Author Archives: curryja

How Gaia and coral reefs regulate ocean pH

by Jim Steele

Although some researchers have raised concerns about possible negative effects of rising CO2 on ocean surface pH, there are several lines of evidence demonstrating marine ecosystems are far more sensitive to fluxes of carbon dioxide from ocean depths and the biosphere’s response than from invasions of atmospheric CO2. There is also ample evidence that lower pH does not inhibit photosynthesis or lower ocean productivity (Mackey 2015). On the contrary, rising CO2 makes photosynthesis less costly.

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What is the relationship between Arctic sea ice decline and Eurasian cold winters?

by Judith Curry

We conclude that the observed cooling over central Eurasia was probably due to a sea-ice-independent internally generated circulation pattern ensconced over, and nearby, the Barents–Kara Sea since the 1980s. — McCusker et al.

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The value of very long instrumental data series

by Alan Longhurst

Because the climate change science community habitually concentrates attention on surface data from a very short recent period – nominally a little more than 100 years – it would be very interesting to know how the pattern habitually derived from these data compares with longer data archives that have been processed independently by the observing nations.

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Generating regional scenarios of climate change

by Judith Curry

This post is about the practical aspects of generating regional scenarios of climate variability and change for the 21st century.

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Lorenz validated

by Kip Hansen

Some reflections on NCAR’s Large Ensemble.

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Dust deposition on ice sheets: a mechanism for termination of ice ages?

by Donald Rapp

In a recent paper, Ellis and Palmer (2016) proposed that deposition of dust on giant ice sheets, thus reducing their albedo, was a principal factor in the termination of Ice Ages over the past 800 kyrs.

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How to constrain the abuse of science by Federal agencies

by David Wojick

There is a recurring pattern of Federal agencies twisting science in order to support confiscatory actions. The agencies can get away with these tricks because there is a general lack of controls on how they use science when making policy, crafting regulations, etc.

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Impact of the ~ 2400 yr solar cycle on climate and human societies

*by Javier

The role of solar variability on climate change, despite having a very long scientific tradition, is currently downplayed as a climatic factor within the most popular hypothesis for climate change.

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NYTimes & Zika: a brief case study on climate change hype

By David Wojick

The folks who make their living by hyping the supposed threat of runaway global warming use a lot of scary language in the process. Here the ever creative New York Times has set what may be a new standard in scary climate change hype, by tying it to the Zika outbreak.

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Is the Arctic sea ice ‘spiral of death’ dead?

by Greg Goodman

This year, as every year, there has been much excitement in the media about ‘catastrophic’ melting of Arctic sea-ice, run-away melting, tipping points, death spirals and “ice-free” summers.

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Global climate models and the laws of physics

by Dan Hughes

We frequently see the simple statement, “The Laws of Physics”, invoked as the canonical summary of the status of the theoretical basis of GCMs.

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Balance and the Grid

by Planning Engineer and Jill Tietjen

The power system is a matter of extreme importance relating to economic development, quality of life as well as health and safety. In order to best meet the needs of any given area, it is necessary to balance the factors of economics, reliability and public responsibility. An imbalance in any area will lead to repercussions in other areas and may, in fact, prove to be counterproductive across all areas.

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Decision theory and the doom scenario of climate catastrophe

by Lucas Bergkamp

Can decision theory help a rational person decide whether to believe in climate catastrophe?

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Happy Birthday Climate Etc.

by Judith Curry

Can you guess which birthday this is?

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Senator Markey’s Climate Education Act Goes The Wrong Way

by David Wojick

The “Climate Change Education Act” (S.3074) directs the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to establish a climate change education program focused on formal and informal learning for all age levels.

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Assessing the causes of early industrial-era warming

by Nic Lewis

Was early onset industrial-era warming anthropogenic, as Abram et al. claim?

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Climate policy: Fake it ’til you make it

by Judith Curry

The economic models that are used to inform climate policy currently contain an unhealthy dose of wishful thinking. Technologies that remove carbon dioxide from the air are assumed in the models that avoid dangerous climate change – but such technologies do not yet exist and it is unclear whether they could be deployed at a meaningful scale. – Tim Kruger

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Refocusing the USGCRP

by David Wojick

Our goal here is to begin to articulate a research program into the role of recent long-term natural variability in climate change.

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Measuring bias in the U.S. federally-funded climate research

by David Wojick

Semantic analysis of U.S. Federal budget documents indicates that the climate science research budget is heavily biased in favor of the paradigm of human-induced climate change.

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Dan Sarewitz on Saving Science

By Judith Curry

Science isn’t self-correcting, it’s self-destructing. To save the enterprise, scientists must come out of the lab and into the real world.Daniel Sarewitz

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Alarm over the public loss of trust in science

by Judith Curry

A blast of fresh air from the new Editor-in-Chief of Science. “Science editor-in-chief sounds alarm over falling public trust. Jeremy Berg warns scientists are straying into policy commentator roles.

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COP21 & Developing Countries

by Robin Guenier

The Paris agreement’s failure to achieve the West’s most basic aim: that powerful emerging economies should be obliged to share in emission reduction.

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Abnormal climate response of the DICE IAM – a trillion dollar error?

by Nic Lewis

Last week, a U.S. federal court upheld the approach that the government uses to calculate the social cost of carbon when it issues regulations [link].  The models appear to have seriously overestimated the social cost of carbon.

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Some comments on neoskepticism

by Steven E. Koonin

Stern et al. offer “The challenge of climate-change neoskepticism” as a Policy Forum piece in the August 12 issue of Science magazine (hereafter SPSK; paywalled here).

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Broad consistency between patterns of fossil fuel emissions and atmospheric CO2

by Guido van der Werf

The 200% increase in fossil fuel emissions Murry Salby claims is about 20% in reality, and the constant CO2 growth rate he found actually increased by roughly 20% as well over the same time period.

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