Arguments
2013 SkS Weekly Digest #19
Posted on 12 May 2013 by John Hartz
SkS Highlights
KK Tung posted part 2 of his article, The anthropogenic global warming rate: Is it steady for the last 100 years?. It generated an ongoing discussion with Dr. Tung on the role of the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) in global climate change.
Who is Paying for Global Warming? by Agnostic suammarizes the findings of Yang and Cui (2012) which details the funding and increased use of coal likely over the next decade.
Toon of the Week
H/T to Joe Romm's Climate Progress blog.
Quote of the Week
"It is symbolic, a point to pause and think about where we have been and where we are going," said Professor Ralph Keeling, who oversees the measurements on a Hawaian volcano, which were begun by his father in 1958. "It's like turning 50: it's a wake up to what has been building up in front of us all along."
Global carbon dioxide in atmosphere passes milestone level by Damian Carrington, The Guardian, May 10, 2013
The Week in Review
- The evidence for climate change WITHOUT computer models or the IPCC A Peter Hadfield video posted by Dana
- 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #19B by John Hartz
- What you need to know about climate sensitivity by Dana
- 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #19A by John Hartz
- Who is Paying for Global Warming? by Agnostic
- The anthropogenic global warming rate: Is it steady for the last 100 years? Part 2. A guest post by KK Tung
- 2013 SkS News Bulletin #10: Alberta Tar Sands and Keystone XL Pipeline by John Hartz
- Distinguishing Between Short-Term Variability and Long-Term Trends by Dana
Coming Soon
- Organic vapours affect clouds leading to previously unidentified climate cooling (John Hartz)
- Another Piece of the Global Warming Puzzle - More Efficient Ocean Heat Uptake (Dana)
- 2013 SkS News Bulletin #11 (John Hartz)
- A Rough Guide to the Jet Stream: what it is, how it works and how it is responding to enhanced Arctic warming (John Mason)
- 2013 SkS News Roundup #20A (John Hartz)
- Schmitt and Happer manufacture doubt (Dumb Scientist)
- Major Skeptical Science Announcement (Dana and John Cook)
- 2013 SkS News Roundup #20B (John Hartz)
In the Works
- Climate for the Trees (jg)
- How did Ancient Coral Survive in a High CO2 World? (Rob Painting)
- Has the rate of surface warming changed? 16 year revisited (Kevin C)
- Tropical forests still carbon sink by the end of this century? (Alexander Ac)
- Weathering of rocks: guide to a long-term carbon-sink (John Mason)
- A tale told in maps and charts: Texas in the National Climate Assessment (Dana)
- Agnotology, Climastrology, and Replicability Examined in a New Study (Dana)
SkS in the News
The Skeptical Science one-liner myth rebuttals were posted by Climate Progress, Doug Craig's Blog, Jeff Weintraub, RenewEconomy, IBI Watch, and Tweeted by Carl Zimmer.
John Cook's request for climate blogs to Participate in a survey measuring consensus in climate research was posted by Jeff Masters, James' Empty Blog, Hot Topic, Yale Forum, Stoat, and HotWhopper.
Carbon Brief used several SkS resources in discussing the surface warming slowdown.
Gaham Readfearn used the SkS 'it's the sun' rebuttal to debunk denial from The Australian.
Suzuka University of Medical Science is using SkS resources on extreme weather in their exams.
Dana's Distinguishing Between Short-Term Variability and Long-Term Trends was referenced at HotWhopper.
Scholars and Rogues used SkS resources in showing how much heat the air and oceans can store.
Media Matters, the Columbia Journalism Review, and Slate's Bad Astronomy referenced SkS resources on CO2 as plant food in debunking nonsense from Happer and Schmitt at the Wall Street Journal.
The Aotearoa Independent Media Centre referenced SkS posts on continued global warming.
SkS Spotlights
The Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment is a research centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE).
The Institute was established in May 2008 with the support of philanthropists Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham, through their Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment.
The Institute's vision is a world in which climate change and other global environmental challenges are managed effectively to promote prosperity and well-being.
The purpose of the Institute is:
- to increase knowledge and understanding by performing world-class research on climate change and the environment;
- to promote better informed decision-making about climate change and the environment by engaging with a wide range of key audiences around the world; and
- to educate and train new generations of researchers through our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.
The Institute's principles are:
- Independence: We carry out research and other work without interference from our sponsors and supporters.
- Rigour: We base our research findings and views on robust evidence and reasoning, and not on ideology.
- Internationalism: We are located in the UK, but we aim to advance understanding and inform decision-making across the world.
- Leadership: We seek to guide thinking, discussion and decision-making in the UK and beyond on effective solutions to global environmental challenges.
- Collaboration: We are committed to working effectively together and with our partners in the UK and across the world.
- Engagement: We work constructively with decision-makers among the public, businesses and policy-makers.
The Grantham Research Institute has five research programmes:
What's the the SkS team take on this news:
Tsunami of ice plows into dozens of Canadian homes; no one injured in freak disaster
I don't know much about iceshet dynamics or how the insignifficant wind without any earthquake can cause such tsunami waves on the inland lake.
Further, is it just a "freak event" or can warming in the arctic together with jetstream pattern change, result in more frequent such events in sub-arctic lakes ?
Chris, this type of thing happens occasionally on large lakes in northern climes. I can recall several instances over the past few decades on Lake Erie, Lake St. Claire and Lake Huron here in North America. A wind-driven occurence. Extreme, yes. Rare, also.
The term "tsunami" is inapplicable, however.
Chris:
It's not the result of a wave carrying the ice that far up the beach. It's an "ice push". Get a long lake, a strong wind, and a lot of loose, moving ice, and there is a lot of momentum behind it. Ice gets pushed up on shore, and pushed further by more ice getting pushed ashore, and so on. It's like trying to stop an oil tanker.
Although such ice pushes are uncommon, I have been on many lakes in the Northwest Territories where the rocky beaches (typically made of rocks 10-20cm in diameter) have many ridges in the beach itself caused by such ice pushes. The ridges are easily several metres above normal water level, and there will be several of them at different heights, from different ice push events of varying strength.
Is SkS planning on doing an article about his NYTimes article? It is found under their series examining the "debate" (their words) surrounding climate change. I would like to see more details about the specific claims, as well as those making them.
Seahuck - Not a good piece by Gillis. Relatively easy adaptation to climate change is simply a fantasy. Last time I checked, ocean acidification is still happening, and coral reefs the world over are in dramatic decline. Once the reefs and productive fisheries collapse (which they are on course to), I don't expect adaptation will be an apt description of what follows.