Climate facts to warm to

[TEG]

Climate Catastrophe? Here's What the U.S. Could Look Like in 2100 - 1 Living Green - Your Life - MSN Lifestyle

 

[doug]

I found this interesting:

On The Media: Transcript of "Getting Heated" (April 10, 2009)

A couple of weeks ago, the New York Times Magazine published a cover story on the eminent physicist Freeman Dyson and his unconventional view on global warming. The article generated a lot of attention – much of it unfavorable. Joe Romm, physicist and fellow at the Center for American Progress says publishing Dyson’s views gives too much credence to what he deems pseudoscience. Author Nicholas Dawidoff, who wrote the piece, says Dyson is much too interesting and serious a thinker to be ignored.

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Dyson is an extremely bright guy. I saw him a couple years ago when he came to give a talk at Stanford. It's annoying to me that some think he shouldn't be able to express his opinion. Link to the NYT Magazine article here: The Civil Heretic - Freeman Dyson - Profile - NYTimes.com

 

[Chris H.]

More than hot air : Article : Nature

 

[TEG]

... Dyson is an extremely bright guy. ...

I would say that is an understatement!

Although being a genius doesn't necessarily make you right about everything.

 

[TEG]

BBC NEWS | Americas | World's major rivers 'drying up'
Water Levels Dropping in Some Major Rivers as Global Climate Changes - News Release

 

[vfx]

Green Letterman is back with a Climate Change message wrapped in a comedy bit.
Late Show Video - Andy Kindler & Climate Change Experts - CBS.com

 

[dpeilow]

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | New warning over Arctic ice-cap

The Arctic ice-cap, a permanent feature for at least 100,000 years, could vanish in summertime far sooner than predicted, a leading scientist says.

...

He told the BBC: "By 2013 we will see a much smaller area in summertime than now, and certainly by about 2020, I can imagine that only one area will remain in summer."

His assessment is based on analysis of nearly 40 years of sonar data gathered on Royal Navy submarines patrolling beneath the ice - the first, HMS Dreadnought, was in 1971.

...

The forecast for a rapid decline is reinforced by data gathered on the Catlin Arctic Survey, the expedition that is coming to an end after 10 weeks.

Measurements of ice thickness made in hundreds of drill-holes have confirmed assessments made by satellite and submarine sonar.

According to Dr Wohlleben: "It is very nice to have 'ground-truthing' of what you're interpreting from the satellite data.

 

[Tdave]

In other news, it's been discovered that submarine sonar melts ice.

 

[graham]

In other news, it's been discovered that submarine sonar melts ice.

Well that and all those drill-holes :biggrin:

 

[BBHighway]

Prediction of sea level rising 2 meters by 2100

Because of Greenland ice melting much sooner than expected.

Climate Progress » Blog Archive » High Water: Greenland ice sheet melting faster than expected and could raise East Coast sea levels an extra 20 inches by 2100 — to more than 6 feet

 

[dpeilow]

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Met Office cools summer forecast

"Seasonal forecasting is a difficult thing to do and this places some limitations on our forecasts. Our predictions for last autumn, winter and spring have all given accurate advice, giving more confidence in our latest summer forecast.

At what point does weather forecasting stop and climatology take over?

 

[BBHighway]

Not sure what's going on with the weather forecast for the UK. The Northeast of the US has been unusually cool and rainy too, but the global climate is a different story.

Globally, June 2009 was the second hottest June ever recorded, and the global ocean temperature that month was the hottest ever recorded.

Meanwhile, Arctic Sea Ice is way below average and just barely above the extremely abnormal low reached in 2007.

http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/daily_images/N_timeseries.png

 

[TEG]

At 103, Seattle has hottest day on record - Los Angeles Times

 

[bobw]

NASA satellite temperature measurements fuel Global Warming debate

Whatcha gonna believe, me, or yer lyin' eyes?

We need more and better measurements. We need those models vetted by competent people who have no grant money at stake.

 

[Brent]

NASA satellite temperature measurements fuel Global Warming debate

Isn't that article from 1997? I might imagine that the twelve years since then have brought more refinements in measurements.

 

[dpeilow]

From 2008.

Apparent Problem With Global Warming Climate Models Resolved

By measuring changes in winds, rather than relying upon problematic temperature measurements, Robert J. Allen and Steven C. Sherwood of the Department of Geology and Geophysics at Yale estimated the atmospheric temperatures near 10 km in the Tropics rose about 0.65 degrees Celsius per decade since 1970—probably the fastest warming rate anywhere in Earth's atmosphere. The temperature increase is in line with predictions of global warming models.

“I think this puts to rest any lingering doubts that the atmosphere really has been warming up more or less as we expect, due mainly to the greenhouse effect of increasing gases like carbon dioxide,” Sherwood said.

Many scientists, including Allen and Sherwood, have long argued that temperature data were flawed for many reasons such as the change of instrument design over the years. “These systems were never designed for measuring climate change,” said Sherwood. However, some global warming skeptics had argued that weather balloon temperatures were accurate—and models that predicted global warming were wrong.

 

[BBHighway]

Thermometers In Agreement

The "Good" and "Bad" temperature recording stations show the same warming, as explained in the Peter Sinclair video.

Exclusive: Watts offers ‘inanity defense’ for his effort to censor Sinclair’s video, saying he was “doing him a favor.” Sinclair replies, “His reaction pretty much confirmed that my psychological profiling was dead

 

[dpeilow]

Synthetic trees and algae can counter climate change, say engineers - Times Online

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | 'Artificial trees' to cut carbon

The authors from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers say that without geo-engineering it will be impossible to avoid dangerous climate change.

Maybe.

The third option focuses on the reduction of incoming solar radiation by reflecting sunlight back into space. The report says the simplest way of doing this is for buildings to have reflective roofs.

Or we could put PV on every roof and quickly generate a large chunk of our energy needs.

 

[vfx]

Or we could put PV on every roof and quickly generate a large chunk of our energy needs.

I think paint is a bit cheaper.
:tongue:

 

[dpeilow]

True - but it seems like a waste of real estate, which obviously we have much less of. If it were down to me, I would mandate developers to use those PV roof tiles on new builds. Adding a few more thousand onto your mortgage at purchase time doesn't seem like such a financial burden.