Posted on 22 September 2024 by BaerbelW, Doug Bostrom, John Hartz

Story of the week

Our Story of the Week is about a newly released long term Earth surface temperature chronology. But this report is locally completely overshadowed for us by news of bereavement arriving only yesterday as of publication. Withholding our loss seems inhuman so here and now we'll collide with an awful reality.

We are extremely sad to say that our esteemed Skeptical Science colleague— and good friend to many of us— John Mason has passed away. Only last week we blew a horn of appreciation for John's remarkable gift for telling stories about science. Our expectation was that of John being a constant in our lives. We are truly stunned by John's unexpected departure. We will have more to say in extolling John but at this moment we can only bow our heads in appreciation of enjoying his many virtues, sadness at his loss. And we can remember that every day is a gift.

John would certainly want us to carry on— as will his words as people continure reading his works--and so we shall. 

Phantastic Job! says NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies Director Gavin Schmidt, in his RealClimate post about a newly published record of Earth's temperature spanning the Phanerozoic and reaching back nearly half a billion years. Waxing eloquent, Dr. Schmidt fills us in on the work's tantalizing promise:

There is something tremendously satisfying about seeing a project start, and then many years later see the results actually emerge and done better than you could have imagined. Especially one as challenging as accurately tracking half a billion years of Earth’s climate.

Think about what is involved – biological proxies from extinct species, plate tectonic movement, disappearance in subduction zones of vast amounts of ocean sediment, interpolating sparse data in space and time, degradation of samples over such vast amounts of time. All of which adds to the uncertainty.

It is not as though people have not tried – we discussed this here in 2014, where we made a plea for better graphs of the global temperature. Now, 10 years later, we finally have something.

Emily Judd and coauthors describe their approach and report results in A 485-million-year history of Earth’s surface temperature, via AAAS' Science. The team unifies both proxy records and models to produce a more comprehensive picture of deep time Earth paleoclimate than we've ever before seen. 

What's the urgent takeaway from a record extending into the dim mists of prehistory? We're changing Earth's temperature at a rate never approached over a span of 485 million years. Quite an accomplishment.

Schmidt's writeup identifies some areas for further investigation, and possible improvements in the paper's estimation of climate sensitivity. We can look forward to knowing more, but at this point in time Judd et al. have already earned accolades for extending our perspective. 

Stories we promoted this week, by publication date:

Before September 16

• Departures From Climate Action 100+ Highlight U.S.-Europe Divide Over ESG Investing, Science, Inside Climate News, Mathilde Augustin. "In recent months, several major U.S. financial firms have left Climate Action 100+ in apparent response to political pressure. Abroad, the initiative is anything but losing steam."
• When Will the EV Sales Slump End? Here’s What the Experts Say, Clean Energy News, Inside Climate News, Dan Gearino. "Three questions and answers to help get a handle on the electric vehicle market."
• 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #37, Skeptical Science, Bärbel Winkler, Doug Bostrom & John Hartz. A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, September 8, 2024 thru Sat, September 14, 2024.
• How to Talk to Anxious Children About Climate Change, Inside Climate News, Nina Dietz. For years, educators and parents often avoided the subject. But that is starting to change, as therapists urge parents to listen to their kids and help them understand that their fears are normal.
• Race is on to produce a super-coral to survive world’s warming seas, Environment, The Observer/The Guardian, Robin McKie. "Widespread bleaching of reefs is devastating delicate ecosystems"
• Impact Of Climate Change On Agriculture Suggests Even Greater Challenges To Environment, Global Food Supply And Public Health, Eurasia Review, Staff.
• Arctic Sea Ice minimum 2024. Three degrees Celsius warming now baked in!, Just have a Think on Youtube, Dave Borlace. In his latest "Just have aThink" video, Dave Borlace talks about Arctic Sea Ice
• Data center emissions probably 662% higher than big tech claims. Can it keep up the ruse?, Technology, The Guardian, Isabel O'Brien. "Emissions from in-house data centers of Google, Microsoft, Meta and Apple may be 7.62 times higher than official tally"

September 16

• Climate scientists troubled by damage from floods ravaging central Europe, Environment The Guardian, Ajit Niranjan. Experts unsurprised at intensity of extreme weather but say damage wreaked shows how unprepared world is
• These are not your parents’ wildfires, Review, Yale Climate Connections, SueEllen Campbell. "From blazing boreal forests to fires so large they make their own weather, what we know about wildfires — and fighting them — has changed."
• A once-in-1,000-year rainfall event from an unnamed storm floods homes and forces rescues in North Carolina, Weather, CNN, Mary Gilbert.
• Silent Solar, The Crucial Years, Bill McKibben. Almost without our noticing the price of solar panels has plunged, leading to profound changes in developing nations.
• As Europe Reels From Flood Damage, Calls Grow for Big Oil to Pay for Climate Destruction, Common Dreams, Julia Conley. "We are deeply worried such events will get worse until oil and gas giants like Shell, Total, Equinor, Exxon, OMV, and ENI are forced to stop drilling for fossil fuels driving climate change," said one campaigner.
• Is climate hope radical? The importance of collective hope amid the climate crisis, The Johns Hopkins News-Letter, Hayley Kwasniewski .
• What the jet stream and climate change had to do with the hottest summer on record − remember all those heat domes?, Environment & Energy, The Conversation US, Shuang-Ye Wu.

September 17

• Italy next to face storm after 21 killed in Europe floods, Europe, BBC News, Adam Durbin.
• Portugal wildfire deaths rise to seven after firefighters trapped in blaze, World, The Guardian, John Henley & Agencies . "More than 50 people injured as 54 fires burn across country amid hot, dry and windy weather"
• Why the 'dirty side' of a hurricane can be 50% stronger than its 'clean side', Earth, BBC Future, Lucy Sherriff. "In tropical storms, location matters when it comes to what damage to expect – especially if you're on the 'dirty' side of a hurricane, where winds can be up to 50% stronger."
• The reality behind false claims about ‘criminal migrants’, Yale Climate Connections, Interview by Tree Meinch. "Journalist Todd Miller talks about the role climate change plays in migration to the U.S.-Mexico border."

September 18

• United in Science: Reboot climate action, Press Release, WMO, Staff.
• Poland, Hungary, Romania: Leaders say fatal floods bear fingerprints of climate change, Green, AP/euronews.com, Rosie Frost. "The flooding followed heavy rain and snow brought by Storm Boris over the weekend."
• New Study Suggests Major Climate Reports May Be Underestimating Drought Risks, Science, Inside Climate News, Bob Berwyn. "North America and Southern Africa, in particular, may endure longer dry spells than water managers expect, but research shows rising emissions magnifying both wet and dry extremes."
• Epic floods are wreaking havoc from Africa to Asia to Europe, Eye on the Storm, Yale Climate Connections, Bob Henson & Jeff Masters. "Three massive flood events across three continents have claimed over 1,500 lives and cost over $15 billion in September."

September 19

• New Anti-Greenwashing Rules Are `Silencing` Industry, Oil Advocates Say, DeSmog, Taylor Noakes.
• A Trump Debate Comment About German Energy Policy Leaves Germans Perplexed, Inside Clean Energy, Inside Climate News , Dan Gearino. "Germany tried that," the former president said. What was he talking about?
• The ABCs of AI and Environmental Misinformation, DeSmog, Stella Levantesi. DeSmog talks with AI researchers about the risks of widespread fake climate content and how to combat it.
• Climate change is sending ticks into new areas. Georgia researchers are on it., Climate, Grist, Emily Jones.
• ‘Red Flags’ on Climate: U.S. Methane Emissions Keep Climbing, Climate, New York Times, Max Bearant. "Satellite data shows the U.S. releasing more and more of the potent greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, researchers said, despite pledges to cut back."

September 20

• Phantastic Job!, RealClimate, Gavin Schmidt. A truly impressive paper was published this week with a new reconstruction of global temperatures over the last ~500 million years.
• Scientists looked deep beneath the Doomsday Glacier. What they found spells potential disaster for the planet, Climate, CNN, Laura Paddison.
• Has extreme weather made voters care more about climate change?, Climate, Grist, Syris Valentine. "The answer depends on their political affiliation."
• Breaking the climate silence: How CCLers held tens of thousands of climate conversations, Citizens' Climate Lobby, Charlotte Ward.
• What Is Climate Week?, Council on Foreign Relations, Alice C Hill. "The annual convening of Climate Week in New York has become one of the largest globally for climate reform, but can the events shore up meaningful commitments amid the worsening effects of global warming?"