Author Archives: curryja

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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679 Comments

Posted in Policy

Future of Arctic enterprise

Posted on November 18, 2012 | 197 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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197 Comments

Posted in Polar regions

Policy, rhetoric and public bewilderment

Posted on November 14, 2012 | 493 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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493 Comments

Posted in Communication, Policy

Should scientists promote results over process?

Posted on November 11, 2012 | 531 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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531 Comments

Posted in Communication

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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378 Comments

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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753 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Uncertainty in observations of the Earth’s energy balance

Posted on November 5, 2012 | 610 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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610 Comments

Posted in Data and observations, Uncertainty

Systemic thinking on causation

Posted on November 5, 2012 | 225 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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225 Comments

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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137 Comments

Posted in Data and observations, Hurricanes, Policy

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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361 Comments

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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240 Comments

Posted in Hurricanes, Policy

Climate Data Records: Maturity Matrix

Posted on October 31, 2012 | 52 comments

by Judith Curry

The demand for climate information, with long observational records spanning decades to centuries and the information’s broad application for decision making across many socioeconomic sectors, requires that geophysicists adopt more rigorous processes for the sustained production of climate data records (CDRs). Such processes, methods, and standards are more typically found in the systems engineering community and have not generally been adopted in the climate sci- ence community. – John Bates and Jeffrey Privette

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52 Comments

Posted in Data and observations

Frankenstorm

Posted on October 30, 2012 | 380 comments

by Judith Curry

Hurricane Sandy is the largest Atlantic hurricane on record in terms of diameter of the storm.  Sandy was associated with an estimated 13 foot storm surge in areas near New York City.

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380 Comments

Posted in Hurricanes

Climate change: no consensus on consensus

Posted on October 28, 2012 | 1,324 comments

by Judith Curry

The manufactured consensus of the IPCC has had the unintended consequences of distorting the science, elevating the voices of scientists that dispute the consensus, and motivating actions by the consensus scientists and their supporters that have diminished the public’s trust in the IPCC.

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1,324 Comments

Posted in Consensus, Scientific method, Sociology of science

Playing God

Posted on October 25, 2012 | 415 comments

by Judith Curry

With efforts to halt climate change on life support, scientists are looking at some radical options to save our planet.  But could the cure be worse than the disease? – Gernot Wagner and Martin Weitzman

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415 Comments

Posted in Geoengineering

Italian seismologists: guilty(?)

Posted on October 23, 2012 | 188 comments

by Judith Curry

Six Italian scientists and an ex-government official have been sentenced to six years in prison over the 2009 deadly earthquake in L’Aquila. – BBC

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188 Comments

Posted in Communication, Ethics, Uncertainty

The Myth of Affordable Energy – Interview with Ed Dolan

Posted on October 22, 2012 | 329 comments

by James Stafford of Oilprice.com

We were fortunate enough to speak with the well known economist Ed Dolan on various energy and economic issues.

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329 Comments

Posted in Energy

Sunday Mail . . . again

Posted on October 21, 2012 | 1,040 comments

by Judith Curry

The MSM and blogosphere are still roiling over David Rose’s article last Sunday, here is the latest, including a new article by David Rose.

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1,040 Comments

Posted in Attribution, Communication, Data and observations

Coping with deep climate uncertainty

Posted on October 18, 2012 | 349 comments

by Judith Curry

So, what do you think climate science and policy would look like if the IPCC worked for the World Bank, instead of the UNFCCC?

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349 Comments

Posted in Policy

‘Pause’ : Waving the Italian Flag

Posted on October 17, 2012 | 882 comments

by Judith Curry

The recent articles in the Daily Mail and the Guardian are generating heated reactions – more heat than light.  Lets break down the arguments on both side and assess them systematically.

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882 Comments

Posted in Attribution

‘Pause’ discussion thread: Part II

Posted on October 16, 2012 | 513 comments

by Judith Curry

The Guardian strikes back against David Rose’s Daily Mail article.

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513 Comments

Posted in Attribution, Data and observations

Alternative approach to assessing climate risks

Posted on October 15, 2012 | 63 comments

by Judith Curry

At one level, analyzing climate risks is a matter of due diligence, given mounting scientific evidence. However, there is no consensus about the means for doing so nor about whether climate models are even fit for the purpose. An alternative to the scenario- led strategy, such as an approach based on a vulnerability analysis (“stress test”), may identify practical options for resource managers. – Brown and Wilby

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63 Comments

Posted in Policy, Uncertainty

‘Pause’ discussion thread

Posted on October 14, 2012 | 725 comments

by Judith Curry

The latest data release from HadCRUT4 is creating quite a stir.

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725 Comments

Posted in Attribution, Data and observations

What exactly is critical thinking?

Posted on October 11, 2012 | 422 comments

by Judith Curry

Everyone applauds the idea of critical thinking, and liberal arts colleges often make their ability to teach critical thinking a key selling point. But no one seems to define what they mean by that term. – Paul Gary Wyckoff

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422 Comments

Posted in Scientific method

Communicating uncertainties in natural hazards research

Posted on October 10, 2012 | 141 comments

by Judith Curry

Tell me what you know.  Tell me what you don’t know.  Then tell me what you think.  Always distinguish which is which. – Colin Powell

141 Comments

Posted in Communication, Uncertainty