data for all official weather stations in Norway.
For those who want more detail, a much larger add-on package is offered. It contains a complete database with monthly + daily temperatures since 1900 for all official norwegian weather stations. This database is provided as a separate setup package, just download and run it. You will be asked about the placement of the database. Then simply open it using eKlima Liberator – it replaces the orignal, small database completely.
Regards & thanks for all your work.
Shale energy predictions coming true:
No mercy: replacing wind, nuclear, coal!
Solar flares tigger earthquakes
Jain, R., Physical Research Laboratory.
Each of the 682, >4.0 earthquakes under study was preceded by a solar flare of GOES importance B to X class by 10-100 hrs.
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007AGUSMIN33A..03J
Explosive volcanic eruptions triggered by cosmic rays
Toshikazu Ebisuzaki, Hiroko Miyahara, Ryuho Kataoka, Tatsuhiko Sato, Yasuhiro Ishimine
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1342937X10001966
Lightning-rod NETs around Earth faults and volcanoes =
anti-quake = anti-eruptive = anti-volcanic winter = anti-ice-age.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kbUsYyotYzs/Txzokcf1yMI/AAAAAAAAAyU/dy1Usatrfug/s1600/APOTROPH+seismwn-hfaisteiakwn+ekrhxewn+AVERT+quakes-volcanic+eruptions.jpg
24 January 2012 State of the Union Smackdown
I really do dispair about those in charge. New UK climate change report and it’s worse than they’ve been forcing down the publics throat.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16730834
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/9038988/Climate-change-will-make-UK-new-holiday-destination.html
* Hotter summers leading to between 580-5900 deaths above the average per year by the 2050s.
* Water shortages in the north, south and east of England, especially the Thames Valley area by the 2080s.
* Increased damage from flooding could cost between £2.1bn-£12bn by the 2080s.
“This world class research provides the most comprehensive case yet on why we need to take action to adapt the UK and our economy to the impacts of climate change,” she said.”It shows what life would be like if we stopped our preparations now, and the consequences such a decision would mean for our economic stability.”
Tamino has a post up about 2011 temperatures. He tries to claim that, despite the actual temperatures going down or stagnating over the past decade, the CO2 related temperatures are still rising. Kinda like, “If you factor in the numbers I should have picked and the ticket I should have bought, I’d be a lottery winning millionaire right now.”
http://tamino.wordpress.com/2012/01/21/2011-temperature-roundup/
Regards,
MrC
I believed in the consensus till 5 mintues ago and I learned this concensus at school?
http://www.smh.com.au/world/engineer-debunks-theory-of-flight-20120126-1qjrc.html
You learn something new ever day.
Anthony,
New report out of Germany showing the folly of Renewable energy:
http://notrickszone.com/2012/01/25/energy-expert-germanys-renewable-energy-transition-will-fail-spectacularly-heavily-damaging-the-economy/
Virginians Get First Peak at Secret UVA emails
PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Washington, D.C.
January 25, 2012
On Tuesday the American Tradition Institute’s Environmental Law Center sent the University of Virginia and Michael Mann copies of 40 emails selected as examples of the 27 categories identified as benefitting from the Court’s review of UVA and Mann’s claims that emails in the taxpayer-funded school’s possession are properly subject to the specific exemptions under Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act (VFOIA). These categories range from discussions of professional retaliation against other scientists who challenged Mann’s work, to those sent to or from Mann from or copying an email account covered by other FOI laws, such as the federal Freedom of Information Act.
http://www.atinstitute.org/virginians-get-first-peak-at-secret-uva-emails/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16730834
A ‘climate assessment report’ by DEFRA in UK. It goes on about all the heatwaves and floods we will have to endure by 2050. They do say that the results are all from computer models and they defend this by saying ‘it’s the best we’ve got’. These morons are using taxpayers money to play silly games and then use their ‘report’ to justify spending loads more taxpayers money on schemes to ‘combat’ what they imagine is going to happen. They should all be taken away and made to lie down in a quiet room until they feel better.
A Nature Geosciences article is summarized in Ars Technica today
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2012/01/missing-ocean-heat-explained.ars?comments=1#comments-bar
The missing heat is ascribed to measurement uncertainties.
“A large source of potential error was that the switch from the ship-based measurements of ocean heat content to the Argo array entailed all kinds of difficult-to-quantify uncertainties. (New instruments that were operated differently, uneven distribution and changing density of measurement points as floats were gradually deployed, etc.) A new paper in Nature Geoscience makes headway by re-examining the ocean heat content data and accounting for that complex uncertainty.
The group’s ocean heat content record differs slightly from other analyses (just as global surface temperature series from NASA and NOAA don’t come out exactly the same), but the pivotal bit is that the uncertainty during the Argo transition period really was quite large. In fact, the difference between the ocean heat content and net total energy data is not statistically significant—it’s well within the uncertainty. That suggests that the missing energy might not be so missing.
At least one thing remains clear in all the datasets—the Earth is steadily gaining energy. Between 2001 and 2010, the amount of energy reaching the Earth has exceeded the amount leaving by an average of about 0.5 watts per square meter. ”
The link includes the article as well as the comments, as WUWT readers should pay attention to Ars science blogs, as there is a tough crowd of AGW supporters that will try and intimidate, swear, cite skepticalscience, and gang up on any comments that question the IPCC story.
my interest was peeked, but in a fit of peak i went pekid and stopped piquing.
somebody graduated from elementary school on his self.esteem credits.
there was and is no excuse.
Wow! Doom and gloom.
Mark Jaccard says if the Oilsand’s oil is shipped by the Northern Gateway pipeline, and burned, it will produce more greenhouse gases. And sea level rise 10 meters.
Pipeline itself not the only problem we should worry about
http://www.vancouversun.com/story_print.html?id=6054333&sponsor=
A UK government study released today has identified the top 100 effects of climate change and how they may impact Britain in the next century
Global warming will lead to fresher blueberries, plentiful fish and fewer winter deaths, finds official study
The costs of public health will go down ,
The deaths due to cold winters will decline by some 24,000 people – far less than the 5,900 predicted deaths that will arise from the increased temperatures.
More intense bursts of rainfall in summer and longer rainfall in winter will cause more floods
Droughts and some pests and diseases could increase as a result of warmer weather.
sugar beet yields could rise by up to 70 percent and wheat yields by as much as 140 percent by mid-century due to longer growing seasons if water and nutrients are available.
‘A warmer climate presents opportunities to grow new crops such as soya, sunflowers, peaches, apricots and grapes, while new markets may open up overseas for British grown produce,’ the study said.
If I had to pick one particular issue, the flooding issue is the most dominant,’ said Bob Watson, chief scientific adviser at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and one of report’s authors.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2092085/Imagine-grazing-blueberries-
From the Anchorage Daily News this morning:
“Sea ice is encroaching unusually early on the central Bering Sea, threatening to grind Alaska’s economically important snow crab fishery to a halt at the peak of the season, leaving crabbers facing major losses.”
http://www.adn.com/2012/01/25/2283664/ice-in-central-bering-sea-is-threatening.html
Appears the polar bears are not nearly as threatened up here as the feds and greens claim. (/sarc) Cheers -
“Cloaking” (making invisible) now possible: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16726609
ICE IN BERING SEA THREATENS CRAB FISHERY
http://www.weatherbell.com/weather-news/ice-in-bering-sea-threatens-crab-fishery/
[img]http://www.weatherbell.com/images/imguploader/images/woqHC_St_7.jpg[/img]
EARLY: Southward extension is farthest over the past 20 years.
By MICHELLE THERIAULT BOOTS
Anchorage Daily News
Sea ice is encroaching unusually early on the central Bering Sea, threatening to grind Alaska’s economically important snow crab fishery to a halt at the peak of the season, leaving crabbers facing major losses.
Earlier-than-expected ice is moving south over prime crabbing grounds, forcing boats away from their catch and putting millions of dollars of equipment in jeopardy.
Strange sideways slow tornado like cloud, very long, like kilometers, but very narrow.
What type of cloud is this? How does this impact temperatures?
“Los Angeles Department of Water and Power Aims at 33 Percent Renewables by 2020″ http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/ladwp-looks-at-33-percent-renewables-by-2020/
……..”Ron Nichols was brought in as DWP’s manager a year ago to turn that around. The prospect of facilitating change in a utility caught in a web woven by politicians, unions and ratepayers is, Nichols said, “daunting.” Yet, “this is the most exciting time to be providing electric service since Edison invented the light bulb,” Nichols told an audience of greentech stakeholders at the 2012 VerdeXchange.” ……………..
………….“I’m not going to sit here right now and say exactly what our future rates are going to be, but if everything went fantastically,” he said, “we’d be at about a 4.5 percent per year rate increase for the rest of this decade. Do I think that’s likely? No, I don’t.” A more likely average rate increase, Nichols said, is 6.5 percent per year.
“Is that something we can’t sustain? I don’t think so. I think we can live within this,” Nichols said. “No one wants to see rates go up, but we will be cheaper than our neighbors.”
I think I’ve solved the cause of heating of teh late 20th century. Nuclear Detonations. The thermal radiation released into the atmosphere from 1945 to 1990 would equate to around .6 degrees of heat with my rough back of envelope calculations. 500+ tests at average of 3.5MT Yield = 1750 MT = 1.78×10^11 Joules = 4.86×10^10 Jouleyears = .612 degrees celsius
WUWT uses hyphens in titles and that makes easy reading – especially in the URL line (no underlining). I’ve noticed lots of links in the comments that end up with the ‘ %20 ’ insertion. Am I the only one this bugs? The underline character between words works well for this insofar as the entire link gets underlined and thus the ‘ _ ’ does not show. I’ve noticed on a few other sites many folks have no idea where the ‘ %20 ’ comes from.
From the Wall Street Journal:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204301404577171531838421366.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
No Need to Panic About Global Warming
There’s no compelling scientific argument for drastic action to ‘decarbonize’ the world’s economy.
Editor’s Note: The following has been signed by the 16 scientists listed at the end of the article:
Claude Allegre, former director of the Institute for the Study of the Earth, University of Paris; J. Scott Armstrong, cofounder of the Journal of Forecasting and the International Journal of Forecasting; Jan Breslow, head of the Laboratory of Biochemical Genetics and Metabolism, Rockefeller University; Roger Cohen, fellow, American Physical Society; Edward David, member, National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Sciences; William Happer, professor of physics, Princeton; Michael Kelly, professor of technology, University of Cambridge, U.K.; William Kininmonth, former head of climate research at the Australian Bureau of Meteorology; Richard Lindzen, professor of atmospheric sciences, MIT; James McGrath, professor of chemistry, Virginia Technical University; Rodney Nichols, former president and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences; Burt Rutan, aerospace engineer, designer of Voyager and SpaceShipOne; Harrison H. Schmitt, Apollo 17 astronaut and former U.S. senator; Nir Shaviv, professor of astrophysics, Hebrew University, Jerusalem; Henk Tennekes, former director, Royal Dutch Meteorological Service; Antonio Zichichi, president of the World Federation of Scientists, Geneva.
Don’t tell Orville and Wilbur!
An interesting thing in science:
+ brilliant 60 second video.
The CBS evening news today had a report on newly discovered rivers running under the Antarctic ice, first suggesting this was evidence of climate change, and then admitting it was too early to say. A more complete report is at
http://www.3news.co.nz/River-running-under-Antarcticas-ice-discovered/tabid/1160/articleID/240947/Default.aspx
If this is just 1000 km from the S pole, in an area that typically is 15 to 20 C below zero, it’s hard to imagine it’s surface melt. I’m guessing more likely geothermal melt from the bottom up.
RE the CBS news report on the Antarctic rivers I mentioned above, their footage of a brook babbling out from under an ice pack couldn’t possibly have been from where the NZ report says it was found. Perhaps Bill Nye is working for Scott Pelley now??
http://news.yahoo.com/climate-change-urbanisation-changing-disaster-110233362.html
IT HAS TO BE SEXY
More than half the agencies said focusing more on disaster risk reduction (DRR) — everything from building more durable houses and schools in safer places to teaching children to swim — would help the sector cope better in the long run.
A new paper in Geophysical Research Letters on the LIA in Canada:
Whence the Little Ice Age?
Julia Fahrenkamp-Uppenbrink
In the second half of the past millennium, glaciers advanced and temperatures fell in many regions around the world, although the timings and durations of the cold spells differed widely between regions. Numerous causes for this Little Ice Age have been proposed, including cyclical reductions in solar irradiance, changes in ocean circulation, and increases in volcanic activity, but the direct radiative effects of these processes are either weak or short-lived and require substantial feedbacks within the climate system. Miller et al. now exploit the fact that small ice caps in Arctic Canada are retreating, exposing vegetation that was entombed when the ice caps were advancing. By radiocarbon-dating these plants, the authors can accurately determine the time of glacial advance. They identify abrupt summer temperature decreases in the late 13th century and between 1430 and 1455 CE; subsequently, most ice caps remained in an expanded state until the 20th century. Comparison with varved sediments recording ice-cap growth from Iceland provides support for these dates, which coincide with periods of enhanced volcanic activity. Climate model results suggest that short-lived volcanic eruptions, reinforced by weak solar irradiance changes, can cause a sea-ice/ocean feedback that yields a centuries-long reduction in summer air temperature across the Arctic.
Geophys. Res. Lett. 10.1029/2011GL050168 (2012).
About the Fahrenkamp paper, I forgot to mention: no mention of CO2!!? WUWT?
Son of SOPA (EU)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/01/27/eu_signs_acta/
Winter finally comes to Britain. In winter. Who would’ve thought it.
http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/298249/Big-freeze-to-last-a-month
But four weeks worth of it? Remember, these are the self same people who predicted we’d be getting an early winter in 2011/12. It never happened.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2039418/UK-weather-Snow-forecast-parts-Britain-early-October.html
And yet their bonus payments continue to rise.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/9010441/Met-Office-bonuses-rise-by-third-after-icy-winter-of-discontent.html
OK I’m sure that some of the clever people who contribute to this site know about this already but I stumbled upon it and found it fascinating. Especially the section on El Nino
http://www.mitosyfraudes.org/Calen2/Rhodes.html
I note
Jessie says: January 26, 2012 at 4:07 am
24 January 2012 State of the Union Smackdown
has been removed due to ‘Copyright claim by the Cato Institute’
As such Cato Institute
State of the Union 2012 video Number 2
http://www.cato.org/
The exchanges below took place in the UK House of Commons during Energy and Climate Change questions on 26 January. Secretary of State Chris Huhne quoted CO2 levels in antarctic ice cores as historically between 180 and 300 ppm but now at 391 ppm and increasing at 2 ppm per year. Can anyone comment on the statistics, or on his “absolutely crucial” conclusion?
15. Oliver Colvile (Plymouth, Sutton and Devonport) (Con): What assessment he has made of British Antarctic Survey research on the effects of historic industrialisation on global carbon dioxide levels. [91746]
The Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change (Chris Huhne): Ice core measurements by the British Antarctic Survey reveal that over the last 800,000 years, global carbon dioxide levels varied between 180 and 300 parts per million. Those peer-reviewed results provide crucial data on past natural levels for climate science research. Observations show that global atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are currently increasing at about two parts per million per year, and are now at 391 parts per million, as a result of emissions from industrial and other human sources.
Oliver Colvile: May I thank the Minister of State, my hon. Friend the Member for Bexhill and Battle (Gregory Barker) for going to Bristol recently to launch the marine energy strategy? How does my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State perceive it working in delivering fewer CO2 emissions and helping with the energy strategy?
Chris Huhne: Marine energy parks are an important part of developing a tremendously good natural resource for us in this country. We may not have quite as much sunshine as in southern Spain or Arizona, but we have an awful lot of wind, an awful lot of waves and an awful lot of tidal resource. Within the ministerial team, my hon. Friend the Minister of State has been leading the charge on marine energy parks precisely to make sure that we do not let those enormous opportunities slip through our fingers.
Kevin Brennan (Cardiff West) (Lab): Does the Secretary of State have three points he would like to share with us on the main conclusions of the research?
Chris Huhne: I can certainly point to one conclusion of the research that I think is absolutely crucial: measurements of current carbon dioxide levels show that they have increased by nearly 40% since pre-industrial times, and carbon isotope information shows that this has largely been caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
If this hadn’t had The Onion masthead, it seems like something that climate scientists, the UN and Al Gore, Ted Turnor et al would support:
http://www.theonion.com/articles/scientists-look-onethird-of-the-human-race-has-to,27166/
New Emissions Data Dampen Global Warming Fears
source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamestaylor/2012/01/25/new-emissions-data-dampen-global-warming-fears/
Interestingly, EIA reports U.S. emissions rose more than 15% during the eight years of the Clinton-Gore administration but have declined since.
“Hansen said he expects record-breaking global average temperature in the next two to three years…. “It’s always dangerous to make predictions about El Niño, but it’s safe to say we’ll see one in the next three years,” Hansen said. “It won’t take a very strong El Niño to push temperatures above 2010.”
http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2012/01/27/413227/nasa-video-global-warming/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Progress%29
X flare ongoing 2012 Jan 27 ~1800 UT
“EPA’s Sustainability Gambit”
http://dddusmma.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/epas-sustainability-gambit/
“Rather than defining sustainability, the NAS used president Obama’s executive order 13514 entitled Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy and Economic Performance that broadly defines sustainability as the ability “to create and maintain conditions, under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations.” “
• Rio+20 Earth Summit
Climate Security is last out of 13 Items.
The Financial Crisis
Food Crisis
Migration
Energy Crisis
Water Scarcity
Biodiversity and Ecosystem loss
Desertification
Natural Disasters and the ability to prepare for and recover from them
Achievement of the MDGs
Globalisation
Health Security
Increased resilience at the national and global level
Climate Security
http://www.earthsummit2012.org/addressing-new-and-emerging-challenges/addressing-new-and-emerging-challenges
MAJOR SOLAR FLARE 18:37 UTC Friday afternoon: X1.7 http://www.solarham.com/
Climate Change Fee
Norwegian broadband provider adds a “Climate change fee” of 40$ ..!!!!
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=no&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nettavisen.no%2Fit%2Farticle3321522.ece
It really isn’t climate related but your readers in Oz must be getting a big laugh out of this. Australia’s Transport Minister, Anthony Albanese gave a speech attacking a political opponent. Nothing unusual there except that the speech was the same as one given by Michael Douglas’ character Andrew Shepherd, the President of the U.S. in the 1995 movie The American President.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/australian-politician-attacks-rival-plagiarized-speech-american-movie-170352148.html
Hello Anthony
Could you make an appeal for volunteers amongst your code adept followers? I have recently been using an open-source program called “Calibre” to manage news sites on my Kindle. Once a day is downloads the last h24ours of articles using the RSS feed, compiles them into a .mobi book, and E-mails them to my kindle. Your site’s feed works perfectly, but many others, (such as the GWPF,) do not. It would be a great boost in communicating with the wider public if someone with the appropriate skills could create download recipes for most of the major sceptical websites and contribute them to the Calibre project to have them included in the list of news sites distributed with the program.
I tried to imagine “climate scientist” using the same technique to skirt FOIA requests, but their results are never reproducible, therefore could only be used to terrorize businesses and taxpayers.
I think most people write under false names because they don’t want their employers to know they wrote a comment in the bosses’ time. Does WUWT have to display times?
Mind you, note that for some comments a time display is given that was not the real time when he/she wrote it. That means they could be falsely accused of this. I think it would be best if WUWT could remove the time when the comment was put up and just keep to a numbering system for tracking responses
[Note the use of Pacific Standard/Daylight time in each header, not Greenwich or UMT. Robt]
Climate change science is not the only subject where vested interests are self serving. Read these FAQs about the only book to provide a serious alternative to the accepted dating of ancient Egypt and the Near East (Bronze to Iron Age). This highly controversial study rocked the foundations of ancient chronology. As a result Mediterranean and biblical archaeology are now in turmoil.
2Q14: Why has “CENTURIES OF DARKNESS” not been generally accepted as the correct chronology for the ancient world?
Archaeologists are usually specialists working in separate fields. While they are happy to draw conclusions in their own areas of study, they are reluctant to make assessments of the problems in other areas. Because the issues raised by CoD involve interconnections between all fields of ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern studies, the overall case is simply too difficult for most to comprehend. As in any scientific discipline it is easier to keep to the status quo and avoid ‘sticking one’s neck out’, as it were. Academic inertia, scholarly egotism, the desire for promotion, teaching convenience and a number of other reasons continually reinforce this attitude.
It is quite clear, for example, that no-one would be encouraged to publish articles agreeing with our model – they would probably be automatically rejected. We have naturally encountered this problem ourselves. With respect to academic journals, we have been frustrated by a ‘lack of airtime’ in which we could defend our case against critics. For example, when the Cambridge Archaeological Journal published lengthy, and sometimes rambling and unjustified, criticisms from several scholars, the editor declined to publish our reply in the same issue and allowed only limited space in the next. In the case of Antiquity, our reply to Manning and Weninger’s ill-considered treatment of the radiocarbon evidence from the Aegean, was flatly rejected.
Despite such difficulties, and in the meantime, CoD has become a respectable and widely known antidote to the conventional chronology which is regularly cited in the literature and used in numerous university courses.”
http://www.centuries.co.uk/faq.htm
I suggest that the “Academic inertia, scholarly egotism, the desire for promotion, teaching convenience and a number of other reasons” exactly coincide with the tactics of opposition ranged against the supporters of sceptic points of view with regard to CAGW and I believe that drawing the attention of readers of WUWT to such archaeological skulldiggery, would serve to illustrate that dishonesty is not just watermelon based, but exists through acedemia.
I hope you agree.
Best wishes,
Perry
CARB passes rules for EV’s, fuel cell vehicles
http://blogs.wsj.com/drivers-seat/2012/01/27/new-california-emissions-rules-would-boost-electric-cars/
“The board unanimously approved the new rules, which require that one in seven new cars sold in the California in 2025 be an electric or other zero-emission vehicle. The mandate also included a 75% reduction in smog-forming pollutants by 2025 and a 34% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over the same period.”
http://www.examiner.com/cars-in-los-angeles/california-air-resources-board-passes-new-emission-standards
The Cost of Green Energy is really biting in Europe
In Spain http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-27/spain-suspends-subsidies-for-new-renewable-energy-plants.html
In Germany http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,809439,00.html
In the UK http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/9037810/Government-loses-legal-bid-to-cut-solar-panel-tariff.html
Anthony … need to have the jargon and acronyms explained or a link to their meanings in some of the articles.
I’ve been a “student” of yours for a number of years, have a technical background, but I’m flummoxed by articles which assume ALL readers know what the acronyms and techniques discussed mean.
“The Message in the Dye 3 Data”
Is that an Oxygen isotope in the shell of a Dye 3 clam? Or the use of dyes is some strange analytic technique? No, it’s a location in Greenland after I Google it.
“What in the world is going on with global temperatures?”
I understand that we use Microwaves to study atmospheric temperatures, but even Dr. Spencer’s blog explains the acronyms he uses.
“As of early 2011, our most stable instrument for this monitoring is the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU-A) flying on NASA’s Aqua satellite and providing data since late 2002.”
CMIIW But DTRT!
Regards Gary
Oh, you don’t know what these common acronyms mean?
Just go to http://www.muller-godschalk.com/acronyms.html to find out.
The UK is going to suffer heat, cold, floods, droughts, and rising sea levels.
And fish and chips are in danger too!
Gotta cover all the bases!
Climate change threatens national dish, U.K. says
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/SciTech/20120126/britain-climate-change-20120126/
Going after the hydro carbons from a different angle now or an actual serious concern?
Climate policy: Oil’s tipping point has passed
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v481/n7382/full/481433a.html
from the same
Can the Economy Bear What Oil Prices Have in Store?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120126223609.htm
New technology is making more oil economically accessible, fracking, heavy oil upgrading. A couple questions I didn’t see addressed in the article are. What is the inflation adjusted price of oil compared to a time when we were still getting the “easy oil”. What are the true world oil reserves, larger now from from previously unaccessible deposits or smaller with older fields depleting and production permanently unable to keep up with demand?
Economy | 25.01.2012
Digging through Davos snow to explore world economic problems
–
Snow plows push tirelessly through the streets near the Congress Center in Davos, Switzerland. The final preparations are underway for the roughly 3,000 participants that are expected at the World Economic Forum (WEF).
There hasn’t been so much snow in the small Swiss town since 1968, and it isn’t showing any signs of letting up. All the plows are in use, but the streets and sidewalks won’t be completely cleaned up by the time the conference starts.
Extraordinary conditions
The small town of 13,000 inhabitants, which bills itself as the “highest city in Europe,” is experiencing extraordinary conditions. Security personnel have closed streets and paths, and public busses are being forced to take detours.
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Security is tight at the WEF”Anyone looking for an electrician right now will be out of luck,” said Hansruedi Bertschinger, a 55-year-old who rents out holiday apartments. “Everyone has to wait until the World Economic Forum is over.”
—
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,15688650,00.html
—
Snow Hits Eastern, Central Europe Hard
—
Parts of eastern and central Europe were hit hard by heavy snow and frigid temperatures for a second day Thursday, leaving hundreds trapped in cars, dozens of communities without power and at least one person dead. Some areas saw as much as three meters (10 feet) of snow.
—
Russian IEA claims the data is manipulated
Russia affected by Climategate
A discussion of the November 2009 Climatic Research Unit e-mail hacking incident, referred to by some sources as “Climategate,” continues against the backdrop of the abortive UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen (COP15) discussing alternative agreements to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol that aimed to combat global warming.
The incident involved an e-mail server used by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich, East England. Unknown persons stole and anonymously disseminated thousands of e-mails and other documents dealing with the global-warming issue made over the course of 13 years.
Controversy arose after various allegations were made including that climate scientists colluded to withhold scientific evidence and manipulated data to make the case for global warming appear stronger than it is.
Climategate has already affected Russia. On Tuesday, the Moscow-based Institute of Economic Analysis (IEA) issued a report claiming that the Hadley Center for Climate Change based at the headquarters of the British Meteorological Office in Exeter (Devon, England) had probably tampered with Russian-climate data.
The IEA believes that Russian meteorological-station data did not substantiate the anthropogenic global-warming theory.
Analysts say Russian meteorological stations cover most of the country’s territory, and that the Hadley Center had used data submitted by only 25% of such stations in its reports.
Over 40% of Russian territory was not included in global-temperature calculations for some other reasons, rather than the lack of meteorological stations and observations.
The data of stations located in areas not listed in the Hadley Climate Research Unit Temperature UK (HadCRUT) survey often does not show any substantial warming in the late 20th century and the early 21st century.
The HadCRUT database includes specific stations providing incomplete data and highlighting the global-warming process, rather than stations facilitating uninterrupted observations.
On the whole, climatologists use the incomplete findings of meteorological stations far more often than those providing complete observations.
IEA analysts say climatologists use the data of stations located in large populated centers that are influenced by the urban-warming effect more frequently than the correct data of remote stations.
The scale of global warming was exaggerated due to temperature distortions for Russia accounting for 12.5% of the world’s land mass. The IEA said it was necessary to recalculate all global-temperature data in order to assess the scale of such exaggeration.
Global-temperature data will have to be modified if similar climate-date procedures have been used from other national data because the calculations used by COP15 analysts, including financial calculations, are based on HadCRUT research.
Another view of the January 23 CME that affected cel phones on earth
Piers Corbyn’s site (www.weatheraction.com) is down at the moment. As it’s normally very reliable, one wonders why.
Only the purest of motives?
US Congressman (now ex-Representative) gets an earmark appropriation passed for a wind power project, then retires to become a “consultant” receiving money from the very public funds he had helped to appropriate. Now he’s backing away from the money, but only because it became an embarrassing controversy:
Ex-Congressman Retreats on Energy Project
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
Published: January 28, 2012
WASHINGTON — A former congressman who became a lobbyist has abandoned his plans to collect $90,000 from working on an energy project that he helped finance through Congress.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/us/politics/delahunt-retreats-on-project-he-financed-in-congress.html?ref=todayspaper
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2093264/Forget-global-warming–Cycle-25-need-worry-NASA-scientists-right-Thames-freezing-again.html
Forget global warming – it’s Cycle 25 we need to worry about (and if NASA scientists are right the Thames will be freezing over again)
Met Office releases new figures which show no warming in 15 years
The supposed ‘consensus’ on man-made global warming is facing an inconvenient challenge after the release of new temperature data showing the planet has not warmed for the past 15 years.
The figures suggest that we could even be heading for a mini ice age to rival the 70-year temperature drop that saw frost fairs held on the Thames in the 17th Century.
Based on readings from more than 30,000 measuring stations, the data was issued last week without fanfare by the Met Office and the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit. It confirms that the rising trend in world temperatures ended in 1997.
Meanwhile, leading climate scientists yesterday told The Mail on Sunday that, after emitting unusually high levels of energy throughout the 20th Century, the sun is now heading towards a ‘grand minimum’ in its output, threatening cold summers, bitter winters and a shortening of the season available for growing food.
Solar output goes through 11-year cycles, with high numbers of sunspots seen at their peak.
We are now at what should be the peak of what scientists call ‘Cycle 24’ – which is why last week’s solar storm resulted in sightings of the aurora borealis further south than usual. But sunspot numbers are running at less than half those seen during cycle peaks in the 20th Century.
Analysis by experts at NASA and the University of Arizona – derived from magnetic-field measurements 120,000 miles beneath the sun’s surface – suggest that Cycle 25, whose peak is due in 2022, will be a great deal weaker still.
According to a paper issued last week by the Met Office, there is a 92 per cent chance that both Cycle 25 and those taking place in the following decades will be as weak as, or weaker than, the ‘Dalton minimum’ of 1790 to 1830. In this period, named after the meteorologist John Dalton, average temperatures in parts of Europe fell by 2C.
However, it is also possible that the new solar energy slump could be as deep as the ‘Maunder minimum’ (after astronomer Edward Maunder), between 1645 and 1715 in the coldest part of the ‘Little Ice Age’ when, as well as the Thames frost fairs, the canals of Holland froze solid.
Yet, in its paper, the Met Office claimed that the consequences now would be negligible – because the impact of the sun on climate is far less than man-made carbon dioxide. Although the sun’s output is likely to decrease until 2100, ‘This would only cause a reduction in global temperatures of 0.08C.’ Peter Stott, one of the authors, said: ‘Our findings suggest a reduction of solar activity to levels not seen in hundreds of years would be insufficient to offset the dominant influence of greenhouse gases.’
These findings are fiercely disputed by other solar experts.
‘World temperatures may end up a lot cooler than now for 50 years or more,’ said Henrik Svensmark, director of the Center for Sun-Climate Research at Denmark’s National Space Institute. ‘It will take a long battle to convince some climate scientists that the sun is important. It may well be that the sun is going to demonstrate this on its own, without the need for their help.’
He pointed out that, in claiming the effect of the solar minimum would be small, the Met Office was relying on the same computer models that are being undermined by the current pause in global-warming.
CO2 levels have continued to rise without interruption and, in 2007, the Met Office claimed that global warming was about to ‘come roaring back’. It said that between 2004 and 2014 there would be an overall increase of 0.3C. In 2009, it predicted that at least three of the years 2009 to 2014 would break the previous temperature record set in 1998.
So far there is no sign of any of this happening. But yesterday a Met Office spokesman insisted its models were still valid.
‘The ten-year projection remains groundbreaking science. The period for the original projection is not over yet,’ he said.
Dr Nicola Scafetta, of Duke University in North Carolina, is the author of several papers that argue the Met Office climate models show there should have been ‘steady warming from 2000 until now’.
‘If temperatures continue to stay flat or start to cool again, the divergence between the models and recorded data will eventually become so great that the whole scientific community will question the current theories,’ he said.
He believes that as the Met Office model attaches much greater significance to CO2 than to the sun, it was bound to conclude that there would not be cooling. ‘The real issue is whether the model itself is accurate,’ Dr Scafetta said. Meanwhile, one of America’s most eminent climate experts, Professor Judith Curry of the Georgia Institute of Technology, said she found the Met Office’s confident prediction of a ‘negligible’ impact difficult to understand.
‘The responsible thing to do would be to accept the fact that the models may have severe shortcomings when it comes to the influence of the sun,’ said Professor Curry. As for the warming pause, she said that many scientists ‘are not surprised’.
She argued it is becoming evident that factors other than CO2 play an important role in rising or falling warmth, such as the 60-year water temperature cycles in the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.
‘They have insufficiently been appreciated in terms of global climate,’ said Prof Curry. When both oceans were cold in the past, such as from 1940 to 1970, the climate cooled. The Pacific cycle ‘flipped’ back from warm to cold mode in 2008 and the Atlantic is also thought likely to flip in the next few years .
Pal Brekke, senior adviser at the Norwegian Space Centre, said some scientists found the importance of water cycles difficult to accept, because doing so means admitting that the oceans – not CO2 – caused much of the global warming between 1970 and 1997.
The same goes for the impact of the sun – which was highly active for much of the 20th Century.
‘Nature is about to carry out a very interesting experiment,’ he said. ‘Ten or 15 years from now, we will be able to determine much better whether the warming of the late 20th Century really was caused by man-made CO2, or by natural variability.’
Meanwhile, since the end of last year, world temperatures have fallen by more than half a degree, as the cold ‘La Nina’ effect has re-emerged in the South Pacific.
‘We’re now well into the second decade of the pause,’ said Benny Peiser, director of the Global Warming Policy Foundation. ‘If we don’t see convincing evidence of global warming by 2015, it will start to become clear whether the models are bunk. And, if they are, the implications for some scientists could be very serious.’
Freudians in France censor behaviorist autism film:
http://www.supportthewall.org/
Producer ordered to cut certain speeches, and remove it from the internet.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/what-happened-to-winter/article2316780/
An article on climate/weather that is remarkable in that there are no references to CO2 or AGW and no quotes from alarmists/experts…just the facts.
More proof that Canadians get it?
Check the Arctic Oscillation Index – just went strongly negative
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2093264/Forget-global-warming–Cycle-25-need-worry-NASA-scientists-right-Thames-freezing-again.html
Obama to Declare Carbon Dioxide Dangerous Pollutant (Update1) – Bloomberg
http://www.bloomberg.com
Barack Obama will classify carbon dioxide as a dangerous pollutant that can be regulated should he win the presidential election on Nov. 4, opening the way for new rules on greenhouse gas emissions.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=alHWVvGnkcd4
The Democratic senator from Illinois will tell the Environmental Protection Agency that it may use the 1990 Clean Air Act to set emissions limits on power plants and manufacturers, his energy adviser, Jason Grumet, said in an interview. President George W. Bush declined to curb CO2 emissions under the law even after the Supreme Court ruled in 2007 that the government may do so.
If elected, Obama would be the first president to group emissions blamed for global warming into a category of pollutants that includes lead and carbon monoxide. Obama’s rival in the presidential race, Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, has not said how he would treat CO2 under the act.
Obama “would initiate those rulemakings,” Grumet said in an Oct. 6 interview in Boston. “He’s not going to insert political judgments to interrupt the recommendations of the scientific efforts.”
Placing heat-trapping pollutants in the same category as ozone may lead to caps on power-plant emissions and force utilities to use the most expensive systems to curb pollution. The move may halt construction plans on as many as half of the 130 proposed new U.S. coal plants.
The president may take action on new rules immediately upon taking office, said David Bookbinder, chief climate counsel for the Sierra Club. Environment groups including the Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council will issue a regulatory agenda for the next president that calls for limits on CO2 from industry.
`Hit Ground Running’
“This is what they should do to hit the ground running,” Bookbinder said in an Oct. 10 telephone interview.
Snowy owls are unusually migrating south from the Arctic in large numbers:
http://news.yahoo.com/snowy-owls-soar-south-arctic-rare-mass-migration-175336821.html
Global warming is making the heat intolerable up there (NOT)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2093264/Forget-global-warming–Cycle-25-need-worry-NASA-scientists-right-Thames-freezing-again.html
Check out this headline and then compare it to what the article is about.
“New Research Show Earth Has Not Cooled in 15 Years”
(Newsroom America) — New data released by a noted climate research institute last week indicated that the earth has not warmed in more than a decade, findings that are sure to challenge the global warming mentality for years held by a number of scientists.
The data, released with little fanfare by the University of East Anglia Climatic Research Unit in London, shows that the earth has not warmed in at least 15 years. The university’s conclusion was based on readings from more than 30,000 measuring stations.
In fact, the university said, it was possible the earth was moving into a cooling cycle, suggesting “that we could even be heading for a mini ice age to rival the 70-year temperature drop that saw frost fairs held on the Thames in the 17th Century,” London’s Daily Mail newspaper reported.
http://www.newsroomamerica.com/story/211722.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2093264/Forget-global-warming–Cycle-25-need-worry-NASA-scientists-right-Thames-freezing-again.html
the dailymail article on The Met and EUA admitting there has been no recent warming includes a chart showing average global temps: http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/01/28/article-2093264-1180A4F1000005DC-28_468x286.jpg
would it be possible to include an avg global temps chart in one of the reference pages? i know that people like to use anomaly charts but they seem to let themselves to manipulation (1st in finding the avg temp, then in finding the previous temps, then in choosing a 30 year base period). a straight up global avg temp chart just seems to show things much more clearly…
In regards to the Daily Mail story being mentioned, I love this quote from Henrik Svensmark –
“It will take a long battle to convince some climate scientists that the sun is important. It may well be that the sun is going to demonstrate this on its own, without the need for their help.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2093264/Forget-global-warming–Cycle-25-need-worry-NASA-scientists-right-Thames-freezing-again.html
“The supposed ‘consensus’ on man-made global warming is facing an inconvenient challenge after the release of new temperature data showing the planet has not warmed for the past 15 years.
The figures suggest that we could even be heading for a mini ice age to rival the 70-year temperature drop that saw frost fairs held on the Thames in the 17th Century.”
Energy efficient windows and energy efficient cars duke it out.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2093264/Forget-global-warming–Cycle-25-need-worry-NASA-scientists-right-Thames-freezing-again.html
Dr. Gavin Schmidt wins another award – the coveted “EarthSky Science Communicator of the Year” award.
http://earthsky.org/press/gavin-schmidt-is-the-earthsky-science-communicator-of-the-the-year
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2093264/Forget-global-warming–Cycle-25-need-worry-NASA-scientists-right-Thames-freezing-again.html
http://judithcurry.com/2011/08/13/slaying-the-greenhouse-dragon-part-iv/#comment-163925
In the above article on Judith Curry’s site, Vaughan Pratt shows a complete misunderstanding of what Claes Johnson (Professor of Applied Mathematics) proves in “Computational Blackbody Radiation” which I have studied in depth and find no fault with, based on my 45 years’ experience with tertiary Physics.
The difference between radiation from the atmosphere and that from the Sun is its FREQUENCY. The surface emits at a certain peak frequency which is proportional to absolute temperature (See Wikipedia “Wien’s Displacement Law”)
When the surface receives SW radiation with a higher frequency it is able to convert the energy therein to thermal energy which is then stored for a short or long time until radiated as LW or simply transferred to the atmosphere by diffusion or evaporation.
However, low frequency (low energy) radiation is never converted to thermal energy and is re-emitted with the same frequencies and intensities, just as if reflected. It has no effect on the surface – neither warming nor slowing the rate of cooling. That is what Prof Johnson proves and which has never been disproved.
In fact, backradiation does not even melt a bit of frost on a shady bit of grass all day long, let alone warm the oceans.
Later this year there will be a reward of $50,000 for anyone who can prove me wrong on this – so keep watching if you still think you are right about the issue.
Meanwhile, cover an umbrella with metal foil and keep cooler by holding it over your head at night because the backradiation has about a quarter the power of the Sun, or so they say.
http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/01/jerry-brown-says-cap-and-trade-fees-will-fund-high-speed-rail.html
Gov Brown doubles down and combines two terrible ideas. Cap and Trade to pay for high speed rail.
Gleick on the defensive, in Forbes.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/petergleick/2012/01/27/remarkable-editorial-bias-on-climate-science-at-the-wall-street-journal/
Note his comment, which I’ve copied below.
Peter Gleick, Contributor 1 day ago
“Sorry, anyone who cites WUWT as a science source is disqualified.”
How global warming has taken over our government and our lives — and how we can fight back
Climate Coup: Global Warming’s Invasion of Our Government and Our Lives
by Patrick Michaels
However uncertain its scientific foundations, “global warming” has permeated and often distorted virtually every area of life and public policy in America — from science to business, education, trade, law, and foreign policy. Public schools frighten children with apocalyptic climate scenarios. Poor countries shake down rich ones in the name of climate “justice.” Lawmakers try to impose tariffs and sanctions on nations that don’t agree with their environmental preconceptions. Even our military uses it as “threat multiplier” to enhance its budget. Most ominously, the courts are now compelling the federal government to impose massive restrictions on the amount of energy we can use and the way we can use it. Now, Climate Coup: Global Warming’s Invasion of Our Government and Our Lives details the pervasive threat global warming alarmism poses to almost every aspect of society.
http://www.hebookservice.com/products/SearchResults.asp?ProdCat=GW&ProdCatName=Global+Warming
Here is a very “interesting” link while it is still available
http://www.davidappell.com/ZODS/
An article from the UK…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2093264/Forget-global-warming–Cycle-25-need-worry-NASA-scientists-right-Thames-freezing-again.html
Just under the 2nd chart, titled Solar Activity Cycles1749 – 2049, the UK’s MET office stated:
So far there is no sign of any of this happening. But yesterday a Met Office spokesman insisted its models were still valid.
‘The ten-year projection remains groundbreaking science. The period for the original projection is not over yet,’ he said
So the way I read their attitude towards this is, to heck with the observations and the facts, our math is more accurate than reality. Our models ROCK!…
Hey, they have 2 mores years of that 10 year prediction, it could still happen.. (As they put their fingers in their ears, close their eyes and repeatedly say “I can’t hear you! Na Na Na Na Na!”…
Regards..
MikeH
The “Research Works Act”
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c112:H.R.3699
I see that two other posters have also noted this proposed rule. It is advanced by Daryl Issa a Republican from California and Carolyn Maloney, Democrat from New York, thus a “bipartisan” bill – so of course it must be good, right? The bill is quite short and vague. It appears to limit the effect to “private sector” publication of articles ” …describing or interpreting research funded in whole or in part by a Federal agency and to which a commercial or nonprofit publisher has made or has entered into an arrangement to make a value-added contribution, including peer review or editing. …”
The intent would appear to be to create a loop-hole through which several kinds of less than forthright scientific and business interests can be extracted from tax-funded research without reimbursing the public either monetarily or through products or information. The “describing and interpreting” language opens up the potential for denial of access to data published “in the private sector” and also may offer oppurtunity for grabbing patents out of publicly funded work. It is not only an unnecessary bill, it is potentially extremely deleterious to scientific communication and trust, which as we have all noted is already badly dented.
So timely for Mr Gore. A globle warming hot spot found.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/scientists-shocked-by-tasman-seas-rising-temperatures/story-fn3dxity-1226257611991
Reply to the Wall Street Journal open letter (regarding no need for panic about global warming) from Andrew Glikson (Australian National University). I’ll let you make up your own mind about the validity of the rebutal.
http://theconversation.edu.au/we-do-need-drastic-action-on-climate-change-a-response-to-the-wall-street-journal-5059
I think that a thread on Rare Earth Elements (REE) is recommended. I just finished a webpage on this subject. It’s a great contradiction that the green economy (wind turbines, electric vehicles, energy-efficient lighting systems, etc.) needs such environment devastating products as REE!
My webpage gives an summary of the issue, in particular regarding CFLs, with some interesting links.
See: http://users.skynet.be/fc298377/EN_REE.htm
Two interseting articles from the Washington Post 24/7 news mail:
http://times247.com/articles/third-green-energy-firm-this-week-hits-the-skids
http://times247.com/articles/global-warming-trend-ended-in-1997-new-data-shows
Hello Anthony,
One small thing: when you link to ‘warmist’ websites you are improving their Search Engine Optimisation as they’re getting a free organic link to their website. One way to mitigate this is by adding the attribute rel=”nofollow” to the anchor tag.
There is a WP plugin that does this without playing with the HTML: It just adds a button to the editor. It’s called NoFollow Link By Alex Jose (Spikes)
More on no follow:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nofollow
It’s not the perfect solution but worth it I reckon.
Keep up with the good work.
Joe
Hi Anthony
Archaeologists from the Danish national museum have finally succeeded in confirming that Erik the Red and his people could indeed brew beer in Greenland when they lived there during the warm period thousand years ago.
There has long been a question mark over whether or not the southern Greenlandic climate was warm enough in Viking times to grow grain for beer, mead, gruel and bread. This is of importance of course, as it is not possible to grow grain there now.
Now Danish archaeologists have found remains of burnt barley in a dunghill from the time when Erik the Red and other Icelanders moved to Greenland. The find is the first evidence of corn cultivation in southern Greenland a thousand years ago.
This was discussed on the Danish web http://www.videnskab.dk (meaning science.dk) few days ago. See:
http://videnskab.dk/kultur-samfund/vikingerne-dyrkede-korn-pa-gronland
You may want to contact Peter Steen Henriksen at the Danish National Museum, http://www.nnu.dk/staff/petersteen.htm for more information.
Best regards
Agust
(My blog about the vikings in Greenland brewing beer: http://agbjarn.blog.is/blog/agbjarn/entry/1219972/ )
(The saga of Erik the Red in English http://sagadb.org/eiriks_saga_rauda.en )
At http://thegwpf.org/energy-news/4861-energy-expert-germanys-renewable-energy-transition-will-fail-spectacularly–heavily-damaging-the-economy.html
A report (link to English pdf) from The European Institute for Climate and Energy on the effect of Germany’s energy policy.
An extract from the press release :
“The problem is that these energy sources are weather-dependent and thus their sporadic supply is starting to wreak havoc on Germany’s power grid and is even now threatening to destabilize power grids all across Europe. The other problem: the power grid needed to distribute the decentrally produced green power is simply not there yet. They forgot to build it! So far, after tens of billions of euros spent on renewable energy systems and higher prices for consumers, not a single coal or gas-fired power plant has been taken offline. To the contrary, old inefficient German plants have been brought back into service in an effort to stabilize the grid.”
The pdf is 28 pages, and is damning.
There’s a paper out claiming the warming attributable to CO2 is very small;
http://www.praiseworthyprize.com/irephy_latest.html#Major_Portions_in_Climate_Change;_Physical_Approach
This hasn’t received any attention as far as I can see. The lead author, prof Kauppinen, has published lots in physical sciences earlier, and knows more than most about the properties of CO2. They might be on to something here. I have no expertise in the field myself, but thought you’ll know someone who does. The paper is paywalled.
Regards,
Dan
Green labeling by Tesco
http://www.tesco.com/greenerliving/greener_tesco/what_tesco_is_doing/carbon_labelling.page
gets dropped- http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/30/tesco-drops-carbon-labelling?newsfeed=true
“But on the eve of a major report on high street retailers’ green programmes, the supermarket has said it is ditching the scheme. “We expected that other retailers would move quickly to do it as well, giving it critical mass, but that hasn’t happened,” Tesco’s climate change director, Helen Fleming, told trade magazine The Grocer.
Tesco also blamed “a minimum of several months’ work” to calculate the footprint of each product. The Guardian has previously reported that it would take Tesco centuries to fulfil its pledge, as the supermarket was only adding labels at the rate of 125 products a year.”
http://www.space.com/14400-killer-electrons-radiation-belt-space.html
Rain is pouring down in Svalbard, usually a pretty dry place. Ny-Ålesund at 79 degrees north got 98 mm in 24 hours, which is more than four times the monthly average precipitation for January, and even four times the previous daily record! The cause of unseasonal warth and extreme amounts of rain is high pressure over Scandianavia, almost 1060 hPa, which pushes warm, moist air far north.
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&u=http%3A%2F%2Fverogvind.net%2Freadmore.asp%3Freadmoreid%3D3449
the next political push on environmental issues, from the UN:
World lacks enough food, fuel as population soars: UN
ReutersBy Nina Chestney | Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) – The world is running out of time to make sure there is enough food, water and energy to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population and to avoid sending up to 3 billion people into poverty, a U.N. report warned on Monday….
…Governments and scientists should also strengthen the relationship between policy and science by regularly examining the science behind environmental thresholds or “tipping points” and the United Nations should consider naming a chief scientific adviser or board to advise the organisation, the report said.
http://news.yahoo.com/world-lacks-enough-food-fuel-population-soars-un-151012418.html
Seems volcanoes are the cause of the Little Ice Age, which means the current warming is simply a continuation of the last 2000 years or so – probably the last 10000 years
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16797075
More Ars Technica AGW advocacy…check their science coverage out. The commentors have a very tough attack dog mentality for any poster questioning the CAGW narrative.
Today it is ocean acidification…this time more models from Nature (Nature Climate Change, 2012. DOI: 10.1038/NCLIMATE1372
From http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2012/01/ocean-acidification-already-well-beyond-natural-variability.ars
“Trends can be difficult to detect in real-world data, and the noisier the data, the tougher the task becomes. A longer time series can help limit the impact of noise, but these can be difficult to come by. Verifying the human alteration of ocean chemistry requires tackling challenges like these.
Ocean acidification entails a decrease in the pH of ocean water as the carbonate that buffers it is consumed. That carbonate does more than just maintain pH, though. Lots of marine organisms, from plankton to mollusks to coral, use it to build shells and skeletons. As the buffer is depleted, the saturation state of carbonate minerals like calcite (and its polymorph aragonite) decreases, making it more difficult for organisms to incorporate them. In most areas of the surface ocean, calcite and aragonite are supersaturated, making it easy for organisms to build shells and skeletons. In undersaturated water, the equilibrium tilts the other way, and dissolution of these structures becomes possible.
Calcite and aragonite saturation states vary regionally and seasonally, so how can we make sure the acidification trend we’re measuring is real and human-caused? One way to look into this question is to take the measurements we have and model the whole ocean to see what natural variation would have looked like before humans started emitting CO2. A recent study in Nature Climate Change does just that.
The researchers ran a climate model from 800 A.D. to 2100 A.D. using the best data available for the various forcings: solar activity, volcanic activity, changes in land use, and anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and reflective aerosols. They project the rest of this century using the IPCC A1B emissions scenario, a “middle-of-the-road” emissions estimate. To track acidification, they use the saturation state of aragonite in surface waters. …”
Apparently the sun had nothing to do with the LIA, according to models and reported by Richard Black at the BBC.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16797075
Talking of Volcanoes
http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volcanism/earthquakes/myrdalsjokull/
Vicious little cluster of earthquakes today after it looked to have quietened down
The calm before the storm?
UN – Global Sustainability Panel Says a “Future Worth Choosing” must be based on true costs to people and the environment
http://www.un.org/gsp/sites/default/files/event_attachments/Addis%20Launch-Press%20Release.pdf
http://www.un.org/gsp/report
Please note that the full report has not yet been formatted as a publication. The publication version will be available in mid-February 2012.
Just in off HOT AIR:
http://hotair.com/archives/2012/01/30/global-warming-activists-get-those-deniers-out-of-meteorology/
Whoops, probably should have used this link:
http://dailycaller.com/2012/01/30/global-warming-activists-seek-to-purge-deniers-among-local-weathermen/
Preparing the ground for Mr. Gore trip to Antartica?
in english
http://fastnu.com/content/scientists-discover-river-running-under-antarcticas-ice
the original new in spanish
http://www.inach.cl/2012/hallan-rios-superficiales-a-solo-1000-km-del-polo-sur/
unfortunatelly from a chilean researcher…
UN IPCC reviewer converts to skeptic: Former warmist Prof. Dr. Fritz Vahrenholt writes new book: ‘I couldn’t take it any more. I had to write this book’
‘Prof. Fritz Vahrenholt, a renewable energy expert, was once one of the fathers of modern green movement in Germany & believed everything [the] IPCC preached – until 2 years ago. Doubt came 2 years ago when he was an expert reviewer of an IPCC report on renewable energy. ‘I discovered numerous errors and asked myself if the other IPCC reports on climate were similarly sloppy’ — ‘In his book he explains how he dug into the IPCC climate report and was horrified by what he had found’
German Fear Of Warming Plummets…Yet-To-Be-Published Skeptic Book Climbs To Amazon.de No. 4!notrickszone.com
The Church of Global Warming is shattering in Germany, one of the last bastions of the movement. Eve…
http://notrickszone.com/2012/01/30/german-fear-of-warming-plummets-yet-to-be-published-skeptic-book-climbs-to-amazon-de-no-4/
for more detailed information of Antartica, including flowing water in summer
http://www.wondermondo.com/Antarctica.htm
and Volcanic activity
There is an interesting “Perspective” by Neil DeGrasse Tyson in the winter issue of Natural History (pp. 12-17)
Title: Is the twentieth century’s global technological leader becoming an idiocracy?
Translation: The USA is crumbling both literally and metaphorically.
Meanwhile, in the Wall Street Journal – two scientists (Mark P. Mills and Julio M. Ottino) [Jan. 30, p. A15] – on the Opinion page write an article titled: The Coming Tech-led Boom.
Translation: America is particularly suited to . . . flourish.
We need a word for when learned folks look at the same information and reach opposite conclusions!
Nice Green Energy Pollution Disaster story on making Solar Cells….
From the NYT
[China Says It Curbed Spill of Toxic Metal in River
The cadmium, a substance used in the production of paint, solder and solar cells as well as batteries, has been traced to discharges from a mining company in Guangxi that has since halted production, Xinhua, the state-run news agency, said. ]
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/world/asia/china-says-it-curbed-spill-of-toxic-metal-in-river.html
From the Guardian
[Cadmium spill threatens water supplies of major Chinese city
Emergency personnel engaged in a desperate.
The flow of cadmium - discharged into the Liu River earlier this month - has continued despite three previous containment operations, and now threatens the 3.2 million residents of Liuzhou city in Guangxi province.]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/30/cadmium-spill-china-river?intcmp=122
In the Guardian article you should Make Note that the Guardian does NOT mention the purpose of the cadmium!
Interesting exchange in the National Post newspaper out of eastern Canada, about the Kyoto accord.
In http://opinion.financialpost.com/2012/01/25/elizabeth-may-kents-clever-wording-on-kyoto/ Green party leader Elizabeth May attacks the federal government for getting out of Kyoto rather than paying its penalties for not meeting targets. Letter writers then expose her hypocrisy in advocating staying in but not meeting quotas and not paying penalties (which apparently are all voluntary!):
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2012/01/26/fp-letters-to-the-editor-elizabeth-mays-kyoto-plea-for-hypocrisy/
Elizabeth May is no stranger to hypocrisy. For example, she – like many neo-Marxist politicians of green and NDP parties – claimed to want civility in Parliament yet associate with uncivil people like the Occupy protesters (who initiate force against individuals by blocking their access to public property, churches, and businesses they choose to deal with). May even referred to the incompetent manipulating lawbreakers of the CRU as her friends who worked hard. (She claimed to have read all of the emails leaked from the CRU in 2009, which clearly show actions to maneuver questioners out of publications and violate FOIA laws – fine people to have as friends!)
People like May are clever in the pursuit of their immoral mission, yet not smart enough to figure out the fundamental error in how they view humans. Increasingly I think they have a psychological problem.
Link on PhysOrg about a NASA-led study of ocean heat—did somebody find Trenberth’s missing energy?
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-nasa-case-earth-energy.html
Western Europe’s shale gas prospects.
Somewhat conservative, but informative, article.
Another “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes,” in this case an attack on an article that appeared in the UK Daily Mail entitled “Forget global warming – it’s Cycle 25 we need to worry about”.
Forbes
Green Tech |1/30/2012 @ 8:04PM | 3,951 views
Another Day, Another Distortive
Attack on Climate Change
Steve Zwick, Contributor
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevezwick/2012/01/30/another-day-another-intentionally-distortive-effort-to-discredit-climate-change/
Explosive volcanic eruptions triggered by cosmic rays: Volcano as a bubble chamber 10.1016/j.gr.2010.11.004 : Gondwana Research | ScienceDirect.com
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1342937X10001966
http://www.deepdyve.com/lp/elsevier/explosive-volcanic-eruptions-triggered-by-cosmic-rays-volcano-as-a-3p053jxP0S
Glacier theft – Chilean police recover ice from Southern Ice Field’s Jorge Montt Glacier
http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/glacier-theft-chilean-police-recover-ice-from-southern-ice-fields-jorge-montt-glacier/story-e6frfku0-1226258688711
BBC’s Richard Black jumps on the non solar influence on climate change trail. Volcano power causes Ice Ages apparently.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16797075
missed the link!
Anthony/Willis
I saw this in the Daily Mail.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2093947/Nasa-solves-mystery-Earths-missing-energy–going-sea-says-space-agency.html
May be something to post an article on
Richard
What can happen when you extrapolate beyond the data. The increased use of the word sustainability plotted against increasing time!
http://xkcd.com/1007/
NASA claims to have found Trenberth’s missing energy…
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/m/news/index.cfm?release=2012-029
Changing political focus from GW to sustainable development pointed out in
http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2012/01/what-happened.html
with references to
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-dangerous-shift-in-obamas-climate-change-rhetoric/2012/01/26/gIQAYnwzVQ_story.html
and
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/01/24/uk-rio-idUKTRE80N1XT20120124
so it’s not just the people who are deserting the AGW-camp, the politician are following by reframing the vocabulary although staying within the Agenda 21 main frame.
I wonder if they are rendevouing with Al Gore
Repair man accidentally joins South Pole expedition
A New Zealand repair man is on his way to Antarctica after a renegade Norwegian yachtsman set sail unaware he was still on board.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/antarctica/9050999/Repair-man-accidentally-joins-South-Pole-expedition.html
Jim Hansen GISS is at it again…
James Hansen imbalanced:
http://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&source=hp&biw=&bih=&q=James+Hansen+imbalanced&oq=James+Hansen+imbalanced&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=4703l15539l0l17288l23l20l0l7l0l0l2407l22441l0.1.1.1.8-1.9l13l0#hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=x7c&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&tbm=nws&sclient=psy-ab&q=James+Hansen+imbalanced&pbx=1&oq=James+Hansen+imbalanced&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=s&gs_upl=0l0l1l15005l0l0l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&fp=7fafbe5d949b3cc9&biw=1262&bih=607
“when I see headlines in the news that unequivocally say “Little Ice Age was caused by Volcanoes“, well, I’d like to see the evidence.” and doesn’t seem to find over much! Erik Klemetti reviews; “Abrupt onset of the Little Ice Age triggered by volcanism and sustained by sea-ice/ocean feedbacks” here;
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/01/volcanoes-and-the-little-ice-age-not-the-smoking-gun/#more-94336
I love visiting here and reading all the different stuff about climate. It’s skeptical and it’s a touch polemic. I don’t come back cause I get a little bored of just climate! A little bored of the tendancy to right leaning politics (good ol USA style when I’m a good old UK leftie. Left in the cold) . How about addressing the other areas of science: evolution (got bored of The Skeptic Magazine, cause that was their safe subject), population, extinction (respect for E O Wilson, but, he’s become arrogant and in-scientific), computer sciences, and hey economics. Generally some non partisan, subjective stuff you’ve proved so good at doing. Fill the gap left by the mainstream science media (such as New Scientist, Nature, Scientific American) they’ve gone politically correct mass market. Challenge me, help me understand.
And, lastly, thanks for the education, the entertainment and the fun in seeing diverse points of view.
Please see http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=23882
It concerns a replacement for PIPA/SOPA that the President apparently intends to enact by executive order. It takes the form of an international treaty, so violates the constitution since Congress must approve treaties. That explains why he was against PIPA/SOPA. He already enacted a more restrictive law. The man has no scruples.
ACTA has been around for awhile, but I had not heard of it before. A quick reading of what it intends to do is disturbing as it can be used to control who has access to the web.
I found no referenct to it on WUWT.
The Loeb study mentioned above eliminates the “missing heat”.
http://www.space.com/14414-earth-missing-energy-lost.html
It was more of those unacknowledged uncertainties:
CMEs clean out space junk? http://www.space.com/14413-solar-storms-cleanup-falling-space-junk.html
Not so much by direct impact, but by “puffing” the atmosphere temporarily.
Australia’s wealthiest woman Gina Rinehart has bought a 9% stake in left leaning Fairfax media. This will probably rise to 15% and mean a seat on the board.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-01/rinehart-boosts-stake-in-fairfax/3803664?WT.svl=news2
This is great news and will bring a balance to Australian media that has never existed before.
Gina Rinehart previously bought a stake in Channel 10 and, shortly afterward, Andrew Bolt started ‘The Bolt Report’.
This is a long term change and will bring a breath of fresh air for the predominantly left of center Australian
media.
Zadar, Croatia covered in snow
The video of the Oregon meeting on AGW is up.
Presentations here, including links to PDF files.
http://www.ametsoc.org/chapters/oregon/Minutes/2012/2012_1_25_Meeting/2012_1_25_Minutes.html
Can climate change be any lower? Now it’s responsible for sex trafficing:-
http://greenanswers.com/news/274241/effects-climate-change-fuels-sex-trade-cambodia
Fossil DNA has clues to surviving rapid climate change
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21410-fossil-dna-has-clues-to-surviving-rapid-climate-change.html?full=true
We might look more closely at what could be called the “TOTO effect”. Back in the 1980s TOTO was the “Totable Tornado Observatory” (with reference to Dorothy’s little dog). Unfortunately it could not withstand the tornado-force winds it was supposed to measure. In a broader sense, consider all the data gaps that result from disasters destroying instrumentation just when it’s needed – and sometimes the observers too. Can we get some comment on this from the climate guys?
http://www.looktothestars.org/news/7769-al-gore-and-richard-branson-witness-climate-change-in-antarctica
The Dynamic Duo!
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-oreskes-judging-climate-change-20120122,0,6437230.story
Apparently Naomi Oreskes believes that “When it comes to climate change, open-mindedness is the wrong approach.” So basically, climate scientists should not be open minded!!
rss feed for your site working?(posts)
Global warming causes increase in mass of planet Earth:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16787636
Quote:
[
Another much less significant reason the planet is gaining mass is because of global warming.
"Nasa has calculated that the Earth is gaining about 160 tonnes a year because the temperature of the Earth is going up. If we are adding energy to the system, the mass must go up," says Dr Smith.
]
160 tonnes = 1.4 x 10^22 joules.
This must be where Trenberth’s “missing heat” has gone – it’s missing because E=MC^2 has converted the heat into mass!
/utterlybemused.
http://voices.yahoo.com/nasa-admits-1934-not-1998-was-warmest-year-494073.html?cat=58
****NASA Admits that 1934, Not 1998, was the Warmest Year on Record****
yes – this is the headline… *******NASA Admits*******
In one more devastating blow against the global warming or “climate Apocalypse” supporters such as former Vice President Al Gore, NASA stated today that it was wrong when it release a report that 1998 was the warmest year ever recorded in modern history.
According to H. Sterling Burnett, a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), NASA scientist and famous man-made global warming proponent James Hansen’s well-known claims that 1998 was measured as the warmest year on record in the U.S. were the result of a serious mathematical error. NASA has now corrected that error, and 1934 is now known as the warmest year on record, with 1921 the third warmest year instead of 2006 as was also previously claimed.
Moreover, NASA now also has to admit that three of the five warmest years on record occurred before 1940-it has up until now held that all five of them occurred after 1980.
And perhaps most devastating of all to the man-made global warming backers, it is now admitted that six of the 10 hottest years on record occurred when only 10% of the amount of greenhouse gases that have been emitted in the last century were in the atmosphere.
Anthony, a number of your sea ice charts ceased updates in 2011. WUWT?
Toyota: Electrification loses spark
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/motoring/news/article.cfm?c_id=9&objectid=10779849
A “well understood” concept. At least it was thought. Nothing to do with climate, but a very good example that a simple process as wings which create lift was so misunderstood all the years since humans took to the skies.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-01-wings.html
‘Mann’s understanding of statistics may be likened to an overly enthusiastic undergraduate who left the lecture early.’
http://www.bishop-hill.net/blog/2012/2/1/awful-astronomer-astray.html
This is really sad. People are dying in the recent cold snap in Europe, 100 year old records are breaking, and yet there is very little coverage in the U.S. press. Can you start highlighting the suffering so people understand that cold results in suffering and hardship.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/1180200/1/.html
Combining computer modeling with observations, the findings were reported by an international team of climate modelers, marine conservationists, ocean chemists, biologists and ecologists — led by Tobias Friedrich and Axel Timmermann at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa — the university stated in a news release.
Their study appeared online in the Jan. 22 issue of the journal Nature Climate Change.
Scientists typically measure the concentration of aragonite in ocean water to gauge the water’s acidity. Aragonite is a form of calcium carbonate. Marine organisms such as corals use it to build skeletal structures through a process called calcification.
CO2 is absorbed by the ocean, where it reacts with seawater, increasing the water’s acidity. As the acidity of seawater rises, the saturation level of aragonite drops.
Lower aragonite levels might significantly reduce the calcification rate of marine organisms, resulting in the potential loss of ecosystems.
“Any significant drop below the minimum level of aragonite to which the organisms have been exposed for thousands of years and have successfully adapted will very likely stress them and their associated ecosystems,” Friedrich said in the release.
A ticking clock
Read more: http://thegardenisland.com/news/local/increasing-ocean-acidity-due-to-humans-co/article_fd41e002-4cb3-11e1-82cf-001871e3ce6c.html#ixzz1l9KapceU
Complete with panic graphics.
“Die kalte Sonne”, authored by former warmist Prof. Dr. Fritz Vahrenholt and geologist/paleontologist Dr. Sebastian Lüning comes out in German on 6th Feb.
http://notrickszone.com/2012/01/30/german-fear-of-warming-plummets-yet-to-be-published-skeptic-book-climbs-to-amazon-de-no-4/
It is now No 1 in the listings.
Because of this he has been dis-invited to speak at the University of Osnabrück.
http://notrickszone.com/2012/02/01/university-of-osnabruck-shuts-down-debate-calls-skepticism-provocative/
If you can’t win the debate just gag the opposition.
Thought you might be interested in this
http://online.wsj.com/public/page/letters.html
Only the BBC would carry this as a major news item and then make a BS comment on global warming.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-16843905
Science Speak:
is a scientific modeling and mathematical research company, and we speak about some science and economic issues.
http://sciencespeak.com/
David Evans has a background in mathematics, computing, and electrical engineering. He helped build the carbon accounting model for the Australian Government that tracks carbon in plants, debris, soils, and agricultural and forest products. He researches mathematics — Fourier analysis, calculus, the number system, and multivariable polynomials. While valuable, this activity pays nothing. So David has been investing on the stock market, and doing the odd consulting job, since 1990. David also has a keen interest in monetary history, banking, and detecting scams.
Joanne Nova has been explaining science as a professional speaker, TV host, radio presenter, and book author for over a decade. She’s performed in town halls, five star hotels, schools, outback communities, and in a House briefing room in Washington. Her clients include professional associations of accountants, doctors, engineers, financial planners, and teachers. She explains why gold is THE place to be in a credit crisis, and how the global warming gravy train kept going long after it ran out of steam.
Reporting on the current issue of the journal Nature, “scientists” now want to regulate sugar as a toxin:
http://news.yahoo.com/sugar-regulated-toxin-researchers-180605186.html
Regardless of whether or not anthropogenic climate change is real, Canadian boreal forests are indeed shrinking on the prairies. If by chance this does point to an increase in the desertification of the breakbasket of Canada, then the Government of Saskatchewan may wish to increase their reforestation efforts. Again, I don’t care why this is occurring, but it *is* occurring, and the non-zero possibility of resulting famine in Canada and the developing countries that rely on Saskatchewan for food is something to take very seriously.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2012/01/31/sci-climate-change-forests.html
Please know that while I am no scientist by any stretch of the imagination, I am also no rabid climate change activist. This comment doesn’t mean that I’ve necessarily fallen off of the fence, just like my analysis of the HadCRUT3 data that was posted on your blog didn’t mean that I had necessarily fallen off of the fence.
This was coming along nicely
I have been working on this since the Climategate Emails when I realised that no-one was looking after the raw data http://www.theglobalthermometer.com – I was hoping it would become a useful reference website on our favourite subject.
I’ve been out and about busy being a Telecoms Engineer over the last couple of days because I still haven’t seen any of that swag from “Big Oil” ;-) And when I get back after a not particularly productive or successful couple of days I am greeted with this (see link above) – what looks like a glitch in my code – Oh great the icing on the cake.
I collect the raw METAR data hourly from 2586 pages like this http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/current/CWHT.html
the bit after ob which looks like gobbledeghook is the METAR data and does, most times, have the temperature data in there, the temp in integer degrees C a \ and then the dew point in degrees C which from a burgeoning MySQL Database allows me to plot a whole raft of graphs.
That is until NOAA have made this”improvement” for everywhere in the USA! Here’s an example check out what happens since yesterday http://weather.noaa.gov/weather/current/KWAF.html
There’s now a nice little note that says “NWS is redirecting legacy web pages that contain observed weather condition data to alternative web pages containing the same information but in a different layout. This change is required to eliminate duplication of effort within NWS.”
“containing the same information but in a different layout” aarrgghhh
As a result of some dodgy caching the whole of the USA becomes as warm as Mombasa in Kenya which at this time of the year has kind of skewed the results a tad
Don’t worry I will find a way.
They don’t make it easy to know the truth do they?
Dave
Hi burnside the satellite that was collecting the info for those Sea Ice Graphs packed up. See http://www.drroyspencer.com/2011/10/amsr-e-ends-9-years-of-global-observations/ for details. A new one is due for launch in Feb but I think the launch date is now delayed. Here the latest launch schedule page http://www.satelliteonthenet.co.uk/index.php/launch-schedule
The one we are interested in is
delayed Arirang-3 (Kompsat 3), GCOM-W1, Horyu-2, SDS-4 H-2A Tanegashima Space Centre, Japan Japanese earth observation satellite which will study water circulation in the Earth’s atmosphere (GCOM-W1), South Korean earth observation satellite (Arirang-3)
Specifically the GCOM-W1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GCOM-W
Regards Dave
Another highly hedged study, but you can’t tell that from the title of the new item “Did Plants Freeze the Planet?”
Blaming ice ages 455 mya on plants. The error bars on CO2 level reconstruction back that far are pretty wide. And how did they verify their computer models?
The Millenium Falcon?, old experimental Russian ship?, volcano tube? What is it? If it isn’t natural, then that leaves man-made or ET made. Either of the latter will rewrite some history.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/shipwreck-baltic-sea-ufo-millennium-falcon-disc-shaped/story?id=15471558#.Tyf-iCOkl4s
At last check the murder-state of Syria was still a member-state of the IPCC. Yes, there is something toxic and “anthropogenic” in the atmosphere – it’s called “shrapnel”.
Pine Island glacier is calving again. Expect more doom and gloom sea level comments…
http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/6353306/Huge-Antarctic-iceberg-set-to-break-away
Looks like the Nobel Peace prize committee has attracted some attention.
Among other things, there’s some question as to whether environmentalism qualifies as advancing World peace.
Exhibits A&B?
“For example, in 2007 the prize went to climate activist Al Gore and the U.N.’s panel on climate change, and in 2009 the committee cited Obama for “extraordinary efforts” to boost international diplomacy.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/nobel-peace-prize-jury-under-investigation-as-deadline-closes/2012/02/01/gIQAAcaghQ_story.html
Strangely Moving Antarctic Lakes Surprises Researchers
“We’re interested in surface lakes on ice shelves because they’re the precursor of ice shelf collapse,” MacAyeal said. “This ice shelf gives us longstanding lakes for reasons other than climate change, and with consequences that aren’t going to kill the beast we’re studying, so can we look at these lakes to see what’s going on.”
http://www.ouramazingplanet.com/2357-strangely-moving-antarctic-lakes-surprise-researchers.html
Anthony,
I
believe your RSS feed is not working. The Comments feed works, but I haven’t received a new article feed since 30 January. I unsubscribed and tried to re-subscribe, but the URL http://wattsupwiththat.com/feed/ comes back with a 404 error.
Thanks
Glacier Thief story of course has to end with the bogus claim of Glacier retreating half a mile a year:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/01/glacier-thief-arrested-ice-cubes
via wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_Montt_Glacier
‘In December 2011, a new study was published. “The study was presented by glaciologist and CECs researcher Andrés Rivera, who focused his investigation on changes in the glacier between February 2010 and January 2011. Using a series of 1,445 photos taken throughout this period, scientists found that the glacier shrank roughly 82 feet each day, receding more than half a mile in the course of the year.”
the video that proves this: http://vimeo.com/33238262
Real reason for local Glacier retret discovered :-)
Funny and real…
[Chile: Man arrested over glacier ice theft]
[Police in the south of Chile have arrested a man on suspicion of stealing ice from the Jorge Montt Glacier.
Officials in the town of Cochrane found five tonnes of ice in the back of his truck.
Scientists say the glacier, in the Patagonia region, is retreating faster than any other in Chile.
...
The BBC's Gideon Long, in Santiago, says tourists in southern Chile are often served whisky chilled with glacial ice - which has an extra kudos because it comes directly from the glaciers.]
Is this the reason for the ‘missing’ ice, this could be just the tip of the iceberg.
Yea, it’s for real. $500.00 a ton for glacial ice, who would have thought.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-16843905
Related storie about the record ice loss in Chile glaciers, futher to my last post.
[Melting mountain glaciers are making sea levels rise faster now than at any time in the last 350 years, according to new research.]
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-12950246
They are melting at the rate of $500.00 a ton.
And they are raising Scotch, not seawater (aka Burbon)
:-)
Hansen Blames Texas heat wave on global warming:
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20120131/texas-heat-and-drought-caused-global-warming-climate-change-james-hansen-nasa-science-skeptics-oklahoma-moscow
Comments are good.
Regarding previous papers on arsenic-based life forms:
http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1201/1201.6643.pdf
via yahoo
The perils of using meteorology for advertising (humour):
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/its-a-mini-disaster-bmw-sponsors-deadly-cold-front-6298210.html
Evil (or should that be wonderful?) early plants are actually responsible for plunging the world into repeated ice ages because, of course,….. wait for it….. they scarfed up all the CO2 and it’s all CO2′s fault….But of course, poor overworked plants of today just cannot keep up with mankind…
But, oh, gee, plants are yet one more ‘major contributor’ to climate that’s just been, er, discovered. /sarc
from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/01/first-land-plants-ice-ages
…..”Although plants are still cooling the Earth’s climate by reducing the atmospheric carbon levels, they cannot keep up with the speed of today’s human-induced climate change,” Lenton said. “It would take millions of years for plants to remove current carbon emissions from the atmosphere.”
Liam Dolan, a plant scientist at Oxford University who worked with Lenton, said the invasion of the land by plants was a pivotal time in the history of the planet that brought about huge climate changes. “Our discovery emphasises that plants have a central regulatory role in the control of climate: they did yesterday, they do today, and they certainly will in the future.” [emphasis added]
Seems like global warming is counting 100 lives so far in eastern Europe.
The medias don’t seem alarmed.
Brisbane, Australia: The Society for Sustainability & Environmental Engineering
Tuesday 21 February 2012
Climate Skepticism: effective countering of climate misinformation
Request flyer on the details of this event
http://ssee.org.au/home-page
BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL MAKES SHOCKING DATA CORRUPTION REVELATION
‘The UK’s Daily Mail newspaper showcases a worrying new study titled, “’Scientists falsify data to get research published and whistleblowers are bullied into keeping quiet,’ claim their own colleagues.”
The national newspaper reports (January 12th 2012) that a newly published BMJ survey of almost 2,800 experts in Britain found six per cent of doctors and scientists knew of possible research misconduct at their own institution that has not been properly investigated.
In an editorial, Dr Richard Lehman from Oxford University and the journal’s clinical epidemiology editor Dr Elizabeth Loder called for an end to the ‘culture of haphazard publication and incomplete data disclosure’.
PSI spokesman, John O’Sullivan commented, “This survey starkly underlines what many principled scientists and researchers fear: a denigration of standards caused by relentless pressure to provide the ‘right’ answers to justify costly budgets. We are seeing that coercion from over eager corporations and government paymasters is invariably behind this.”‘
http://principia-scientific.org/supportnews/latest-news/123-british-medical-journal-makes-shocking-data-corruption-revelation
I’m certain this has been noted, but just in case, here’s a link to George Monbiot’s piece on nuclear power – interesting how things are changing:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2012/feb/02/nuclear-waste?intcmp=239
Good grief—they’re still at it!
http://news.yahoo.com/un-panel-says-retool-world-economy-sustainability-164515165.html
Can’t we stop funding these people?
/Mr Lynn
The Times (UK) dead tree edition has a weekly science supplement “Eureka”.. this week the cover is “Snow: Have Fun While It Lasts”. The article inside is “The Last Great Blizzard” and contains the sort of nonsense I thought we’d seen the last of. “Projections” of less snow, two-thirds less by 2050, and none after 2080 it seems. “Climate change deniers having to regroup”… yes, “deniers” from the Times… “precisely because of gobal warming some areas of the planet will get more of snow before they start getting less of it”.. I’m giggling while I read this now… oh and, hahhahaa… Pierrehumbert of UC Chicago with simulations that show a “blizzard of biblical proportions in 2040 exactly, with nothing like it afterwards.”
I can smell something, and it’s not snow.
I guess these folks have never gone skiing. If there is a geyser shooting up from the lake, it will be the biggest snow making machine on the face of the planet.
“Green Agenda Faces Existential Crisis: Green Subsidies No Longer Affordable”
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/44362
Spain- “temporarily suspend” subsidies for all new wind, solar, co-generation or waste incineration plants as it seeks to curb the public deficit.”
UK- “A plan to subsidise solar panels on homes was “one of the most ridiculous schemes ever dreamed up”, a Government minister has said. Lord Marland, an Energy minister, hit out at the cost of so-called feed-in tariffs, which the Government has axed as part of the cuts programme……….”
Larry D reported a link to this, here’s another:
http://www.rdmag.com/News/2012/02/Environment-Global-Climate-Change-First-Plants-Caused-Ice-Ages
Three States to Require Insurers to Disclose Climate-Change Response Plans
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/business/energy-environment/three-states-tell-insurers-to-disclose-responses-to-climate-change.html?_r=1
Insurance commissioners in California, New York and Washington State will require that companies disclose how they intend to respond to the risks their businesses and customers face from increasingly severe storms and wildfires, rising sea levels and other consequences of climate change, California’s commissioner said Wednesday.
“Our experience and other states’ experience as regulators is you get a far better response rate if you require response to be provided than if you just allow companies to decide when and how they will respond,” said Dave Jones, the California commissioner. “Our goal is to have the most complete, best and accurate information possible for investors, the insurance industry, regulators and the broader public.”
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/s320x320/31853_127151170632725_127146760633166_354226_7892318_n.jpg
I appreciate that it may not be a problem at your end, but just in case it is…
My WUWT RSS feed in Firefox isn’t updating.
My feeds from Bishop Hill, Climate Audit and many other climate and non-climate sites are all fine as far as I can tell.
The last post I have in the feed is “New Paper Speculates on Volcanoes…” in case you changed anything between that post and the next.
As I say, I appreciate that it may not be your problem but I am sure you would like to know if it is, especially if it’s easily fixable.
Best Wishes
Well, why not? They’re already regulating everything else. What is it with these left coast wackos?
Quote:
Sugar is so harmful to public health it should be controlled like alcohol and cigarettes, U.S. scientists claim.
Researchers from the University of California-San Francisco said Wednesday that the public’s excessive consumption of sugar not only is contributing to a global obesity pandemic but also is critically altering people’s hormones, metabolism and blood pressure and causing “significant damage to the liver.”
In an article entitled “The Toxic Truth About Sugar,” published in the journal Nature, the scientists said that sugar consumption tripled worldwide over the past 50 years and now is contributing to 35 million deaths a year.
“As long as the public thinks that sugar is just ‘empty calories,’ we have no chance in solving this,” Dr. Robert Lustig said. “There are good calories and bad calories, just as there are good fats and bad fats, good amino acids and bad amino acids, good carbohydrates and bad carbohydrates. But sugar is toxic beyond its calories.”
The researchers said that the effects of consuming an excess of sugary foods and drinks mimic the effects of drinking too much alcohol — which, they pointed out, is made from distilling sugar.
They recommended using taxation, controlling access to sugary products and tightening licensing requirements to sell sweet snacks and drinks in schools and workplaces.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/02/02/sugar-is-so-harmful-it-should-be-regulated-like-alcohol-and-cigarettes/#ixzz1lFjoOrYT
WUWT RSS feed is fixed for me now (through nothing I’ve knowingly done) so thanks if you responded so promptly.
Best Wishes
Anthony,
Below is a link to a paper published in Applied Physics Research of Canadian Center of Science and Education on Feb 1, 2012 predicting a new little ice age resulting from decreasing TSI. You may want to get their permission to post it.
http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/apr/article/view/14754
David O. Smith
Rogers, AR
Here is a “good” story why the last 2 winters in Europe were so harsh. I am not sure if I should laugh or cry.
Adrian
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120201105126.htm
BEST Fails To Account For Population and Cold Winters
By P Gosselin on 30th January 2012
By Ed Caryl
http://notrickszone.com/2012/01/30/best-fails-to-account-for-population-and-cold-winters/
I’m surprised not to have read this first at WUWT. Maybe I missed it, or it was discussed months ago.
Piers Corbyn says that his website has been suffering cyber attacks. I wonder if that has anything to do with his views on CAGW or whether that is just a coincidence?
http://www.weatheraction.com/displayarticle.asp?a=420&c=5
WeatherAction site has been suffering continuing cyber attacks since Jan19 which we have fended off. SOME COMMENT MESSAGES MAY HAVE BEEN LOST DUE TO ‘SWAMPING’. If your message got lost and it is still relevant please re-submit. Thank you for your patience and support.
Developing story out of Antarctica:
Russian scientists seeking Lake Vostok lost in frozen ‘Land of the Lost’?
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/02/02/russian-scientists-lost-in-frozen-land-lost/?intcmp=features#ixzz1lGW5OYfh
This includes a statement:
When the winter arrives in the next few weeks, the temperature can get twice as freezing.
This is mathematical nonsense, even though the concept is clear enough.
After all the doom and imminent danger our Great Barrier Reef faces from AGW according to Ove Hoegh Gulberg, this from the other side of the country;
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/study-finds-coral-reef-growth-thrives-in-warmer-waters/story-e6frg8y6-1226261278615
Quinn Bagley says:
February 2, 2012 at 9:19 am
“. . . Washington State will require that companies disclose how they intend to respond to . . .”
I frequently attend presentations at our local university. Last night was an update (some new data) on the earthquake hazards from the Cascadia subduction zone. State of Washington politicians ought to consider relocating the capitol and most Puget Sound area functions to the interior of the State. The quake off of the coast of Japan last year was slightly smaller than those possible at the coast of Washington. Japan had been preparing for such a quake for many years. Their buildings withstood the shaking. Buildings in Olympia, Tacoma, and Seattle will collapse.
Here is a link to a report on the magnitude 6.8 Nisqually earthquake of February 28, 2001.
http://www.oregongeology.org/sub/nisquallyGLFolder/Mei2Nisqually.htm
A magnitude 9+ quake is possible at the Washington coast – as has happened previously. Big report here:
http://www.oregongeology.org/sub/nisquallyGLFolder/Mei2Nisqually.htm
[Correction http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/pp1707/ ]
Short summary here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1700_Cascadia_earthquake
Second link above should be:
http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/pp1707/
I just got an update from the NASA Climate Change newsletter noting the “Mystery solved- NASA tackles case of Earth’s missing energy.”
“http://climate.nasa.gov/news/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=672
RSS feed is working again. Thanks!
From the Guardian-
Glacier thief arrested in Chile
Police hold man on suspicion of stealing five tonnes of ice from a glacier in Patagonia to sell as designer ice cubes for cocktails
Climate change skeptics have acquired a new explanation for why glaciers are retreating: it’s not global warming, it’s theft….
Climate change sceptics have acquired a new explanation for why glaciers are retreating: it’s not global warming, it’s theft.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise/green-tech/wind/companies-starting-rollout-of-massive-offshore-turbines#comment
Just another preview of coming failure. Some folks may want to go over and leave comments. I already did. They also brag about the wonderful Ken Salazar. Not to keen coming from an engineering organization. Of course I resigned from IEEE 2 weeks before Climate Gate I, wholly unintentionally but I thought it was quite amusing.
Here’s the link-
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/01/glacier-thief-arrested-ice-cubes
Something appears wrong with the front page – I have refreshed it several times, but all it shows is the latest post with your entire sidebar underneath it and no further posts.
[Reply: It appears OK on my computer. ~dbs, mod.]
[Reply: It appears OK on my computer. ~dbs, mod.]
It actually fixed itself about 2 minutes after I posted – I just figured someone must have been working on it at your end already.
I had a similar thing to Michael R, a couple of days ago. Came to Tips & Notes, and the page loaded without any styling, pics, etc. – e;g; started off with a string of blue links down the top left edge, everything else with no bolding, italicising etc., just old style html. Took longer than usual, too (often a sign that something’s going to make mistakes). Made my post, clicked on ‘Post Comment’ and it all reloaded just as it should be.
I always assume this sort of thing is just the odd packet going astray somewhere (or whatever, I’m not a networking expert), as reloading the page usually seems to fix it.
Cold in Europe and now in the UK.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/9058395/Britain-shivers-at-11C-as-cold-snap-brings-snow.html
The Dutch may have a chance to hold Elfstedentocht, a 200 km skating competition, for the first time since 1997:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elfstedentocht#Elfstedentocht_2012
Requirement is 15 cm (6 inches) of ice since tens of thousands participate. The latest take on ice thickness from wikipedia article:
“Elfstedentocht 2012
The cold spell in late January and early February 2012 has heightened the expectation of a 2012 Elfstedentocht. On 2 February 2012, it was reported that 95% of various locks that controlled the water flow in the canals had been adjusted to maximise the ice thickness.[3] On the same day, the Dutch weather meteorological service forecast that temperatures would not rise above freezing until Wednesday 8 February at the earliest and that the ice would be 15 cm thick from Tuesday 7 February until Saturday 11 February.[4]
On 3 February, the Dutch meterological service forecast a probable ice-thickness of 20 cm on Saturday 11 February.[5]“
REJOICE Chris Huhne , UK climate secretary to be charged over allegations he got his now ex wife to take penalty points on her license when he was caught speeding by Gatso camera. He’s TOAST.
http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/teen-kills-mom-sister-to-save-planet-1.1225805 Kill your family to save the planet!!! Crazy!!
The Director of Public Prosecutions was just on UK TV to say he would have his day in court with “our” minister for the Environment and Climate Change Chris Huhn (and his ex wife) for perverting the course of Justice with regard to traffic offences in 2003. The charges carry penalties ranging from a fine to life imprisonment (according to the severity of the offence) and the last person charged with similar was given 12 months prison time (commuted to 6 months on appeal)
That is all.
Chris Huhne UK energy secretary and all round windmill man has been charged with perverting the course of justice and resigned.
Here:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/chris-huhne–speeding-charge-.html
Couldn’t happen to a nastier fellow says I.
Still a major setback to the green energy lobby here.
Kindest Regards
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100134689/huhne-youd-need-a-heart-of-stone-not-to-laugh/
It looks like James has as low an opinion of Huhne as I do.
Curse of Gore strikes again as warmist Chris Huhn is forced to resign as UK Energy Secretary
Chris Huhne resigns from Cabinet after being charged over speeding points
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9058488/Chris-Huhne-resigns-from-Cabinet-after-being-charged-over-speeding-points.html
and comment about it from James Delingpole
Huhne: you’d need a heart of stone not to laugh
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100134689/huhne-youd-need-a-heart-of-stone-not-to-laugh/
Before we break out the champagne to celebrate Huhne’s welcome retirement, look at the Parliamentary record of his replacement Edward Davey.
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/edward_davey/kingston_and_surbiton
Pretty much the same level of fanaticism on Carbon, but shows good sense in some other areas.
Anthony,
Chris Huhne the Buffhuhne has resigned. UK Climate Change Secretary for God’s sake
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9058488/Chris-Huhne-resigns-from-Cabinet-after-being-charged-over-speeding-points.html
Concerns grow over volcanic eruptions
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/environment/story/2012-02-01/deadly-us-volcanoes/52923094/1
I just read and article on Orcas being studied in the Antarctic. Fascinating animals. As I read the article, I find it informative and they readily admit there is much they don’t know. And then the “money line” appears, and here it is –
“This baseline data is particularly important since climate change and other human impacts, such as overfishing and the accumulation of toxic chemicals, are rapidly altering the whales’ habitats and their prey.” And this is in the Antarctic?
So they know very little still about these animals, but they have 40,000 photos, and we are poisoning them – yah, OK.
Here is the article -http://e360.yale.edu/feature/mysteries_of_killer_whales_uncovered_in_the_antarctic/2490/
My point is, these articles seem to follow a script. Some biologist likes to look at these animals and wants to be on permanent vacation with them. So they come up with some connection to mankind whom is killing them indiscriminately, and walla – a research grant.
More ‘evidence of global warming:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2012/02/2012231383974799.html
If you’re interested in the Texas Electrical Grid and the wind production check this out – http://www.ercot.com/content/gridinfo/generation/windintegration/2012/02/ERCOT%20Wind%20Integration%20Report%2002-01-12.pdf
The 3rd graph compares installed wind capacity with actual load.
You can find any day since 2010 at http://www.ercot.com/gridinfo/generation/windintegration/
interesting stuff
For the it’s weather-not-climate department:……
Snow falls in Rome as Italy is hit by cold snap.
The last substantial snowfalls in Rome were in 1986, though lighter snowfalls have occasionally blanketed the city since, including in 2010. Since the capital is usually blessed with a temperate climate, heating in homes is only allowed by law for about 10 hours a day, to cut down on pollution.
The cold snap, with temperatures hovering around the freezing point, meant Romans were shivering in their homes, many with tile and marble floors.
Snow began falling in the late morning Friday, leaving a light dusting on trees and cars and forming slush on the streets in the center. In many of the neighborhoods, snowfall accumulated to about 4 centimeters (1.5 inches).
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/02/03/international/i070848S59.DTL#ixzz1lKgfVq2p
Meanwhile, on yet another slow news day at The Gruaniad UK, some guilt ridden French bloke likens fossil fuel users to slave owners. sigh
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/03/fossil-fuels-slavery?
1152 comments needs some cleaning! Painful to load!
Anyways, take a look over at the SS blog:
http://www.skepticalscience.com/news.php?p=2&t=54&&n=1252
Screed on how skeptics don’t look at all of the data. The examples posted are hilarious, because:
1. They ding us for concentrating on surface temps. Well, screw you. This CAGW bill of goods was sold to the world based on surface temps. That is all we saw from you dishonest twits, until surface temps stopped rising at all, let alone at the civilization destroying rate you predicted.
2. Sea level? That’s flat, too, numbnuts.
3. The balance of the presentation (2/3 of the whole!) is about ice – and not one mention of the Antarctic! Who is leaving out data?
Neptune and Uranus in IR:
http://www.space.com/13086-photos-neptune-uranus-moons-infrared-images.html
N & S latitude bright bands show how far Neptune is tipped. Amazing shots.
18-Mile Crack Seen by NASA in Antarctic Glacier
To scientists, this is more than a vast spectacle. Both polar caps are losing ice, and researchers studying the world’s climate say they want to understand the process.
http://news.yahoo.com/18-mile-crack-seen-nasa-antarctic-glacier-205345573–abc-news.html
[REPLY: Thank you. -REP]
Afflicted before his time, Manneken-Pis runs dry: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/02/us-weather-europe-idUSTRE8101CP20120202. Not to worry, however, his plumbing should recover when things warm up.
A group called the “Common Sense Movement” is running a campaign to stop a lecture by Michael Mann at Penn State. I live in the State College area, and they are even running an ad on local radio! I think there is a Facebook page too, but I don’t do Facebook.
Here is a story about it:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2012/feb/03/penn-state-facebook-michael-mann?newsfeed=true
A Chinese glaciologist of my acquaintance was driven to attempt suicide during the Cultural Revolution. Question. Does the atmospheric science community have any record of its colleagues executed, imprisoned, deported, or harrassed by totalitarian regimes?
The Daubert rule is the outcome of US Supreme Court decision that established new standards for the admissibility of expert testAnthony: I recommend, based upon the references and cases cited below, that you consider a blog post that deals with the likelihood that General Circulation Climate Models and expert tesmony based thereon are probably inadmissible evidence due to the speculative nature of the scenarios and the likelihood that the potential expert witness cannot explain the algorithims that drive the models.
I am a retired lawyer that regularly follows both your blog and a first rate log blog, Volokh Conspiracy, operated by Professor Eugene Volvokh at the UCLA law school.
In a post today Professor Volokh comments upon a US District Court decision, United States v. Stone (E.D. Mich. Jan. 30, 2012), that prohibited the government from introducing expert testimony by a “conspiracy theory expert” by applying the Daubert case rule. The rationale of the judge seems to apply to testimony of potential expert witnesses and computer model simulations they use to support their testimony about AGW.
http://volokh.com/2012/02/03/district-court-judge-in-hutaree-case-rejects-governments-conspiracy-theory-expert/
imony. The Federal Rule of Evidence (FRE) 702 as modified by Daubert defines expert testimony and standards for its admissibility:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/rules/fre/rule_702 The notes following the rule are instructive. The Most states have adopted the FRE so Rule 702 applies in all Federal Courts and state courts.
The following link expands information about the Daubert rule and summarizes various types of expert evidence that it has been applied, including computer simulations.
http://faculty.ncwc.edu/mstevens/425/lecture02.htm
I hope you have the time to read the above. What this information does is illustrate why climate alarmist scientists will not be allowed to testify in court cases. When push comes to shove, AGWers and radical environmental organizations will avoid putting the theory on trial where they have the burden of proof.
Water Vapor:
Positive or negative feedback??
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2012/20120123_isaac_held.html
““Isaac Held’s choice to investigate the role of water vapor in atmospheric warming was, in the 1970s, a turn down Frost’s ‘road less traveled’,” said NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D. “His brilliant research and tenacious pursuit of knowledge have given us a better ability to predict future changes in climate that will result from a warming atmosphere. I am very proud to have researchers of his caliber working for NOAA.”
Somehow the activists at AMS appear to have elected a slate of activists to their board.
http://www.ametsoc.org/memb/membonly_rightframe.html
They all appear to be heavily vested in climate change research.
There are some really interesting articles available here:
http://www.nature.com/ngeo/focus/earth-plants/index.html
talking about how plants helped change and shape the nature of the world and its climate. This one:
http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v5/n2/pdf/ngeo1376.pdf
Palaeozoic landscapes shaped by plant evolution
Martin R. Gibling* and Neil S. Davies†
“…Fluvial landscapes diversified markedly over the 250 million years between the Cambrian and Pennsylvanian periods. The diversification occurred in tandem with the evolution of vascular plants and expanding vegetation cover. In the absence of widespread vegetation, landscapes during the Cambrian and Ordovican periods were dominated by rivers with wide sand-beds and aeolian tracts. During the late Silurian and Devonian periods, the appearance of vascular plants with root systems was associated with the development of channelled sand-bed rivers, meandering rivers and muddy floodplains. The widespread expansion of trees by the Early Pennsylvanian marks the appearance of narrow fixed channels, some representing anabranching systems, and braided rivers with vegetated islands. We conclude that the development of roots stabilized the banks of rivers and streams. The subsequent appearance of woody debris led to log jams that promoted the rapid formation of new river channels. Our contention is supported by studies of modern fluvial systems and laboratory experiments. In turn, fluvial styles influenced plant evolution as new ecological settings developed along the fluvial systems. We suggest that terrestrial plant and landscape evolution allowed colonization by an increasingly diverse array of organisms….”
has a Figure 1 that is really worth looking at.
The Jan 2010 UK Daily Mail story about the IPCC’s ‘GlacierGate’ confession ( http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1245636/Glacier-scientists-says-knew-data-verified.html ) said, “The claim that Himalayan glaciers are set to disappear by 2035 rests on two 1999 magazine interviews with glaciologist Syed Hasnain”. A quick search of WUWT didn’t turn up which two articles those were, so here’s a tip about one of ‘em: Christian Science Monitor, Nov 5, 1999, “Himalayan Glaciers May Disappear by 2035″, reproduced at our favorite anti-skeptic’s web page http://www.heatisonline.org/contentserver/objecthandlers/index.cfm?ID=3406&Method=Full&PageCall=&Title=Himalayan%20Glaciers%20May%20Disappear%20by%202035
Entertaining to see in the article how Katie McGinty, a then-current TERI person (former Al Gore staffer / former head of the White House CEQ) is mixed into the picture.
http://science.memebase.com/2012/02/03/funny-science-news-experiments-memes-wow-just-ugh-this-is-why-i-drink/#comments
Advocating murder of people who dislike Bill Nye and don’t believe in AGW. The commenters seem to share the sentiment.
California’s Grid System Operator Confronts the Prospect of 33 Percent Renewables by 2020
The ISO CEO’s five-year plan has four simple components—and they may require fossil fuels.
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/Californias-Grid-System-Operator-Confronts-33-Percent-Renewables-by-2020/
And some more info here
http://www.solarserver.com/solar-magazine/solar-news/current/2012/kw04/california-iso-strategic-plan-for-grid-operation-includes-greater-integration-of-wind-solar-generation.html
and details here-
“Reliable Power for a Renewable Future” is available on the California ISO web site at http://www.caiso.com/Documents/2012-2016StrategicPlan.pdf, and the organization’s Electricity Road Map is also available at http://www.caiso.com/Documents/2012-2016StrategicPlanElectricityRoadMap.pdf.
Another view of the Jan.27 flare and CME, powerful, brilliant flare
California doubles down on stupid, bets the house.
http://yubanet.com/california/Poor-minority-residents-face-most-health-risks-with-climate-change.php#.TyzPh8jntvA
as a native, i am both amused and disgusted, especially about the “poor” in Santa Monica and Long Beach… like i could afford to live near the ocean.
crackheads, one and all” ou tax money @ w*rk.
actual report from my post above available here:
http://www.ehib.org/projects/ehss01/Climate%20change%20vulnerability%20report_ASTHO.pdf
Here is another automated weather observation station that has been reporting very high temperatures. Today in Bellingham the temp rose to almost 50 – but at the airport the equipment reported 68. Local newspaper notes that it will be fixed sometime soon. Next week?
http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/02/03/2379204/hot-time-in-the-city-equipment.html
In praise (?) of home experimenters:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/feb/03/jon-ronson-diy-science-experiments
‘Is Climate Change Bringing the Arctic to Europe?’
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/science-behind-the-big-freeze-is-climate-change-bringing-the-arctic-to-europe-6358928.html
(Probably not, but let’s not miss a chance to spread some panic …)
Love this cartoon from today’s daily telegraph :)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/matt/
keep up the great work Anthony….
This is pretty good:
http://xkcd.com/556/
WattsInAName?
http://www.smh.com.au/world/cooper-weather-in-europe-leaves-bmw-in-the-cold-20120203-1qxpk.html
Should have been named “Algore”!
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/animals-cant-keep-up-with-climate-change-6292874.html#disqus_thread
Animals can’t keep up with climate change
Study of 11,000 bird and butterfly species shows many are at risk
Animal and insect species in Europe are losing the fight to keep up with rapid changes in climate in a new phenomenon dubbed “climatic debt”, according to an international study.
Click here to launch our graphic on some of the species at risk
More than 11,000 bird and butterfly species were analysed over 20 years by scientists in the largest study of its kind. Releasing some of the data for the first time, scientists reveal how species are failing to keep up as warmer temperatures move north. The findings saw birds lag behind their normal climate zones, on average by 212 kilometres and butterflies by 135km.
Some birds, such as the black and white pied flycatcher, are unable to adapt to the encroaching warmth and are not naturally moving north to cooler areas, according to experts writing in the journal Nature.
Numbers of the pied flycatcher have halved in the UK since 1995 – researchers believe the birds are not breeding as prolifically as they used to because of rising temperatures. Others, like the golden plover, are in danger of extinction as traditional food sources disappear. The plover’s main food source – the cranefly – cannot survive in warmer temperatures.
Experts believe the species at risk are just the tip of the iceberg. Some 9,400 bird and 2,100 butterfly species were monitored. Birds and butterflies were selected because of the vast amount of data that already exists on them – British butterfly records have been kept since the 15th century. The scientists believe other animal species are suffering in similar ways.
Scientists also found a growing gap between birds and butterflies which is having an adverse affect on birds’ food supplies because many bird species depend on caterpillars as a staple food.
comment:\Of course the disappearance of insects due to blanket use of neonicotinoid seed treatments wouldn’t have anything to do with the disappearance of butterflies, bees and all insectivorous birds would it?
This is pretty funny, man get arrested for stealing ice from a glacier.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/01/glacier-thief-arrested-ice-cubes
[quote]Environmentalists have cited it as evidence that man-made climate change is warming the planet. Sceptics have cited other explanations for retreating glaciers, but theft – until now – was not one of them. It may be the only case in which both sides agree human activity was to blame.[/quote]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/01/glacier-thief-arrested-ice-cubes
Climate change brings the Arctic to Europe (Independent) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/science-behind-the-big-freeze-is-climate-change-bringing-the-arctic-to-europe-6358928.html
http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120204/NEWS11/120209901/-1/NEWS01
Time running out for Russian Scientists?
VOSTOK STATION, Antarctica — The world holds its breath, hoping for the best after six days of radio silence from Antarctica — where a team of Russian scientists is racing the clock and the oncoming winter to dig to an alien lake far beneath the ice.
The team from Russia’s Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) has been drilling for weeks in an effort to reach isolated Lake Vostok, a vast, dark body of water hidden 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) below the surface of the icy continent. Lake Vostok has not been exposed to air in more than 20 million years.
“The team’s last contact with colleagues in the unfrozen world was six long days ago, and scientists from around the globe are unsure of the fate of the mission — and the scientists themselves — as Antarctica’s deadly winter draws near.”
“When you’re outside, it’s extremely cold — minus 30, minus 40,” microbiologist Dr. David A. Pearce said. “If you left your eyes open the fluid in them would start to freeze. Your nostrils would start to freeze. The moisture in your mouth would start to freeze.”
“Pearce heads a team from the British Antarctic Survey on a competing mission, set to plumb the depths of Lake Ellsworth, one of a string of more than 370 lakes beneath Antarctica that may soon see light for the first time since well before Fred Flintstone’s ancestors roamed the planet. But time is running out for the Russian scientists.”
“They need to be out by the sixth of February,” Pearce said, when winter sets in and temperatures drop another 40 degrees centigrade. Vostok Station boasts the lowest recorded temperature on Earth, -129 degrees Fahrenheit (-89.4 degrees Celsius).”
This has nothing to do with climate but I thought it is amazingly cool.
It is the Hydrogen fusion experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. There is a really cool simulation at the bottom.
http://fear-of-lightning.wonderhowto.com/blog/national-ignition-facility-big-giant-lasers-doom-endless-energy-0133122/
Add SORCE to the list
http://hockeyschtick.blogspot.com/2012/02/whoops-data-unreliable-from-100-million.html
Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. Announces Withdrawal from Minority Interest Wind Investment
http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/912161/algonquin-power-utilities-corp-announces-withdrawal-from-minority-interest-wind-investment
[snip]
Algonquin Power & Utilities Corp. (“APUC”) (TSX: AQN) today announced that it plans not to proceed with the previously announced investment in First Wind Holdings, LLC’s (“First Wind”) wind portfolio in the North East United States (“Portfolio”). The initial joint announcement with Emera Inc. (“Emera”) (TSX:EMA) in April 2011 had contemplated APUC acquiring a minority interest of approximately 12.5% in the Portfolio, representing an approximate U.S. $83 million investment.
UPDATE:
First Wind merger faces strong headwinds with the Maine PUC
http://api.ning.com/files/Qx6a0LN-EZJReyW2Ez*CT8jfn7VYnYpli*N069eHxb8WV2wO4KBZ2pr6BBhIw4Os5Fd-F5L0HZMEXtNzPyWHUJ5n9-mk2IxF/easyfile_doc242789.PDF
Public Advocate Eric Bryant moves for dismissal with prejudice in the matter of petitioners Bangor Hydro Electric and Maine Public Service due to numerous violations of the Commission’s Rules of Procedure.
Here’s an interesting juxtaposition:
SMH — http://www.smh.com.au/world/more-than-220-dead-as-europe-freezes-20120204-1qyv9.html
AT LEAST 221 people have died during a cold snap in which temperatures have plummeted to minus 30 degrees and below across eastern Europe, with Ukraine the hardest hit.
The cold has killed 101 people in Ukraine, many of whom lived on the streets. Officials have ordered hospitals to stop discharging homeless patients after they are treated for hypothermia and frostbite, while authorities have set up nearly 3000 heating and food shelters to help people survive.
The week-long cold spell, eastern Europe’s worst in decades, is causing power cuts, frozen water pipes and the widespread closure of schools, nurseries, airports and bus routes.
Now couple it with this: http://mignews.com.ua/en/articles/50815.html
Global warming will bring more frequent floods, droughts and an increase in insect-borne disease to Ukraine, ecologists have warned.
“Global climate change will bring about a general increase in air temperatures and more frequent natural disasters in Ukraine,” the climate change program coordinator at the National Ecological Center of Ukraine Khrystyna Rudnytska said at a press conference on November 15 [2010].
Oh, the irony…
100 Tories in rebellion over Wind Farm subsidies
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9061997/100-Tories-revolt-over-wind-farms.html
An epiphany of sorts in Britain. 100 Torries are up in arms about the amount of money paid in subsidies to off shore wind farms. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9061997/100-Tories-revolt-over-wind-farms.html Something that was long overdue to Harrop so to speak. With that and the release of “Windfall” we may yet rid ourselves of these overpriced, under-performing Australianb Whirligigs™.
http://tomnelson.blogspot.com/2012/02/email-137-sept-2006-warmist-jerry-north.html
Email 137
Of course, I have no authority to compel you to do anything with your data and I do not represent the NRC Committee on this matter. I understand that you have spent many days and even years collecting your data under sometimes dangerous conditions. But McIntyre does have a point in that most of our research has been supported by US Taxpayers. I also understand that archiving data is expensive and time consuming (I also know that not all of the archiving and quality control was supported by past grants), but as scientists we all owe it to each other to share information to the maximum extent possible.
So I would like to ask you that if it is feasible to grant McIntyres requests. Despite his sometimes unusual approach to science and scientists, I do believe he is bright, hardworking and sincere.
New paper shows no correlation between CO2 and rainfall
http://hockeyschtick.blogspot.com/2012/01/new-paper-shows-no-correlation-between.html
Another tenet of AGW theory bites the dust in the face of real-world data: AGW theory proposes that increased CO2 levels lead to increased water vapor in the atmosphere (despite empirical data which shows the opposite) and therefore supposedly lead to increased rainfall in most regions. A paper published today in the Nature Climate Change February 2012 edition studied rainfall over the Indian subcontinent 1813-2006 and finds rainfall has decreased since the 1930s as CO2 emissions markedly increased with industrialization. The data instead shows a natural, cyclical variability in mean annual rainfall that peaked in the 1870s and 1930s with absolutely no correlation to levels of CO2.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/scientists-close-to-entering-vostok-antarcticas-biggest-subglacial-lake/2012/01/27/gIQAbGX0fQ_story.html
Scientists close to entering Vostok, Antarctica’s biggest subglacial lake
After drilling for two decades through more than two miles of antarctic ice, Russian scientists are on the verge of entering a vast, dark lake that hasn’t been touched by light for more than 20 million years.
Scientists are enormously excited about what life-forms might be found there but are equally worried about contaminating the lake with drilling fluids and bacteria, and the potentially explosive “de-gassing” of a body of water that has especially high concentrations of oxygen and nitrogen.
OFF TOPIC – File under both cool and scary (to privacy rights)
Nano quadrotors: Watch a swarm of tiny robots fly in formation (video)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/nano-quadrotors-watch-a-swarm-of-robots-fly-in-formation-video/2012/02/01/gIQAmAIeiQ_blog.html?tid=pm_national_pop
more:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/nano-quadrotors-watch-a-swarm-of-robots-fly-in-formation-video/2012/02/01/gIQAmAIeiQ_blog.html?tid=pm_national_pop
re:
Neil Turner says:
February 4, 2012 at 2:29 pm
100 Tories in rebellion over Wind Farm subsidies
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9061997/100-Tories-revolt-over-wind-farms.html
==============================================================
Tories = Conservatives, the major party in the current UK coalition government. 100 (according to the Telegraph) Conservative members of the UK parliament have begun to see the light. The coalition has a slim majority.
Tom Nelson is actually reading EVERY e-mail of CG2. This turns up:
http://tomnelson.blogspot.com/2012/02/email-3408-jan-2008-phil-jones-like.html
#3408 is damning for Phil Jones (I weep NOT). Here he reveals his idealogical intent, his bias towards WANTING temperatures to be rising. Perhaps this causes him to “massage” the data just a little?
Kylie Minogue’s Facebook status …from around Saturday midnight London time.
“It’s snowing in London…..bbbrrrrrr!!!!”
USDA changing plant hardiness zones –> warmer
http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20120204/LIFESTYLE/202040301/Government-plants-new-warming-warning
Government plants new warming warning
Global warming is hitting not just home, but the garden. The government’s colorful map of planting zones, most often seen on the back of seed packets, is changing, illustrating a hotter 21st century.
An update of the official guide for 80 million gardeners reflects a new reality: The coldest day of the year isn’t as cold as it used to be. So some plants and trees that once seemed too vulnerable to cold can now survive farther north.
It’s the first time since 1990 that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has updated the map and much has changed. Nearly entire states, such as Ohio, Nebraska and Texas, are in warmer zones.
[continued at link]
If you know someone in the uk who subscribes to a radio station named LBC ask if the can download a pod cast from Saturday 4th Feb 18:30. The attitude change in the UK is amazing, the station link is http://lbc.audioagain.com/
“The village of Shoina is situated beyond the Arctic Circle, 1,400 kilometers north of Moscow. This tiny settlement is known for its sands, which appeared here over 50 years ago and have been waging a relentless offensive against humans ever since, depriving them of living space. How did they appear, and where else in Russia can you find unusual places like this? Solve the mystery, on RT.”
Very interesting presentations where 0.2°C for a CO2 doubling is calculated by dr. Van Andel:
climategate.nl/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/CO2_and_climate_v7.pdf
climategate.nl/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/KNMI_voordracht_VanAndel.pdf
He also debates models versus reality, radiative window and Miskolczi.
Hey, all Oz/Aus gals, girls and ladies and men
Don’t forget to register and attend the events in Melbourne, Sydney, or Brisbane
Mark Steyn (Canada) – Freedom of Speech in the western world
and
Dan Hannan (UK) – The future of freedom of speech
RSVP @ http://www.ipa.org.au/
Support the event and attend:- our fight for decency and rule of law, and freedom to speak and vote and express ourselves individually within the principles of our nations’ constitutions remains the most important freedom we fought to maintain and uphold.
– Canada
Will guilty verdict in Canadian ‘honor killing’ trial be a turning point for justice?
On January 29, after a ten-week trial and fifteen hours of deliberations, a seven woman, five man jury returned with a verdict of guilty to first degree murder for all three Afghan-Canadians who were charged in the pre-meditated murder of four female members of the polygamous Shafia family.
The convicted are each facing 25 years without parol
source: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/01/29/will-guilty-verdict-in-canadian-honor-killing-trial-be-turning-point-for/
Further reading:Phyliss Chessler
Guilty: Muslim Family in Canada Convicted in Honor Killings
http://pjmedia.com/blog/guilty-muslim-family-in-canada-convicted-in-honor-killings/
Austria
Elizabeth-Sabaditsch-Wolff arraigned for hate crime
http://english.savefreespeech.org/?p=463#more-463
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lILsrhsFZjQ
Australia
Despite years of fighting for the rights to live, choose marriage partners and to vote for our women and girls we are Aussies are still dealing with these atrocities : –
Calls to act after the suicide of a girl, 9
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/state-politics/calls-to-act-after-suicide-of-girl-9/story-e6frgczx-1226260086465
Ramazan Acar jailed for life over murder of daughter Yazmina
http://www.news.com.au/national/ramazan-acar-jailed-for-life-over-murder-of-daughter-yazmina/story-e6frfkvr-1226085746990
AND
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1375624/Australian-man-threw-daughter-bridge-jailed-32-years.html
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/say-goodbye-to-your-children-trial-begins-for-dad-who-threw-daughter-off-west-gate-bridge-20110308-1bma9.html
Natural Gas lobby in bed with the Sierra Club?
Rest here: http://hotair.com/archives/2012/02/04/natural-gas-lobby-in-bed-with-the-sierra-club/
Sourced from: http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/04/sierra-club-took-26-million-from-natural-gas-lobby-to-battle-coal-industry/
http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-02-world-powers-anti-carbon-tax.html
Mr Watts
Perhaps this story in Today’s UK paper the Independent will be of interest to you. It seems to be saying that Global Warming is responsible for the current Arctic like conditions in the UK:
Science behind the big freeze: is climate change bringing the Arctic to Europe?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/science-behind-the-big-freeze-is-climate-change-bringing-the-arctic-to-europe-6358928.html
http://www.wtwma.com/
**All 2011 Operations reports and Operations Images are available. Annual Report is now available under “Related Links of Interest Tab!**
**View the CoCoRaHS Website and learn how to record your rainfall on a national network.**
2011 Daily Operations
Daily operations page contains the flight tracks and precipitation totals from
previous missions.
Daily operations page also contains the previous mission discussions.
Forecast Page
The forecast page contains the daily forecast and forecast discussion.
Forecast updated daily before noon.
Satellite and Radar Links
The satellite and radar links page contains the West Texas Weather
Modification TITAN radar image and other radar and satellite links
for West Texas.
Related Links of Interest
The related links of interest page contains a Photo Album
and other links referring to weather modification.
If you have questions about this page, please E-Mail Project Meteorologist Jonathan Jennings
Page maintained by Meteorologist 01/30/2012
Another range extender for electric autos !!
http://bacontime.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/electric-auto-tweaks/
How about a post on Vavilov sometime? He’s been mentioned in passing in a couple of posts, but an expanded history might be appropriate, if you don’t think it’s too scary for your readers.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16873269
Why is it so cold in Europe?
And not a mention of global warming, climate change, etc.
Is reality winning?
Here is a fascinating write-up about Michael Mann’s lawsuit against Dr Tim Ball for an off the cuff remark TB made in an interview to the effect that:
“Michael Mann of Penn State should be in the State Pen not Penn State”
See:
http://www.fcpp.org/michaelmannlawsuit.php
I think MM has bitten off more than he can chew since he might well be forced to reveal those incriminating emails he has so jealously been guarding.
Seems to me worth airing on WUWT since WUWT readers might well be interested in contributing to TB’s defence fund.
. . Ted Swart . .
New Paper by Abdussamatov:
Bicentennial Decrease of the Total Solar Irradiance Leads to Unbalanced Thermal Budget of the Earth and the Little Ice Age
Habibullo I. Abdussamatov
Received: September 22, 2011 Accepted: October 9, 2011 Published: February 1, 2012
Abstract
Temporal changes in the power of the longwave radiation of the system Earth-atmosphere emitted to space always lag behind changes in the power of absorbed solar radiation due to slow change of its enthalpy. That is why the debit and credit parts of the average annual energy budget of the terrestrial globe with its air and water envelope are practically always in an unbalanced state. Average annual balance of the thermal budget of the system Earth-atmosphere during long time period will reliably determine the course and value of both an energy excess accumulated by the Earth or the energy deficit in the thermal budget which, with account for data of the TSI forecast, can define and predict well in advance the direction and amplitude of the forthcoming climate changes. From early 90s we observe bicentennial decrease in both the TSI and the portion of its energy absorbed by the Earth. The Earth as a planet will henceforward have negative balance in the energy budget which will result in the temperature drop in approximately 2014. Due to increase of albedo and decrease of the greenhouse gases atmospheric concentration the absorbed portion of solar energy and the influence of the greenhouse effect will additionally decline. The influence of the consecutive chain of feedback effects which can lead to additional drop of temperature will surpass the influence of the TSI decrease. The onset of the deep bicentennial minimum of TSI is expected in 2042±11, that of the 19th Little Ice Age in the past 7500 years – in 2055±11.
Full Text: PDF at http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/apr/article/view/14754
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Applied Physics Research ISSN 1916-9639 (Print) ISSN 1916-9647 (Online)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2096277/Global-warming-James-Delingpole-claims-green-zealots-destroying-planet.html
Not from a newspaper I would normallly recommend, but James Delingpole pulls no punches here.
“Just imagine a world where you never had to worry about global warming, where the ice caps, the ‘drowning’ Maldives and the polar bears were all doing just fine.
Imagine a world where CO2 was our friend, fossil fuels were a miracle we should cherish, and economic growth made the planet cleaner, healthier, happier and with more open spaces.
Actually, there’s no need to imagine: it already exists. So why do so many people still believe otherwise?
How come, against so much evidence, everyone from the BBC to your kids’ teachers to the Coalition government (though that may change somewhat now Energy Secretary Chris Huhne has resigned), to the President of the Royal Society to the Prince of Wales continues to pump out the message that man-made ‘climate change’ is a major threat?
Why, when the records show that there has been no global warming since 1997, are we still squandering billions of pounds trying to avert it?”
Then he says what he really thinks …
Anthony, we might have a blank sun in the next day or so..hard to believe when we are 15 months from predicited solar max?
George Soros attack on free speech in Australia
val majkus
February 6, 2012 at 10:22 am · Reply
http://joannenova.com.au/2012/02/jonova-a-finalist-for-the-2012-bloggies/#comments
Dr Fowler has co-authored a number of papers with Jim Salinger
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/top-stories/12817766/giants-of-the-forest-give-climate-clues/
Scientists using the rings on kauri trees to look at climate patterns are tipping global warming to bring more big weather extremes in the coming years.
The Auckland University study, published in the monthly journal Nature Climate Change, identifies that growth rings from the trees in Northland provide an insight into climate variations over centuries.
…
Lead researcher Anthony Fowler says the variation in the tree rings has grown more frequent as the world has warmed since the 15th century.
…
“This means that we should anticipate more extreme events, such as flooding and droughts, in the regions affected by these weather patterns.”
Jayman – same story from NZ Herald…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/weather/news/article.cfm?c_id=10&objectid=10783688
Coincident with the start of the Holocene:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/55090077/Anthony-Peratt-Characteristics-for-the-Occurrence-of-a-High-Current-ZPinch-Aurora-as-Recorded-in-Antiquity
Contemporary auroras ain’t got nuthin’ on these monsters.
I have just received this email from Menzies House http://www.menzieshouse.com.au/ a conservatative group in Australia.
“I have just discovered something terrifying: a George Soros funded far-left American lobby group has secretly launched a big-money campaign to stifle free speech and silence climate realists in Australia.
I URGENTLY need your help to help save free speech and a fair media in Australia.
By taking 5 minutes you can help stop this vile plan.
You may have read recently that Gina Rinehart, a prominent climate realist and vocal opponent of the unnecessary and destructive tax on carbon dioxide, recently acquired apx. 13% of Fairfax Media (owners of the left wing climate-alarmist Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, and other publications).
This would not normally make news – a business person buying shares in a company is hardly noteworthy. And Ms. Rinehart has specifically stated – on the record – that this is simply a business investment, and her climate realism will not affect their operation.
But I have just learned that because of Gina Rinehart’s beliefs, an underhand, international, coordinated campaign by left wing extremists has just been launched to assault freedom of speech, calling on the government to change the law to stop her from getting the seat on the Fairfax Board to which she is entitled, and trying to threaten the Fairfax Chairman into vetoing her.
Some background: Avaaz, an unethical “shadowy foreign organisation” funded by radical leftist mogul George Soros is one of the big-money donors to Climate Alarmism in Australia.
They are ‘partners’ with GetUp!, and together they have just launched a full scale campaign to attack Ms Rinehart and intimidate the Fairfax Chairman to prevent her from joining the Board. But this is just stage one of their plan – if they are successful, they specifically have said that they call on the government to impose an ideological test on the media in Australia. Which is why we need to act fast.
This is a campaign that should strike terror into the hearts of all of us who believe in free speech, a free media, and the Australian way. If they get their way, none of us are safe.
This is their plan to censor free speech – in their own words:
Mining magnate Gina Rinehart has just bought a major stake in Fairfax media — in a bid that could turn The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald into mouthpieces for climate denial to protect her mining interests. But together we can foil her plan…
The media inquiry that Avaaz members helped win is just weeks away from reporting, and provides the government with the crucial chance to act. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy is supportive of stronger ownership limits — but he needs a community outcry to get the whole government on board…
We desperately need stronger ownership limits, a ‘fit and proper person’ test for use of public airwaves, and a strong and independent media regulator.
That’s right: they are unashamedly calling on the Government to impose a “fit and proper” – ie leftist ideological – censorship test on the media. Even though Ms. Rinehart has pledged to not let her views influence editorial policy. The fact that she is a climate realist means that she must be stopped and her rights curtailed.
GetUp! followed up with an email to their members saying this is “bad news for the issues we care about” urging them to take action to silence free speech by climate realists.
But that’s not all. Crikey, a powerful Australian left wing online group, has published no less than eight hit-pieces of Ms Rinehart in the last two days, and even the Sydney Morning Herald put up an utterly disgraceful, sexist cartoon attacking Ms Rinehart two days ago.
I can not stress this enough: this attack on free speech is incredibly serious, and goes against everything we believe in as Australians. If they win against Ms Rinehart, then soon we will all be censored.
This is a co-ordinated campaign by radical left alarmists who are running scared that the Australian people have woken up to their game, and are getting so desperate they are now trying to use the government to suppress anyone who disagrees with them.
We need to take action now – before it is too late: We need to let Fairfax Chairman Roger Corbett know that he CAN NOT give in to extremists, and can not veto Ms. Rinehart from the board because of radical left wing pressure.
A ‘natural’ solution for transportation
http://www.anl.gov/Media_Center/News/2012/news120202.html
“.Hoping to expand the pool even further, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory have begun to investigate adding one more contender to the list of possible energy sources for light-duty cars and trucks: compressed natural gas (CNG). ”
…….Because the domestic production of natural gas has increased dramatically over the past ten years, making a large number of the cars and light trucks currently on the road CNG-compatible would help to improve U.S. energy security. “As a country, we don’t lack for natural gas deposits,” said Argonne mechanical engineer Thomas Wallner. “There are fewer obvious challenges with direct supply than with most other fuels.”
From Herald Sun – Melbourne Feb 6, 2012:
NEW Zealand scientists using the rings on kauri trees to look at climate patterns are tipping global warming to bring more big weather extremes in the coming years.
The Auckland University study, published in the monthly journal Nature Climate Change, identifies that growth rings from the trees in Northland provide an insight into climate variations over centuries.
The El Nino weather pattern, which brings cool southwesterly winds and droughts, is linked to wide tree rings as the trees grow rapidly, while La Nina, which brings brings wetter, warmer conditions, is shown in narrow, slower-growing, rings.
The Bering Sea ice pack has moved farther south than it has in about 20 years and it’s crippled the snow crab fishing season costing fisherman millions of dollars. This story will appeal to fans of ‘Deadliest Catch’!
http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/ice-slows-bering-sea-snow-crab-season
They will not lie down and give up!!!!
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=13200
Might be worth an read and an article to show that there are still many folks in the world that believe in fairies :-).
“We have verified several times using computer model experiments that this leads to high pressure across northern Europe and cold winter conditions in the UK as we see now.”
Errrr … what?
http://is.gd/bhpWfn
Since when did a computer model – and a necessarily grossly over-simplified model, relative to the real thing – become an experiment?
Not sure if this has already been mentioned but India are planning on abandoning the IPCC and setting up their own Climate Change panel.
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20100205/india-ipcc-un-climate-change-global-warming.htm
“India’s environment minister Jairam Ramesh announced that the Indian government will establish a separate National Institute of Himalayan Glaciology to monitor climate change in the region.
“There is a fine line between climate science and climate evangelism,” Ramesh said. “I am for climate science.”
I started to do one thing, but ended up finding something of a surprise.
http://contrary2belief.wordpress.com/2012/02/05/bom-claims-2011-was-perths-hottest-year-on-record/
Australia Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said late last year that 2011 is the warmest on record for Perth, Western Australia. So I lookes at thee maximum and minimum temperatures being recorded nearby and the eyeball didn’t pick anything. Only when I applied the BoM’s cookbook recipe, did I see the warming. (All the statistics is, btw, worth almost nothing in the real world.)
It was indeed that warmest. EVAH!
But the curious bump in temperature in the last year of moving averages niggled. There had to be something substantial to increase maxima by more than a degree Celsius in the space of a year.
Curiosity stirred, I plotted the minimum temperatures and there was a sharper up-tick. A virtual hockey-stick! Without any help from the sun. That’s worth at least a share of a Nobel Peace Prize. ;-)
There had to be a substantial change over a year or so. And I found one change by looking at the satellite image; a water treatment plant within 500 metres. That wasn’t as huge last time I looked; some 3 or 4 year ago. And a web search confirm that it grew substantially between 2008 and 2010.
Further afield, the nearby quarry pit is now almost adjacent to the research station’s fence and in another direction about 500 metres, the paved area around a natural gas pumping station seems much more extensive.
Looks like the an industrial heat island has encroached on an agricultural research station.
Life created soil, mud, and rivers. Terraforming, original model.
Study caims the P-T extinction happened over hundreds of thousands of years.
http://astrobio.net/pressrelease/4540/the-p-t-extinction-was-a-slow-death
China bans its airlines from participating in the EU’s new CO2-emissions scheme for airlines:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/06/us-china-eu-emissions-idUSTRE81500V20120206
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16901106
BBC article on the Chinese ban on the ETA.
I’ve been meaning to ask this for a while. The IARC JAXA sea ice measurements stopped in October 2011.
They just say: “Sea-ice data update stops for a while due to the suspension of AMSR-E observation.”
I wondered if any commenters on this site can throw any light on the matter?
Thank you.
Back in business after NOAA threw a spanner in the works and made the USA webpages I collect the source data unique when compared to the rest of the world
I lost 2 days 1 hours worth of data as the USA turned as warm as Mobasa, Kenya all over due to some dodgy caching
But I’m back :-) http://www.theglobalthermometer.com
2585 NOAA Weather Stations sampled every hour so we can compare Apples with Apples. If any go faulty at the end of the year I strip them out of the raw data and recalculate the whole series again and so we go on comparing apples with apples ;-) Somebody has to…..
From the Wikipedia entry for Envisat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Envisat
“One interesting aspect of the mission is the low rate of global mean sea level rise which it has measured over the first eight years of the mission: just 0.5 mm/year, which is about 1/4 the rate of GMSL rise measured over the same period by the Jason-1 satellite.”
So over the last eight years, the difference between Envisat and Jason is 14 mm, which is a lot. Does this mean that the Jason/Topex data is just a complete and utter lie? 0.5 mm per annum is more like what people are experiencing with sea level rise.
The science is settled say the APS
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203711104577199330965279516.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_MIDDLEThirdBucket#articleTabs%3Darticle
Wind farms had their day in UK??
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16893018
and on main BBC news today.
Snowy Owls migrating south? When animals migrate north it is because of Global Warming. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2096934/Snowy-owls-invade-continental-US-scientists-baffled-arriving.html?ITO=1490
Toppling Tax Dollars for Turbines
Marita Noon
On February 1, an urgent alert was sent to supporters of wind energy. It stated: “The PTC is the primary policy tool to promote wind energy development and manufacturing in the United States. While it is set to expire at the end of 2012 … the credit has already effectively expired. Congress has a choice to make: extend the PTC this month and keep the wind industry on track…”
The wind energy industry has reason for concern. America’s appetite for subsidies has waned. Congress is looking for any way it can to make cuts and the twenty-year old Production Tax Credit (PTC) for wind energy is in prime position for a cut—it naturally expires at the end of 2012. Without action, it will go away.
The payroll tax extension will be a hot topic over the next few weeks as it expires on February 29. Wind energy supporters are pushing to get the PTC extension included in the bill. Whether or not it is included will be largely up to public response—after all, regarding the PTC’s inclusion in the payroll tax extension bill, the February 1 alert stated: “our federal legislators heard us loud and clear.” In the December payroll tax bill negotiations, the wind energy PTC was placed on a “short list of provisions to be extended through that bill.” Wind supporters are worried—hence the rallying cry.
Not sure if this is recent enough to be relevant:
http://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2011/12/02/71-of-cru-salaries-paid-by-grants/
“…if the grant income ceased, the CRU would have to reduce its payroll by 71%. So who would go? If the cuts were across the board, two out of Jones, Briffa and Osborn would be for the chop. And six of the eight research jobs would have to as well.
With such a vested interest, can we honestly expect any of them to come out and admit that climate change perhaps is not such a problem after all?”
Anthony,
I was reading about James Croll, a janitor who was a self educated genius and later created the theory of cyclic ice ages based on astronomical theory. His work was copied/referenced by Milutin Milanković. His predictions, though not exactly correct, yielded an ice age every 100,000 years.
He was admitted into the Royal Society and was recognized for his work.
He wrote the book, Climate and Time in 1875.
I think he deserves an article to be posted on this blog. If you have nobody that is interested I would like to do so. Croll is an amazing person and his work absolutely world-changing.
If it’s anything like their Operating System… we are doomed.
“Bill Gates backs climate scientists lobbying for large-scale geoengineering”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/06/bill-gates-climate-scientists-geoengineering
ClimateGate Scientists Buried Study that Failed to Show Desired Result
In a previously overlooked email exchange buried among the thousands of ClimateGate files, leading climate scientists were tasked to produce a diagram that showed an “obvious” picture of “unprecedented warming,” but the result did not show this:
http://www.justfacts.com/news.climategate_scientists_buried_study.asp
Here’s a quote that could be a tagline for Watts Up:
“Man’s most valuable trait is a judicious sense of what not to believe.”
– Euripides
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2096916/Chris-Huhnes-exit-gives-Cameron-chance-end-scourge-wind-turbines.html
From today’s Daily Mail (UK).
‘The Vikings are both famous and notorious for their like of beer and mead, and archaeologists have discussed for years whether Eric the Red (ca. 950-1010) and his followers had to make do without the golden drink when they settled in Greenland around the year 1,000.
The Greenland climate was mild when they landed, but was it warm enough for growing corn?
Researchers from the National Museum in Copenhagen say the answer to the question is ‘yes’.’
http://sciencenordic.com/vikings-grew-barley-greenland
http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/wilderness-resources/stories/lake-vostok-scientists-race-to-drill-into-antarctic-lake
By Andrea Mustain, OurAmazingPlanetSun, Feb 05 2012 at 3:15 PM EST
“Lake Vostok: Scientists race to drill into Antarctic Lake
There is a decent chance the team can breach Lake Vostok, but time is running short. Temperatures have already dropped below minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
At a tiny outpost in the middle of Antarctica, Russian scientists are poised to become the first humans to reach a massive liquid lake that has been cut off from the sunlit world for millennia, and may house uniquely adapted life forms that are new to science.”
And rivalry..
“The project is a product of serendipity. The colossal lake was discovered beneath a pre-existing drill project, and, although the Russians were the first to begin drilling to a hidden Antarctic lake, they may not be the first to sample one. Teams from the United States and the United Kingdom are nipping at their heels, poised to begin drilling with specially designed equipment as early as fall 2012. “
Branson Gloom and Doom from his blog….
The facts we discovered on our trip are not good.
A temperature rise of 6 oC in the winter since 1950 in the Antarctica peninsula.
Loss of 140 days of ice cover.
80% of peninsula glaciers in retreat.
Ice shelves disintegrating.
It is not what the few people do when they visit Antarctica.
It is what we do when we get home that causes the problem.
http://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/blog/antarctica-log-10–breath-taking-antarctica
Can anyone falsify these claims? They sound exaggerated to me.
They finally did it…
Sampling the waters of Lake Vostok could reveal clues about evolution and reveal unknown forms of life…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/06/russian-scientists-drill-antarctic-lake
Peter Gleick in Forbes:
“Global Warming Has Stopped”? How to Fool People Using “Cherry-Picked” Climate Data
URL: http://www.forbes.com/sites/petergleick/2012/02/05/global-warming-has-stopped-how-to-fool-people-using-cherry-picked-climate-data/
Just saw this on youtube, it puts the scope of universal bodies into some perspective.
http://youtu.be/HEheh1BH34Q
Somebody should do this with Earth’s atmospheric gases and include Man’s contribution to CO2 in the mix.
http://witness.org/videos/trust-Arizona-Jamie-Lynn-Butler
I can’t be sure, but it looks like the sun may be spotless before tomorrow morning. It is supposed to be approaching cycle peak, isn’t it? http://www.solarham.com/
Anyone knowledgable that wants to comment?
Ben
Meanwhile, in Moree (NSW)…
Solar project rethink a blow to government
David Wroe
February 7, 2012 – 2:42PM
Read later
Two major projects awarded a total of $750 million in the first round of the government’s Solar Flagships funding are struggling to secure private investment. The federal government has been forced to rethink its $300 million support for a massive solar power station after the project failed to attract private financing.
In an embarrassing blow to the government’s clean energy efforts, Energy Minister Martin Ferguson has re-opened the bidding on a $306 million grant under the government’s Solar Flagship scheme, which aims to encourage investment in large-scale solar projects.
http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/solar-project-rethink-a-blow-to-government-20120207-1r328.html#ixzz1lfGLh1XT
A couple of things.
First for you who have clunky computers like mine, this is how I handle the Tips & Notes page. First I open several or all of the new posts on WUWT main page. After they are completely open I click on Tips & Notes. While I read the new posts Tips & Notes has time to completely open and become stable. Then I use ctrl f to find where I was the previous day. Also to paste into Leave a Reply I put in a few spaces then use directional arrows to get into the spaces then I can paste into it.
Someone mentioned Bill Gates and caused me to remember this from last year. I don’t know why a horizontal cylinder with two pairs of pistons and half the moving parts make a engine have twice the mpg but that is what Gates has invested $23,500,000 in.
First link is to article.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1047122_bill-gates-backs-ecomotors-new-opoc-engine-with-23-5-million-investment
Second link is to animated video at company site. Have a minute of patience. It will start.
http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1047122_bill-gates-backs-ecomotors-new-opoc-engine-with-23-5-million-investment
Sigh. Here is the link to Ecomotors animation of the engine that Gates has invested 23,500,000.
http://www.ecomotors.com/
Glass half empty, anyone?
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201202/s3423899.htm
New research has found some coral reefs in the Indian Ocean are growing at an unsustainable rate due to warming water temperatures.
The Australian Institute of Marine Science says the most southerly reefs on the West Australian coast, have increased their growth rates by up to 23 per cent.
Principal research scientist, Janice Lough, says that’s not sustainable.
“Corals are already responding rapidly to the environmental changes that we’re imposing upon them.
“When you get unusually warm waters you can get coral bleaching events, that’s one threshold corals can reach if the water temperatures continue to warm.
“There will be a threshold beyond which the corals are not happy with and they’ll just slow their growth down.”
Monbiot has a dig at ‘stupid’ rightwingers (all of whom, of course, are birthers, creationists, 9/11 questioners, evil deniers of the AGW orthodoxy, etc., etc. ad nauseam). And all because the Monbiots of this world are ‘too polite’ …
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/06/right-stupidity-spreads-enabled-polite-left
High profile warmists dropping like flies:
Breaking News @BreakingNews – Military sources say Maldives president Nasheed has resigned after weeks of public protest over ‘illegal’ arrest of senior judge – AP
“kbray in california says:
February 6, 2012 at 11:54 am
Branson Gloom and Doom from his blog….
The facts we discovered on our trip are not good.
A temperature rise of 6 oC in the winter since 1950 in the Antarctica peninsula.
Loss of 140 days of ice cover.
80% of peninsula glaciers in retreat.
Ice shelves disintegrating….”
Just a couple of points for starters.
How did he ‘discover’ a winter temp change when he went in the peak of summer?
The bit he went to isn’t even in the Antarctic circle?
Ice shelves are supposed to disintegrate, they are floating on the sea and eventually break off at the ends as they grow.
Check the resources tab above and look at Antarctic sea ice. Doing very well.
“The Little Ice Age, lasting from the end of the Middle Age into the 17th century, may very likely have been caused by the combined effects of four major volcanic eruptions and increased sunlight reflection by increasing sea ice, the so-called Albedo effect. … The University of Boulder has a press release with maps and photographs. Bette Otto-Bliesner, one of the scientists behind the ‘volcano + sea ice’ thesis, fields an earnest warning against drawing conclusions too quickly from this research: ‘I think people might look at the Little Ice Age and think that all we need to save us from rising temperatures are some volcanic eruptions or the geo-engineering equivalent [...] But when you see what happened when global temperatures dropped by just one degree and you look at current predictions of six or seven degree increases for the future, you realize how precarious things are for life as we know it.’”
http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/02/07/011211/little-ice-age-it-was-not-the-sun
The latest post at realclimate, by Michael Mann, is hilarious. Apparently, “certain enigmatic features of tree-ring reconstructions of Northern Hemisphere (NH) temperatures … are likely an artifact of biological growth effects.”
It’s amazing the insight that computer simulations can deliver.
The Island Nation Maldives in the news again and again for all the wrong reasons.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-16922570
Richard Black, the BBC’s own AGW bruiser – whose photo on the BBC website makes him look like he’d indulge in a little pugilism just because you have an opinion that’s different from his – has AGW so ingrained in the fibre of his being (or his taxpayer-funded pay-packet from the BBC) that he doesn’t realise how much of a delusional hypocrite he is being in his latest pointless article:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16906738
For example, “it’s surely the evidence that should count, not the number of people you can get to sign your letter.”
Er, what? What is it that he and other believers say about the IPCC: namely that the IPCC represents so many thousands of the world leading climate scientists. Numbers. Not evidence. But numbers of scientists.
So come on, Black, give us some “evidence” that you claim you require that man-made CO2 emissions are causing any warming.
Oh noes.
Oldest living organism identified at over 100K years old.
Endangered by global warming.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/9066393/Ancient-seagrass-Oldest-living-thing-on-earth-discovered-in-Mediterranean-Sea.html
Professor slammed after flying 20,000 miles to Tahiti for climate change lecture
“Prof Phil Jones’ trip to the Pacific is among more than a QUARTER OF A MILLION miles of air travel he has racked up in the past five years….”
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2012/02/05/green-guru-flies-to-tahiti-to-lecture-on-global-warming-115875-23735649/#ixzz1liIujtXM
“Headwinds Easing for Offshore Wind
Obama administration has plan”
http://www.energybiz.com/article/12/02/headwinds-easing-offshore-wind&utm_medium=eNL&utm_campaign=EB_DAILY2&utm_term=Original-Member
………………”A Pike Research analysis indicates that offshore wind has high associated costs. The price of such generation is greater than that of onshore wind, adding that in some cases it is two to three times more. NRG, for example, won’t go forth with its wind deal off the Delaware coast until it can find dependable investment partner.”
I submitted a candidate for a new post entitled Two Sides of the Albedo: The Problem with 240 W/m^2
Briefly, it is a continuation of the argument that you must have an isothermal atmosphere in a gravitational field. If so, the albedo cannot be a mechanism for keeping the ground cooler than the atmosphere above the albedo. Therefore, multiplying average insolation 341 W/m^2 by (1-30%(albedo)) to achieve a 240 W/m^2 through the albedo and then back-out a temperature of 255 deg K is a violation of thermodynamics. That thinking requires the albedo to be a Maxwell’s Demon.
Depending upon the reception of “Two-sided-Albedo”, let me suggest that WUWT ready a separate post to serve as a crowd-source of references to books, papers and reports where 240 W/m^2 justifies 255 deg K as fundamental assumptions in the magnitude of the Green House Effect. Maybe we should have a third thread that catalogs those papers that don’t use 240 W/m^2; it might be a much smaller list.
Correction to Rasey above: Briefly, it is a continuation of the argument that you must have an isothermal atmosphere in a gravitational field when the ground is isothermal by from a constant average insolation over the whole planet.
Delingpole tweeted a link to this amazing piece in the Independent. Must be honest I had to read it twice to believe it WAS the Independent..
Add this to your link about the German newspapers…….is the worm turning ?
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/kevin-myers/kevin-myers-energy-policy-based-on-renewables-will-win-hearts-but-wont-protect-their-owners-from-frostbite-and-death-due-to-exposure-3012098.html
“Sea ice loss said driving European chill”
LONDON, Feb. 6 (UPI) — Meteorologists say ice-free seas in the arctic caused by global warming could explain a chill wind covering much of Europe that has killed more than 300 people.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2012/02/06/Sea-ice-loss-said-driving-European-chill/UPI-37981328575253/#ixzz1lj2rdVRT
See here — the comments RE: global warming at the end of the article…
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/9066393/Ancient-seagrass-Oldest-living-thing-on-earth-discovered-in-Mediterranean-Sea.html
WHOA!
Check this out: http://icecap.us/images/uploads/abduss_APR.pdf
Article from the journal Applied Physics Research which predicts steep decline in global temperature starting in 2014, culminating in a NEW LITTLE ICE AGE by mid century. All based on solar variation.
How’s that for a bold, testable, falsifyable prediction?
Popular Opinion on Climate Change Traced to Political Elites
People don’t follow the weather, they follow people.
http://www.livescience.com/18350-climate-change-public-opinion.html
“Proposed Changes to Lead Commissioner Final
2011 Integrated Energy Policy Report
[11-IEP-1A]
As part of the Business Meeting to be held on February 8, 2012, the Energy Commission will consider adopting the Lead Commissioner Final 2011 Integrated Energy Policy Report (2011 IEPR). The proposed final 2011 IEPR was posted for public comment on January 25, 2011. Based on written comments received as of February 1, 2012, the Lead Commissioner is suggesting changes to the proposed final report that will be incorporated if approved at the February 8 Business Meeting. The list of proposed changes is available on the Energy Commission website at:
http://www.energy.ca.gov/2011_energypolicy/index.html
” link to the changes-
http://www.energy.ca.gov/2011_energypolicy/documents/2012-02-08_meeting/2012-02-08_Proposed_Changes_to_2011_IEPR.pdf
Dutch clean ice to raise chances of skating race
MIKE CORDER, Associated Press
Updated 02:22 p.m., Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Dutch-clean-ice-to-raise-chances-of-skating-race-3050717.php#ixzz1ljptHtQP
Elfstedentocht race may be on.
A historic 11-city ice skating race along the canals of Friesia may be held this year for the first time in 15 years. Coordinators from the 11 cities are watching nighttime temps carefully, and thousands of volunteers along the 120-mile route are pouring onto the ice with shovels to clear away the snow to have the ice ready if the event is held.
BP Annual Energy Outlook. Make of it what you will.
=================================================================
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/energy-independence-u-143030440.html?l=1
Oil and gas company BP recently released its annual Energy Outlook and many of its projections should be viewed with concern.
According to the company, carbon emissions will increase 28 percent by 2030, a dire forecast for those trying to reverse the effects of climate change. Moreover, renewable energy sources — such as wind and solar — will contribute less than 10 percent of global energy output in the coming years despite growing at least eight percent a year between now and 2030.
The growth in emerging economies like China and Brazil will lead to a 39 percent increase in global energy demand by 2030, BP forecasts. China will become increasingly reliant on foreign oil, importing as much as 80 percent of its oil needs in the next 20 years. But it would be second to Europe, which is expected to import 94 percent of its oil and 80 percent of the natural gas it consumes. India could very likely take in 91 percent of its crude oil from abroad.
Alternatively, the United States could become almost entirely energy independent by 2030, says BP. As the country expands its domestic natural gas production, the U.S. will buy less foreign oil, causing imports to fall to levels not seen since 1990. Natural gas production has come under intense scrutiny because of its environmental risks. The drilling process used to bring the gas to the surface is widely known as “fracking” and it involves pumping sand, chemicals and gallons of water underground to break apart the rock and release the gas. The Obama administration recently gave a stinging rebuke to the industry by rejecting the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, which would have brought 700,000 barrels per day of supply from Canada’s oil sands projects to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. In last month’s State of the Union Address, Obama said he supported natural gas investment but pressed for more regulations to ensure the safety of natural gas drilling.
Might want to take a look at this animation show global warming since 1880. Being peddled as some kind of confirmation of AGW it seems.
http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/131-years-of-global-warming-in-26-seconds?utm-source=feedburner&utm-medium=feed&utm-campaign=Feed:+climatecentral/djOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed&utm-content=Google+Reader
Interesting… there is a blog post by Pielke, Sr. which strikes me as very important, for analytically staking out a position between “nothing happening” and CAGW (he does not use those terms but rather frames the debate in terms of three hypotheses). I’d say his “Hypothesis 2a” is something like what some of us would hold as a “lukewarmist” position (again, not his term), which is my own current (unscientific) position. I very tentatively hold to a view like his Hypothesis 2a, that there are issues of “concern” but that going beyond that to some “catastrophic” view is a political rather than a scientific position.
http://pielkeclimatesci.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/the-reason-we-need-to-resolve-which-of-three-fundamentally-different-hypotheses-regarding-the-role-of-human-in-the-climate-system-are-correctt/
“Hypothesis 2a: Although the natural causes of climate variations and changes are undoubtedly important, the human influences are significant and involve a diverse range of first-order climate forcings, including, but not limited to, the human input of carbon dioxide (CO2). Most, if not all, of these human influences on regional and global climate will continue to be of concern during the coming decades.”
here’s a link to article detailing discovery of grass 200K+ years old, now in danger due to climate change… I call BS.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/9066393/Ancient-seagrass-Oldest-living-thing-on-earth-discovered-in-Mediterranean-Sea.html
http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/02/2012/viking-barley-in-greenland
The Vikings are both famous and notorious for their liking of beer and mead and archaeologists have discussed for years whether Eric the Red (ca 950-1010) and his followers had to make do without the golden drink when they settled in Greenland around the year 1,000: The climate was mild when they landed, but was it warm enough for growing barley?
Researchers from the National Museum in Copenhagen say the answer to the question is ‘yes’. In a unique find, they uncovered tiny fragments of charred barley grains in a Viking midden on Greenland.
The find is final proof that the first Vikings to live in Greenland did grow barley – the most important ingredient in making a form of porridge, baking bread and of course in brewing beer, traditionally seen as the staple foods in the Vikings’ diet.
Two more scientists change sides in the AGW debate
http://hotair.com/greenroom/archives/2012/02/07/two-more-scientists-change-sides-in-the-agw-debate/
Original story
http://notrickszone.com/2012/02/06/body-blow-to-german-global-warming-movement-major-media-outlets-unload-on-co2-lies/
Hey look, Anthony, Bill Gates backs “nonexistent” geoengineering?:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/06/bill-gates-climate-scientists-geoengineering
Bill Gates backs climate scientists lobbying for large-scale geoengineering
Other wealthy individuals have also funded a series of reports into the future use of technologies to geoengineer the climate
John Vidal, environment editior
The Guardian, Sunday 5 February 2012
A small group of leading climate scientists, financially supported by billionaires including Bill Gates, are lobbying governments and international bodies to back experiments into manipulating the climate on a global scale to avoid catastrophic climate change.
The scientists, who advocate geoengineering methods such as spraying millions of tonnes of reflective particles of sulphur dioxide 30 miles above earth, argue that a “plan B” for climate change will be needed if the UN and politicians cannot agree to making the necessary cuts in greenhouse gases, and say the US government and others should pay for a major programme of international research.
Solar geoengineering techniques are highly controversial: while some climate scientists believe they may prove a quick and relatively cheap way to slow global warming, others fear that when conducted in the upper atmosphere, they could irrevocably alter rainfall patterns and interfere with the earth’s climate.
Geoengineering is opposed by many environmentalists, who say the technology could undermine efforts to reduce emissions, and by developing countries who fear it could be used as a weapon or by rich countries to their advantage. In 2010, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity declared a moratorium on experiments in the sea and space, except for in…countries that are not signatories to that Convention including the U.S., Britain, Canada and most NATO countries.
Concern is now growing that the small but influential group of scientists, and their backers, may have a disproportionate effect on major decisions about geoengineering research and policy…
[Continued at http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/06/bill-gates-climate-scientists-geoengineering ]
Calpine’s Sutter Energy Center struggles to find business http://www.energycentral.com/generationstorage/fossilandbiomass/news/en/23294172/Calpine-s-Sutter-Energy-Center-struggles-to-find-business
“Calpine’s Sutter Energy Center west of Yuba City faces a tenuous future, with no contract in hand to provide electricity in 2012.
Two state agencies are working to keep the natural gas plant, which opened in 2001, operating until there’s enough demand in California again for electrical supply.”……………………….
Lets hope SMUD will be allowed to purchase the output of the plant. This problem sounds like some unintended consequences of the 20%/33%RES………….. and the closure of NUMI?
Steven Chu in the news…
Messages show conflict within NRC after Japan earthquake and tsunami – The Washington Post
…Chu’s group, proposed setting off a controlled “shaped” explosion to break through the concrete shield around the primary steel containment structure to allow cooling water to be applied from the outside. One NRC scientist called the idea “madness.” Another idea from the Chu group was to attempt a “junk shot”…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/messages-show-conflict-within-nrc-after-japan-earthquake-and-tsunami/2012/01/09/gIQA2ll6uQ_print.html
The Sun may be about to go blank : The only sunspots currently in view are about to turn away from the Earth, and there is no sign of any new ones emerging.
http://spaceweather.com/
https://www.ikat.org/2012/02/07/february-7-2012-badakhshan-heavy-snowfall-brings-humanitarian-crisis/ Afganistan Ice Age. Did you see Venice was frozen solid too
Now the mining boys are calling the AGW thing the fraud it is . . .
http://mg.co.za/article/2012-02-07-global-warming-or-domination
I also see he was an advisor to the Oz government on Climate Change
Hi Anthony,
Seems Australias Auditor General isn’t happy about the lies told to the people in their ad campaign to convince them of something in which they had no choice.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/latest/12847468/auditor-queries-facts-climate-ads-cost/
Cheers,,
Bwiano
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/maldives-leader-calls-for-unity-government/story-e6frf7jx-1226266100311
The nutjob who organized the underwater Cabinet meeting has resigned from office and been placed under house arrest:
“Nasheed’s resignation marked a stunning fall for the former human rights campaigner who defeated the nation’s longtime ruler, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, in the country’s its first multiparty elections. Nasheed was also an environmental celebrity calling for global action to combat the climate change that could raise sea levels and inundate his archipelago nation.”
More Bill McKibben madness
Our fight is a global fight, and early this morning one of our greatest allies, Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed, was ousted in a military coup. He’s under house arrest at the moment and could be in serious danger. We’re collecting signatures on a petition that we will deliver to key secretaries of state and foreign ministers to make sure there’s pressure on the coup leaders to keep President Nasheed safe.
On our action page, you’ll see a video of President Nasheed at the Copenhagen climate talks–it was one of the great moments of the 350 movement. We also pasted an account of the coup from inside the government. Click Get More Info on the page for both. The Maldives was on course to become the world’s first carbon-neutral nation, a beacon for the rest of the planet; but for the moment, all that matters is the safety of our dear friend and his colleagues.
Another tip about the: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/9066393/Ancient-seagrass-Oldest-living-thing-on-earth-discovered-in-Mediterranean-Sea.html story
The oldest living thing now on the edge of extinction. The grass is still pretty abundant from east to west Medittarenean (Spain to Cyprus) average sea water temperatures are however far from constant in this range and about 5 degrees celsius warmer around Cyprus then around the north of Spain making this a quite improbable story. That said the seagrass is indeed declining because of other causes being pollution mainly because of coastal development .
The Sun has no visible spots today. Solar maximum is only 14 months away. The Cold Sun, indeed.
Link to the Sun in visible light – http://soho.nascom.nasa.gov/data/realtime/hmi_igr/512/
Gerard, that’s hilarious. The thing’s 200,000 years old, so has lived through 100k years of full-blown ice age, the Holocene optimum etc, but it’s going to give up the ghost under the threat of a little AGW! You couldn’t make it up!
Mann’s book is open to “reviews” on Amazon. Sic ‘em, boys!
Death toll now 400 from European freeze
Europe’s death toll from the cold snap that began 11 days ago has topped 400.
The overall death toll from the cold snap that began 11 days ago topped 400 while forecasters warned there would be no early let-up to the freezing weather…
http://www.skynews.com.au/world/article.aspx?id=716326&vId=
The rot seems to be spreading to South Korea http://www.smh.com.au/business/world-business/sourth-korea-joins-australia-nz-in-setting-carbon-limits-20120208-1reuy.html.
Here’s Ars Technica with more global warming/acidification hysteria about corals, and… What?? They’re saying warming is good for corals??
http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2012/02/ocean-temperature-not-acidification-affects-coral-growth.ars
People are dying of cold in Europe, but it always lightens my spirits to see the Dutch making the most of it by taking to the canals on skates. Every year, they work themselves up into a frenzy of anticipation over whether the weather will be cold enough to create conditions for the legendary Elfstedentocht, or Eleven Cities Tour, a speed skating race of 125 miles along their frozen canals. This year, it looks like the race may be held for the first time since 1996.
Wednesday, February 8:
Soldiers sweep ice for Dutch skating race
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/soldiers-sweep-ice-for-1338219.html
Warmists riot in island nation:
Breaking News @BreakingNews
Supporters of former Maldives president riot through streets, throw petrol bombs at police – @AP
An update on an OLD thread. Can CO2 condense out as snow at the south
pole?
The temperature at the Vostok ice lake station was reported to be as low as
-89C.
(See http://news.yahoo.com/russian-scientists-reach-lake-under-antarctica-142203186.html)
The temperature of CO2 snow can get as high as -78.5.
(See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide, http://sourcing.indiamart.com/engineering/articles/co2-properties)
So at Vostok it may be possible to condense CO2.
Read and weep:
http://www.wanderer.com/?p=1356
” … the public is invited to join Mary Jane Sorrentino for a presentation on “The Climate Crisis” followed by an opportunity for questions. Discover the truth about the climate crisis and the meaningful steps we can take to bring about change. Ms. Sorrentino, trained by the Gore Climate Change Project, will be speaking about the causes of this global disaster, how it is affecting New England and particularly our coastal areas, and what responses our communities can embrace.
Mary Jane Sorrentino is self-employed as a Sustainability Consultant,”
It is climate-speak buzz-word bingo
08 February 2012
Spiegel.com has today published the English translation of
its interview of “The Cold Sun” author, Fritz Vahrenholt.
(08 Feb 2012) http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,813814,00.html
Not only is Vahrenholt a prominent Social Democrat and former
German Environment Minister, but also outgoing CEO of the
renewable energy group RWE Innogy.
It’s an extensive interview, touching upon the various climate-influencing
factors left out by the IPCC in its promotion of CO2 as the apocalyptic
threat to mankind, and the massive government intervention and expense
to supposedly make it go away.
“The Cold Sun” author explains the reason of his current point of view as
follows:
Vahrenholt: For years, I disseminated the hypotheses of the IPCC, and I feel duped. Renewable energy is near and dear to me, and I’ve been fighting for its expansion for more than 30 years. My concern is that if citizens discover that the people who warn of a climate disaster are only telling half the truth, they will no longer be prepared to pay higher electricity costs for wind and solar (energy). Then the conversion of our energy supply will lack the necessary acceptance.
Best wishes,
Miguel Rakiewicz
MRakiewicz@gmail.com
Anthony, Just saw this.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/02/08/earths-polar-ice-melting-less-than-thought
“Fisker Halts Work, Lays off Workers as It Renegotiates DOE Loan
Company reveals it hasn’t been able to tap its $529 million DOE loan since May.”
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/fisker-halts-work-lays-off-workers-as-it-renegotiates-doe-loan/
“…………It’s bad news for Fisker on top of bad news that’s been filtering out for months. The Anaheim, Calif.-based startup has continually delayed the sale of its Fisker Karma plug-in hybrid sports car. That’s hurt lithium-ion battery maker and partner A123 Systems, which laid off about 125 employees in November and lowered its annual revenue forecast, a move blamed largely on Fisker’s delays.
At the same time, Fisker has been renovating an old General Motors plant to build its next-generation “Project Nina” lower-cost plug-in hybrid sedans. That’s the reason it won a $529 million AVTM loan in 2010, and the project it has now halted as it seeks to renegotiate its loan.
So far, Fisker has drawn on about $193 million of that loan, which leaves $336 million yet to tap. The loan actually laid out that Fisker could spend about $169 million on Karma engineering and $359 million on its Project Nina plans……….”
The Cryosphere Today has added a new graph for sea ice. I didn’t notice it until today so I don’t know if it has been up for a while.
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/arctic.sea.ice.interactive.html
- All years are presented in one graph where early yerars are blue(cold) and later years are red(hot). By putting the pointer on the graph you can see what year the lines represents.
- It is hard to see which year is which since they just slowly shift from blue to red but by using the pointer and hold it above the lines tells you exactly what year a line represents and the ice area for that day where the pointer is.
- Each year can be turned on/off by clicking on them to the right in order to easier compare them.
It I doubt the colours where selected randomly though.
The Himalayas and nearby peaks have lost no ice in past 10 years, study shows
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/08/glaciers-mountains?intcmp=122
“Meltwater from Asia’s peaks is much less then previously estimated, but lead scientist says the loss of ice caps and glaciers around the world remains a serious concern”
“The world’s greatest snow-capped peaks, which run in a chain from the Himalayas to Tian Shan on the border of China and Kyrgyzstan, have lost no ice over the last decade, new research shows.”
Earth’s Polar Ice Melting Less Than Thought
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/02/08/earths-polar-ice-melting-less-than-thought
“While vast quantities of ice melting into the ocean is not exactly good news, Wahr says, according to his team’s estimates, about 30 percent less ice is melting than previously thought.
The team used data from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellite, which was launched as a joint project between NASA and Germany in 2002.”
David L. Hagen says:
February 8, 2012 at 12:54 pm
The Himalayas and nearby peaks have lost no ice in past 10 years, study shows
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/08/glaciers-mountains?intcmp=122
“Meltwater from Asia’s peaks is much less then previously estimated, but lead scientist says the loss of ice caps and glaciers around the world remains a serious concern”
This article and the other you cited are apparently based on the University of Colorado press release posted here: http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2012/02/08/cu-boulder-study-shows-global-glaciers-ice-caps-shedding-billions-tons-mass. I see no support for the statement that the Himalayas and nearby peaks have lost no ice in the past 10 years. Indeed, the press release says 4 billion tons of ice are lost annually in that region. That’s far less than previous estimates that “have ranged up to 50 billion tons annually”, but much more than none in the last 10 years.
The press release is also limited to the 10 years of observed GRACE data. No future predictions are made or can be made. To quote from the press release:
“One big question is how sea level rise is going to change in this century,” said Pfeffer. “If we could understand the physics more completely and perfect numerical models to simulate all of the processes controlling sea level — especially glacier and ice sheet changes — we would have a much better means to make predictions. But we are not quite there yet.”
Russkies reach Lake Vostok
http://news.yahoo.com/russian-scientists-reach-lake-under-antarctica-142203186.html
Turns out fictitious sea level rise is the least of Mr. Nasheed’s problems:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/08/us-maldives-idUSTRE8170AO20120208
Ousted at gunpoint, ex-president of Maldives takes to streets
By C. Bryson Hull
MALE | Wed Feb 8, 2012 3:22pm EST
(Reuters) – The ousted president of the Maldives, credited with bringing democracy to the Indian Ocean islands, said on Wednesday he had been forced out of power at gunpoint, prompting clashes between police and angry supporters.
Mohamed Nasheed, who in 2008 became the first democratically elected president of the 1,200-island archipelago best known for luxury tourism, resigned on Tuesday after three weeks of opposition protests culminated in a police revolt.
Just a day after he stepped down, it was as if Nasheed had stepped back in time: riot police and soldiers launched tear gas grenades and beat him and other supporters, a scene played out scores of times under the 30-year rule of former president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, whom he succeeded.
Witnesses said around 40 or 50 people including Nasheed had been injured…
Judicial Watch sues Energy Dept. for documents related to $529M Fisker loan
http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/209415-judicial-watch-sues-energy-dept-for-documents-related-to-529m-fisker-loan
excerpt:
A conservative watchdog group is suing the Energy Department for documents related to its $529 million loan to electric-vehicle maker Fisker Automotive.
Judicial Watch said Wednesday that it filed the lawsuit after the Energy Department failed to provide documents in response to a November Freedom of Information Act request.
“It looks like the Obama administration has another Solyndra mess on its hands, which is why they’re stonewalling the release of records regarding this shady Fisker deal,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement. “Once again the Obama administration shelled out over half-a-billion dollars to a failing and incompetent green energy company.”
http://www.jonfr.com/volcano/ has a number of interesting stories including one about Hot Springs in Greenland where volcanic activity supposedly hasn’t occurred for millions of years.
Excellent Irish msm article on wind power (or rather the lack of it). Delingpole has also taken it up.
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/kevin-myers/kevin-myers-energy-policy-based-on-renewables-will-win-hearts-but-wont-protect-their-owners-from-frostbite-and-death-due-to-exposure-3012098.html
‘This is dogma, as created, promulgated and enforced by the John Charles McQuaids of our time — and if sceptics are not actually anathematised from the pulpit, they are ruthlessly and systematically ignored. These dishonest, hypocritical and deceitful energy policies are now widely accepted by our political and teaching classes as being the very embodiment of environmentalist virtue. Such imbecilic virtue, if implemented as energy policy across Europe, could have brought about a human catastrophe last weekend. ‘
D’pole:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100136093/the-best-article-on-wind-farms-you-will-ever-read/
My comment seemed to disappear: the links again just in case it disappeared.
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/kevin-myers/kevin-myers-energy-policy-based-on-renewables-will-win-hearts-but-wont-protect-their-owners-from-frostbite-and-death-due-to-exposure-3012098.html
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100136093/the-best-article-on-wind-farms-you-will-ever-read/
As Mann sits smugly, arrogantly and ignorantly talking of the Year Without a Winter, here’s the weather forecast for Britain this week, with a few stories of how cold kills. We haven’t got it as bad as more easterly and northerly places, but this winter remains a tragedy, for all these people and their families.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/weather/9068793/Ice-to-bring-danger-to-roads-in-fresh-wave-of-severe-weather.html
The New Zealand Carbon Credit market seems to be in freefall.
According to http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/6081834/Carbon-credits-pricing-crashes-and-burns
“The price of New Zealand units (NZUs) has crashed from $22 in May to about $11 last week, stifling interest in developing carbon offsetting initiatives here, according to carbon market participants.
The price crash has been so steep that by one calculation, if the price trend continued for another 100 days, the value of NZU credits would be zero.
The reasons for the crash appear to be the unfettered ability of New Zealand emitters to import credits of dubious quality from overseas, coupled with the recent dumping of international credits by cash-strapped European industrial and utilities companies selling down their stockpiles of carbon to realise cash as the debt crisis worsens, participants in the fledgling carbon trading market say. ”
BUT THIS WAS ON 5th DECEMBER.
Prices have fallen since then. According to http://www.carbonmarketsolutions.com/
an “indicative price” is $13.25 for 30000 NZUs.
I assume this means for 30 tonnes. Does this mean the price is $4.42 per 10 tonne?
@skepticscience Anthony Watts’ Minions Attack Mike Mann and Make Mockery of Amazon Review Process http://wp.me/pKr8Z-A4 via @AGW_Prof
Hi Anthony,
Some report are in the news about the Asian glaciers loosing no ice in the last 10 years:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/08/glaciers-mountains
Probably note worthy.
Uppyn
http://ruleofreason.blogspot.com/2012/01/strike-one.html links to WUWT coverage of the current US Administration’s desire to legally suppress skepticism.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/06/us-russia-aviation-idUSTRE8151QJ20120206 opponents of EU airline carbon fees to meet in Moscow
with
http://www.bitsofscience.org/no-more-horror-winters-europe-winter-forecasts-4668/ Check out a few weeks ago the “Experts” telling us that Europe would have a WARM WINTER!!!
Would it be possible for you to make some sort of response to “How We Know Global Warming is Real and Human Caused” by Donald R. Prothero on the Skeptic Magazine website? They really should not be allowed to get away with this sort of claptrap.
My own pennyworth on this article is at http://phenell.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/sceptical-about-skeptic-magazine/.
Robert Fenwick Elliott
The Himalayas and nearby peaks have lost no ice in past 10 years, study shows, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/08/glaciers-mountains
The (what appear to be contrived} skeptical comments at the amazon review site for Mann’s new book are a hoot. and the cheer leading …. Mandia is esp interesting …. St Micheal the good…
http://www.amazon.com/Hockey-Stick-Climate-Wars-ebook/product-reviews/B0072N4U6S/ref=cm_cr_pr_top_link_1?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=0
Prof. Judith Curry (by way of Climate Depot):
“Its time to abandon the concept of consensus”
“Courtesy of CRU emails, we now understand the sausage making that went into creating the consensus”
“Manufacturing a consensus in context of IPCC has acted to hyper-politicize the scientific and policy debate, to the detriment of both. Its time to abandon the concept of consensus; consensus matters far less than simply being right and the arguments themselves that ought to be the focus for discussion”
http://judithcurry.com/2012/02/06/consensus-or-not/
As a corollary to the silly statement by the current APS President, the APS society journal, Physics Today, has a pathetic puff piece bewailing the supposed threats that so-called climate scientists experience:
“Climate scientists not cowed by relentless climate change deniers”
http://www.physicstoday.org/resource/1/phtoad/v65/i2/p22_s1?bypassSSO=1
Analysis International hippie* collective Greenpeace has issued a “Cool IT leaderboard” of apparently randomly selected major firms which it has assigned meaningless self-generated scores intended to indicate how eco-friendly the companies are.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/08/greenpeace_it_leaderboard/
Nice article from the Irish Independent (via James Delingpole’s blog at the Daily Telegraph) on the uselessness of wind power during the recent cold spell:
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/kevin-myers/kevin-myers-energy-policy-based-on-renewables-will-win-hearts-but-wont-protect-their-owners-from-frostbite-and-death-due-to-exposure-3012098.html
Hi Anthony,
Possible candidate for quote of the week?
From columnist opinion peice at: http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/kevin-myers/kevin-myers-energy-policy-based-on-renewables-will-win-hearts-but-wont-protect-their-owners-from-frostbite-and-death-due-to-exposure-3012098.html
And the floods of skepticism are sweeping over Germany after a lead “Greenie” IPCC reviewer turns skeptic.
http://notrickszone.com/2012/02/06/body-blow-to-german-global-warming-movement-major-media-outlets-unload-on-co2-lies/
Anthony
Nullius in Verba On the Word of No One
You will find an excellent report written by Andrew Montford on the political stance adopted by the Royal Society to Climate Change on the Glopal Warming Policy Foundation web site. The foreword is by Professor Richard Lindzen. http://www.thegwpf.org
Anthony,
What kind of an night owl fool are you? I’m traveling in Holland and I’m 6 hrs ahead of the east cost US (Home), 9 hrs ahead of the west coast (you). It must be 4am your time when you posted IPCC’s Pachauri’s “voodo science” claim comes full circle .. You are dedicated, my friend…
http://www.nature.com/news/supercontinent-amasia-to-take-north-pole-position-1.9996
New super continent will close the Artic route for a really long time…
Check out the very interesting interview in Der Speigel with Fritz Fahrenholt:
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,813814,00.html
The Tribune this morning carries a story about a Romanian man who hacked into JPL’s AIRS project & did more than $500,000 worth of damage.
http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_19925388
From The Scotsman (upmarket Scottish newspaper)
Climate con will feel a chill wind
‘The Met Office’s latest findings, from 30,000 measuring stations, shows the world climate, despite India and China pumping out massive amounts of carbon dioxide, has not warmed at all during the last 15 years.
Such news is bad news for the global warming lobby, which is a more accurate term than “scientific community”. ‘
A good summary aimed at the unaware. Hockey stick, subsidies to warmers, subsidies to windmills, etc.
ooops, sorry. forgot link
http://www.scotsman.com/news/cartoon/jim_sillars_climate_con_will_feel_a_chill_wind_1_2103685?commentspage=0
Wow, it must be cold in Europe
The Danube has frozen…
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/09/european-cold-snap-freezes-danube-blocks-ships-in-port/
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/8/solyndra-sold-assets-cheap-for-fast-cash/?page=1
This could be very bad for the Greenies! This could be fraud…well it is fraud, but this time it might be examined in the courts!
Anthony, you may want to have a talk, or cease-and-desist letter, with these guys:
http:/ / bioln.com / wattsupwiththat.com (broken URL on purpose)
First the APS denies AGW is incontrovertible, now the Himalayan glaciers are not melting,
I wonder if someone should tell the 75 scientists that make up the 97% consensus that we have some unsettling news about the settled science, they could pass it on to Al.
First Next-Gen US Reactor Designed to Avoid Fukushima Repeat
The United States has approved construction of new nuclear reactors for the first time in three decades. The two new reactors approved today (Feb. 9) for Georgia would represent the first U.S. versions of next-generation reactor designs that have begun appearing in China.
These “third-generation” reactors are said to be safer, with longer-lasting batteries and passive cooling systems powered by gravity so that they can survive longer during emergencies without outside power.
http://news.yahoo.com/first-next-gen-us-reactor-designed-avoid-fukushima-005203660.html
(Assuming the facts in the RT report are accurate) Obama is the LARGEST POLLUTER IN THE WORLD as Commander In Chief of the Pentagon and Defense Department. That kind of throws a wrench into any claims that he’s on the side of the environment.
It’s nice how they get people to focus on the fake CO2 Climate Doomsday Rapture while harsh real pollution is going on by the USA Government and others. I wonder who the rest of the top 100 or top 1000 real polluters are?
Environmentalists have lost their focus on the real pollution problems. They go after CO2 sources and tar sands pipe lines while ignoring the bigger real pollution problems that will actually affect lives in so many horrifying ways.
CO2 focused Environmentalists seem to have a complete disregard for real stewardship of the Earth by failing to deal with real pollution problems because they are distracted by CO2 Climate Doomsday Rapture Dystopian Dark No-Future Visions of the Climate Soothsayers who use their Silly-con Crystal Models to Conjure and Cajole Tree Ring Entrails to Reveal the CO2 Abyss.
Clearly Obama needs to be taken to task for his abysmal record on the Environment with the Defense Department and his lack of doing anything about it during his three years. Sure it’s not all his mess but what has he really done to clean up the messes form the military over the past 50-100 years? Nah, don’t deal with real pollution, use the fakery of CO2 Climate Doomsday CAGW Rapture to throw environmentalists off and make them believe you’re on their side. Looks like it worked very well indeed.
Sorry about that, my bad, the working video url is:
Forbes:[
Santorum Sends The Right Message On Global Warming
..
Santorum’s strategy is powerful for two reasons. First, he has an unassailable record of questioning alarmist global warming claims and opposing carbon dioxide restrictions. Second, he is pressing the issue with a fervor that conveys clear and unmistakable sincerity
..
But the lesson to be learned here, as Santorum surges in recent primaries due in large part to his willingness and ability to throw down the gauntlet on global warming and related issues, is that politicians champion big-government energy and environment policies at their own peril. Rick Santorum has a clean record on these issues, and he is starting to turn that clean record into political momentum.
...]
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jamestaylor/2012/02/08/santorum-sends-the-right-message-on-global-warming/
Perhaps he heard what happened in Canada last year.
Hey Anthony,
Here’s an interesting video regarding tfunding of environmental groups. Very shocking and revealing into those trying to profiteer by shutting down the oil industry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WIjHYyIOgk&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Makes me wonder whether the other planets are chillier over the decade. Would that show a sun based link to climate on earth?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2098165/Nasa-spacecraft-captures-huge-avalanche-near-Marss-north-pole.html
I’ve no idea if this has been posted up anywhere or linked to since December, but it’s a solid read.
“Biofuels will not save us from climate change, argues Matt Ridley. Their environmental impact is worse than that of fossil fuels ”
http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2011/12/going-for-the-burn/
UK to press for al countries to move to “green accounting” and build “sustainable development” (a.k.a. Trash Your Economy) into all future plans. Horrifying prospect.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/uk-to-press-for-global-green-accounting-system-6699781.html
Paging Mr. Monckton ;-)
http://www.stthomas.edu/magazine/2012/Winter/abraham.html
A self congratulatory Mr. Abrahams:
“I really try to quiet the political rancor on this subject, [b]oth sides need to come together to find solutions to this problem that cannot only help the environment but also fix the economy. I encourage people to work hard to bridge the cultural divide we have on this issue. People on both sides need to be sensitive to the concerns of others. Some of those concerns are well-founded. If we can find ways to work together on mutual goals, we can make some progress toward solving this challenging, but not insurmountable problem,” [Mr. Abraham] said.
Perhaps Mr. Abrahams has had an epiphany. However, odds are I think not.
New Peer Reviewed Study: ‘Falsification of the Atmospheric CO2 Greenhouse Effects Within the Frame of Physics’ by Gerlich & TscheuschnerA new peer reviewed paper has been published in the International Journal of Modern Physics. Purchase the paper at the WSPC website for $ 25.00G. Gerlich, R. D. Tscheuschner:Falsification Of The Atmospheric CO2 Greenhouse Effects Within The Frame Of Physics.International Journal of Modern Physics B, Vol. 23, No. 3 (30 January 2009), 275-364World Scientific Publishing Co.
There is a freely available post-print version 4.0 from the preprint server of the Cornell University :http://arxiv.org/abs/0707.1161
Physicist Dr. Gerhard Gerlich, of the Institute of Mathematical Physics at the Technical University Carolo-Wilhelmina in Braunschweig in Germany, and Dr. Ralf D. Tscheuschner co-authored a July 7, 2007 paper titled “Falsification of the Atmospheric CO2 Greenhouse Effects Within the Frame of Physics.
”The Abstract of the paper reads, in part: “(a) there are no common physical laws between the warming phenomenon in glass houses and the fictitious atmospheric greenhouse effects; (b) there are no calculations to determine an average surface temperature of a planet; (c) the frequently mentioned difference of 33 C is a meaningless number calculated wrongly; (d) the formulas of cavity radiation are used inappropriately; (e) the assumption of a radiative balance is unphysical; (f) thermal conductivity and friction must not be set to zero, the atmospheric greenhouse conjecture is falsified.” Gerlich and Tscheuschner’s study concluded, “The horror visions of a risen sea level, melting pole caps and developing deserts in North America and in Europe are fictitious consequences of fictitious physical mechanisms, as they cannot be seen even in the climate model computations. The emergence of hurricanes and tornados cannot be predicted by climate models, because all of these deviations are ruled out. The main strategy of modern CO2-greenhouse gas defenders seems to hide themselves behind more and more pseudo explanations, which are not part of the academic education or even of the physics training.” From the Conclusions: “The derivation of statements on the CO2 induced anthropogenic global warming out of the computer simulations lies outside any science.”
Does distrusting Pro-AGW count?
From Breitbart.tv – A goverment funded study shows that “Distrust of government is a mental disorder!”…
http://www.breitbart.tv/study-distrust-of-government-a-mental-disorder/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed
Pay-walled but interesting
“New Peer Reviewed Study: ‘Falsification of the Atmospheric CO2 Greenhouse Effects Within the Frame of Physics’ by Gerlich & Tscheuschner
A new peer reviewed paper has been published in the International Journal of Modern Physics. Purchase the paper at the WSPC website for $ 25.00
G. Gerlich, R. D. Tscheuschner:
Falsification Of The Atmospheric CO2 Greenhouse Effects Within The Frame Of Physics.
International Journal of Modern Physics B, Vol. 23, No. 3 (30 January 2009), 275-364
World Scientific Publishing Co.
There is a freely available post-print version 4.0 from the preprint server of the Cornell University :
http://arxiv.org/abs/0707.1161“
http://climateresearchnews.com/2009/03/new-peer-reviewed-study-falsification-of-the-atmospheric-co2-greenhouse-effects-within-the-frame-of-physics-by-gerlich-tscheuschner/
Climate math: half of 65 is 42:
“While it may be very unpredictable, it is commonly agreed that if the ice caps melt, the world could see sea level rises as high as 65 metres above current sea level.”
“That is the very worst case scenario, and looking at the medium to worst case scenario you would halve that number and be looking at 42 metres rise.”
http://www.rtcc.org/living/rising-sea-levels-mapped-across-london-through-art/
I will simply state that this is possibly the single stupidest reporting of the GRACE data study yet;
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/02/glaciers-are-melting-billions-tons-fourth-warmest-january-ever/48527/#disqus_thread
Then, for a real kicker, read the tweets below the story. I didn’t think people who could use technology could possibly be that obtuse. Once again my geometry skills are proven susceptible to bias.
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2012/02/so-whats-a-teacher-to-do/#comments
When i was done reading this article, went to the toilet and threw up my lunch.. Any suggestions on how to counter man made global warming deniers and their annoing questions and comments? Perhapse we can make a
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2012/02/so-whats-a-teacher-to-do/#comments
When i was done reading this article, went to the toilet and threw up my lunch.. Any suggestions on how to counter man made global warming deniers and their annoing questions and comments? Perhapse we can make a law wich forbids speaking out against THE “consensus”? Put them in jail or let them feed those poor polarbears?
“shiver..” sarcasm off
http://icecap.us/images/uploads/Holocene,Historicandrecentglobaltemperatures.pdf
Sorry if this PDF did already came along here. Repost wouldnt harm i guess.. :-)
Deadline for public comments on AB 2514 (Mandates for Energy Storage in CA) is approaching- FEB 21, 2012. For details on the subject see Phil Carson’s recent post-
http://www.intelligentutility.com/article/12/02/influencing-energy-storage-policy-california&utm_medium=eNL&utm_campaign=IU_DAILY2&utm_term=Original-Member
Since ~Feb 6-7, WUWT goes into a mode without pages, the whole blog is one continuous page. This seems to occur at random, suddenly the “Watts Up With That?” and
Theme: Twenty Ten Blog at WordPress.com. appear in a separate frame at the bottom of the screen, and there are no longer pages. If I refresh, this modality stops. I wouldn’t care but it takes forever to load the whole blog, as opposed to the first page.
Has anybody thought about writing a “con man’s guide to global warming”? Lucrative opportunities for reverse Robin Hoods – steal from the working class and enrich yourself while claiming (Ta-dah!) to “save the planet”. Choose your field: renewables, carbon-trading, geo-engineering, panic-selling schemes, etc. Learn from financial experts how to “bundle” good data with bad, misleading and irrelevant data to “prove” your point and make your sale. Hey, it’s a hustler’s paradise.
So, where are the warnings from consumer protection agencies?
The page link to older posts is missing from the home page footer. Probably has something to do with the new layered footer.
Okay, now WordPress is acting as John from CA describes, only part of the first page loads with no access to older posts. Perhaps his ‘new layered footer’ is what shows up in my screenshot here:
http://i41.tinypic.com/ta6ie1.jpg
that overlaid footer shows up ‘randomly’ when on WUWT, and thenceforth one cannot scroll down the page fully.
Why do they need cell phones paid by tax payers anyway? My employer does not pay for my cell phone…
NOAA Dumps BlackBerrys For iPhones
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/10/us-rim-government-idUSTRE8191R620120210
This seemed interesting.
You know, one of the things I love most about the Web is how easy it is to find information that you never knew existed. Case in point: a link to an excellent article from the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) on evapotranspiration maps (maps of the moisture released from the plants and ground) that I found in a U.K. poultry farming magazine.
http://www.sensorsmag.com/sensors-mag/sensing-droughts-9537
Valentine’s Day destroyed by climate change?
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/environment/la-me-gs-valentines-day-destroyed-by-climate-change-20120210,0,6234196.story
It was fairly difficult to quickly find a uniform reportage of stats for Ghana and the Ivory Coast, but note
http://www.unctad.org/infocomm/anglais/cocoa/market.htm
and 2011 was apparently a record year for Ghana and Ivory Coast
:
The formidable Bob Carter published 3 articles over the past few days in Quadrant with the topic, “Climate Review”. Gem from the first one:
A quick video item I came across…..
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-16978753
BBC to apologise for programmes made by production companies which turned out to be in the pay of the subjects of the programmes. Objectivity and impartiality at its best!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/bbc-to-issue-global-apology-for-documentaries-that-broke-rules-6719997.html
Your main page seems to have been hacked!
If I go too far down it, it goes to another page which doesn’t actually load.
DaveE.
Hey, Anthony.
How come there is no longer an “older posts” link at the end of the first page? How do we get to the previous posts in a more user-friendly way?
I wonder whether that new fancy new pop-up has anything to do with it.
Cheers.
Oh, well!
It looks like I’m not the first to whinge about it.
Well, I can sleep safely knowing that the management has been made aware of the problem. :)
When I try to log into WUWT items I get a heading, a (sometimes) displaced side panel and a blank page.
That applies in both Safari 5.1.3 and Google Chrome 17.0.963.46.
Of course that may be the intention I couldn’t say, but it may be.
Anyway, in case you were unaware, I just thought I’d let you know.
Green irony: Fat of Sperm whale used as biofuel
http://www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/2672/Wetenschap-Gezondheid/article/detail/3168601/2012/02/09/Vet-van-aangespoelde-potvis-wordt-groene-stroom.dhtml
Las week a sperm whale stranded on a Belgian beach. The carcas will be cut up and the bodyfat will be used as biofuel in an electricity plant, Electrawinds in Oostende.
The fat will probably generate 50.000 Kwh of electricity.
That is not the kind of green electricity that Greenpace is looking for.
I get the latest discussions, but the rest of the page blank, and nothing else on ‘that side’ of the page – the right hand column still appears.
Perhaps one for Josh… I’ve got to agree with “coyote blog” on this – Climate scientists should dress as wizards… or shamans… Also from the comments the use of “Tree days” to measure time .
http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2012/01/perfect-for-climate-scientists.html
It seems the UK government like Spain, has finally figured out that solar subsidies are to expensive.
Solar subsidy cuts spark job fears
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/solar-subsidy-cuts-spark-job-fears-6699359.html
“Any morally acceptable pathway to prevent catastrophic global warming includes broad access to affordable birth control for the world’s women.”
http://thinkprogress.org/green/2012/02/10/423265/access-to-birth-control-is-a-fundamental-component-of-climate-survival/
All this time I thought global warming was only preventing fish from reasonable access to bicycles.
To Mr. Watts and the Mods – an interesting little comment from over at Real Climate. A real-time look at The Team in action.
48
thingsbreak says:
10 Feb 2012 at 3:32 PM
Hey Gavin. Thanks for this post. Any idea why Andrew Revkin is saying that these results suggest climate sensitivity has been overestimated?
Thanks!
[Response: I saw Andy's tweet and tweeted a reply almost instantly (MichaelEMann). Andy subsequently tweeted a correction. It was an honest error that was quickly corrected. -mike]
Arctic bird seen in San Diego per the San Diego Union Tribune.
See
http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/feb/10/hundreds-flock-julian-see-rare-bird/
“BBC: Met Office Global Forecasts Too Warm In 11 Out Of Last 12 Years ”
“2011 is the 11th year out of the last 12 when the Met Office global temperature forecast has been too warm. ”
AN article at the GWPF http://thegwpf.org/the-observatory/4948-bbc-met-office-global-forecasts-too-warm-in-11-out-of-last-12-years.html
links to a posting on the BBC’s site by an ex-Met Office guy, now a BBC weatherman.
“But all the errors are on the warm side, with none of the forecasts that have been issued in the last 12 years ending up too cold.
And, in my opinion, that makes the error significant.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulhudson/2012/02/met-office-global-forecasts-to.shtml
I’ve never seen (or heard of) anything like that from the BBC before.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120209144003.htm Wow they don’t understand it, but they know it’s changed because of the cooling I mean warming that is happening?
I know that “one swallow a spring doesn’t make” but there are lots of birds flying around these days . . .
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/windpower/9076458/Wind-industrys-extensive-lobbying-to-preserve-subsidies-and-defeat-local-resistance-to-turbines.html
A little bit more of the insanity presently infecting England:-
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-16999036
One of the sponsors is Artsadmin, which operates from Toynbee Studios, a well known Grauniad name.
LIFT is the London International Festival of Theatre. The origin of finance for this scheme is not revealed on their website.
But I think that somewhere along the line the British taxpayer is forking out a not inconsiderable sum, somewhere along the line to support this nonsense.
WUWT provides a popup window offering:
“Follow “Watts Up With That?”
This popup provides ways to affirm/include email.
However, I see no way to say NO, turn it off.
1) Please provide a similar radio button to “Close”.
2) Please provide an option to “Do not show again”.
Thanks
I think a change occurred in the last week or three with the mouse scrolling wheel and Reference Pages drop down. I used to be able to click on the Reference Pages and while my mouse pointer was still in the drop down box, roll the choices up to get to a choice near the bottom. But now it does not roll. In fact, I do not think that I can get to the bottom choices when the bar with the Reference Pages is at the top of my screen. The last item that I can choose is the U.S. Climatic History Page.
[Reply: On a Mac it's easy to resize the screen: ⌘ - or +. I'm sure there's a way on a PC. Make the screen smaller and you should be able to go farther down the menu. ~dbs, mod.]
,Great praise from Forbes for WUWT… ***Watts Up? Who Killed Climate Change?***
The political price was paid, and the public simply tired of the incessant gloom and doom campaign by government scientists, environmental organizations, Al Gore, the Weather Channel, Center for American Progress, every Environmental Science Department in higher education, the public schools, private schools, and Hollywood science experts (of which there are plenty—just ask!).
Standing in the way of this gargantuan effort was a weather nerd in Chico, California, by the name of Anthony Watts, the proprietor of http://www.wattsupwiththat.com. “WUWT” is by far the most popular climate science site in the world, sporting over 100 million hits to date. Watts tirelessly documented seemingly arcane climate science findings, the climategate emails, and promoted the healthiest debate in the world on the interaction of science and politics.
Not everything on WUWT is right, that’s for sure. But the sense of free inquiry and thought Watts has fostered on his site has shamed the climate apocalypse machine into inconsequence. David whupped Goliath, one of the most amazing achievements in the history of science communication.
WUWT publicized the two batches of “Climategate” emails detailing some pretty awful behavior by people who are not my friends. WUWT covered the disastrous UN global warming confab in Copenhagen in December, 2009 (where President Obama learned America’s place in the climate policy world was a spot called nowhere), and Watts publicized the revelation of glaring science mistakes by the UN, as well as the raging debate on why surface temperatures haven’t warmed for fourteen years.
It’s probable that the reaction to a politically unwise cap and trade bill, and tireless work of an obscure weather forecaster from the northeast corner of the Sacramento Valley killed climate change.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickmichaels/2012/01/27/watts-up-who-killed-climated-change/
I think we need a story to sign this petition…..
Warmists are censoring opposition using the government.
http://www.menzieshouse.com.au/2012/02/secret-foreign-campaign-to-suppress-free-speech-in-australia-exposed.html
BBC – a beautiful video of a sequoia tree:
From the video:
“….it is staggering to think that with just a gas; carbon dioxide, and a liquid; water, together with light energy from beyond our world, you can construct a cathedral of wood, 90 metres tall…”
Harrabin in the news again …
BBC’s Weather Test washout: Bid to check accuracy of forecasts vanishes in storm of wrangling that no one predicted.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2099922/BBCs-Weather-Test-washout-bid-check-accuracy-forecasts-vanishes-storm-wrangling-predicted.html
Bishop Hill has a post of compelling interest on many levels:
James Hansen fact check:
In his recent “Crimes Against Humanity” video on youtube, Hansen says “When there have been warmings of several degrees Celsius, which is what we will get if we will follow business as usual, the earth lost more than half of its species.”
approx 1:20 in the video.
Can this possibly be true? From what I can tell, there have been many many warmings of several degrees Celsius without such effects. In fact, half of the earth’s species going extinct would qualify as a “mass extinction” of which there have been 5. I think one of those mass extinctions involved warming, but Hansen is implying that whenever we have a several degree warming we lose half of all species.
Jeff Masters, over at the ‘Weather Underground’ (apparently a proud member of the Baader-Meinhof wing of Meteorlogy) is obsesssing about his “worst global warming” fear: Michigan is becoming like Ohio!
“My worst global warming fear: buckeyes in Ann Arbor”
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/comment.html?entrynum=2032
I have also lost the ‘older posts’ link at the bottom of the first page. I do, however, get an annoying block with stuff about WordPress at the bottom of the screen. Using latest Firefox on a PC.
http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/2012/02/12/science-is-never-in-unless-you-rig-the-results
interest read in the Sunday Times (South Africa)
Interesting eco-group hypocrisy pointed out at https://www.facebook.com/ecointernet (a heavily liberal FB page). Love the term “greenwash”
DANGEROUS LACK OF CONSISTENCY IN FOREST MOVEMENT
This week WWF and Greenpeace rightly condemn Indonesian rainforest logging for toilet paper in important tiger habitat. Yet both support and actively greenwash Forest Stewardship Council’s clearcut logging for toilet paper in old-growth Canadian boreal forests (Greenpeace is past chairman of the board). All primary forests need to be protected for their ecosystem services and benefits when standing to local peoples practicing community eco-forestry, not just those with charismatic mega-fauna. These and other groups’ support for first-time industrial FSC primary forest logging in some instances – but not in others – is confusing to the public, and let’s anyone destroy and consume old forest, and claim it is “sustainable” – which is bullshit.
I was just going over the R package and various gui options. Many of the presenters here use R to analyze data. Have you guys considered putting up an R resource page to list the elements of your statistical analysis toolchain? I don’t really care for google tables, though.
For all you Cold Fusion fans, the Rossi LENR device gets a right going-over. The upshot of this article is that it is just a big kettle and Rossi has been trying to pull severeal fast ones on Uppsala and Bologna Unis as well as NASA. Pity.
http://newenergytimes.com/v2/news/2012/Report-4-Rossis-NASA-Test-Fails-to-Launch.shtml
p.s. I read the Forbes article as suggested by David Spurgeon. I recommend reading the comments, they are unintentionally hilarious.
The Sun newspaper in British Columbia.
http://www.vancouversun.com/business/lobby+retreat+urges+feds+deliver+climate+change+solutions/6141130/story.html
From the Daily Telegraph:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/9077468/National-Trust-comes-out-against-public-menace-of-wind-farms.html
Never thought I would see this.
“The National Trust is now “deeply sceptical” of wind power, its chairman said as he launched an outspoken attack on the “public menace” of turbines destroying the countryside.”
“But in an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Sir Simon Jenkins warned that wind was the “least efficient” form of green power, and risked blighting the British landscape.”
“The Government can ill-afford another clash with the Trust – which has more members than all the major political parties combined…”
Interesting video/article re the rigors of living next to a power-generating windmill:
Blowing Away the Windmill Lies
Windfall exposes a huckster’s cure.
http://pjmedia.com/blog/blowing-away-the-windmill-lies/
…The last item that I can choose is the U.S. Climatic History Page.
[Reply: On a Mac it's easy to resize the screen: ⌘ - or +. I'm sure there's a way on a PC. Make the screen smaller and you should be able to go farther down the menu. ~dbs, mod.]
Thanks for information, but today, 12 Feb 2012, it works as it did previously. Have a PC, but want an Ipad. IE 9 uses CTRL + or -.
Remarkable segment on 60 Minutes tonight on major research fraud at Duke University. Troubling parallels to climatology issues, including whitewash investigations, funding motivation, institutional oversight, etc.
Slayton’s above tip on Duke University fraud is worth reading further on here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57376073/deception-at-duke/?tag=contentMain;contentBody
It is ironic that 60 Minutes is reporting fraud based upon unconfirmable documentation, when 60 Minutes lost many viewers due to its own political use of unconfirmable documentation.
John Day says:
February 12, 2012 at 6:21 am
“Jeff Masters, over at the ‘Weather Underground’ (apparently a proud member of the Baader-Meinhof wing of Meteorlogy) is obsesssing about his “worst global warming” fear: Michigan is becoming like Ohio!”
Yes, this is the same Weather Underground that just teamed up with Mitsubishi Motors to burn copious amounts of CO2-belching fossil fuels testing automobiles…
Ride the Storm
We should ask Jeff Masters if he supports the Keystone pipeline so we can all have gasoline to drive across the U.S. in our Mitsubishi cars…
Just saw this on Yahoo News. Scientific American ditty on “What does a coup in the Maldives mean for climate change?
link: http://news.yahoo.com/does-coup-maldives-mean-climate-change-150008284.html
Snowy owls are making appearances in the US in greater numbers this year.
http://ebird.org/content/ebird/news/the-winter-of-the-snowy-owl
Certainly it’s some complicated response to climate.
For next friday funny…
http://xkcd.com/1007/
SciAm: climate change in the Andes, extreme cold caused by global warming…crop failures, sick cattle and people, etc.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=andes-extreme-cold-extracts-bitter-toll
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16394635
Interesting news item about gas in African lake.
The “Faint Sun Paradox” was first described by Sagan in the mid-1970s: models of the early sun predicted that it was not bright enough to prevent the early Earth from becoming a snowball. Sagan proposed an enhanced greenhouse effect based on ammonia, but UV radiation would have destroyed it. The next proposal was that high concentrations of CO2 could take care of the problem, yet the telltale minerals for this are not found in the geological record. Enter solar evolution and dynamics. The attached article is a good summary of the different questions facing researchers trying to understand conditions on the young Earth from which life arose.
The confluence of climate, geology, astronomy and solar dynamics — of interest to readers of WUWT?
http://astrobio.net/exclusive/4552/baby-fat-on-the-young-sun
Monday morning doomsday news:
“Melting Ice Raised Oceans 0.5 Inches in Seven Years
Basically, get to New Orleans and Venice while you still can.
The largest study of its kind to date has determined that melting ice led to a half-inch rise in sea levels around the world between 2003 and 2010. A team of researchers at the University of Colorado used data from NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, or GRACE, on the rate of polar ice melting to arrive at the conclusion, looking at glaciers and land ice in North America, South America, Asia, and Europe, in particular. All told, the team determined that the world lost some 4.3 trillion tons of ice across those seven years, giving the world’s oceans a little 12-millimetre top-up. That half-inch is about what a standard drink of scotch looks like in a tumbler, for reference. Polar ice melting in Antarctica and Greenland made up about three-quarters of all ice lost, while the other quarter, about 148 billion tons, came from glaciers and ice caps elsewhere, including mountain ranges the world over and the high Arctic in Canada, Russia, and Scandinavia. As if there weren’t enough problems in the world’s lowest-lying country already…”
http://www.themarknews.com/articles/8159-melting-ice-raised-oceans-0-5-inches-in-seven-years
Institutional mistrust and the rejection of science
……”It’s worth taking a long look at the cultural context for this situation because it reveals just how extreme some elements have become, with potential impacts on grid modernization. Just as we gain the means to modernize the electric grid through science, technology and enlightened, collective action, so we stumble, shriek and point fingers at one another, dividing and conquering … ourselves. Does that sound like a strong nation with a vision for the future? Does that sound like an industry that can get its job done?”………
http://www.intelligentutility.com/article/12/02/smart-meters-and-cultural-toxicity&utm_medium=eNL&utm_campaign=IU_DAILY2&utm_term=Original-Member
A good case of WUWT? Useful model for a change…
“Physicists have come up with an equation that explains and predicts the shape of a ponytail.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17012795
Anybody else curious as to why there as been no more data/research published from JAXA’s IBUKI satellite since its CO2 emissions report from last October?
The experts didn’t debunk those results they just ignored them and hoped they would go away…which they seem to have done (quel surprise).
WORTH A THREAD ?
Inspired by a University of Cambridge mathematician, over 5000 academics have agreed to boycott publishers Elsevier, vowing not to peer-review or submit papers for any of its scientific journals.
The protest comes at a time when mathematicians in particular are embracing new ways of working online, with some using web tools such as blogs and wikis both to solve proofs collectively and to distribute the results to their peers.
The protest began last month when Timothy Gowers, a mathematician at the University of Cambridge, wrote a blog post objecting to what he called Elsevier’s “very high” prices and its practice of “bundling” journals, which he says prompts university libraries to spend money on titles that they may not want.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21467-web-freedoms-fuel-academic-spring-journal-protest.html
Wind Power Panic: AWEA’s Last Stand (death spiral looms for taxpayer-dependent industry)
http://www.masterresource.org/2012/02/wind-panic-awea-ptc/
Excerpt:
If you haven’t heard from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), you probably will.
Ominous, scary ads are running nationwide warning of the crushing blow to American jobs if Congress fails to extend the Production Tax Credit (‘PTC’), the 20-year ‘temporary’ subsidy most credited for market growth in the wind sector. The PTC is due to expire at the end of this year.
Most of the ads target particular House members who, so far, have resisted the industry’s demands for their PTC earmark. The pressure is particularly heated right now as Congress negotiates the payroll tax holiday bill, which is viewed by many as the last best chance to attach an extension of the PTC before November’s presidential election.
Obama hikes subsidy to wealthy electric car buyers http://news.yahoo.com/obama-hikes-subsidy-wealthy-electric-car-buyers-191058674.html
“The White House intends to boost government subsidies for wealthy buyers of the Chevy Volt and other new-technology vehicles — to $10,000 per buyer.
That mammoth subsidy would cost taxpayers $100 million each year if it is approved by Congress, presuming only 10,000 new-technology autos are sold each year.”
A Star Is Born.
This bloke, George Turner, has a pithy turn of phrase and takes no prisoners. Possible future WUWT Guest Poster maybe? I think he sums up the Great Debate very well, contrasting the integrity of sceptics with the hypocrisy of the CAGW religion.
http://www.transterrestrial.com/?p=39883#comment-266281
Article on Yahoo News blaming shark attacks on global warming…
http://news.yahoo.com/humans-blamed-shark-attacks-double-151811021.html
Opening paragraph:
Sharks killed twice as many swimmers and surfers last year than in 2010, with the increase due largely to a growth in tourism and changing shark patterns due to global warming.
Donna LaF has posted a link to a working paper by Arthur Rorsch which analyses the extent to which group-think led to all chapters of AR5 starting with the premise that man-made CO2 will cause CAGW. http://www.climatescienceinternational.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=629:are-governments-justified-basing-climate-policy-on-the-reports-of-the-ipcc&catid=1:latest
looks like a missed story re IPCC and Sea Levels and Maldives
http://devconsultancygroup.blogspot.com/2012/02/ipcc-receives-further-credibility-blow.html
IPCC receives a further credibility blow: Dr. Nils-Axel Mörner resigns as expert reviewer
The problems to IPCC never seems to end. Vahrenholt, the high profile German scientist made headlines last week:
‘The IPCC is more of a political than a scientific body. As a rapporteur on renewable energy, I witnessed how thin the factual basis is for predictions that are made at the IPCC.”
Now a Swedish scientist quits the IPCC. Here’s the letter Dr. Nils-Axel Mörner faxed the IPCC:
I hereby resign as expert-reviewer of Chapter 13: Sea Level Changes. I do this for two reasons:
(1) TIME:
A few days ago I noted that the deadline is set at February 10, instead of Mach 10 that I had noted by mistake.
(2) QUALITY:
Having glanced through Chapter 13, I find it to be of such low quality that a serious review would require very much extra work. At previous expert-reviews of mine (2000, 2006), all comments and corrections were neglected, despite their firm anchoring in facts.
The so-called authors of Chapter 13 seem to be a collection of all those who have written anything about sea level changes that agrees with the concept of IPCC, despite that fact that many of those papers were of a very low quality.
To this group is added some persons who have absolutely no insight to sea level changes. It is an insult that such persons are named “authors”.
– Rune Grand Graversen (Sweden) is a Ph.D. student in meteorology
– Gunnar Myhre (Norway) seems to be fully limited to meteorology
– Ruth Mottram (Denmark) is post.doc. in meteorology (glaciology)
Just to check my Nordic country fellows are all “non-specialists” who have nothing to contribute in sea level. Why are they there? But so typical!
All the debate and questioning has been shamelessly left out; not even referred to. And still, there is most probably within that material, the reality is to be found.
Today, the President of the Maldives had to resign. Finally, reality caught up with his illusions about sea level changes.
So should most of the Chapter 13 authors do, too – for the benefit of science. And by this I resign as expert reviewer
Stockholm, February 7, 2012
Nils-Axel Mörner
Sea Level Expert
Hurricanes pose a risk to Wind farms off US coasts say Nation Academy of Science. Well DUH!.
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/hurricanes/story/2012-02-12/wind-farms-hurricane-danger/53083084/1
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/8098812/Leading-environmental-campaigners-support-nuclear-and-GM.html
“Mark Lynas, a campaigner who has been a member of action groups on GM foods and climate change, said the environmental lobby was losing the battle for public opinion on climate change because it had made too many apocalyptic prophecies and exaggerated claims.
He said: “We have got to find a more pragmatic and realistic way of engaging with people.”"
Why don’t they start by telling the truth!
You need to look at this:
A Univ. of Washington Professor of Atmospheric Sciences writes a blog and the Sunday post is about as poor as it can get. Really!
(Can you get permission to post this on WUWT?)
http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Will we do anything about global warming? Should we?
From this fellow:
http://www.atmos.washington.edu/mass.html
George Monbiot seems to be very depressed but the comments are even more worrying.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/georgemonbiot/2012/feb/13/protecting-environment-social-justice
JimF says:
February 12, 2012 at 6:19 pm
Blowing Away the Windmill Lies
I got to the following statement – and quit.
“The diameter of the cement base of the windmills can be 250 feet.”
‘The most alarming stories about climate change rest where there is the least data. Like explorers in search of Yeti, climate researchers hunt frozen landscapes hoping to make the myth a reality.’
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php/site/article/12113/
http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/44605
On the Media use of “cold snap” where tragedy is occurring!
“…
Dr. Gavin Schmidt, a colleague of Dr. Hansen’s at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, tells us that basically, we’re putting greenhouse gases – which are primarily water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone – into the atmosphere, making it harder for energy coming in from the sun and processed by Earth’s climate systems to make it back out to space.
Schmidt says that their research showed that temperatures are changing because of increases in greenhouse gases. The increased emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere keep more energy trapped near the ground than what would be considered normal.
That imbalance – more energy coming into Earth than is leaving it – is part of the whole global warming story.
As far as other evidence supporting the theory of human-caused global warming, Dr. Schmidt points to conditions such as the temperature changes that scientists are recording around the world; the heat content changes in the ocean; stratospheric cooling, which he says is a “very clear signature of carbon dioxide;” as well as the spectral radiation scientists are measuring from satellites.
Dr. Schmidt says those along, with other signs to look for, such as sea ice, the phenology of plants and glacial melting, prove that the actual fact of warming is incontrovertible, that the planet has clearly warmed over the last 100 years and that the warming has increased over the last few decades.
…”
http://blogs.voanews.com/science-world/2012/02/11/debate-over-global-warmingclimate-change-heats-up/
I think you will find this interesting in that is up ends all conventional wisdom on El Nino/El Nina, which in turn drive a lot of our Climate:
Argo Data Confirms El Niño/El Niña Caused By Underwater Volcanoes
http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/18084
Previous post on my theory:
El Niño/El Niña Unlikely Caused By Atmospheric Or Solar Forces:
http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/18003
Feel free to share – hopefully the site will hold up to your traffic load.
http://metagalactic.net/climat/index_en.html
“The model being suggested is focused on the heating through electromagnetic induction triggering the mantle’s thermal heating all across the board. This rules out diffusion, convection and surface radioactive contamination. ”
paper by Alexander Ilyanok
http://nanofemto.net/bio_en.html
GISS global temp. anomaly for January: 0.36. The warm is turning.
Anthony, you did everyone interested in the N&Z equation 8 discussion a disservice by consigning it to Tallbloke where he is exercising heavy censoring (Robert Brown for one, who hasn’t “any science sensibility” apparently. I’ve been banned (I’m a WUWT troll apparently!), for refusing to recant my heresy of saying that N&Z used density in their calculations:
“[Reply] Read their papers Phil. I challenge you to find any reliance on density in their equations.”
Answer to Tallbloke the Ideal Gas Law is:
P=ρRT where ρ is the gas density
They say in their paper:
“This can be written in terms of the average air density ρ (kg m-3) as
ρTs =const.=Ps M/R (6)”
The whole of section 3.1 deals with this and the Ts in Table 1 is calculated using density!
The reply to this was:
“their theory does not rely on density as I said, and you are the one who needs to admit you’re wrong (no apology needed). You are not banned, but you won’t be having further comments published until after you step up and do the right thing.”
Nick Stokes came to my defense:
“It’s here in this post:
“For a given pressure, the near-surface air density varies on a planetary scale in a fixed proportion with temperature, so that the product Density*Temperature = const. on average, i.e. higher temperature causes lower density while lower temperature brings about higher density according to the Charles/Gay-Lussac Law for an isobaric process.”
To which Tallbloke gave this reply:
“Yes Nick, but this is additional explanation. They do not need to rely on density because Eq 7 shows that Ts/Tgb is equivalent to their exponential function which involves pressure only. This is why there are two ‘equals’ signs in Eq 7. Immediately above Eq 8 they say
“Equation (7) allows us to derive a simple yet robust formula for predicting a planet’s mean surface
temperature as a function of only two variables – TOA solar irradiance and mean atmospheric surface pressure, i.e. [Eq 8]””
So they actually used density to calculate Ts but they could have done it another way so it doesn’t matter, recall what his initial statement was:
I challenge you to find any reliance on density in their equations.
Robert Brown also tried to address the point: “For what it is worth, density and pressure are not independent variables.”
To which Tallbloke replied:
“True but irrelevant to my point, which is that having calibrated their EQ8, Which they could have done with temperature rather than density, they are able to correctly calculate the surface temperatures of the other celestial bodies using only their pressure function and the TOA insolation.
So in summary having fitted the data to a chosen pressure function how they got that data is irrelevant, the extension of that point is that by that reasoning N&Z didn’t use the Ideal Gas Law!
His final comment was: All in all, WUWT hasn’t handled discussion of Nikolov and Zeller’s theory at all well, to put it kindly.
http://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/nikolov-zeller-reply-eschenbach/#comment-17272
et seq
REPLY: Yes I’ve noticed that over there. He’s acting exactly like some people accused Willis of doing here. It was a damned if I do, damned if I don’t situation. My original hope in bringing attention to it was that sense and sensibility would prevail, and it could be demonstrated how this theory just can’t work. Instead, it seems to have made deeper entrenchments. Regrettable all around.
- Anthony
Hello Anthony
Here are a couple of new items on the link between global warming what are claimed to be the dangerous effects of algae on the oceans and also on human health.
Oceans could run out of oxygen
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/science_technology/Oceans_could_run_out_of_oxygen.html?cid=32061254
Global warming could lead to more of the world’s oceans becoming “dead zones” – where a lack of oxygen leads to marine life dying out. This was the conclusion of recent analysis of marine oxygen conditions over the past 20,000 years, co-authored by the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ). Feb 11, 2012.
Dramatic changes to sea algae could have harmful effects for human health: Welsh academics
by Graham Henry, Western MailFeb 13 2012
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2012/02/13/dramatic-changes-to-sea-algae-could-have-harmful-effects-for-human-health-welsh-academics-91466-30317996/#ixzz1mNW2HBkK
DRAMATIC changes to sea algae could have harmful knock-on effects for human health and the rest of the food chain, research from Welsh scientists has revealed.
Findings published by academics from Swansea University have uncovered huge changes in the make-up of North Sea and North Atlantic Ocean algae in the space of five years. The findings have been published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
The findings of Prof Hays and fellow Bioscience colleagues – PhD students Stephanie Hinder and Emily Roberts and Professor Mike Gravenor, along with colleagues from Plymouth University – revealed that the change was partly driven by increases in water temperature, a well-known symptom of global warming.
Steve Goddard shows more evidence of GISS’s distortion of temperature records.
http://www.real-science.com/smoking-gun-giss#comments
I notice that the sea level chart at http://sealevel.colorado.edu/ has updated, although it wasn’t showing up in your reference pages when I checked a moment ago. The sea level rise appears to have slowed.
Ben
New, Eco-Friendly Evoque Greenest Car On Earth
http://www.roverparts.com/News/archive/NewEco-FriendlyEvoqueGreenestCaronEarth.cfm
Good for a laugh!
The latest issue of Physics Today (Vol 65, No 2) includes a long, sorrowful article “Climate scientists not cowed by relentless climate change deniers”. In it, we read such gems as “…deniers have hampered efforts to tackle climate change, and their actions, especially in North America, the UK, and Australia, have led to climate researchers being investigated by their governments, suffering nervous breakdowns, …”.
The interesting thing about this is that the same issue includes a letter in Reader’s Forum titled “Premature Nobel Prize decision?”, about various theories of expansion of the universe. These sentences could easily be applied to climate change pronouncements:
“Various alternative to the accelerating universe have also been proposed….but the Nobel Committee for Physics has perhaps acted somewhat prematurely by selecting a preferred interpretation of the supernova projects’ data. The effect, intentional or not, is to bully the skeptics into silence, self-censorship, or ridicule, whereas good science proceeds with a healthy dose of skepticism and with open minds.” — Except in the case of AGW, apparently.
“What counts as an alternative-energy vehicle and what doesn’t is hardly a straightforward reckoning. For instance, is an electric car a true alternative if its drivetrain is ultimately powered by coal, nuclear power, and lithium strip mines rather than petroleum? When the Royal Society of Chemistry ran the numbers, it found that fully adopting electric cars in Britain would only reduce the country’s CO2 emissions by about 2 percent.”
“Upon closer consideration, shifting from gasoline to electric vehicles starts to appear synonymous with switching a smoking habit from cloves to menthols. Even with all of the hype surrounding hybrid and electric vehicles, these machines are becoming somewhat of a cliché in some circles. Hybrid and electric vehicles may offer partial solutions within certain contexts, but those contexts are looking to be frightfully limited.”
http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/content/view/print/466080
Paul Homewood still waits for a reply from NOAA:
http://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2012/02/13/ghcn-adjustments-in-icelandstill-no-explanation-from-noaa/
I am unable to verify this…
http://www.climatesciencewatch.org/2011/02/19/house-votes-244-179-to-kill-u-s-funding-of-ipcc/
http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/15/heartland_docs_leaked/
Heartland Institute documents leaked
By Richard Chirgwin • Get more from this author
Gifted amateurs and interested activists the world over are poring over documents published on the Desmog blog and elsewhere, which appear to detail the Heartland Institute’s budget and anti-climate-change strategy
Climate Science deniers exposed”
The Guardian shows its contempt for rationality and its readiness to use pejorative language:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/15/leak-exposes-heartland-institute-climate
wuwt http://www.desmogblog.com/heartland-institute-exposed-internal-documents-unmask-heart-climate-denial-machine
Anthony
Latest ‘expose’ in the Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/15/leak-exposes-heartland-institute-climate
The amounts are ‘staggering’!!!!!!!
“Anthony Watts, it appears, received $US90,000 to relaunch his Website.”
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/15/heartland_docs_leaked/
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/02/15/breaking-news-a-look-behind-the-curtain-of-the-heartland-institutes-climate-change-spin/
Looks like Warming deniers inc are under new management, so where is that paycheck
Well gosh the Guardian getting all excited at the fact that there is an alternative view and voice to their monolithic view of climate change, gosh the dissonance! Maybe they could add up all the pro-AGW funding dollars now, just for a bit of balanced reporting?
I don’t see why any right minded person would object to rational debate or opposition, unless they fear the truth of it.
The EU carbon credit trading system is not “working” http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,815225,00.html
In other news, water tends to be wet in liquid form.
In her Guardian article,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/15/leak-exposes-heartland-institute-climate
Suzanne Goldenberg uses the “derisive sic”:
He added: “They do not regularly fund me nor (sic) my WUWT website, I take no salary from them of any kind.”
Considering her penchant for beginning sentences with coordinating conjunctions, I hardly think she is in a position to attack permissible ellipsis (“nor [do they fund] my WUWT website”). On the other hand, she missed the comma splice–perhaps her “sic” should have been placed before “I.” Anyway, it was clearly a case of a bad writer (read the article) using “sic” maliciously.
From a neat and tidy society comes:
Swiss craft janitor satellites to grab space junk
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_SWITZERLAND_JANITOR_SATELLITES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-02-15-07-51-16
New Study: California Snowfall Consistent Over Last 130 Years
Snowfall in the Sierra Nevada has remained consistent for 130 years, with no evidence that anything has changed as a result of climate change, according to a study released Tuesday. The analysis of snowfall data in the Sierra going back to 1878 found no more or less snow overall – a result that, on the surface, appears to contradict aspects of recent climate change models.
http://www.thegwpf.org/science-news/4985-new-study-california-snowfall-consistent-over-last-130-years.html
How about this: http://www.chamberlitigation.com/coalition-responsible-regulation-inc-et-al-v-epa-endangerment-rule
Just got an invitation to Cato’s post-court party (too big to attach – he invitation, not the party ;-) which will be on March 1, the hearing being on February 28 and 29. It’s a landmark case, equivalent to Corrosion Proof Fittings v. EPA (http://www.invispress.com/law/environmental/corrosion.html)
“Leak exposes how Heartland Institute works to undermine climate science”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/feb/15/leak-exposes-heartland-institute-climate?intcmp=122
REPLY: for the record, the figure is $88K, only half of which has been pledged – Anthony
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-17025018
Do Italians get that stylish warm AGW snow?
Fukushima spent fuel pool collapsing could send large pool of radiation over Canada and NW America. Odds look worryingly high for this as well, as reported in European Geosciences Union’s journal Solid Earth:
Link HERE to ZeroHedge report.
Read the last two paragraphs especially.
From LLNL:
Extreme summer temperatures occur more frequently
https://www.llnl.gov/news/newsreleases/2012/Feb/NR-12-02-09.html
Not clear if this analysis is purely model based or if the models were compared to historical observations.
What happened to “Arctic Sea Ice Area” in sea ice ref page. Looks like all are out of service!!!
02/15/2012 – Hot Air The EU’s Emissions Trading System Isn’t Working
By Alexander Jung
http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,815225,00.html#ref=nlint
Steve Garcia
Delingpole calls this Myers piece,
He himself notes,
Oops. Link to Delingpole piece, above.
Study indicates wind farms lower ground moisture
as seen here
http://blog.chron.com/climateabyss/files/2012/02/Soil-moisture-and-Wind-Farms.pdf
The students (Johnny Nykiel, James Palac, Nik Rueter, Catherine Simpson, Gianna Hartman, and Fisher) tested the hypothesis that if the air moving through the wind farm becomes drier and mixes more, there ought to be a more rapid loss of moisture from the ground. To test this, they measured the soil moisture inside and outside the wind farm by finding two locations with similar soil types. The topography was flat.
What they found confirmed the hypothesis. During November, while their experimental equipment was in place, soil moisture averaged 16% higher outside the wind farm than inside. Dew points within the farm were higher than upstream of the farm, as would be expected since the moisture from the soil had to go somewhere. The mixing and fluxes were assisted by turbulence created by the wind turbines.
There were three major rain events during the weeks of monitoring. After the rains, soil moisture declined much faster within the wind farm than outside it.
via
http://blog.chron.com/climateabyss/2012/02/last-dispatch-from-ams-one-renewable-resource-depletes-another/
Looks like things at Fukushima won’t be so bad after all.
UN: Fukushima Radiation Health Effects Will Be Relatively Small / Not At All Comparable to Chernobyl
Quote of the Week
“The hypocrisy, the duplicity, the ignorance, the gullibility, the hard-headedness, the closed-mindedness and the malevolence of the CAGW True Believer would put any anti-semite to shame.”
This along with perhaps the full text of his comment to “Notes on the faked Heartland Document” should be a contender to quote of the week from xHt who wrote at February 16, 2012 at 12:04 am. His comment shows great insight into the minds of these people.
With all this Heartland garbage going on I am sure you don’t have cycles to burn, but I did post an update on the ENSO topic:
Update To The Geothermal Basis For ENSO:
http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/18096
Feel free to do with as you wish. Back to DeSmog: At least he is true to alarmist form. When in doubt, fudge and fake.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-16/gore-likens-carbon-to-subprime-debt-in-plan-to-repair-capitalism.html
Gore Likens Carbon to Subprime Debt in Plan to Repair Capitalism
By Simon Clark – Feb 15, 2012 6:00 PM CT
Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore said investors in oil and gas companies who ignore the cost of emitting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are making a mistake similar to those who invested in subprime mortgages.
“The value of the subprime mortgages was based on a false assumption,” Gore said yesterday in an interview. “In almost exactly the same way, the value of all of these carbon fuel reserves is based on a similarly absurd assumption.”
Gore made the analogy as Generation Investment Management LLP, the asset manager he founded with former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) executive David Blood, published a five-point plan titled “Sustainable Capitalism” to reform the investment industry. They want the proposals to help combat climate change and poverty as well as boost profit in the long term…
I knew “global warming” would come into it somewhere:
Europe Hammered by Winter, Is North America Next?
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/16feb_deepfreeze/
“As strange as it sounds, some climatologists, among them Judah Cohen of Atmospheric and Environmental Research in Massachusetts, attribute the unusual cold to global warming. Cohen contends that since sea ice is being melted by warmer temperatures in the Arctic, more moisture is available for the atmosphere to pick up – and drop as snow.”
As a follow-on to the shark migration story from January 2012, I found this link regarding tourism and shark attack frequency (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/shark-deaths-double-as-tourism-global-warming-bring-migration-changes/story-e6frg6so-1226270573295). Naturally, climate change is also the cause. It’s not that there are simply more people in the water disturbing habitat, the “increased” temperature apparently has the sharks hopping mad.
Obama’s new weather Space Program –> just checks the weather forecast http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures_archive.cfm?year=2012&month=2#
Cooling equals warming!?
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/16feb_deepfreeze/
“Kulturkampf”
There seems to be a cultural conflict going on here. Most establishment “climate scientists” appear to be place-holders in hierarchical organizations – universities, research institutes, government bureaucracies. Such an environment fosters an authoritarian, regimented mentality that clashes with independent-minded critical thinking. Misunderstanding between the cloistered in-groups and the free-range outsiders is not surprising.
Michael Mann tells his side in an article in the new Scientific American.
Going to jail for a “poor model”:
“‘The courthouse in L’Aquila, Italy, yesterday hosted a highly anticipated hearing in the trial of six seismologists and one government official indicted for manslaughter over their reassurances to the public ahead of a deadly earthquake in 2009. …. During the hearing, the former head of the Italian Department of Civil Protection turned from key witness into defendant, and a seismologist from California criticized Italy’s top earthquake experts.’ Lalliana Mualchin, former chief seismologist for the Department of Transportation in California, criticized the Italian analysis, which he says was based on a poor model. If the court agrees with Mualchin, the defendants could face up to 12 years in jail.”
http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/02/16/2129205/us-seismologist-testifies-against-scientists-in-quake-prediction-case
Is Mualchin’s model really any “better”? Would it land him in jail?
What of Mann, Jones, et al.?
“Kent, Clinton unveil modest plan to curb common pollutants ”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/kent-clinton-unveil-modest-plan-to-curb-common-pollutants/article2340968/
Kent, a former journalist, is Canada’s Environment Minister.
02/16/2012 Der Spiegel article:
The Truth Peddlers – Smoke and Mirrors in the Climate Debate
An Analysis by Axel Bojanowski
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,815478,00.html#ref=nlint
(Isn’t it good to see that, not only the science isn’t settled, but that there is a debate going on in people’s heads – and that the media is having to accept that fact?)
Steve Garcia
BTW, wow, what a biased article.
[REPLY: Don't you think this should go into the comments of whatever article you think is biased? -REP]
I saw a Java programmer request in the email follow messages, but the link fails. I’m a Java programmer–just not very fast or very experienced in network programming.
Jim
http://rogerpielkejr.blogspot.com/2012/02/new-peer-reviewed-paper-on-global.html#comment-form
We have a new paper just accepted for publication in the Journal of Climate, titled “Historical Global Tropical Cyclone Landfalls.” Here is the abstract:
Historical global tropical cyclone landfalls
Jessica Weinkle, Ryan Maue and Roger Pielke, Jr.
Journal of Climate (in press)
Hi Anthony! The Chicago Tribune reports grim tidings regarding our state’s wind industry, following cancellation of wind energy tax credits:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0217-wind-ptc–20120217,0,7153601.story
Easy come, easy go….
Greetings, and perhaps I could get some help with a baffling user issue I only encounter while reading WUWT. I’m a frequent reader of older WUWT articles. I’ve noticed for the last week or so, that when I’m scrolling down the page to get to these older postings – the ones buried by, say 5 or six newer threads – my screen goes blank, the cursor goes into “spooling” mode (don’t know of a better term for it), and it appears as though I’ve hit an unavoidable hyperlink to nowhere. It happens every time I scroll with mouse, or pull the sidebar south. Perhaps a moderator or Anthony (or another reader) could enlighten me about this. As I say, it only seems to be happening on WUWT. Is this one of my settings – or something changed on your website? Thanks.
REPLY: Try updating your browser or use a different one like Chrome. Make sure you have JAVA installed, Flash installed, and no popup blokcers turned on. – Anthony
Could you add the 0-2000m ocean heat content graph to the ocean data page? Also the sea ice page has a number of graphs that no longer update with new data since last summer.
This isn’t climate but it may well be an oddity in science . . .
http://www.economist.com/node/21547760?fsrc=nlw%7Chig%7C2-16-2012%7Ceditors_highlights
FYI, It seems like they are doubling down at DeSmogBlog.. From their front page:
“The DeSmogBlog has no evidence supporting Heartland’s claim that the Strategic document is fake. A close review of the content shows that it is overwhelmingly accurate (“almost too accurate” for one analyst), and while critics have said that it is “too short” or is distinguished by “an overuse of commas,” even the skeptics at weatherguy Anthony Watts’s WUWT say that a technical analysis of the metadata on the documents in question does not offer sufficient information to come to a firm conclusion either way.”
They got their head in the sand, or maybe up somewhere else?
Warmista diatribe on Heartland posted at Forbes -
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevezwick/2012/02/16/what-happened-at-heartland/
The report by Dr. Guenter Keil in your Feb 6th posting is no longer connected by the link which is a pity
Is Britain waking up?
Former Energy and Climate Minister Chris Huhne was finally sacked just over a week ago and today we announce new nuclear reactors. See: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/energy/nuclearpower/9087484/David-Cameron-and-Nicolas-Sarkozy-bond-over-new-nuclear-and-military-deals.html
The fact that we have to have a French firm (EDF) build them is bad enough but they have a good record of operating nukes.
It is surely no coincidence that Huhne had to go first.
Huhne was sacked because he is charged with perverting the course of justice together with his scornful ex-wife over a speeding charge. With amusing irony his father’s firm profit from the introduction of speed cameras.
Proper power stations are, in my opinion, the overture to the Return to Energy Sanity opera.
http://www.aaas.org/meetings/2012/program/plenaries/panel.shtml
looks like a fun day
http://www.salon.com/2012/02/17/secret_papers_turn_up_heat_on_global_warming_deniers/singleton/#comments
total libel. Add Salon to the list of pubs to sue.
Hello,
This press release via Science Direct suggests that “acidification” may not be so bad for carbonate coral, provided you give them time to adjust. Decreasing pH correlated with decreased growth in the short term but improved growth in the longer (6 months) term.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120216111528.htm
MJB
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-16861468
The BBC enviros have started their attacks on the Canadian gov.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17030653
And BBC is predicting (or re-publishing a prediction) that Ugandan glaciers will be gone by 2025.
I wouldn’t put my money on them getting it right, but perhaps another prediction to keep a record of?
Only 13 years to find out.
Wowo… plasma tornadoes on the sun
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/sun-tornado-causes-hot-scene-in-space-15717118
Mark Jaccard says we can save the world, with green jobs.
Wow! Global warming will “eventually, raise sea levels by tens of metres”.
All the CAGW rhetoric you have become used to, in one article.
Jobs for us, cleaner world for kids
http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/Jobs+cleaner+world+kids/6159537/story.html
Global warming opinion piece on Fox news talking about the “mass delusion” of global warming.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/02/17/global-warming-great-delusion/
Larry
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/02/17/tasmanian-devil-tumours-could-reveal-secret-of-how-human-cancer-develops/
Celebrity malacologist Steve Jones slurs “anti climate change groups” with creationism – or his interviewer does at least – on BBC’s /Classical Music/ station, Radio 3.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b01bwbj6/
1:45.48
Hello Anthony,
I saw this comment here about the sun’s role in climate variability and thought this should be a standalone post here:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/02/17/the-desmoggers-are-crashing-and-burning/#comment-895893.
Hi Anthony, this seemed interesting. Jets holding above ORD create weather.
http://tywkiwdbi.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-airport-can-affect-local-weather.html
A new technique inspired by elegant pop-up books and origami will soon allow clones of robotic insects to be mass-produced by the sheet.
Devised by engineers at Harvard, the ingenious layering and folding process enables the rapid fabrication of not just microrobots, but a broad range of electromechanical devices.
http://pddnet.com/news-robotic-insects-spring-to-life-021612/
Measuring snow depth not settled science.
Equipped with specialized lasers and GPS technology, scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) are working with colleagues to solve a critical wintertime weather mystery: how to accurately measure the amount of snow on the ground.
http://pddnet.com/news-scientists-deploy-lasers-gps-technology-to-improve-snow-measurements-021412/
http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1120808–toronto-teens-send-lego-man-on-a-balloon-odyssey-24-kilometres-high
While it’s derivative, these are only high-school students and they did it all themselves, so I think this is pretty cool.
The Fear and the Fat
Is there a connection between the scare-mongering of the warmist-catastrophists and the reported increase in obesity? If you are afraid of the future you might want to stock your larder – and your midriff. Is there a subliminal message here that could be activating the “precautionary principle”?
http://www.nso.edu/press/SolarActivityDrop.html
WHAT’S DOWN WITH THE SUN?
MAJOR DROP IN SOLAR ACTIVITY PREDICTED
A missing jet stream, fading spots, and slower activity near the poles say that our Sun is heading for a rest period even as it is acting up for the first time in years, according to scientists at the National Solar Observatory (NSO) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).
Without climate change, recent papers show humans may not have evolved:
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/338562/title/Oceans_set_stage_for_human_evolution?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed
Your updates to Dr Roy Spoencer’s pages did not auto update for January.
http://www.drroyspencer.com/wp-content/uploads/UAH_LT_1979_thru_January_2012.png
A study conducted by the Department of Interior revealed that when combining the U.S. tax policy with royalty fees, only Venezuela takes more money from domestic oil producers.
http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/16/dept-of-interior-slams-gao-business-friendly-claim/
A tiny shrimp is mightier than the
sword, er, cow. Oh, you Eeee-vil shrimp cocktail eaters you!!!http://www.physorg.com/news/2012-02-tiny-shrimp-giant-carbon-footprint.html
Tiny shrimp leave giant carbon footprint: scientist
February 18, 2012
Measured by environmental impact, a humble shrimp cocktail could be the most costly part of a typical restaurant meal, scientists said Friday.
If the seafood is produced on a typical Asian fish farm, a 100-gram (3.5 ounce) serving “has an ecosystem carbon footprint of an astounding 198 kilograms (436 pounds) of CO2,” biologist J. Boone Kauffman said.
A one-pound (454-gram) bag of frozen shrimp produces one ton of carbon dioxide, said Kauffman, who is based at Oregon State University and conducts research in Indonesia….
…”The carbon footprint of the shrimp from this land use is about 10-fold greater than the land use carbon footprint of an equivalent amount of beef produced from a pasture formed from a tropical rainforest,” …
“Weather Service In Eye of Budget Cut Storm” – CNBC
Anthony -
This CNBC article dovetails nicely with your new website project re NOAA weather data. As you have correctly stated, one would have thought the project you have undertaken would have been done sometime ago by NOAA itself. According to the article Obama is proposing $39 million in cuts to the National Weather Service.
To quote the article: Outsourcing IT personnel could have a dire impact on operations at the National Weather Service, according to Dan Sobien, the president of the National Weather Service Employees Organization.
“NOAA’s response of IT infrastructure investment is laughable. We are an iPhone agency with an etch-a-sketch infrastructure. Download speeds at most weather forecast offices are no faster than they were a decade ago,” said Sobien. “In many offices, you have more available bandwidth on your cell phone than the office has.
He said eliminating the most technically advanced positions could have deadly consequences. Without them, Sobien believes it will be more difficult to provide accurate forecasts, storm warnings and keep web pages up to date.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/46430601
There is another book out on Amazon that appears to be even more damaging than the latest German book. It is by a few well known Dutch scientists.
Tim
Sorry, it appears the link put the Amazon buy logo and not the book title and authors which are now below.
Tim
Man-Made Global Warming: Unravelling a Dogma [Paperback]
Hans Labohm (Author), Simon Rozendaal (Author), Dick Thoenes (Author)
Hans Labohm is a professor at the Dutch Institute of International Relations Clingendael and the Netherlands Defense College. Simon Rozendaal is a scientific journalist. Dick Thoenes is a chemical engineer and was chairman of the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society.
Just stumbled across this site http://windfarmperformance.info/ which provides graphs of windfarm output in South East Australia aggregated over various timescales. Also makes more readily available the raw data of output by windfarm in 5 minute intervals. Highlights the low average output and the short term variability. Might be worth a link somewhere
‘Plasma Indirection’ on the sun:
…….the gyrating streams of plasma. The particles are being pulled this way and that by competing magnetic forces. They are tracking along strands of magnetic field lines.
Saturday’s NY Times editorial claims that CO2 is “the main greenhouse gas.” http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/18/opinion/a-second-front-in-the-climate-war.html .
While one would get this impression from AR4′s Summary for Poilicymakers, I thought it was established that H2O is the primary GHG.
Forbes blogger attempts to show why alt energy is failing inthe Mediteranean region…
I am in awe when watching the head in the sand behavior of people who look at the wind, solar, and alternative energy investments in the Mediteranean and think the failure was in planning, poltical will, and stability…this analysis is more like a failure to apply Occam’s Razor principles (the blogger’s failure)…
http://www.physicstoday.org/resource/1/phtoad/v65/i2/p22_s1?bypassSSO=1
[SNIP: Policy violation. -REP]
Jonathan Amos is spruiking ocean alkalinity for all its worth.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17088154
Just luv the punch line. “The vents allow us to see what the future {in thousands of years} “might” look like.” My emphasis on the “might”.
Just when did you sell out the BBC, Dr. Jason Spencer-Hall of Plymouth University?
Off topic but interesting:
NOAA – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration bought the 35-foot boat for about $300,000, so its law enforcement officers could covertly monitor whether whale watch boats in Washington’s Puget Sound were harassing the animals. But the documents indicate the boat was rarely used for official business. “It was a fishermen-funded party boat for bureaucrats,” U.S. Sen. Scott Brown said on the Senate floor Friday.
On Friday, Brown said the luxury boat was a symbol of NOAA’s damaged relationship with fishermen and again asked President Obama to fire NOAA chief Jane Lubchenco .Dr. Lubchenco co-founded three organizations – The Leopold Leadership Program, the Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea (COMPASS), and Climate Central.
http://news.yahoo.com/papers-fed-boat-bought-fines-used-fun-180927443.html
Looks like everyone has their fingers in the cookie jar.
Mother of pearl is apparently a proxy thermometer and depth gauge.
“The maximum temperature can be measured by how disordered the nacre crystal orientations are, while the maximum pressure can be taken from the thickness of the nacre layers.”
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120216185410.htm
More complete garbage from the BBC – blatant attempt to generate more grants over non-existent problem.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17088154
Although it is almost too late I notice some people on here are having difficulty with the bloggies and have commented on various threads that they are not getting a reply.
I suspect this is to do with the Captcha or whatever it is called.
Of course it is designed to defeat bots but it is so highly stylised it can defeat real humans too particularly with its change from white to black background or vice versa. I know i had difficulties with it, this time it took me two times to get through, and I seem to recall I had the same problems last year.
The only solution is to keep trying because it changes every time and sooner or later you get one you can read. As I did.
Kindest Regards
Utter drivel about our rising seas.
Is ocean “swelling” a new facet of the scare tactics?
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/b-c-scientist-says-people-either-defend-retreat-225300275.html
Canadian alarmist “scientist” surprised that results don’t match his agenda.
But he consoles himself by beating up on coal instead.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/coal-the-true-climate-change-bad-guy-analysis-shows/article2343528/
—————
“One of the world’s top climate scientists has calculated that emissions from Alberta’s oil sands are unlikely to make a big difference to global warming and that the real threat to the planet comes from burning coal.
“I was surprised by the results of our analysis,” said Andrew Weaver, a University of Victoria climate modeller, who has been a lead author on two reports from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “I thought it was larger than it was.””
Robert in Calgary, you beat me to to it! Note that the 0.03 C from mining and burning all commerically viable oil from the oil sands is likely exagerated at that given he believes burning all coal would give you 15 degrees!
“Coal, not oilsands, true climate change bad guy: study
One of the world’s top climate scientists has calculated that emissions from Alberta’s oilsands are unlikely to make a big difference to global warming and that the real threat to the planet comes from burning coal.
“I was surprised by the results of our analysis,” said Andrew Weaver, a University of Victoria climate modeller, who has been a lead author on two reports from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “I thought it was larger than it was.”
In a commentary published Sunday in the prestigious journal Nature, Weaver and colleague Neil Stewart analyze how burning all global stocks of coal, oil and natural gas would affect temperatures. Their analysis breaks out unconventional gas, such as undersea methane hydrates and shale gas produced by fracking, as well as unconventional oil sources including the oilsands.
They found that if all the hydrocarbons in the oilsands were mined and consumed, the carbon dioxide released would raise global temperatures by about .36 degrees C. That’s about half the total amount of warming over the last century.
When only commercially viable oilsands deposits are considered, the temperature increase is only .03 degrees C.
In contrast, the paper concludes that burning all the globe’s vast coal deposits would create a 15-degree increase in temperature. Burning all the abundant natural gas would warm the planet by more than three degrees.
…
”
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/SciTech/20120219/coal-climate-change-study-120219/
The folly of those protesters attempting to stop the two pipelines from the Alberta Tar Sands (one to the USA and another to the Pacific Ocean Coast for sale to China), even their own CO2 Climate Doomsday Rapture Soothsaying scientists are not worried about the tar sands from the doomsday perspective.
Now if only they’d realize the positive benefits of CO2 for Life On Earth maybe they’d actually begin to be green environmentalists again.
CitiGroup: Resurging North American Oil Production and the Death of the Peak Oil Hypothesis
https://www.citigroupgeo.com/pdf/SEUNHGJJ.pdf
Katla volcano getting ready for… something.
http://www.jonfr.com/volcano/?p=2220
http://hraun.vedur.is/ja/oroi/sly.gif
the blue on the right side.
The Register reports on the National Science Foundation statement (or “US gov boffins”, in Reg-speak) – “Climate models need revising”:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/20/ecosystems_not_much_impacted_by_drought_heatwave/
Save environment, eat mystery meat. And while you’re at it destroy a multi-trillion dollar industry. What won’t some quack come up with next?
“The world’s first “test-tube” meat, a hamburger made from a cow’s stem cells, will be produced this fall, Dutch scientist Mark Post told a major science conference.
Post’s aim is to invent an efficient way to produce skeletal muscle tissue in a laboratory that exactly mimics meat, and eventually replace the entire meat-animal industry.
PHOTOS: 10 Ways Science is Using Human-Animal Hybrids
The ingredients for his first burger are “still in a laboratory phase,” he said, but by fall “we have committed ourselves to make a couple of thousand of small tissues, and then assemble them into a hamburger.”
Post, chair of physiology at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, said his project is funded with 250,000 euros from an anonymous private investor motivated by “care for the environment, food for the world and interest in life-transforming technologies.”
Post spoke at a symposium titled “The Next Agricultural Revolution” at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Vancouver.
Speakers said they aim to develop such “meat” products for mass consumption to reduce the environmental and health costs of conventional food production.
Conventional meat and dairy production requires more land, water, plants and disposal of waste products than almost all other human foods, they said.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/02/20/test-tube-meat-to-be-available-this-fall-scientist-says/#ixzz1mwSFm85K
“
So: didn;t see this up there on the front page, but I suspect it will be:
http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/20/campaign-against-canadian-keystone-xl-pipeline-driven-by-us-foundation-millions/
Looks a Heartland x 100:
“A Powerpoint presentation obtained by The Daily Caller shows that during a July 2008 meeting, the $789 million Rockefeller Brothers Fund proposed to coordinate and fund a dozen environmental and anti-corporate activist groups’ efforts to scuttle pipelines carrying tar sands oil from Canada to the United States.
The most recent incarnation of that pipeline plan, the Keystone XL project, was the subject of intense public controversy until the Obama administration rejected it in January.
The 2008 meeting consisted of presentations from Rockefeller Brothers Fund program officer Michael Northrop, Corporate Ethics International Executive Director Michael Marx, Natural Resources Defense Council attorney Susan Casey-Lefkowitz and the director of a Canadian activist group called the Pembina Institute.”
Enjoy!
Josh
Hello Anthony,
I’ve been reading your blog for years now and never miss a day- great job, thanks!
I ran across an interesting internet page, RationalWiki discussing the definition of Dunning -Kruger effect. As I read through, one of their major points of “fact” relates to the knowledge (or lack thereof) of John Ball. Since I don not suffer from Dunning -Kruger I hope that maybe you or others may wish to respond- please do!
Regards,
Bill Giles
[REPLY: Bill, can you supply a link for that? -REP]
“Urine can be an abundant fuel for electricity generation, according to British scientists in the first study of its kind.”
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-11-urine-cheaper-electricity.html
Phil. says:
February 14, 2012 at 8:52 am
Anthony, you did everyone interested in the N&Z equation 8 discussion a disservice by consigning it to Tallbloke where he is exercising heavy censoring (Robert Brown for one, who hasn’t “any science sensibility” apparently. I’ve been banned (I’m a WUWT troll apparently!), for refusing to recant my heresy of saying that N&Z used density in their calculations:……………
REPLY: Yes I’ve noticed that over there. He’s acting exactly like some people accused Willis of doing here. It was a damned if I do, damned if I don’t situation. My original hope in bringing attention to it was that sense and sensibility would prevail, and it could be demonstrated how this theory just can’t work. Instead, it seems to have made deeper entrenchments. Regrettable all around.
- Anthony
It’s got worse, Robert now has his posts snipped unless he first explains the physical basis of complex numbers!
Anthony and all,
I’ll try again to provide the link, I’m somewhat new to this so will just copy it in if necessary.
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Dunning-Kruger_effect
Regards,
Bill
[REPLY: This will do just fine. Supplying links simplifies things immensely. -REP]
From weather.com
http://youtu.be/Cymgv6x-uZs
Hi Anthony! In the spirit of state’s investments in green energy collapsing (IL turbine industry), I found another:
http://www.startribune.com/business/139541448.html
SunOpta had been a longtime client of mine, and if I had known they were looking into cellulosic ethanol, I certainly would have warned them about the pitfalls of this technology!
Alas, poor MN taxpayers got fleeced again (it happens up there with regularity I fear….I’ve seen it happen with tilapia and salmon aquaculture, corn ethanol, wind power and now cellulosic ethanol).
Observed changes in top-of-the-atmosphere radiation and upper-ocean heating consistent within uncertainty
Abstract reads: Global climate change results from a small yet persistent imbalance between the amount of sunlight absorbed by Earth and the thermal radiation emitted back to space1. An apparent inconsistency has been diagnosed between interannual variations in the net radiation imbalance inferred from satellite measurements and upper-ocean heating rate from in situ measurements, and this inconsistency has been interpreted as ‘missing energy’ in the system2. Here we present a revised analysis of net radiation at the top of the atmosphere from satellite data, and we estimate ocean heat content, based on three independent sources. We find that the difference between the heat balance at the top of the atmosphere and upper-ocean heat content change is not statistically significant when accounting for observational uncertainties in ocean measurements3, given transitions in instrumentation and sampling. Furthermore, variability in Earth’s energy imbalance relating to El Niño-Southern Oscillation is found to be consistent within observational uncertainties among the satellite measurements, a reanalysis model simulation and one of the ocean heat content records. We combine satellite data with ocean measurements to depths of 1,800 m, and show that between January 2001 and December 2010, Earth has been steadily accumulating energy at a rate of 0.50±0.43 Wm−2 (uncertainties at the 90% confidence level). We conclude that energy storage is continuing to increase in the sub-surface ocean.
http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v5/n2/full/ngeo1375.html
Didn’t Hansen come out with something similar not to long ago that was posted here?
Some NOAA-related News. How NOAA spends our money…
Our View: ‘What does it take to get fired from NOAA?’
February 19, 2012 12:00 AM
No one who is cognizant of the consequences of years of unfair treatment leveled upon the Northeast fisheries by NOAA can take any pleasure in being able to say “I told you so.”
The details of the use of the asset forfeiture fund to purchase a boat for “undercover” surveillance of whale watching off the coast of the Pacific Northwest boggle the mind.
A 35-foot three-engine Boston Whaler Conquest that cost $300,000 was used for “booze cruises,” barbecues, restaurant excursions and family outings stands in contrast to the boats idled, sold or lost to foreclosure by the capricious and overreaching enforcement by NOAA officials.
Sen. Scott Brown, armed with the redacted Inspector General’s report obtained under a Freedom of Information Act request, asked from the Senate floor on Friday, “What does it take to get fired from NOAA?”
[read the whole thing]
http://www.clim-past.net/8/227/2012/cp-8-227-2012.pdf
Hi
Not sure if you have caught some missing links on this page
http://wattsupwiththat.com/reference-pages/solar/
For example
ACE Real Time Solar Wind (RTSW) – Interplanetary parameters – 1 Day
is now here I think
http://www2.nict.go.jp/aeri/swe/swx/ace/1day/
HTH
Help!
I’ve been dugging in the GISS dataset, trying to see how they get their perennial claim that the Arctic is warming fast. I maybe smell a rat; could you maybe check my reasoning?
This polar view shows that measurement stations around the Arctic are few and far between:
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/gistemp/do_nmap.py?year_last=2012&month_last=1&sat=4&sst=1&type=anoms&mean_gen=1212&year1=2011&year2=2011&base1=1951&base2=1980&radius=250&pol=pol
(Incidentally, the alternative GISS view, using a 1200km grid rather than the 250km in the above link, suggests full Arctic coverage. The 250km view shows just how gappy it is.
The nearest station to the pole is called Alert, in N. Canada:
http://data.giss.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/gistemp/gistemp_station.py?id=403710820000&data_set=14&num_neighbors=1
Now, the Alert record ended in 2004. How can TODAY’s temperature map show a big red hot square? (There are other circumpolar stations to dilute the significance of ‘Alert’, but this one is closest at 82.5N.)
Questions: What happened to the 2004-2012 Alert data? If unavailable, how do GISS justify showing it as a hotspot today?
What was the output of the AAS debate? I tried to get it several times, but failed. They have some technology issues to resolve.
Hottest year ever LOL http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/frozen-danube-damage_2012-02-20
Nightclub sunk by ice
Do it for the chipmunks…
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120219143319.htm
Another great article from WSJ:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203646004577213244084429540.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Rutan, Dr Lindzen et al respond to Trenberth and company.
Priceless.
An article in the Telegraph on UK expenditure on foreign aid cash used for climate change issues reveals some interesting facts.
” A project in western Kenya to help indigenous Nganyi rainmakers, who were being undermined by extreme weather conditions caused by changes in the climate, was launched in 2008 as part of a £25 million climate change adaptation programme funded by Dfid.
The project aimed to bring the rainmakers together with Government meteorologists to produce a “consensus forecast” before relaying it back to village farmers, who were said to be losing trust in traditional methods which could not cope with the apparent changes in climate.”
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2010/10/14/global-warming-propagandist-slapped-down/
It looks like Wikipedia might be correcting some of its past errors. For years William Connolley has controlled anything having to do with global warming on Wikipedia with an iron fist. He simply did not allow anything but the “consensus” and smeared scientists who disagreed with it.
It looks like they have slapped William Connolley down big time with unanimous votes that prohibit from him participating in anything related to Global Warming on Wiki.
This is huge!
[Moderator's Note: Jack, check the date on the article then check Dr. Connolley's wiki page. -REP]
At the JoNova website there is a new post where Peter Gleick apparently admits to being responsible for the theft of emails from the Heartland Institute.
I don’t know if anyone is interested in this, with all the fakegate stuff going down; but I find it interesting. Australian scientists have managed to build a single atom transistor in a presumably repeatable manner. There are still problems before it can be manufactured.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/02/20/bloomberg_articlesLZNZ0D07SXKX01-LZO0R.DTL
Ben
I would like to see Harold Ambler’s book on the Kobo.
Can this link be passed on to him?
http://www.kobobooks.com/companyinfo/authorsnpublishers.html
Andrew Weaver of University of Victoria – well known Climate alarmist – says Coal bad, natural gas bad, oil not so bad. Interesting given his previous anti-oil stance.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2012/02/19/coal-oilsands-climate-change_n_1287693.html?ir=Canada%20Business&ref=canada-business
Ha!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-17100224
The UK Met Office needs yet more supercomputers!
“Last year, the committee heard from the Royal Meteorological Society that more supercomputers were needed to carry out complex calculations and the potential economic benefits of more accurate forecasts were “enormous” in terms of improved contingency planning for emergencies.”
The House of Commons discussed the matter….
“We need a little less tabloid sensationalism and a lot more information about probabilities,”
Said Andrew Miller
Commons Science and Technology Committee chairman.
The MPs’ report praised the Met Office’s high standards of accuracy[!!!], but warned that media criticism of a “barbecue summer” prediction in 2009 had overshadowed the improvements it had made.
Surely the Government could save us UK taxpayers millions of pounds simply by paying Piers Corbyn to do the Met Office Long Term Forecasts?
The only source of Met Office accuracy comes from within the Met Office!
No worries there then!
Last August there was considerable discussion about Salby’s upcoming paper, on posts such as http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/08/05/the-emily-litella-moment-for-climate-science-and-co2/ , and recently someone was speculating it was withdrawn. I emailed him, and just received a reply:
He’s in Sydney, Australia, hence the “summer break” problem!
He attached a full PDF of Physics of the Atmosphere and Climate. Very impressive stuff!
In other news (i.e., the Gleick-free news), the Independent reports on the declaration of “drought conditions” in parts of the UK. Yes, you read that right. A drought in our soggy little islands.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/crippling-drought-hits-south-and-east-of-england-7237415.html
Hi Anthony, to take your mind off of all things fake,
Now for something completely diffrent :- http://nourishingobscurity.com/2012/02/21/solutions/
On Feb. 21:
Concerned Scientists Reply on Global Warming
The authors of the Jan. 27 Wall Street Journal op-ed, ‘No Need to Panic about Global Warming,’ respond to their critics.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203646004577213244084429540.html
I was impressed by the quality of this article. It picks some of the bones out of the media frenzy over Fukushima.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/9094430/The-world-has-forgotten-the-real-victims-of-Fukushima.html
The meme continues. Another uncritical media chronicle of the global warming culprits, with interviews of a Greenpeace spokesman; complete with the same Hansen-like deception.
http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/SciTech/20120219/coal-climate-change-study-120219/
From the Wall Street Jr. today:
The Not-So-Vast Conspiracy
Stolen documents show the tiny budget of global warming skeptics.
Frist paragraph:
When did it become received media wisdom that global warming skepticism was all the work of shadowy right-wing groups lavishly funded by oil companies? As best we can tell, it started with a 1995 Harper’s magazine article claiming to expose this “high-powered engine of disinformation.” Today anyone who raises a doubt about the causes of global warming is accused of fronting for, say, Exxon, whatever the facts.
Summary:
Heartland is, according to-
The Associated Press, “one of the loudest voices denying human-caused global warming …
The Vancouver Sun reports that it is “heavily funded by right-wing industrialist Charles Koch” …
The Virginian-Pilot dubs it “the ideological center of the denial movement.”
So how flush is Heartland?
Income: $7.7 million this year …
Mr. Koch’s “heavy” funding – $25,000 …
Natural Resources Defense Council income $95.4 million …
World Wildlife Fund income $238.5 million …
—
Heartland’s 2011 budget for “educational material suitable for K-12: $200,000 …
World Wildlife Fund (2010) for “public education” $68,500,000 …
—
Heartland will host “the largest international scientific conference of skeptics,” (AP), spending: $388,000 …
Western taxpayers will host the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change at a cost of:
$6,500,000 …
For research into “the global changes that have resulted primarily from global over-dependence on fossil fuels” the White House wants to spend:
$2,600,000,000!! (NEXT YEAR ALONE … OF TAXPAYER MONEY)
Last paragraph:
In the pages of Rolling Stone last summer, Al Gore warned of the “Polluters and Ideologues [sic] . . . . spending hundreds of millions of dollars each year on misleading advertisements in the mass media.” He had the wrong spenders.
Website: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204909104577233191850812630.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_AboveLEFTTop
In the Wall Street Jr. today:
The Not-So-Vast Conspiracy
Stolen documents show the tiny budget of global warming skeptics.
When did it become received media wisdom that global warming skepticism was all the work of shadowy right-wing groups lavishly funded by oil companies? As best we can tell, it started with a 1995 Harper’s magazine article claiming to expose this “high-powered engine of disinformation.” Today anyone who raises a doubt about the causes of global warming is accused of fronting for, say, Exxon, whatever the facts.
Summary:
Heartland is, according to-
The Associated Press, “one of the loudest voices denying human-caused global warming …
The Vancouver Sun reports that it is “heavily funded by right-wing industrialist Charles Koch” …
The Virginian-Pilot dubs it “the ideological center of the denial movement.”
So how flush is Heartland?
Income: $7.7 million this year …
Mr. Koch’s “heavy” funding – $25,000 …
Natural Resources Defense Council income $95.4 million …
World Wildlife Fund income $238.5 million …
—
Heartland’s 2011 budget for “educational material suitable for K-12: $200,000 …
World Wildlife Fund (2010) for “public education” $68,500,000 …
—
Heartland will host “the largest international scientific conference of skeptics,” (AP), spending: $388,000 …
Western taxpayers will host the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change at a cost of:
$6,500,000 …
For research into “the global changes that have resulted primarily from global over-dependence on fossil fuels” the White House wants to spend:
$2,600,000,000!! (NEXT YEAR ALONE … OF TAXPAYER MONEY)
Last paragraph:
In the pages of Rolling Stone last summer, Al Gore warned of the “Polluters and Ideologues [sic] . . . . spending hundreds of millions of dollars each year on misleading advertisements in the mass media.” He had the wrong spenders.
Website: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204909104577233191850812630.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_AboveLEFTTop
Something looks odd with the DMI 15% or greater ice area chart. It took a nose dive.
Sorry about the double posting. Had a power spike @ the time of the first one and didn’t think it went through.
Bob H
It has come to my attention that the phrase “Wow! Just wow!” has entered “tired cliche” status on this blog. I’ve noticed this trend here in the comments for the past year or so on this blog,. but the comment thread on “Breaking: Gleick Confesses” put me over the edge. That comment thread contains three different commenters using that tiresome phrase (including comments #1 & #5).
To further illustrate my point, using Google to search for the phase “Wow, just wow” on WUWT reveals 141 separate posts that contain that phrase.
https://www.google.com/search?sclient=psy-ab&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US%3Aofficial&source=hp&q=%22wow%2C+just+wow%22+site:wattsupwiththat.com&pbx=1&oq=%22wow%2C+just+wow%22+site:wattsupwiththat.com&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=12&gs_upl=0l0l0l17410399l0l0l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&biw=1366&bih=571&ech=1&psi=ErhDT7iKNq-MigLLkJ3BAQ.1329838101406.5&emsg=NCSR&noj=1&ei=FbhDT-G_DY_8iQLY9byGAQ
Enough already!
Anthony, is this Accuweather terminology — “above normal number of tornadoes” — the typical terminology used in meteorology (e.g., versus ‘above average’ or ‘higher than average’)? Or is this something relatively new, more Orwellian dumbing down of the language and ramping up of emotion to push an AGW meme? With your years as a weatherman I’m sure you would have a feel for this – is this typical and I’m over-reacting, or is this as odd as it seems to me?
To me, it’s jarring – immediately one must ask “why is there an abnormal change?” and “what is normal? It implies something unprecedented and abnormal is occurring, rather than simply the dry, normal, and expected fluctuation up or down around a human designated ‘average’ taken from some specified range of years.
They go on to explain it’s because of La Nina, but that still implies that La Nina is ‘abnormal’ and leaves one to ask ‘why are things abnormal?’ So is this just me, or are they twisting the terminology in a way that supports AGW, fear, post-normal science, etc? (of course, they also don’t bother to mention how technology changes have almost certainly drastically increased the number of tornadoes detected either, but perhaps that’s reasonable in a short press release).
http://links.mkt2481.com/servlet/MailView?ms=NDQwNjAzNwS2&r=MjE4MDU2MzcwNDAS1&j=MjYzNzI0MTAwS0&mt=1&rt=0
Above-Normal Number of Tornadoes Expected in 2012 [emphasis added]
State College, Pa. — 21 February 2012 — AccuWeather.com reports following a near-record number of tornadoes in 2011, an active severe weather season with above-normal tornadoes is expected in 2012.
There were 1,709 tornadoes in 2011, falling short of the record 1,817 tornadoes set in 2004. In comparison, the average number of tornadoes over the past decade is around 1,300.
Last year ranks as the fourth most deadly tornado year ever recorded in the United States.
In 2011, there was a very strong La Niña, a phenomenon where the sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern Pacific around the equator are below normal. As a result, there was a very strong jet stream, which is a key ingredient for severe weather.
Often in a La Niña year, the “Tornado Alley” shifts to the east, spanning the Gulf States, including Mississippi and Alabama, and the Ohio and Tennessee valleys. During the extremely active severe weather season of 2011, many tornadoes touched down east of the typical “Tornado Alley,” which stretches from Texas to Kansas. Twisters frequently hit Texas to Kansas during the spring as warm, humid air from the Gulf of Mexico clashes with drier air coming out of the Rockies.
Above-normal tornadoes are anticipated again this year.
Warmer-than-normal Gulf of Mexico water is a key component to the active severe weather season anticipated in 2012. There will be a sufficient supply of warm and humid air to fuel supercell thunderstorms, the type of storms that spawn strong tornadoes, because of the warm Gulf water.
The weak to moderate La Niña during this winter is much weaker compared to last winter, and it is weakening even more now. There is evidence that warming is occurring in the equatorial Pacific, so the El Niño/La Niña Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is expected to turn neutral by April. In other words, the temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific will be near normal by spring.
“Areas that seemed to miss out on frequent severe weather last year may see an uptick this year,” AccuWeather.com Exert Senior Meteorologist Dan Kottlowski said regarding the difference in pattern.
The mid-Mississippi and upper Ohio valleys are among the zones that may get hit more frequently by severe weather this year. Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan are included in this zone.
It is highly unlikely that the exact same areas of the Deep South that were struck by tragic tornado outbreaks in 2011 will be hit as hard again this year. However, there could be some damaging thunderstorms and tornadoes in the Gulf States this season.
The Deep South, including the Gulf States and eastern Texas, is expected to get hit by severe weather early in the season, mainly in March. By early April, the severe weather threat will retreat to the north, reaching the lower Ohio and mid-Mississippi valleys, according to Paul Pastelok, expert long-range meteorologist and leader of the AccuWeather.com Long-Range Forecasting Team.
“If I were in the South or Ohio Valley, I’d be extra prepared this year,” Mike Smith, senior vice president of AccuWeather Enterprise Solutions cautioned.
Whether tornadoes hit highly populated areas like they did last year is harder to pinpoint.
“There is no way to know if it (2012) will be as active as last year. Last year we had two unfortunate occurrences simultaneously: a larger-than-normal number of tornadoes plus tornadoes hitting densely populated areas. There is no way to know if the cities are going to be hit in the same number as last year. If so, it could be another deadly year,” Smith said.
Whether tornadoes hit highly populated areas like they did last year is harder to pinpoint.
“There is no way to know if it (2012) will be as active as last year. Last year we had two unfortunate occurrences simultaneously: a larger-than-normal number of tornadoes plus tornadoes hitting densely populated areas. There is no way to know if the cities are going to be hit in the same number as last year. If so, it could be another deadly year,” Smith said.
Written by Meghan Evans, Meteorologist Writer for AccuWeather.com
For more information, contact:
roberti@accuweather.com | 814-235-8756
Or call our 24-hour press hotline:
814-235-8710
Meanwhile at Physics Today time stood still
Climate scientists not cowed by relentless climate change deniers
Toni Feder
February 2012, page 22
http://www.physicstoday.org/resource/1/phtoad/v65/i2/p22_s1?bypassSSO=1
Just thought you might like to read this short piece of news from The University of Auckland’s website:
http://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/news/template/news_item.jsp?cid=466683 (Cloud Changes May Lower Global Temperature – 22 February 2012)
Trees are the simple answer but totally ignored by the “Greens”
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201105/s3215542.htm
You know, China is very smart. Most of the “warming” has occurred since 1850 because of worldwide deforestation. The solution is simple, just plant some trees. The “Green” countries like USA, UK, Australia and europe have no plans like these, only taxing people and building Windmills out of magnets that make radioactive waste.
http://www.china.org.cn/environment/news/2009-03/12/content_17427454.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2009/mar/11/china-forests “Green left” Guardian gets scared when a real solution is placed in front which threatens their fake gravy train
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-03/12/content_313964.htm
http://www.chinaodysseytours.com/news/tree-planting-day-china.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTSxubKfTBU There is more carbon in the vegetation of earth then in the atmosphere, so we have to understand the vegetation not the atmosphere. We know nothing about the vegetation.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-044 Just starting now
A great little movie of an interview with ‘Heartland Institute President Joe Bast on why global warming activist Peter Gleick stole and forged documents from his organization’:
http://online.wsj.com/video/opinion-the-purloined-climate-papers/F3DAA9D5-4213-4DC0-AE0D-5A3D171EB260.html
I forgot the link in my previous post.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/9090830/Foreign-aid-cash-spent-tackling-climate-change.html
Another pro-Peter Gleick, anti Heartland article. This time from David Suzuki.
Who would have guessed?
http://www.straight.com/print/612156
Irony Alert…..
“Senators, thank you for the opportunity to provide testimony today on the critical issue of the integrity of science. Good, independent science – indeed, good information in general – is crucial to making good political decisions. It is difficult enough to make intelligent policy choices given the complexities of today’s political, environmental, economic, and social challenges. It is almost impossible when good science or data are ignored or distorted, or when bad science is sought out, to support pre-determined political conclusions. Yet never have the political abuses and misuses of science seemed as pervasive and intentional as they have over the past few years.”
Testimony to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation
For the Hearing on Climate Change Research and Scientific Integrity
February 7, 2007
Threats to the Integrity of Science
Peter H. Gleick
http://www.pacinst.org/publications/testimony/Gleick_Senate_Commerce_2-7-07.pdf
Get it before it disappears….
Piece in The (Glasgow) Herald today about the Caspian Sea “freezing for the first time in years”
and the pelicans dying ‘cos they can’t fish.
Just weather, of course.
NASA has revised their February prediction for solar cycle 24, stating out right that it is the weakest sun in 100 years.
http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/predict.shtml
Another half hearted apologist article about the Gleick debacle:
http://scienceblogs.com/tfk/2012/02/the_drama_or_the_soap_opera_th.php?utm_source=combinedfeed&utm_medium=rss
Richard Black finally bellies up to the bar – still pretty twisted, though:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17126699
Space bacteria found in British river could be new power source for the world.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2104727/Space-bacteria-British-river-new-power-source-world.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Vampire bats in Texas? Texas State researcher says it’s possible — and now is the time to prepare
“Weather models show temperatures could go up an average of 2 to 11 degrees in the next century, and Castro-Arellano said the much-maligned creatures of the night may emigrate from Mexico to the Lone Star State in half that time or less.”
http://www.statesman.com/news/local/vampire-bats-in-texas-texas-state-researcher-says-2188959.html
Lawrence Solomon: Global warming propagandist slapped down
http://opinion.financialpost.com/2010/10/14/global-warming-propagandist-slapped-down/
“William Connolley, arguably the world’s most influential global warming advocate after Al Gore, has lost his bully pulpit. Connolley did not wield his influence by the quality of his research or the force of his argument but through his administrative position at Wikipedia, the most popular reference source on the planet.
Through his position, Connolley for years kept dissenting views on global warming out of Wikipedia, allowing only those that promoted the view that global warming represented a threat to mankind. As a result, Wikipedia became a leading source of global warming propaganda, with Connolley its chief propagandist.
His career as a global warming propagandist has now been stopped, following a unanimous verdict that came down today through an arbitration proceeding conducted by Wikipedia. In the decision, a slap-down for the once-powerful Connolley by his peers, he has been barred from participating in any article, discussion or forum dealing with global warming. In addition, because he rewrote biographies of scientists and others he disagreed with, to either belittle their accomplishments or make them appear to be frauds, Wikipedia barred him — again unanimously — from editing biographies of those in the climate change field.”
“A consistent reduction in cloud height would allow Earth to cool to space more efficiently, reducing the surface temperature of the planet and potentially slowing the effects of global warming. This may represent a “negative feedback” mechanism – a change caused by global warming that works to counteract it. “We don’t know exactly what causes the cloud heights to lower,” says Davies. “But it must be due to a change in the circulation patterns that give rise to cloud formation at high altitude.”
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2012-046
Guess we don’t know everything yet.
Clouds causing global temps from rising interesting new paper….
http://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/news/template/news_item.jsp?cid=466683
Hot off the press Watts Up With That? gets a mention in the daily mail here…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2104908/Fakegate–new-nadir-climate-change-swindle.html
You thought ‘Climategate’, the data manipulation/shady practices scandal at the high temple of anthropogenic global warming theory, East Anglia’s Climatic Research Centre, marked the nadir of the whole AGW swindle? Think again.
A new scandal has erupted involving an apparent sting directed at the Heartland Institute, the centre for AGW sceptics, which has exploded in the warmists’ faces – and it is by no means over yet.
This convoluted whodunnit – dubbed ‘Fakegate’ and charted in detail on the invaluable Watts Up With That? site – started when warmist stooges in the media started smearing AGW sceptics based on an apparent leak of incriminating documents from Heartland.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2104908/Fakegate–new-nadir-climate-change-swindle.html#ixzz1n9F4RD7U
Is the Earth cooling itself? Cloud level has fallen by 1% a year over last decade ‘in response to global warming’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2104976/Why-sky-really-closing-Cloud-level-fallen-1-year-decade.html
And if there hasn’t been warming, why are the clouds doing that?
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2012/02/breaking-news-error-undoes-faster.html
They made a mistake. Why am I not surprised. What does they say about the quality of government funded science conducted today? Shoot first with your results……check instruments later! Shoddy science.
I’ll repost this here in case Anthony wants to comment or reply at the link.
Here’s where Gleick twice says he is banned from WUWT:
http://www.realclimategate.org/2012/02/clarifications-and-how-better-to-communicate-science/
From: Peter Gleick
Sent: 26/01/2012 18:13
To: Barry Woods;Tamsin Edwards
“The fact that WUWT blocked me from adding comments more than a year ago to his routinely biased and often dissembling blog further convinced me that there was little interest in discussion among that group.”
From: Peter H. Gleick
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2012 12:20 AM
To: Tamsin Edwards Cc: xxx[Barry Woods]
“But I’ve reviewed his tweets, blog posts, status, web URL, and comments and contributions in places like Bishop Hill and WUWT (where, by the way, I’ve been blocked for more than a year from posting comments, presumably because my comments are “incredibly offensive” — yet I’m regularly and personally attacked on these kinds of sites).”
Dr. Peter H. Gleick
President, Pacific Institute
REPLY: Dr. Gleick is not “banned” only put into the moderation que (what we call the “troll bin”) for extra attention due to his often vitriolic commentary that might not meet our policy. It simply gives the moderation team a chance to separate his comments from the daily firehose of comments at WUWT so we can determine if it meets policy, and if so approve it. I’ve explained this to him in a comment on Judith Curry’s website here:
I wrote then: http://judithcurry.com/2011/10/19/laframboise-on-the-ipcc/#comment-124421
He never took me up on the offer.
This doesn’t seem to matter to him or to anyone that would rather say how “terrible” I am for “banning” Dr. Gleick. More hate, less filling. – Anthony
Peak Impacts of Climate Change starts on page 87 of the
REVISED CALIFORNIA ENERGY
DEMAND FORECAST 2012‐2022
Volume 1: Statewide Electricity
Demand and Methods, End‐User
Natural Gas Demand, and Energy
Efficiency
FEBRUARY
http://www.energy.ca.gov/2012publications/CEC-200-2012-001/CEC-200-2012-001-SD-V1.pdf
“The Energy Commission demand forecasting process incorporates the potential impacts of
global climate change by adjusting upward the number of cooling and heating degree days
for each climate zone in the forecast period, based on the historical ratio of degree days in
the last 12 years to that of the last 30 years. The result of this adjustment is typically46 an
increase in the projected amount of cooling and a reduction in projected heating relative to
the historical period. This correction attempts to account for the likelihood of a general
warming trend. However, temperatures assumed in the peak forecast, an average of daily
temperatures over a 30‐year period, are not affected by the adjustment. Therefore, the
forecast may not fully capture the impact on peak demand of possibly more frequent heat
storms reflected in higher maximum or average temperatures in a given year.
Staff used the econometric peak model re‐estimated for CED 2011 Revised to estimate the
potential impacts of climate change on annual peaks, and then added these estimated
impacts to the Energy Commission’s HELM end use peak model results. The econometric
model includes a coefficient for the annual maximum of average631, defined as follows:
Average631 =
Daily Average Temperature47 × 0.6
+ Previous Day’s Average Temperature × 0.3
+ Two Day’s Previous Average Temperature × 0.1.
The adjustment from a simple daily average temperature to average631 is meant to provide a
better indicator of sustained temperature warming.48
To gauge the potential impact of climate change on average631 temperatures through 2022,
staff used a 2011 update of a climate change impact assessment by the California Climate
Change Center, sponsored by the Energy Commission.49 The update is based on eight
climate change model simulations for California using four models, providing scenario
results for daily maximum and minimum temperatures, average daily humidity, and sea
level rises through 2099.
Climate change model simulations were performed for grids of 50 square miles within the
state; staff used simulated daily maximum and minimum temperatures for grids
corresponding to the 10 weather stations used for 16 forecasting climate zones. Staff chose
climate change scenarios that resulted in an average temperature impact over all scenarios
for the mid demand case and in a relatively high temperature impact for the high demand
case.50 For the low demand scenario, staff assumed no climate change impacts. Staff
converted simulated daily maximums for each weather station to average631 indices for each
planning area by weighting each climate zone by population. Growth in annual maximum
Table A‐2 shows the projected impacts of climate change in the mid and high demand
scenarios on peak demand for the five major planning areas and for the state as a whole. By
2022, statewide peak impacts reach almost 1,000 MW in the mid demand case and around
1,300 MW in the high demand case. Also shown are the simulated annual maximum.”
For Dr. Gleick’s information, all my posts go into the moderation queue. And I’m not complaining.
Interesting article that seems to confirm negative feedback to warming in ScienceDaily today:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120222114358.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29
Earth’s Clouds Are Getting Lower, NASA Satellite Finds
The money quote:
A consistent reduction in cloud height would allow Earth to cool to space more efficiently, reducing the surface temperature of the planet and potentially slowing the effects of global warming. This may represent a “negative feedback” mechanism — a change caused by global warming that works to counteract it. “We don’t know exactly what causes the cloud heights to lower,” says Davies. “But it must be due to a change in the circulation patterns that give rise to cloud formation at high altitude.”
Here’s the original link:
http://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/news/template/news_item.jsp?cid=466683
Cloud changes may lower global temperature
The results to date reveal a complex pattern of decreases in cloud altitude across some regions of the globe and increases in others, with the El Niño / La Niña phenomenon in the Pacific producing the strongest effect and greatest variation from year to year. After taking into account all these differences, however, the overall trend was of decreasing cloud height from 2000 to 2010.
Not sure if this has been already posted but some alarmists claim this is proof of AGW lol.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/us/warm-winter-is-casting-a-chill-on-ice-fishing.html?_r=1&ref=earth
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17129988
Submarine data declassified
Now in the biggest German online news (Spon): the Gleick story. Consider the left leaning Spon, the story is quite accurate. Here is the link in German:
http://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/natur/0,1518,816964,00.html
not sure if an English translation will follow.
http://www.theage.com.au/environment/climate-change/falling-clouds-could-counter-global-warming-20120222-1tmpw.html#ixzz1nA5rIEJH wow yeah I looked the other day and noticed the clouds are falling so that’s why it’s colder ?
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/view.php?id=77219&src=nha Global Warming in the Middle East
I’m surprised WUWT seems to have missed the latest response in the WSJ of the sceptic group of prominent scientists. IMO more important than the Gleik kerfuffle:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203646004577213244084429540.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet
Carbon in space?
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2012/feb/HQ_12-057_Spitzer_Buckyballs.html
I don’t know if the data will be cherry picked for political and/or military reasons. Probably not that useful as it data for a single mission. My guess is not the mission in the photo.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17129988
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-17129988
Arctic data from UK MoD to be released
Sea of Azov has obviously not had the AGW alarmist memo about the Death Spiral (I always expect a roll of thunder to follow that term!):
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/russia-dozens-ships-stuck-ice-sea-of-azov/1/173862.html
Al Gore is not up there on a fishing trip by any chance?
Peak Oil Is Dead
Analysis The idea that seized the imaginations of the bien pensant chattering classes in the Noughties – “Peak Oil” – is no longer relevant. So says the commodities team at Citigroup, and policy-makers would be wise to examine the trends they’ve identified.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/23/peak_oil_is_dead_citigroup/
Very Cool, Sat Photo of 90 mile wide eddy in the middle of the ocean. Plankton give it its bright blue color. Anything to do with upwelling/downwelling?
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2012/02/plankton-fueled-ocean-eddy-is.html
I’m sure you’ll pick this up right away anyway, but…
http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/23/3446748/toward-one-america-on-climate.html
By ANDREW J. HOFFMAN AND PETER C. FRUMHOFF
“Last week, bloggers published what appear to be internal documents from the Heartland Institute, a group that has long sought to undermine public understanding of climate science. The documents detail the organization’s plan to introduce misleading climate change information to science classrooms as part of a larger campaign to constrain the American response to climate change.”
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NASA_Satellite_Finds_Earths_Clouds_are_Getting_Lower_999.htmNASA Satellite Finds Earth’s Clouds are Getting Lower
UAH AMSU Daily Temperature – Ch5 – reaching very low (perhaps record) levels again. Check it out:
http://discover.itsc.uah.edu/amsutemps/execute.csh?amsutemps+002
Great article at Realclearpolitics.
Fakegate: Global Warmists Try to Hide Their Decline
By Robert Tracinski
Neutrino’s speeding ticket thrown out:
http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2012/02/breaking-news-error-undoes-faster.html?ref=hp#.T0U_N0pYVRc.twitter
Good post on Mann & Trenberth’s claims to be Nobel Prize recipients.
http://catallaxyfiles.com/2012/02/23/the-2007-nobel-peace-prize/#comments
This issue could do with a bit more air time given that it shows Mann & Trenberth making what appear to be false claims.
A really interesting analysis of the US oil supply: https://www.citigroupgeo.com/pdf/SEUNHGJJ.pdf.
The conclusion that the US will probably become a crude oil exporter runs totally against Peak Oil and US government policies.
P.S. there was an article which I can’t find again quoting one of the major Bakken oil developers and his conversation with President Obama about this. Obama’s response was (paraphrasing): that his science advisers told him battery technology would be good enough in 3 years so oil wasn’t important.