climate science
The Roots of Climate Skepticism
if you’re a libertarian, an evangelical, a populist, and a corporate officer — or any one of those three — it may be just a little easier to live in a world that lacks the kinds of deep interdependencies highlighted by climate science.
CONTINUE READINGThe Attack on Scientific Freedom
A disturbing report from Science magazine: The news that Australian climate scientists were relocated into secure offices after receiving death threats and abusive e-mails became a political issue in parliament this week. . .. Contacted by ScienceInsider, a spokesperson for the Australian National University in Canberra said, “In response to increasing harassment, including death threats, …
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CONTINUE READINGU.S. House of Representatives v. Modern Science
Nature, one of the two leading scientific journals in the world, has a strongly worded editorial about the recent House hearings on climate change: At a subcommittee hearing on 14 March, anger and distrust were directed at scientists and respected scientific societies. Misinformation was presented as fact, truth was twisted and nobody showed any inclination …
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CONTINUE READINGClarifying a Cloudy Situation
One of the biggest difficulties in climate models is posed by clouds. Modelers need to know what kinds of clouds will form, at what altitudes, and with what precipitation resulting. These turn out to be very hard to calculate, and scientists use heuristic approximations to fill the gaps. A new study suggests that on the …
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CONTINUE READINGMelting the Ice (But Not in a Fun, Life-of-the Party Way)
The Ny Times has a lengthy article about glacial melting and sea level rise, with bad news: But researchers have recently been startled to see big changes unfold in both Greenland and Antarctica. As a result of recent calculations that take the changes into account, many scientists now say that sea level is likely to …
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CONTINUE READINGI, Robot
The claims of climate deniers are so repetitive that someone has figured out how to automate the twitter wars: Getting into a climate change debate on Twitter could be even more exhausting than it sounds now that a software developer named Nigel Leck has automated the process. Tired of arguing with climate change deniers in …
CONTINUE READINGTipping Points and Feedback Effects
From the title, this could be a posting about the election results. It isn’t — although I do wonder whether the relatively rapid changes we’ve seen in the House over the past decade are a sign of increased feedback effects. My topic, however, is climate science. The curve at the left shows how feedback effects …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Change and the Royal Society
Despite claims to the contrary in the blogosphere, the Royal Society’s views seem to be entirely consistent with the IPCC’s.
CONTINUE READINGMajor Berkeley Conference on Climate and Energy
Today and tomorrow, Berkeley is hosting a major conference featuring leading scientists, engineers, and policy analysts. The keynote speakers include: Ralph Cicerone, President, National Academy of Sciences Chris Field, Co-chair, IPCC Working Group 2: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability Arun Majumdar, Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy, DOE A live webcast is available here.
CONTINUE READINGIt’s All About the Feedback
A fairly common reaction to climate science is to wonder how changes in the concentration of a trace gas can have a substantial effect on the world’s climate. As it turns out, this is exactly the right question to ask. There’s a great post at RealClimate working through the logic. The direct effect of increased …
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