Posted on 21 January 2018 by John Hartz

Story of the Week...

Long-term warming trend continued in 2017: NASA, NOAA

This map shows Earth’s average global temperature from 2013 to 2017, as compared to a baseline average from 1951 to 1980, according to an analysis by NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Yellows, oranges, and reds show regions warmer than the baseline. Credit: NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio

Earth’s global surface temperatures in 2017 ranked as the second warmest since 1880, according to an analysis by NASA.

Continuing the planet's long-term warming trend, globally averaged temperatures in 2017 were 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit (0.90 degrees Celsius) warmer than the 1951 to 1980 mean, according to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. That is second only to global temperatures in 2016.

In a separate, independent analysis, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) concluded that 2017 was the third-warmest year in their record. The minor difference in rankings is due to the different methods used by the two agencies to analyze global temperatures, although over the long-term the agencies’ records remain in strong agreement. Both analyses show that the five warmest years on record all have taken place since 2010.

Because weather station locations and measurement practices change over time, there are uncertainties in the interpretation of specific year-to-year global mean temperature differences. Taking this into account, NASA estimates that 2017’s global mean change is accurate to within 0.1 degree Fahrenheit, with a 95 percent certainty level.

Long-term warming trend continued in 2017: NASA, NOAA, NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Jan 18, 2018

Climate Feedback's Review of 25 Articles...

Most popular climate change stories of 2017 reviewed by scientists

Summary

Many stories were written about climate science in 2017, but were the ones that “went viral” scientifically accurate? To find out, we compiled a list of articles with the most comments, shares, and likes on social networks using data from Buzzsumo*. From that list, we selected the articles containing verifiable assertions on the topic of climate science (we searched for articles containing “climate change” or “global warming”, leaving aside stories about politics, or stories about natural disasters with no substantial discussion of climate change).

We then asked scientists with relevant expertise to provide a brief assessment of their scientific credibility.

Here are the articles ranked by popularity (Click for details on the evaluations for each article):

1. Heart-Wrenching Video Shows Starving Polar Bear on Iceless Land
2. When Will Climate Change Make the Earth Too Hot For Humans?
3. There are diseases hidden in ice, and they are waking up
4. Substituting Beans for Beef Would Help the U.S. Meet Climate Goals
5. DELINGPOLE: Global Warming Study Cancelled Because of ‘Unprecedented’ Ice
6. An Iceberg the Size of Delaware Just Broke Away From Antarctica
7. Arctic’s Winter Sea Ice Drops to Its Lowest Recorded Level
8. World leaders duped by manipulated global warming data
9. The 3% of scientific papers that deny climate change are all flawed
10. Large Sections of Australia’s Great Reef Are Now Dead, Scientists Find
11. Global Warming Study Canceled After Humiliating Discovery
12. Climate change may be escalating so fast it could be ‘game over’, scientists warn
13. JUST IN: Weather Channel Founder Backs Trump, Tells The TRUTH About Global Warming…
14. The Sea Level Around Florida Is Rising Six Times Faster Than Average
15. Scientists Announce That The Great Barrier Reef is Officially “Terminal”
16. EPA chief Scott Pruitt says CO2 not a primary contributor to warming
17. WATCH: Weather Channel Founder John Coleman Reveals The TRUTH About Global Warming
18. Global Ocean Circulation Appears To Be Collapsing Due To A Warming Planet
19. U.S. Report Says Humans Cause Climate Change, Contradicting Top Trump Officials
20. Scientists have just detected a major change to the Earth’s oceans linked to a warming climate
21. Alaska’s Permafrost Is Thawing
22. Earth Sets a Temperature Record for the Third Straight Year
23. REPORT: Earth Has Not Warmed For Past 19 Years
24. Climate Change Is Complex. We’ve Got Answers to Your Questions
25. STUDY: Global Warming Not Getting Worse

Most popular climate change stories of 2017 reviewed by scientists, Climate Feedback Reviews, Jan 17, 2017

Toon of the Week...

Graphic of the Week...

SkS Spotlights...

Established in 2007 and headquartered in London, UK, Climate Action works in a unique, contractual partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) – the world’s foremost body on environmental protection and stewardship.

Climate Action establishes and builds partnerships between business, government and public bodies to accelerate international sustainable development and advance the ‘green economy’.

We do this by providing a global media and events platform across which stakeholders can share knowledge, technologies and expertise, and identify innovative solutions to the challenges faced by climate change and a growing population.

For our partners and supporters we help engage the private sector, bringing innovations, technologies and finance to the debate.

For our clients we help generate profitable business opportunities and partnerships, provide top-level access to emerging markets and reinforce their commitment to, and their position as leaders within, the global sustainability industry. 

Video of the Week...

Long-term warming trend continued in 2017: NASA, NOAA, NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Jan 18, 2018 

Reports of Note...

Analysis finds an unprecedented level of neglect, disrespect, and cancelled meetings for scientific advisory boards, with profound implications for our health and safety.

Abandoning Science Advice: One Year in, the Trump Administration Is Sidelining Science Advisory Committees (2018), Center for Science & Democracy/Union of Concerned Scientists, Jan 18, 2018 

Coming Soon on SkS...

• Switching to electric cars can help fix America's 'critically insufficient' climate policies (Dana)
• Analysis: How developing nations are driving record growth in solar power (Zeke)
• Guest Post (John Abraham)
• So, why is two degrees the magic number? (Katharine Hayhoe)
• New research this week (Ari)
• 2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #4 (John Hartz)
• 2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #4 (John Hartz)

Poster of the Week...

Climate Feedback Reviews...

Futurism story on Great Barrier Reef compromised by sensational headline

Analysis of "Scientists Announce That The Great Barrier Reef is Officially “Terminal”"
Published in Futurism, by Jolene Creighton, June Javelosa on 12 Apr. 2017

Three scientists analyzed the article and estimate its overall scientific credibility to be 'neutral' to 'low'.  

A majority of reviewers tagged the article as: Misleading.

SUMMARY

This April 2017 story at Futurism describes a statement released by James Cook University’s ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies on bleaching along Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Bleaching occurs when corals are exposed to excessively warm water.

Scientists who reviewed the article found that most of the information is accurate (except for a couple generalizations), but the headline is not supported by the story. The headline seems to indicate that scientists were quoted as saying the the Great Barrier Reef “is ‘terminal’”, but no source used that word.

See all the scientists’ annotations in context

This is part of a series of reviews of 2017’s most popular climate stories on social media. 

Futurism story on Great Barrier Reef compromised by sensational headline, Climate feedback, Jan 16, 2018

SkS Week in Review... 

• 2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #3 by John Hartz
• New research, January 8-14, 2018 by Ari Jokimäki
• A ‘new’ measurement of climate sensitivity? by Mark Richardson (And then There's Physics)
• Scott Pruitt insincerely asked what's Earth's ideal temperature. Scientists answer by Dana Nuccitelli (Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian)
• Flaws of Lüdecke & Weiss by Ari Jokimäki
• Study finds that global warming exacerbates refugee crises by John Abraham (Climate Consensus - the 97%, Guardian)
• 2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming Digest #2 by John Hartz

97 Hours of Consensus...

Sarah Das' bio page and Quote source 

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