This critique of RealClimate by James Annan resonated with me: More recently, they have plucked a couple of fairly minor papers out of relative obscurity and thrust them into the limelight for no apparent purpose other than to tear into them …. The authors’ crimes? In each case, they included a throwaway phrase which appears …
It occurs to me that if I really believe that the regional-scale climate change question is relevant, I should offer up the Albuquerque temperature numbers. 2005, according to the GISS data (adjusted to try to remove an urban bias), is the seventh warmest in history. Seven of the ten warmest years here have come since …
The various analyses of global surface temperature are up for 2005. Realclimate has a rundown. The map from the NASA GISS folks is instructive: By the GISS measure, 2005 is the warmest year since reliable temperature measurements have been available. By the measurement of the World Meteorological Organization and Climatic Research Unit group in the …
Steve McIntyre, fresh from AGU, has noticed Jonathan Overpeck talking about drought and sea level rise, inferring some newly minted marketing message: It’s hard not to conclude that Overpeck was attuned to the market and giving them what they wanted. You want sea level – Overpeck had sea level. You want drought – Overpeck had …
OK, here’s something I don’t get: a new paper in GRL by Russell Vose at the National Climatic Data Center suggesting the decrease in the diurnal temperature range slowed dramatically from 1979-2004. Maybe some of you climate types can ‘splain this? (Backstory for non-climate wonks: The “diurnal temperature range” is the difference between the daytime …
Kevin Vranes on the reality of Kyoto and Montreal: The real consensus we need to reach here is whether slowing GHG increases is worth it or not. Kyoto has always been close to irrelevant climatologically and while I feel the pain of those making the “it’s a start, a necessary first step” argument, I have …
Reading John Houghton’s Global Warming: The Complete Briefing this evening, I was reminded of one of my favorite episodes in the history of science: Lewis Fry Richardson and the first numerical weather forecast. Richardson was of that era that ended with the burst of modernism in the early 20th century – a generalist, dabbler in …
Forests are a good thing, right? And reversing deforestation is a smart approach to climate change – locking all that carbon back up in trees, right? A new paper out of Lawrence Livermore throws an odd monkey wrench into the conventional wisdom, using model simulations to conclude that grassland cools while forest warms: We find …
Interesting work presented at AGU by a University of Alabama/NASA/etc. group suggesting the the possibility that Mayan deforestation may have brought on the drought conditions that some blame for the collapse of classic Maya culture. I have thought that the Maya might make a good case study for a society done in by drought, expanding …
Jeff Bingaman, fresh from Montreal, talks about U.S. greenhouse gas policies: Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., thinks now is the time for the United States to act on climate change. But Bingaman, who has emerged as a congressional leader on the issue, acknowledges he has his work cut out for him in persuading the Bush administration. …