Given the recent discussions here and elsewhere about the suitability (or lack thereof) of globally averaged surface temperature as a measure of anthropogenic climate change, I note a paper by Swiss climate researcher Rolf Philipona and colleagues that found a positive water vapor feedback responsible for excess warming in Europe:
Roger Pielke Jr. links to an absolutely wacky press release from Dennis Kucinich documenting his request for all documents (including minutes and memos) in his possession relating to the effects of climate change on the coastal regions of the United States produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Weather Service, the National …
Continue reading ‘What Did the President Know, and When Did He Know It?’ »
I find myself scratching my head over the latest debate between the RealClimate crew and Roger Pielke Sr. regarding the definition and use of “chaos” (non-linear sensitive dependence on initial conditions) in weather and climate modelling. As often is the case in debates like this, both sides are correct in the point they’re making, differing …
While we’re on the subject of droughts, Ed Cook and his colleagues and Lamont-Doherty have a new review paper (preprint, 10 meg pdf) of North American drought that makes some relevant points about the differences between what happens here and the current African drought/famine I mentioned below. Point one is the distinction between the effects …
Michael Wines had a terrific story in Wednesday’s New York Times on famine in Africa that evokes a point Mickey Glantz makes in his book Climate Affairs. First Glantz: Closer scrutiny of most famine situations uncovers a multistressed political environment, of which drought was but one factor. Now Wines: War wrecked Mozambique’s economy; socialism and …
Here’s a fun little bit of business to warm a weather wonk’s heart: That’s from John Wesley Powell’s 1878-79 Report on the lands of the arid region of the United States, and is the earliest climatic data from Albuquerque that I have ever run across. The data was collected by Charles Schott of the Smithsonian, …
Finally found the time this evening to tack a comment onto a post at Roger Pielke Sr.’s blog, in which he suggested the media hasn’t been writing about a new NAS report because it “is inconvenient for those who view the radiative effect of human-caused CO2 increases as the dominant forcing of climate change.” Roger’s …
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