Monthly Archives: November 2012

Clouds and MAGIC

Posted on November 28, 2012 | 683 Comments

by Judith Curry

Ocean clouds obscure warming’s fate, create ‘fundamental’ problems for models. – Paul Voosen
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Posted in climate models, Data and observations, Sensitivity & feedbacks

Open thread weekend

Posted on November 25, 2012 | 940 Comments

Its your turn to introduce some new topics for discussion.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Why climate disasters might not increase concern about climate change

Posted on November 23, 2012 | 494 Comments

by Judith Curry

Climate change awareness is complex and strongly mediated by socially constructed attitudes.  It is important to recognise that many of the social and cultural obstacles to belief are not removed by major impacts and may, indeed, be reinforced. – George Marshall

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Posted in Communication

Whither (wither?) climate science?

Posted on November 20, 2012 | 679 Comments

by Judith Curry

The title for this post comes from a recent presentation by Michael Morgan, Director of the Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences Division at NSF.

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Posted in Policy

Future of Arctic enterprise

Posted on November 18, 2012 | 196 Comments

by Judith Curry

As a complement to the discussion on Arctic sea ice decline at Climate Dialogue, lets take a look at the outlook for the development of existing and new economic activity in the Arctic marine region, as a result of this change.

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Posted in Polar regions

Week in review 11/17/12

Posted on November 17, 2012 | 927 Comments

by Judith Curry

A few things that caught my eye this past week.

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Posted in Week in review

Policy, rhetoric and public bewilderment

Posted on November 14, 2012 | 488 Comments

by Judith Curry

Science is the most formidable intellectual force of our age, perhaps any age. The irony is that, without the insights of the humanities, it may still find itself without words. – Mark Thompson

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Posted in Communication, Policy

Should scientists promote results over process?

Posted on November 11, 2012 | 529 Comments

by Judith Curry

Science is the most powerful tool we have for understanding the natural world. Its power stems from the very nuance that forceful slogans typically gloss over. But with this power comes great liability: the potential to be wrong. – Tania Lombrozo

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Posted in Communication

Open thread weekend

Posted on November 10, 2012 | 438 Comments

by Judith Curry

Its your turn to introduce some new topics for discussion.

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Posted in Week in review

Climate model discussion thread

Posted on November 9, 2012 | 378 Comments

by Judith Curry

My perspective on climate models (uncertainty monster, DOE presentation, RS presentation) have been regarded as outside the ‘mainstream’.  Here are some new papers by leading climate modelers that provide new evidence and arguments on the concerns that I have been raising.

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Posted in climate models

U.S. Presidential election discussion thread

Posted on November 7, 2012 | 753 Comments

by Judith Curry

Discussion of this topic is invading the technical threads, so lets start a new thread on this since people seem to want to discuss it here.

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Posted in Uncategorized

Uncertainty in observations of the Earth’s energy balance

Posted on November 5, 2012 | 608 Comments

by Judith Curry

This lack of precise knowledge of surface energy fluxes profoundly affects our ability to understand how Earth’s climate responds to increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases. – Graeme Stephens et al.

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Posted in Data and observations, Uncertainty

Systemic thinking on causation

Posted on November 5, 2012 | 223 Comments

by Judith Curry

George Lakoff has just thrown  a big can of worms into the global warming debate:

Yes, global warming systemically caused Hurricane Sandy — and the Midwest droughts and the fires in Colorado and Texas, as well as other extreme weather disasters around the world. Let’s say it out loud, it was causation, systemic causation. 

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Posted in Attribution, Causation

Sandy: a wake-up call on our satellite-based weather and climate observing capacity

Posted on November 4, 2012 | 137 Comments

by Marshall Shepherd

Hurricane – Post-Tropical Storm Sandy is one of “those” moments. A moment that rallies the public and policy makers around an issue. Other “those” moments include 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina. In the wake of Sandy, an array of issues have surfaced including the role of climate change, vulnerability of urban infrastructure, and how it will effect the U.S. Presidential election. As I write this, another Nor’easter looks to impact the same region in the days after the election.

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Posted in Data and observations, Hurricanes, Policy

Open thread weekend.

Posted on November 3, 2012 | 283 Comments

Here in the U.S. we have been distracted all week by Hurricane Sandy and Presidential election.  Its your turn to introduce some new topics for discussion.

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Posted in Week in review

Hurricane Sandy: Part n

Posted on November 2, 2012 | 361 Comments

by Judith Curry

Hurricane Sandy is having many repercussions beyond the obvious damage.

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Posted in Hurricanes

Learning (?) lessons from Sandy

Posted on November 1, 2012 | 240 Comments

by Judith Curry

America is growing more skilled – and getting better fast – at emergency response to disasters of growing geographical reach, cost, and complexity. But we can and should do more. America needs a comparable national effort and accompanying long-term investment in reducing the need for emergency response on such a grand scale. - Bill Hooke

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Posted in Hurricanes, Policy