Global climate models and the laws of physics

Posted on September 13, 2016 by | 978 comments

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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978 Comments

Posted in climate models

Balance and the Grid

Posted on September 12, 2016 by | 94 comments

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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94 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Decision theory and the doom scenario of climate catastrophe

Posted on September 11, 2016 by | 203 comments

by Lucas Bergkamp

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

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203 Comments

Posted in Policy

Happy Birthday Climate Etc.

Posted on September 10, 2016 by | 69 comments

by Judith Curry

Can you guess which birthday this is?

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69 Comments

Posted in Welcome

Senator Markey’s Climate Education Act Goes The Wrong Way

Posted on September 4, 2016 by | 265 comments

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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265 Comments

Posted in Policy

Assessing the causes of early industrial-era warming

Posted on September 1, 2016 by | 171 comments

by Nic Lewis

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

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171 Comments

Posted in Attribution

Climate policy: Fake it ’til you make it

Posted on August 30, 2016 by | 340 comments

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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340 Comments

Posted in climate models, Policy

Refocusing the USGCRP

Posted on August 29, 2016 by | 371 comments

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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371 Comments

Posted in Attribution

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

Posted on August 23, 2016 by | 655 comments

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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655 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Dan Sarewitz on Saving Science

Posted on August 22, 2016 by | 154 comments

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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154 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Alarm over the public loss of trust in science

Posted on August 18, 2016 by | 268 comments

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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268 Comments

Posted in Ethics, Sociology of science

COP21 & Developing Countries

Posted on August 16, 2016 by | 109 comments

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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109 Comments

Posted in Policy

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

Posted on August 15, 2016 by | 156 comments

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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156 Comments

Posted in Economics

Some comments on neoskepticism

Posted on August 14, 2016 by | 197 comments

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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197 Comments

Posted in Policy, Skeptics

Broad consistency between patterns of fossil fuel emissions and atmospheric CO2

Posted on August 12, 2016 by | 354 comments

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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354 Comments

Posted in Sensitivity & feedbacks

Murry Salby’s latest presentation

Posted on August 10, 2016 by | 568 comments

by Judith Curry

Last month at the University College London, atmospheric scientist Prof. Murry Salby, gave a  presentation on man-made CO2 and its (lack of) impact on global climate.

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568 Comments

Posted in Greenhouse effect

Decadal Climate Variability

Posted on August 8, 2016 by | 310 comments

by Judith Curry

The National Academies Press has published a new document:  Frontiers in Decadal Climate Variability: Proceedings of a Workshop.

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310 Comments

Posted in Oceans

Assessing atmospheric temperature data sets for climate studies

Posted on August 1, 2016 by | 161 comments

By Judith Curry

It is therefore suggested to use either the more robust tropospheric temperature or ocean surface temperature in studies of climate sensitivity. – Cederlof, Bengtsson, Hodges

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161 Comments

Posted in Data and observations

The art and science of climate model tuning

Posted on August 1, 2016 by | 174 comments

by Judith Curry

We survey the rationale and diversity of approaches for tuning, a fundamental aspect of climate modeling which should be more systematically documented and taken into account in multi-model analysis. – Hourdin et al.

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174 Comments

Posted in climate models, Uncertainty

Atmospheric Radiation Measurement Program

Posted on July 28, 2016 by | 88 comments

by Judith Curry

The first 20 years.

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88 Comments

Posted in climate models, Data and observations, Sensitivity & feedbacks

Sea level rise, acceleration and the closure problem

Posted on July 20, 2016 by | 206 comments

by Rud Istvan

There is no doubt that interglacials change sea level (SL). And that sea level rise (SLR) can be dramatic on millennial interglacial time scales.

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206 Comments

Posted in Climate change impacts, Oceans

Clean energy emergency

Posted on July 19, 2016 by | 242 comments

by Judith Curry

Right about now would be a good time for people who care about climate change to acknowledge our clean energy crisis. – Mike Shellenberger

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242 Comments

Posted in Energy

AMS: Weather, Water and Climate Priorities

Posted on July 18, 2016 by | 65 comments

by Judith Curry

An eminently sensible and constructive statement from the American Meteorological Society.

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65 Comments

Posted in Policy, Sociology of science

Canopus, Herakleion, New Orleans & Continental Rifts

Posted on July 17, 2016 by | 121 comments

by Anthony Lucas

An alternative perception of sea level rise and climate change.

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121 Comments

Posted in Oceans

The troubled institution of science

Posted on July 15, 2016 by | 317 comments

by Judith Curry

“Is the point of research to make other professional academics happy, or is it to learn more about the world?” —Noah Grand, sociology professor, UCLA

“Science, I had come to learn, is as political, competitive, and fierce a career as you can find, full of the temptation to find easy paths.” — Paul Kalanithi, neurosurgeon and writer (1977–2015)

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317 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science