U.S. Presidential discussion thread. Part XIII

Posted on July 14, 2016 by | 794 comments

by Judith Curry

Plus UK and Australia political issues.

794 Comments

Posted in Uncategorized

Are energy budget climate sensitivity values biased low?

Posted on July 12, 2016 by | 233 comments

by Nic Lewis

In a recently published paper (REA16),[i] Mark Richardson et al. claim that recent observation-based energy budget estimates of the Earth’s transient climate response (TCR) are biased substantially low, with the true value some 24% higher.

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233 Comments

Posted in Sensitivity & feedbacks

Climate power play by the AAAS et al.

Posted on July 4, 2016 by | 477 comments

by Judith Curry

The AAAS and affiliated professional societies just shot themselves in the foot with the letter to U.S. policy makers.

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477 Comments

Posted in Ethics, Sociology of science

Climate polarization requires long, deep look at our worldviews

Posted on June 30, 2016 by | 152 comments

by Judith Curry

A more truly open dialogue, which honors a wider range of perspectives, may start to take place if we use integrative perspectives.

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152 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Towards reconciling climate sensitivity estimates from climate models and observatiions

Posted on June 28, 2016 by | 386 comments

by Judith Curry

A new paper purports to have resolved the discrepancy between climate response estimates from global climate models versus energy budget models.

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386 Comments

Posted in Sensitivity & feedbacks

Record breaking N. American winters not due to climate change

Posted on June 27, 2016 by | 107 comments

by Judith Curry

A new study finds that human-caused warming in the west tropical Pacific was not responsible for a series of frigid North American winters experienced over the early 2000s.

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107 Comments

Posted in Attribution, Extreme events

How Dr. Frankenstein is making research sick

Posted on June 20, 2016 by | 174 comments

by Judith Curry

What I saw was a creature not unlike that made by Dr. Frankenstein and which turned onto its creator: neither traditional science nor business, as it is made from incompatible parts taken from both bodies with good intentions but not much forethought. – Yuri Lazebnik

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174 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Energy and Environment on the “Garden Island”

Posted on June 16, 2016 by | 115 comments

by Planning Engineer

·        Countering the presumption that renewables are always the environmentally preferable alternative, this column suggests that serious consideration should be given to examining if for the short term, fossil fuel might be the “environmentally correct” near term alternative for Kauai.

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115 Comments

Posted in Energy

A new definition of academic misconduct

Posted on June 13, 2016 by | 284 comments

by Judith Curry

Ridd was punished by James Cook University for “not displaying responsibility in respecting the reputations of other colleagues.” The university even warned that if he does this again, he’ll be tried for serious misconduct.

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284 Comments

Posted in Ethics

Science on the verge

Posted on June 9, 2016 by | 217 comments

by Judith Curry

This book offers an uncomfortable but vital diagnosis of the trouble with science. – Jack Stilgoe

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217 Comments

Posted in Sociology of science

Assessment of Approaches to Updating the Social Cost of Carbon

Posted on June 7, 2016 by | 224 comments

by Judith Curry

Some new analyses are shedding some light on deficiencies in the approach to estimate the social cost of carbon.

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224 Comments

Posted in Climate change impacts, Economics, Sensitivity & feedbacks

The cloud-climate conundrum

Posted on June 2, 2016 by | 337 comments

by Judith Curry

Four new papers remind us of the very large uncertainties surrounding cloud-climate feedbacks.

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337 Comments

Posted in Sensitivity & feedbacks

The Republic of Science

Posted on May 30, 2016 by | 222 comments

by Judith Curry

The professional standards of science must impose a framework of discipline and at the same time encourage rebellion against it. – Michael Polanyi (1962)

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222 Comments

Posted in Consensus, History, Sociology of science

Coral bleaching debate

Posted on May 24, 2016 by | 432 comments

by Jim Steele

Is bleaching the legacy of a marvelous adaptation mechanism or a prelude to extirpation?

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432 Comments

Posted in Adaptation, Oceans

Is much of our effort to combat global warming actually making things worse?

Posted on May 23, 2016 by | 227 comments

by Judith Curry

Humanity is owed a serious investigation of how we have gone so far with the decarbonization project without a serious challenge in terms of engineering reality. – Michael Kelly

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227 Comments

Posted in Energy, Policy

Another Antarctic Sea Level Rise False Alarm

Posted on May 22, 2016 by | 116 comments

by Rud Istvan

Aitken et. al. in Nature newly comports to confirm 2015 fears about instability of the Totten Glacier in Eastern Antarctica. This could ‘suddenly’ raise sea level as much as 4 meters! (Or, based on the abstract, maybe only 0.9 meters in ‘modern scale configuration’, but over 2 meters [2.9-4] in unspecified other configurations).

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116 Comments

Posted in Polar regions

New presentation: Society of Petroleum Engineers

Posted on May 9, 2016 by | 327 comments

by Judith Curry

Climate Change Science: Fact, Fiction & the Unsettled

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327 Comments

Posted in Communication

Science into agitprop: “Climate Change is Strangling Our Oceans”

Posted on May 2, 2016 by | 314 comments

by Larry Kummer, from the Fabius Maximus website

The public policy debate about climate science shows the dysfunctional nature of the US media. Here’s another example of how propaganda has contaminated the news reporting of this vital subject, looking at stories about a new study of our oceans.

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314 Comments

Posted in Communication, Oceans

Climate Hustle

Posted on May 1, 2016 by | 268 comments

by Judith Curry

Are they trying to control the climate . . . or you?

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268 Comments

Posted in Communication

Expert judgement and uncertainty quantification for climate change

Posted on April 28, 2016 by | 407 comments

by Judith Curry

When it comes to climate change, the procedure by which experts assess the accuracy of models projecting potentially ruinous outcomes for the planet and society is surprisingly informal. – Michael Oppenheimer

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407 Comments

Posted in Uncertainty

Rise in CO2 has greened planet Earth

Posted on April 26, 2016 by | 453 comments

by Judith Curry

We show a persistent and widespread increase of growing season integrated LAI (greening) over 25% to 50% of the global vegetated area, whereas less than 4% of the globe shows decreasing LAI (browning). Factorial simulations with multiple global ecosystem models suggest that CO2 fertilization effects explain 70% of the observed greening trend. – Zhu et al.

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453 Comments

Posted in Climate change impacts

Updated climate sensitivity estimates

Posted on April 25, 2016 by | 149 comments

by Nic Lewis

An update to the calculations in Lewis and Curry (2014).

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149 Comments

Posted in Sensitivity & feedbacks

The Denialism Frame

Posted on April 21, 2016 by | 641 comments

by Andy West

An inadequately testable and inappropriate framing.

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641 Comments

Posted in Scientific method, Skeptics

The Exxon Climate Papers

Posted on April 19, 2016 by | 327 comments

by Andy May

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman has accused ExxonMobil of lying to the public and investors about the risks of climate change according to the NY Times and has launched an investigation and issued a subpoena demanding extensive financial records, emails and other documents.

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327 Comments

Posted in Energy, Ethics

U.S. Presidential election discussion thread. Part VI

Posted on April 18, 2016 by | 352 comments

by Judith Curry

The election is heating up with the forthcoming primary in New York

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352 Comments

Posted in Politics