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On May 6, the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) announced the winners of its Friend of the Planet award for 2016: Katharine Hayhoe of Texas Tech University; Dana Nuccitelli and John P. Abraham, authors of the Climate Consensus – the 97% column hosted on the Guardian newspaper; and Skeptical Science, a website devoted to explaining climate change science and rebutting global warming misinformation created and maintained by John Cook of the University of Queensland.
"All of the Friends of the Planet for 2016 shine as climate communicators, in different but complementary ways," NCSE Executive Director Ann Reid explained. "Katharine Hayhoe excels at building connections between science and society and Dana Nuccitelli and John Abraham have consistently provided timely commentary on the latest developments. And Skeptical Science is simply unrivaled as a vast, up-to-date, and in-depth source of accurate and accessible information on climate change science."
Friend of Darwin and Friend of the Planet awards for 2016, National Center for Science Education (NCSE) news release, May 9, 2016
There’s a 75% chance that La Niña will be in place by the fall, meaning sea surface temperatures in the central Pacific at the equator will be more than 0.5°C below average. It’s possible the transition from El Niño to La Niña will be quick, with forecasters slightly favoring La Niña developing this summer. What’s behind this reasonably confident forecast?
May 2016 El Niño/La Niña update: Switcheroo! by Emily Becker, Climate.gov (NOAA), May 11, 2016
"I think what we're seeing thus far is quite unusual in terms of warm winter and springtemperatures that have contributed to ice retreat and lack of ice growth during winter," said Julienne Stroeve, a senior research scientist at the NSIDC, in an email to Mashable.
The fracturing of sea ice is especially pronounced in the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska, where satellite images show the ice rapidly breaking up during the past two weeks.
"....This is important because what it's doing is isolating the multiyear ice floes and having them surrounded by open water that can enhance melt of those thicker floes. So that is something to watch this summer, whether or not those floes survive will be important to the September minima," Stroeve said.
Fractures seen in rapidly melting Arctic sea ice, and it's only May by Andrew Freedman, Mashable, May 12, 2016
Donald Trump’s new energy adviser calls himself a climate skeptic, but he may urge the billionaire celebrity to address climbing temperatures through a hands-off government approach.
Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said yesterday he’s preparing at least two white papers on energy policy for the presumptive Republican nominee, who is scheduled to address an oil and gas conference in North Dakota later this month.
Cramer, who has expressed support for a small carbon tax to replace the Clean Power Plan, said he may offer Trump advice on climate change that challenges the candidate’s assertions about it being a hoax promoted by Democrats.
“He can do all that if he wants,” Cramer said of Trump’s climate position in a lengthy interview. “But my advice would be, while I’m a skeptic, as well, he is a product of political populism, and political populism believes that there needs [to be] some addressing of climate change.”
Meet Donald Trump’s New Energy Adviser by Evan Lehmann, ClimateWire/Scientific American, May 13, 2016
John Cook's article, The things people ask about the scientific consensus on climate change, originally posted on The Conversation UK, was reposted on the Reporting Climate Science blog, the IFL Science blog, and the Phys.org blog.
John Cook and SkS are profiled in:
John Abraham and Dana Nuccitelli are profiled in:
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Posted by John Hartz on Sunday, 15 May, 2016
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