Posted on 7 February 2016 by John Hartz

SkS Highlights

Industrial-era ocean heat uptake has doubled since 1997 by Rob Painting and Fox News Republican debate moderators asked a climate question! by Dana Nuccitelli (Climate Consensus - the 97%, The Guardian) both attracted the highest number of comments of the aricles posted on SkS during the past week. 

El Niño Impacts

• El Niño and Global Warming—What’s the Connection? by Renee Cho, State of the Planet, Earth Institute, Columbia University, Feb 2, 2016
• El Niño warmth continued during January 2016 by Caitlyn Kennedy, Climate.gov, Feb 2, 2016
• Understanding the 2015–16 El Niño and its impact on phytoplankton by Stephanie Schollaert Uz, Geo Space, AGU, Feb 2, 2016

Toon of the Week

Quotes of the Week 

James Hansen, a former NASA scientist known for his testimony to US Congress in 1988 that arguably put concern about climate change on the map, said he was stunned by the announcement.

"Holy shit! That is unbelievable," he said. "Is a conservative denier government in power?

"This seems to be a clear-cut case of shooting the messenger with the bad news. However, the messenger is needed to figure out what to do about the problem."

'Misleading, inaccurate and in breach of Paris': CSIRO scientist criticises cuts by Adam Morton, Peter Hannam & Marcus Strom, Brisbane Times, Feb 5, 2016

“The general rule is, at a global scale, if you’re a nation that is going to suffer from climate change, you’re very likely not contributing to the problem,” says James Watson, a professor in the school of geography at the University of Queensland in Australia who also works with the Wildlife Conservation Society on climate change. Watson conducted the study with two colleagues from the University of Queensland.

“That’s the general rule that we found,” Watson continues. “But it’s completely inequitable.”

Why climate change is really, really unfair by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Feb 5, 2016

He Said What?

“I don’t subscribe to the politicization of the environment, because that’s what leads to things like the Clean Power Plan,” Carson responded. “The EPA has said that if we implement every aspect of the Clean Power Plan, it will lower the temperature of the Earth by 0.05 degrees Fahrenheit … that’s the benefit. The cost is billions of dollars and millions of jobs. That doesn’t make any sense, because that is ideologically driven.”

Ben Carson gets called out on climate cluelessness by Iowa voter by Katie Herzog, Grist, Feb 1, 2016 

SkS in the News

Very impressive indeed!

As Professor Bishop points out, while such attacks are abominable, and take time from academics that could otherwise be spent on research (not to mention the personal cost to them and their families, from defamatory comments all over), in the end the truth will out. Remember, Recursive Fury bounced back stronger than ever in the shape of Recurrent Fury. And for all the efforts of Richard Tol and some grad student from the USA to suppress it, John Cook and co's 97% paper has been downloaded 449,069 times! [our bold]

Judith Curry attacks open data advocates and encourages people who try to suppress science by Sou, Hot Whopper, Feb 3, 2016

SkS Spotlights

The Conscious Elders Network (CEN) is an educational, non-profit organization fostering a budding movement of vital elders, dedicated to growing in consciousness while actively addressing the demanding challenges facing our country. We work inter-generationally for social and economic justice, environmental stewardship, and sound governance. We bring our multiple talents and resources, offering these in service to the goal of preserving and protecting life for all generations to come. We invite you to join us in this monumental endeavor! 

Coming Soon on SkS

• No climate conspiracy: NOAA temperature adjustments bring data closer to pristine (Dana)
• Daffodils in bloom, the warmest ever December: how worrying is the world’s strange weather (John Vidal)
• The New Age of Climate Exploration (Joseph Robertson and David Thoreson)
• Onset of Eocene Warming Event took 3-4 millennia (so what we’re doing is unprecedented in 66 million years) (Howard Lee)
• Guest post (John Abraham)
• 2016 SkS Weekly News Roundup #7 (John Hartz)
• 2016 SkS Weekly Digest #7 (John Hartz)

Poster of the Week

Source: What on Earth? comics 

SkS Week in Review

• 2016 SkS Weekly News Roundup #6 by John Hartz
• Analysis: How much did El Niño boost global temperature in 2015? by Roz Pidcock (Carbon Brief)
• Industrial-era ocean heat uptake has doubled since 1997 by Rob Painting
• Measuring ocean heating is key to tracking global warming by John Abraham (Climate Consensus - the 97%, The Guardian)
• 'The Blob' Disrupts What We Think We Know About Climate Change, Oceans Scientist Says by Judith Lavoie (DeSmog Canada)
• Fox News Republican debate moderators asked a climate question! by Dana Nuccitelli (Climate Consensus - the 97%, The Guardian)
• 2016 SkS Weekly Digest #5 by John Hartz

97 Hours of Consensus: Philip Mote

Philip Mote's bio page

Quote derived with author's permission from:

"Global warming refers to an increase in the planet's average temperature, and there's no question that that's happened over the last 100 years. Over the last 50 years, it's increasingly clear that that warming, the more recent warming, is because of human activities.And there are other associated changes with climate change, not just changes in temperature but also changes in rainfall patterns and so on that might happen."