Posted on 24 September 2012 by John Hartz

SkS Highlights

Judging from the plethora of comments it generated, the posting of Dana's PBS False Balance Hour - What's Up With That? was akin to stirring up the proverbial hornet's nest. John Cook's SkS: testimony to the potential of social media and the passion of volunteers was the second most commented upon article. The SkS Weekly News Round-Up made its maiden voyage as well.

Toon of the Week

What say you?

From your perspective, does the Weekly Digest serve a useful purpose? How could it be enhanced to serve your needs better?

Quote of the Week

"As the sea ice retreats in summer the ocean warms up (to 7C in 2011) and this warms the seabed too. The continental shelves of the Arctic are composed of offshore permafrost, frozen sediment left over from the last ice age. As the water warms the permafrost melts and releases huge quantities of trapped methane, a very powerful greenhouse gas so this will give a big boost to global warming." - Peter Wadhams

Source: Arctic expert predicts final collapse of sea ice within four years by John Vidal, The Guardian, Sep 17, 2012

The Week in Review 

• 2012 SkS Weekly News Round-Up #2 by John Hartz
• Record Arctic Sea-ice minimum 2012 declared - it's the Silly Season! by John Mason
• Arctic sea ice reaches lowest extent for the year and the satellite record by John Hartz
• SkS: testimony to the potential of social media and the passion of volunteers by John Cook
• PBS False Balance Hour - What's Up With That? by Dana
• 2012 SkS Weekly News Round-Up #1 by John Hartz
• Otto and Donat Weigh in on Human Contributions to Extreme Heat by Dana
• New research from last week 37/2012 by Ari Jokimäki

Coming Soon 

• New research from last week 38/2012 (Ari Jokimäki)
• Lessons from Past Climate Predictions: Arctic Sea Ice Extent 2012 Update (Dana)
• Inuit Perspectives on Recent Climate Change (Robert Way)
• Rally for Canadian Science in Victoria, BC (Andy S)
• Sea Level Isn't Level: Ocean Siphoning, Levered Continents and the Holocene Sea Level Highstand (Rob Painting)
• Modelling the permafrost carbon feedback (Andy S)
• PBS Conveys Alternate Reality, Omits Other Measurements of Global Warming (Rob Painting)
• The Economic Damage of Climate Denial (Dana)
• Skeptic Magazine vs. Heartland and Monckton Cherrypicked Denialism (Alex C and Dana)
• Doffing the cryosphere cap: a new source of Arctic methane? (Andy S)

• Fred Singer - not an American Thinker (John Abraham and Dana)

SkS in the News

This was a big week for SkS in the News.

Dana's PBS False Balance Hour - What's Up With That? was reposted by Climate Progress, Climate Crocks, and What's Up With Watts, and linked by Media Matters.

John Mason's Record Arctic Sea-ice minimum 2012 declared - it's the Silly Season! was reposted by Hot Topic and Neven's Arctic Sea Ice Blog.

Dana's Vanishing Arctic Sea Ice: Going Up the Down Escalator was used by Andrew Revkin at the New York Times.

Dana's Record Arctic Sea Ice Melt to Levels Unseen in Millennia was linked by Jeff Masters at Wunderblog, as was the rebuttal to the Antarctica is gaining ice myth.

Spencer Michels at PBS also generally endorsed SkS as a useful resource for debunking 'skeptic' climate myths.

SkS Spotlights

The New Zealand Climate Change Centre (NZCCC) was launched in 2008, in response to a perceived need for collaboration across providers of science-related climate research and services, and for mechanisms to facilitate interactions with end-users.

NZCCC activities to date have included:

• organising conferences, workshops & special events
• coordinating submissions on climate change matters
• coordinating nominations for climate change-related activities
• developing a website to provide information about climate change, NZCCC members, and their research projects
• producing a publication on climate change adaptation. 

For a summary of NZCCC outputs and activities to date, including draft plans for the future, click here.