Climate Etc.

Impact of Climate Change on Human Evolution: The Odyssey from Africa

Posted on January 25, 2018 by curryja | 77 comments

by Phil Salmon

How a small group of people from Africa changed the world. Continue reading →

77 Comments

Posted in Climate change impacts

Sea level rise acceleration (or not): Part II – The geological record

Posted on January 24, 2018 by curryja | 107 comments

By Judith Curry

Part II of the Climate Etc. series on sea level rise –the geological record provides context for the recent sea level rise.

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107 Comments

Posted in Oceans

Nature Unbound VII – Climate change mechanisms

Posted on January 21, 2018 by curryja | 68 comments

by Javier

Climate variations that alter the angular momentum of the atmosphere modify the speed of the Earth’s rotation, which affects the length of day (LOD). Alterations in LOD integrate different climate-affecting phenomena, and can anticipate turning points in climate.

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68 Comments

Posted in Attribution, Solar

Sea level rise acceleration (or not): Part I – Introduction

Posted on January 16, 2018 by curryja | 349 comments

by Judith Curry

Introduction and context for a new Climate Etc. series on sea level rise.

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349 Comments

Posted in Attribution, Climate change impacts, Oceans

Manufacturing consensus: the early history of the IPCC

Posted on January 3, 2018 by curryja | 385 comments

by Judith Curry

Short summary: scientists sought political relevance and allowed policy makers to put a big thumb on the scale of the scientific assessment of the attribution of climate change.

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385 Comments

Posted in Attribution, Consensus, IPCC, Sociology of science

Looking forward to 2018

Posted on January 1, 2018 by curryja | 102 comments

by Judith Curry

Happy New Year everyone! My ‘prognostications’, hopes and goals for 2018.

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102 Comments

Posted in Welcome

JC’s (un)motivated reasoning

Posted on December 28, 2017 by curryja | 315 comments

by Judith Curry

“I think open explorations of the ideological assumptions scientists bring into policy debates are not only welcome but often necessary for having productive conversations.” – Aaron Huertas

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315 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Reply to Patrick Brown’s response to comments on his Nature article

Posted on December 24, 2017 by curryja | 286 comments

by Nic Lewis

My reply to Patrick Brown’s response to my my comments on his Nature article.

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286 Comments

Posted in Sensitivity & feedbacks

Forgone benefits of disruption to nuclear power since late-1960’s

Posted on December 21, 2017 by curryja | 352 comments

by Peter Lang

Could the costs of nuclear power have been 10% of what they are if not for the disruption?

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352 Comments

Posted in Energy

Greater future global warming (still) predicted from Earth’s recent energy budget

Posted on December 21, 2017 by curryja | 69 comments

by Patrick Brown

A response to Nic Lewis’ post A closer look shows global warming will not be greater than we thought.

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69 Comments

Posted in Sensitivity & feedbacks

Long-range predictability of seasonal Atlantic hurricane activity

Posted on December 20, 2017 by curryja | 14 comments

by Jim Johnstone and Judith Curry

Climate Forecast Applications Network (CFAN) has identified new early precursors for seasonal Atlantic hurricane activity that involve systematic, repeating interactions among ENSO, stratospheric circulations and regional North Atlantic processes.

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14 Comments

Posted in Hurricanes

Brown and Caldeira: A closer look shows global warming will not be greater than we thought

Posted on December 15, 2017 by curryja | 245 comments

by Nic Lewis

A critique of a recent paper by Brown and Caldeira published in Nature that predicted greater than expected global warming.

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245 Comments

Posted in climate models, Sensitivity & feedbacks

The cost of displacing fossil fuels: some evidence from Texas

Posted on December 14, 2017 by curryja | 100 comments

by Peter Hartley

Although technological progress can alter the relative costs of different energy sources, depletion inevitably must raise the costs of fossil fuels leading to their displacement by alternative energy sources. What energy technology will likely be used when fossil fuels are no longer dominant? More importantly, what will be the cost of that alternative “backstop” energy supply?

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100 Comments

Posted in Energy

Is climate change the culprit causing California’s wildfires?

Posted on December 13, 2017 by curryja | 107 comments

by Larry Kummer

We’re told that climate change caused or intensified California’s wildfires — and that such fires are getting worse. As usual for such scary stories, these claims are only weakly supported by science — except for the ones that are outright fabrications.

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107 Comments

Posted in Causation, Climate change impacts

Girls rule(s)

Posted on December 10, 2017 by curryja | 152 comments

by Judith Curry

The #MeToo movement is spawning considerable reflection in academia. Here are some reflections and advice from a senior female scientist (moi) who came up through the academic system during the bad old days of the 1970’s and 1980’s, and who has mentored many young female scientists as they navigate the professional world of academia.

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152 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

The Oroville Dam 2017 Spillway Incident – Possible Causes and Solutions

Posted on December 9, 2017 by curryja | 47 comments

by Telis Koskinas

On February 2017, Oroville Dam gained worldwide attention when its main spillway suddenly failed, seemingly without precedent, under natural operating conditions.

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47 Comments

Posted in Adaptation, Extreme events

Nature Unbound VI – Centennial to millennial solar cycles

Posted on December 2, 2017 by curryja | 129 comments

by Javier

Summary: Holocene climate has been affected in different periods by several centennial to millennial solar cycles. The ~ 1000-year Eddy solar cycle seems to have dominated Holocene climate variability between 11,500-4,000 years BP, and in the last two millennia, where it defines the Roman, Medieval, and Modern warm periods. The ~ 208-year de Vries solar cycle displays strong modulation by the ~ 2400-year Bray solar cycle, both in its cosmogenic isotope signature and in its climatic effects. The Centennial, and Pentadecadal solar cycles are observable in the last 400-year sunspot record, and they are responsible for the present extended solar minimum that started in 2008.

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129 Comments

Posted in Attribution, Solar

Causes and predictability of the exceptionally active 2017 Atlantic hurricane season

Posted on November 30, 2017 by curryja | 26 comments

by Jim Johnstone and Judith Curry

The good news: the 2017 Atlantic hurricane season is over. The bad news: it was an extremely active season, with substantial damage in the U.S. and the Caribbean islands. What caused this extremely active hurricane season, and was it foreseeable?

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26 Comments

Posted in Hurricanes

A veneer of certainty stoking climate alarm

Posted on November 29, 2017 by curryja | 321 comments

by Judith Curry

In private, climate scientists are much less certain than they tell the public. – Rupert Darwall

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321 Comments

Posted in Policy, Sociology of science, Uncertainty

The coming global demographic imbalance

Posted on November 14, 2017 by curryja | 129 comments

by Judith Curry

National security implications of the rapidly changing global population dynamic.

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129 Comments

Posted in Policy

Steve Koonin: A Deceptive New Report on Climate

Posted on November 3, 2017 by curryja | 419 comments

by Judith Curry

Red-teaming the the U.S. government’s Climate Science Special Report on the topic of sea level rise.

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419 Comments

Posted in Oceans, Sociology of science

Stanford Prof sues scientists who criticized him – demands $10M

Posted on November 1, 2017 by curryja | 279 comments

by Judith Curry

Mannian litigation gone wild. — Steve McIntyre

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279 Comments

Posted in Energy, Sociology of science

Trying to Make Sense of Musk Love and Solar Hype

Posted on October 27, 2017 by curryja | 184 comments

By Planning Engineer

Considerable efforts are being undertaken to restore power in Puerto Rico. Most coverage has been pessimistic focusing on challenging logistics and contentious issues with very little upbeat coverage on progress so far. There is one major exception to this trend, the efforts of Elon Musk and Tesla have enjoyed glowing coverage.

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184 Comments

Posted in Energy