Posted on 22 December 2013 by John Hartz

SkS Highlights

Gavin Schmidt … Speaking up and Speaking Out by Bruce Lieberman has generated a lively discussion and attracted the most comments of the articles posted on SkS this past week. The article was originally posted on the Yale Forum on Climate Change & the Media. 

SkS Toon of the Week

Created by jg

Quote of the Week

Deke Arndt, chief of the climate monitoring branch of the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., said caution is needed when comparing El Niño and non-El Niño years. 

"There is no universally accepted definition of El Niño-Southern Oscillation and much less an 'El Niño year,'" Arndt said in an email.

Arndt said that from an El Niño perspective, as well as looking at how monthly global average temperatures have played out this year, 2013 more closely resembles 2005 than either 2010 or 1998.

"If you think of the annual temperature like a 12-lap race (one lap per month), 1998 and 2010 got off to big early (warm!) leads and 'hung on' in the later laps," he said. "2005, and 2013 so far, started a bit more modestly and gained ground in the middle and late laps."

Toasty November Vaults 2013 Into Top 5 Warmest Years by Andrew Freedman, Climate Central, Dec 17, 2013

SkS Week in Review

• 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #51C by Joh Hartz
• Gavin Schmidt … Speaking up and Speaking Out by Bruce Lieberman
• 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #51B by John Hartz
• Climate and economic models – birds of a different feather by John Abraham
• Climate Risk Index 2014: Haiti, Philippines and Pakistan most affected
• In pictures: cutting edge climate science, communication, and kittens from the 2013 AGU conference by Dana
• 2013 SkS Weekly News Roundup #51A by John Hartz 

Coming Soon on SkS

• Global warming will intensify drought, says new study (John Abraham)
• Behind the Lines: CO2 Shotput (Andy S & jg)
• Merry Christmas from Skeptical Science (Dana & John Cook)
• Republicans in Congress got the testimony they wanted to keep playing climate Russian roulette (Dana)
• Sea Ice Volume is Not Recovering (greenman) 

In the Works 

• Methane emissions from oil & gas development (gws)
• Provisional Statement on Status of Climate in 2013 (John Hartz)
• Comments on the Purpose of Privacy (Rob Honeycutt)
• Rebuttal to the myth 'CO2 is saturated' (Glenn Tamblyn & jg)
• Saving the Keeling curve (doug bostrom)
• Thirteen Years of Moths and Flames (jerryd) 

SkS in the News

Phil Plait at Slate Bad Astronomy featured Cowtan & Way (2013) and The Escalator.

Joe Romm at Climate Progress talked about why the 4 Hiroshima atomic bombs per second metaphor is an effective form of climate communication.

The Cook et al. (2013) consensus paper was cited in Arctic marine fishes and their fisheries in light of global change.

Nathan Allen on Grist, Climate Progress, The Guardian (three times), and HotWhopper referenced the Cook et al. (2013) 97% consensus result.

SkS Spotlights

The Center for Climatic Research (University of Wisconsin - Madison) has a 50-year tradition of conducting interdisciplinary research on the climate system.  CCR was founded in 1962 by Professor Reid A. Bryson, whose career-long interests included global-scale climate processes and links between human societies and the atmosphere.  Following Professor Bryson, subsequent CCR directors included Professors John Kutzbach, Zhengyu Liu, and Jack Williams.

CCR is part of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and includes more than 50 faculty members, scientists, staff, and graduate students.  The Center for Climatic Research brings together leading climate scientists with researchers in geography, botany, oceanography, and other disciplines to investigate our past, present, and future climate and their implications for 21st century climate change.  CCR connects with units across UW-Madison as well as U.S. and international universities and research institutes.  Our faculty, scientists, and students are based in departments such as Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Botany, Geography, and Geosciences.

To learn more about the faculty and staff of CCR, click here.

Note: The above text is from the About page of the Center for Climatic Research website.