Monthly Archives: June 2014

Consensus angst

Posted on June 30, 2014 by | 643 comments

by Judith Curry

The public seems to have gotten the memo that climate scientists believe that humans are warming the planet, and the warming is dangerous.  They also don’t seem to care.

Continue reading →

643 Comments

Posted in Consensus

Model structural uncertainty – are GCMs the best tools?

Posted on June 25, 2014 by | 385 comments

by Judith Curry

Rarely are the following questions asked:  Is the approach that we are taking to climate modeling adequate?  Could other model structural forms be more useful for advancing climate science and informing policy?

Continue reading →

385 Comments

Posted in climate models

Uneasy expertise

Posted on June 24, 2014 by | 310 comments

by Judith Curry

Experts might instead need to pick a side, join the fight, and accept that their claims to knowledge and authority will always and everywhere be contested. – Jason Wilson

Continue reading →

310 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Pondering the anthropocene

Posted on June 22, 2014 by | 360 comments

by Judith Curry

[H]ow we meet the needs and aspirations of all of humanity while sustaining the planet’s ecology, is what the Anthropocene is all about. – Keith Kloor

Continue reading →

360 Comments

Posted in Climate change impacts

Can we trust climate models?

Posted on June 20, 2014 by | 361 comments

by Judith Curry

[W]e presently find little evidence of trustworthy predictions at fine spatial scale and annual to decadal timescale from climate models. – Hargreaves and Annan

Continue reading →

361 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Senate Hearing – Climate Change: The Need to Act Now

Posted on June 18, 2014 by | 368 comments

by Judith Curry

The U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works is convening a Hearing today on Climate Change:  The Need to Act Now.

Continue reading →

368 Comments

Posted in Policy

What can we expect for this year’s Arctic sea ice?

Posted on June 17, 2014 by | 251 comments

by Judith Curry

The seasonal forecasts of Arctic sea ice minimum have been submitted to annual SEARCH Sea Ice Outlook

Continue reading →

251 Comments

Posted in Polar regions

What is the measure of scientific ‘success’?

Posted on June 16, 2014 by | 193 comments

by Judith Curry

Science has been extraordinarily successful at taking the measure of the world, but paradoxically the world finds it extraordinarily difficult to take the measure of science — or any type of scholarship for that matter. – Stephen Curry

Continue reading →

193 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

On the AR4’s projected 0.2C/decade temperature increase

Posted on June 15, 2014 by | 431 comments

by Judith Curry

“For the next two decades a warming of about 0.2C per decade is expected for a range of emission scenarios.” – IPCC AR4

Continue reading →

431 Comments

Posted in climate models

Steven Hayward: Conservatism and Climate Science

Posted on June 13, 2014 by | 670 comments

by Judith Curry

Liberals and environmentalists would do well to take on board the categorical imperative of climate policy from a conservative point of view, namely, that whatever policies are developed, they must be compatible with individual liberty and democratic institutions, and cannot rely on coercive or unaccountable bureaucratic administration. –  Steven Hayward

Continue reading →

670 Comments

Posted in Communication, Skeptics

Climate adaptation – Bangladesh style

Posted on June 12, 2014 by | 90 comments

by Judith Curry

With the Ganges–Brahmaputra delta sinking, the race is on to protect millions of people from future flooding. – Quirin Schirmeier

Continue reading →

90 Comments

Posted in South Asia

Clean(?) Coal

Posted on June 11, 2014 by | 202 comments

by Rud Istvan

Many climate policy debates come down to coal as an electricity fuel, including the EPA’s proposed coal power plant CO2 regulations.

Continue reading →

202 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

How ‘extreme’ can it get?

Posted on June 10, 2014 by | 340 comments

by Judith Curry

When might we see Category 6 hurricanes?  60C surface temperatures?

Continue reading →

340 Comments

Posted in Hurricanes

Asymmetric responses of Arctic and Antarctic

Posted on June 9, 2014 by | 205 comments

by Judith Curry

Rapidly melting Arctic sea ice, growing Antarctic sea ice, and concerns about the melting Thwaites glacier – can all of this be explained by anthropogenic global warming?

Continue reading →

205 Comments

Posted in Polar regions

State of the blog discussion thread

Posted on June 8, 2014 by | 455 comments

by Judith Curry

After almost four years of blogging at Climate Etc., its time for some reflection

Continue reading →

455 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

World Bank on Understanding Climate Uncertainty

Posted on June 6, 2014 by | 270 comments

by Judith Curry

The impact of climate change looms large as a deep uncertainty with global consequences. – Khalra et al.

Continue reading →

270 Comments

Posted in Policy, Uncertainty

What is skepticism, anyway?

Posted on June 5, 2014 by | 741 comments

by Judith Curry

Two recent essays on skepticism stimulate reflections on both the scientific consensus and the high level of public skepticism.

Continue reading →

741 Comments

Posted in Skeptics

Explaining(?) abrupt climate change

Posted on June 4, 2014 by | 152 comments

by Judith Curry

 . . . suggesting that Dansgaard-Oeschger events resulted from a combination of the effects of sea ice and ice shelves—structures that help define the margins of ice sheets—to account for both the rapid and the slower parts of the cycle.

Continue reading →

152 Comments

Posted in Attribution, Polar regions

AGU: Enforcing the consensus

Posted on June 3, 2014 by | 375 comments

by Michael Asten

I have decided to reject the submission based on the significant scientific consensus regarding the question of human-induced climate change. – Eos editor

Continue reading →

375 Comments

Posted in Consensus

The sociology of correlation and causation

Posted on June 2, 2014 by | 286 comments

by Judith Curry

Correlation doesn’t imply  causation.

Continue reading →

286 Comments

Posted in Scientific method, Sociology of science

‘Global warming’ versus ‘climate change’

Posted on June 1, 2014 by | 533 comments

By Judith Curry

We found that the term “global warming” is associated with greater public understanding, emotional engagement, and support for personal and national action than the term “climate change.” 

Continue reading →

533 Comments

Posted in Communication