It appears that all is not well with the idea of “climate forecasting” as the Ministry of Defence pulls the financial rug out from under the Met Office climate program. Now how will they pay for the electricity to run “deep black”, the 1.2 megawatt supercomputer they just purchased?
Phil Jones may have drain the moat and sell access to his climate data lists and code to pay the bills.
From the Register, UK
Weather soothsayers lose £4.3m
By Austin Modine
Story excerpts:
The Met Office, home of UK weather soothsaying, is getting its climate research budget chopped by a quarter after the Ministry of Defence ended financial support to focus on “current operations.”
A loss of £4.3m ($7m) funding will hit the Met Office Hadley Centre for Climate Change, according to the science journal Nature. The research institute provides the government with bleeding-edge computer models indicating which parts of the UK should stockpile sunscreen and floaties for the coming Thermageddon.
Please support net journalism. Read the entire story at the Register -> here
Read a couple of interesting articles about the shenanigans of the Hadley Climate Reasearch Unit at Climate Audit:
The UK Met Office Deepens The Moat
Phil Jones: the Secret Agent in Hawaii
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
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Thermageddon: Feeling warm & fuzzy all over.
As someone pointed out on another blog a few days ago, the Nature News item that is quoted in the Register blog post has this gem from Gavin Schmidt:
The USA is going to save the planet by limiting CO2 just in America, they don’t need to spend any money. The great one, Obama and the US Congress will save all mankind with climate change polices.
Kind of (but not really) OT, it’s funny that the hockey team still doesn’t realize that their buddy politicians are going to throw them under the bus as soon as it is politically expedient.
If anyone NEEDS accuracy, it’s the military. Guess Phil & Co. didn’t cut the mustard
DaveE.
“Now how will they pay for the electricity to run “deep black”, the 1.2 megawatt supercomputer they just purchased?”
Rent out the ‘puter to London bookies.
Maybe they could set up a few windmills to run it.
Terry (17:59:22) :
“Kind of (but not really) OT, it’s funny that the hockey team still doesn’t realize that their buddy politicians are going to throw them under the bus as soon as it is politically expedient.”
This comment caught my eye: so true. Hell have no wrath like a politician cornered. Once it is realised just how non-existent the “science” behind global warming is, and therefore just how bad (and damaging) resulting legislation has been, its going to be a case of “those scientists’ lied to us”. The most interesting to watch will be Al Gore. Notice how he doesn’t really commit himself, but always uses the “scientists’ tell us” approach. Fortunately, in his case at least, I don’t think the plausible deniability will work.
Fortunately we have a Senator in Australia who has the balancing vote in the upcoming carbon tax legislation vote (our version of Cap and Trade). He is trying to understand the basics of the science: ie why, if CO2 continues to increase steady, temperature isn’t. Like anyone who starts to try to understand man-made global warming, he’s beginning to realise it’s a crock.
please read the coming thermageddom!!!!
“The pull-out will be the first time Met Office climate research has gone without MoD money. For several years now, the MoD has been the Hadley Center’s primary customer and funder for climate modeling.”
The war against the Western economy’s must be over, just like Iraq It’s Mission Accomplished.
Haha… Gavin Schmidt’s utterances are hysterical… I’ll believe him when pigs fly.
I forecast an increase in predicted temperatures of 25%.
“Now how will they pay for the electricity to run “deep black”, the 1.2 megawatt supercomputer they just purchased?”
Maybe they could use a bicycle type contraption, with a dynamo, at their computer desks and pedal while they work thus producing electricity to run their computers?
Hmm. But wouldn’t that produce more CO2?
Maybe I can raise a few million in research grants to find out?!
“Rathtyen (18:24:15) :
Terry (17:59:22) :
“Kind of (but not really) OT, it’s funny that the hockey team still doesn’t realize that their buddy politicians are going to throw them under the bus as soon as it is politically expedient.”
This comment caught my eye: so true. Hell have no wrath like a politician cornered. Once it is realised just how non-existent the “science” behind global warming is, and therefore just how bad (and damaging) resulting legislation has been, its going to be a case of “those scientists’ lied to us”. The most interesting to watch will be Al Gore. Notice how he doesn’t really commit himself, but always uses the “scientists’ tell us” approach. Fortunately, in his case at least, I don’t think the plausible deniability will work.
Fortunately we have a Senator in Australia who has the balancing vote in the upcoming carbon tax legislation vote (our version of Cap and Trade). He is trying to understand the basics of the science: ie why, if CO2 continues to increase steady, temperature isn’t. Like anyone who starts to try to understand man-made global warming, he’s beginning to realise it’s a crock.”
Of course it’s crock however, he’s still a pollie and when he realises he can “feather his nest” even more, he’ll vote it in. I’ll put $50 on him signing up for the ETS fairly soon.
Well The met office has been accurate with temperatures so far – well above average for the last 4 weeks+
They have now predicted temperatures in the 30s (C of course!) for this week in SE England.
“Now how will they pay for the electricity to run “deep black”, the 1.2 megawatt supercomputer they just purchased?
Prophetic…… Pedal faster Nigel!
It is sort-of true-ish that the Met Office’s predictions have been generally accurate-ish for the last month or so. In relation to temperature. But not rain. A prognostication of teeming rain caused my weekly round of golf to be cancelled in advance twice, only for both days to have been cloudless and perfectly suited to low quality sporting endeavour.
They have actually had it pretty easy for a few weeks because there has been no test cricket (test matches are 5-day games between international teams). No test match = fine weather; test match = good chance of rain unless England are losing. We take on Australia in a 5-match series starting next week. Get your umbrella ready.
And they expected what – a never-ending gravy train? The feel-good, agenda-driven science might wrap itself in the plight of the poor polar bear, but MOD is driven by a need for results; get it wrong too often and the MOD folks will look to cut their losses, just as politicians most everywhere seem to be quick to cut military spending.
Steven Hill (17:59:15) “. . . by limiting CO2 just in America,”
Not exactly. If a country wants to trade with the USA that country will have to have at least as stringent laws as the USA. Otherwise there will be import duties (tax).
At least I saw that mentioned – haven’t been sent a copy of the full text yet.
Is that “dart board weather station” a photo of the Met Office’s new computer?
But where’s the power cord?
The Met office has been promising me thunderstorms and rain for the past two weeks. Not a drop. Not one drop of rain in a fortnight. Is this Britain, I hear you ask?
They got the 2008 summer forecast (hottest summer on record) as wrong as it’s possible to get. They got the 2007 summer forecast (hottest summer on record) just as wrong. If they’re using their climate modelling software and it’s not tallying up with actual weather, then clearly the weather must be wrong.
Idjits.
bill (19:29:17)
The warm fortnight in June will be a fond memory if we have the same bleak summer school holidays we had for the last two years, not predicted by the Met. office. I hope there isn’t a repeat of the unpredicted weeks of snow we had earlier this year, in a few months time. I suspect too many squaddies may have complained of being frozen on Salisbury Plain.
It is unfortunate, no matter what their politics, that funding is being cut for Met Office functions in Britain.
I believe that there are many good people in the Met who strive to bring us the best data and analysis.
The wackos at the edges (yes even those in positions of influence) cannot prevail against the evidence. In the end “truth will out!”.
It is very sad to lose funding for science – it can happen anywhere at anytime. I for one refuse to gloat.
Bill,
They may getting temperatures close, but have you noticed that on the BEEB at least, no two Met Office forecasts are the same and that the weather tomorrow in the UK will not be that forecast today.
Take last Friday. All week the met office forecasters on the beeb were telling us it would be fine all week then rain all weekend. Rain Friday, beautiful weekend. Spot on. Not.
If they can’t forecast for tomorrow with any accuracy, why should we give their climate predictions for a hundred years hence any credence?
As an aside, being ex-RAF, wonder whether the reduction in MoD funding means the Met Office forecasters at military bases are at threat from redundancy?
Cheers
Bil
For a moment I thought that was a fried egg in the middle of that dat board 🙂