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Comments 8701 to 8750:

8701. One Planet Only Forever at 09:30 AM on 1 December 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      blub @36,

      "Give me 10-100Million dollars and i will design a model which will show that cimate correlates with anything you want it to correlate..."

      I believe you could try but you would unlimately not be able to sustain any perceptions you create that do not actually match or reasonably explain the robust diversity of observations and information that is available.

      Dr. Roy Spencer has repeatedly tried to get 'his interpretation of satellite data to indicate temperatures in the atmosphere, not at the planet surface' to prove that global average surface warming is not happening the way the climate science has determined it most likely is happening at the surface. He has had to correct his interpretation many times when the results of his way of interpretting the data failed to make sense. But he persists in trying to make-up any possible claim that warming is not occurring, or is not significant, or is beneficial even those everyone with increased awareness and understanding of what is going on 'actually knows better'.

8702. Daniel Bailey at 09:28 AM on 1 December 2019
      Sea level rise is exaggerated
      

      "When I look at the graphs and tables for each island/islands, I find that the graphs are uniformly even and NOT showing increases in sea level."

      Not sure what your definition of "uniformly even" is.  Did you expect them to be so?

      Firstly, global sea level rise is a global average and the surface of the oceans are anything but level (the surface of the oceans follow the gravitic shape of the Earth and are also subject to solar, lunar, sloshing and siphoning effects and oceanic oscillations, etc, all of which need to be controlled for). 

      From the NCA4, global average sea level has risen by about 7–8 inches since 1900, with almost half (about 3 inches) of that rise occurring since 1993:

      

      From NOAA STAR NESDIS:

      

      "Only altimetry measurements between 66°S and 66°N have been processed. An inverted barometer has been applied to the time series. The estimates of sea level rise do not include glacial isostatic adjustment effects on the geoid, which are modeled to be +0.2 to +0.5 mm/year when globally averaged."

      Regional SLR graphics are also available from NOAA STAR NESDIS, here.

      This is a screenshot of NOAA's tide gauge map for the Western Pacific (NOAA color-codes the relative changes in sea levels to make it easier to internalize):

      

      Clicking on the Funafuti, Tuvalu tide gauge station we see that sea levels are rising by 3.74 mm/yr (above the global average) there, with a time series starting around 1978 and ending about 2011:

      

      However, the time series used by your BOM link for Funafuti (1993-2019) is shorter and the BOM also does not apply a linear trend line to it like NOAA does:

      

      Feel free to make further comparisons, but comparing a set of graphics with no trend lines vs those with trend lines is no comparison at all.

      
      From the recent IPCC Special Report 2019 - Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate - Summary for Policy Makers, September 25, 2019 release (SROCC 2019), the portions on sea level rise:

      Observed Physical Changes
      A3. Global mean sea level (GMSL) is rising, with acceleration in recent decades due to increasing rates of ice loss from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets (very high confidence), as well as continued glacier mass loss and ocean thermal expansion. Increases in tropical cyclone winds and rainfall, and increases in extreme waves, combined with relative sea level rise, exacerbate extreme sea level events and coastal hazards (high confidence).

      A3.1 Total GMSL rise for 1902–2015 is 0.16 m (likely range 0.12–0.21 m). The rate of GMSL rise for 2006–2015 of 3.6 mm yr–1 (3.1–4.1 mm yr–1, very likely range), is unprecedented over the last century (high confidence), and about 2.5 times the rate for 1901–1990 of 1.4 mm yr–1 (0.8– 2.0 mm yr–1, very likely range). The sum of ice sheet and glacier contributions over the period 2006–2015 is the dominant source of sea level rise (1.8 mm yr–1, very likely range 1.7–1.9 mm yr–1), exceeding the effect of thermal expansion of ocean water (1.4 mm yr–1, very likely range 1.1–1.7 mm yr–1) (very high confidence). The dominant cause of global mean sea level rise since 1970 is anthropogenic forcing (high confidence).

      A3.2 Sea-level rise has accelerated (extremely likely) due to the combined increased ice loss from the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets (very high confidence). Mass loss from the Antarctic ice sheet over the period 2007–2016 tripled relative to 1997–2006. For Greenland, mass loss doubled over the same period (likely, medium confidence).

      A3.3 Acceleration of ice flow and retreat in Antarctica, which has the potential to lead to sea-level rise of several metres within a few centuries, is observed in the Amundsen Sea Embayment of West Antarctica and in Wilkes Land, East Antarctica (very high confidence). These changes may be the onset of an irreversible (recovery time scale is hundreds to thousands of years) ice sheet instability. Uncertainty related to the onset of ice sheet instability arises from limited observations, inadequate model representation of ice sheet processes, and limited understanding of the complex interactions between the atmosphere, ocean and the ice sheet.

      A3.4 Sea-level rise is not globally uniform and varies regionally. Regional differences, within ±30% of the global mean sea-level rise, result from land ice loss and variations in ocean warming and circulation. Differences from the global mean can be greater in areas of rapid vertical land movement including from local human activities (e.g. extraction of groundwater). (high confidence)

      A3.5 Extreme wave heights, which contribute to extreme sea level events, coastal erosion and flooding, have increased in the Southern and North Atlantic Oceans by around 1.0 cm yr–1 and 0.8 cm yr–1 over the period 1985–2018 (medium confidence). Sea ice loss in the Arctic has also increased wave heights over the period 1992–2014 (medium confidence).

      A3.6 Anthropogenic climate change has increased observed precipitation (medium confidence), winds (low confidence), and extreme sea level events (high confidence) associated with some tropical cyclones, which has increased intensity of multiple extreme events and associated cascading impacts (high confidence). Anthropogenic climate change may have contributed to a poleward migration of maximum tropical cyclone intensity in the western North Pacific in recent decades related to anthropogenically-forced tropical expansion (low confidence). There is emerging evidence for an increase in annual global proportion of Category 4 or 5 tropical cyclones in recent decades (low confidence).

      B3. Sea level continues to rise at an increasing rate. Extreme sea level events that are historically rare (once per century in the recent past) are projected to occur frequently (at least once per year) at many locations by 2050 in all RCP scenarios, especially in tropical regions (high confidence). The increasing frequency of high water levels can have severe impacts in many locations depending on exposure (high confidence). Sea level rise is projected to continue beyond 2100 in all RCP scenarios. For a high emissions scenario (RCP8.5), projections of global sea level rise by 2100 are greater than in AR5 due to a larger contribution from the Antarctic Ice Sheet (medium confidence). In coming centuries under RCP8.5, sea level rise is projected to exceed rates of several centimetres per year resulting in multi-metre rise (medium confidence), while for RCP2.6 sea level rise is projected to be limited to around 1m in 2300 (low confidence). Extreme sea levels and coastal hazards will be exacerbated by projected increases in tropical cyclone intensity and precipitation (high confidence). Projected changes in waves and tides vary locally in whether they amplify or ameliorate these hazards (medium confidence).

      B3.1 The global mean sea level (GMSL) rise under RCP2.6 is projected to be 0.39 m (0.26–0.53 m, likely range) for the period 2081–2100, and 0.43 m (0.29–0.59 m, likely range) in 2100 with respect to 1986–2005. For RCP8.5, the corresponding GMSL rise is 0.71 m (0.51–0.92 m, likely range) for 2081–2100 and 0.84 m (0.61–1.10 m, likely range) in 2100. Mean sea level rise projections are higher by 0.1 m compared to AR5 under RCP8.5 in 2100, and the likely range extends beyond 1 m in 2100 due to a larger projected ice loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet (medium confidence). The uncertainty at the end of the century is mainly determined by the ice sheets, especially in Antarctica.

      B3.2 Sea level projections show regional differences around GMSL. Processes not driven by recent climate change, such as local subsidence caused by natural processes and human activities, are important to relative sea level changes at the coast (high confidence). While the relative importance of climate-driven sea level rise is projected to increase over time, local processes need to be considered for projections and impacts of sea level (high confidence).

      Projected Changes and Risks
      B3.3 The rate of global mean sea level rise is projected to reach 15 mm yr–1 (10–20 mm yr–1, likely range) under RCP8.5 in 2100, and to exceed several centimetres per year in the 22nd century. Under RCP2.6, the rate is projected to reach 4 mm yr-1 (2–6 mm yr–1, likely range) in 2100. Model studies indicate multi-meter rise in sea level by 2300 (2.3–5.4 m for RCP8.5 and 0.6–1.07 m under RCP2.6) (low confidence), indicating the importance of reduced emissions for limiting sea level rise. Processes controlling the timing of future ice-shelf loss and the extent of ice sheet instabilities could increase Antarctica’s contribution to sea level rise to values substantially higher than the likely range on century and longer time-scales (low confidence). Considering the consequences of sea level rise that a collapse of parts of the Antarctic Ice Sheet entails, this high impact risk merits attention.

      B3.4 Global mean sea level rise will cause the frequency of extreme sea level events at most locations to increase. Local sea levels that historically occurred once per century (historical centennial events) are projected to occur at least annually at most locations by 2100 under all RCP scenarios (high confidence). Many low-lying megacities and small islands (including SIDS) are projected to experience historical centennial events at least annually by 2050 under RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. The year when the historical centennial event becomes an annual event in the mid-latitudes occurs soonest in RCP8.5, next in RCP4.5 and latest in RCP2.6. The increasing frequency of high water levels can have severe impacts in many locations depending on the level of exposure (high confidence).

      B3.5 Significant wave heights (the average height from trough to crest of the highest one-third of waves) are projected to increase across the Southern Ocean and tropical eastern Pacific (high confidence) and Baltic Sea (medium confidence) and decrease over the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea under RCP8.5 (high confidence). Coastal tidal amplitudes and patterns are projected to change due to sea level rise and coastal adaptation measures (very likely). Projected changes in waves arising from changes in weather patterns, and changes in tides due to sea level rise, can locally enhance or ameliorate coastal hazards (medium confidence).

      B3.6 The average intensity of tropical cyclones, the proportion of Category 4 and 5 tropical cyclones and the associated average precipitation rates are projected to increase for a 2°C global temperature rise above any baseline period (medium confidence). Rising mean sea levels will contribute to higher extreme sea levels associated with tropical cyclones (very high confidence). Coastal hazards will be exacerbated by an increase in the average intensity, magnitude of storm surge and precipitation rates of tropical cyclones. There are greater increases projected under RCP8.5 than under RCP2.6 from around mid-century to 2100 (medium confidence). There is low confidence in changes in the future frequency of tropical cyclones at the global scale.

      Challenges
      C3. Coastal communities face challenging choices in crafting context-specific and integrated responses to sea level rise that balance costs, benefits and trade-offs of available options and that can be adjusted over time (high confidence). All types of options, including protection, accommodation, ecosystem-based adaptation, coastal advance and retreat, wherever possible, can play important roles in such integrated responses (high confidence).

      C3.1. The higher the sea levels rise, the more challenging is coastal protection, mainly due to economic, financial and social barriers rather than due to technical limits (high confidence). In the coming decades, reducing local drivers of exposure and vulnerability such as coastal urbanization and human-induced subsidence constitute effective responses (high confidence). Where space is limited, and the value of exposed assets is high (e.g., in cities), hard protection (e.g., dikes) is likely to be a cost-efficient response option during the 21st century taking into account the specifics of the context (high confidence), but resource-limited areas may not be able to afford such investments. Where space is available, ecosystem-based adaptation can reduce coastal risk and provide multiple other benefits such as carbon storage, improved water quality, biodiversity conservation and livelihood support (medium confidence).

      C3.2 Some coastal accommodation measures, such as early warning systems and flood-proofing of buildings, are often both low cost and highly cost-efficient under current sea levels (high confidence). Under projected sea level rise and increase in coastal hazards some of these measures become less effective unless combined with other measures (high confidence). All types of options, including protection, accommodation, ecosystem-based adaptation, coastal advance and planned relocation, if alternative localities are available, can play important roles in such integrated responses (high confidence). Where the community affected is small, or in the aftermath of a disaster, reducing risk by coastal planned relocations is worth considering if safe alternative localities are available. Such planned relocation can be socially, culturally, financially and politically constrained (very high confidence).

      C3.3 Responses to sea-level rise and associated risk reduction present society with profound governance challenges, resulting from the uncertainty about the magnitude and rate of future sea level rise, vexing trade-offs between societal goals (e.g., safety, conservation, economic development, intra- and inter-generational equity), limited resources, and conflicting interests and values among diverse stakeholders (high confidence). These challenges can be eased using locally appropriate combinations of decision analysis, land-use planning, public participation, diverse knowledge systems and conflict resolution approaches that are adjusted over time as circumstances change (high confidence).

      C3.4 Despite the large uncertainties about the magnitude and rate of post 2050 sea level rise, many coastal decisions with time horizons of decades to over a century are being made now (e.g., critical infrastructure, coastal protection works, city planning) and can be improved by taking relative sea-level rise into account, favouring flexible responses (i.e., those that can be adapted over time) supported by monitoring systems for early warning signals, periodically adjusting decisions (i.e., adaptive decision making), using robust decision-making approaches, expert judgement, scenario-building, and multiple knowledge systems (high confidence). The sea level rise range that needs to be considered for planning and implementing coastal responses depends on the risk tolerance of stakeholders. Stakeholders with higher risk tolerance (e.g., those planning for investments that can be very easily adapted to unforeseen conditions) often prefer to use the likely range of projections, while stakeholders with a lower risk tolerance (e.g., those deciding on critical infrastructure) also consider global and local mean sea level above the upper end of the likely range (globally 1.1 m under RCP8.5 by 2100) and from methods characterised by lower confidence such as from expert elicitation.

       

      To sum:

      1.  Global sea levels continue to rise, with the rise itself accelerating (due to an acceleration in land-based ice sheet mass losses).  This will continue, for beyond the lifespans of any now alive.

      2.  Beware of the eyecrometer.  It will deceive you, if you allow it to.

      

      SLR Components, from Cazenave et al 2018

       

       

8703. One Planet Only Forever at 09:19 AM on 1 December 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      nyood @20,

      Others have already provided accurate responses.

      I wish to add my own 'improvement of the awareness and understanding' to help you appreciate the accurate context and perspective.

      You claim I missed the point of your comment because your "... concern was that the hiatus is considered to be something bad by some authors of the emails. It does not need any skeptic here, it is the authors themselfs, hence the terms pschology and political thinking. ... It is about considering good news (less warming) as bad news. Despite of all poralization one would hope that these scientists still want the best for humanity and not see cooling as a problem."

      The reason for concerns by climate scientists regarding short-term less rapid temperature rise (hiatus) or short-term cooling is that the they are only short-term events in the temperature data. However, each one is claimed by the worst of the skeptics to be proof that the warming has ended and the science is wrong.

      It is almost as bad to try to claim that concerns about any of the many short-term reductions in the rate of temperature rise due to added CO2 in the atmosphere are wrong because 'cooling is Good'.

      The Escalator I pointed you to in my earlier comment should have made that clear. Either it was not obvious to you, or you never checked it out. To be clearer, in the escalator it can be seen that at the end of each 'hiatus or cooling event that you claim everyone should be thrilled to see', there is a dramatic step up to the start of the next 'hiatus or cooling event that you claim everyone should be thrilled to see'. Can you see how anyone more aware and understanding of what is really going on would not be Thrilled?

      Sustainable Cooling would indeed be Good. But the science is clear that that will only happen if the levels of CO2, and other human generated ghgs, in the atmosphere are reduced. And the reduction of CO2 is almost certain to only happen when the use of fossil fuels is ended.

      And until the use of fossil fuels is ended the CO2 and other ghgs will continue to increase. And the science is clear that a 1.5 C total warming is the point beyond which the climate impacts can be very severe. Even a 2.0 C warming is likely to be very hard on the future generations.

      And as michael sweet has pointed out there has already been more than 1.0 C of warming with the CO2 only at 410 ppm (a 140 ppm increase from pre-industrial) but is currently rising at more than 20 ppm per decade.

      Any claim to see "A cooling trend in the temperature data" without a reduction of CO2 is "Claiming False Hope" (now and in the past), and deserves the be corrected. And promoters of the harmful fictional claims deserve to be ridiculed if they persist in unethically resisting becoming more aware and better understanding.

8704. blub at 09:05 AM on 1 December 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      Now I perfectly understand why alarmists are getting more and more heat from all kinds of movements. Not even one reply was actually based on sound understanding of science or refering to my  content instead nothing but insults and mantra like repetition of empty arguements like:

      Many thousands of climate scientists (with hardly any exceptions) have a bias in the direction of understanding and using the climate data from pyrometers and proxies. The information they produce is internally logically consistent, and (so far) has been pragmatically correct.

      what do you even mean by logically consisten? statistcal robustnes? What is pragmatically correct? These are empty phrases. Thousand of people agree on thousands of things everyday in this world. This is not proof of anything.

      So it is with climate models. They are not perfect, everyone knows that, but they are good enough to be taken seriously, especially given whats at stake. = OPINION

      Give me 10-100Million dollars and i will design a model which will show that cimate correlates with anything you want it to correlate...

       

      Nigelj mentions: "There is an understanding of why variations in tree ring growth relate to temperatures, ie causation. You seem utterly confused and incoherent."

      Actually you seem confused... Now for the third time: my arguementation was actually not that tree rings in particular are bad proxis, but that proxy studies in general are not confirmed or evident by statistical correlation or robustness and that the thought chain of doing so has no logic or causality. You do not seem to comprehend.

      This discussion is a waste of time. Good luck

      Moderator Response:

      [DB] Sloganeering, ad hominems and inflammatory rhetoric snipped.

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8705. mrkt at 08:44 AM on 1 December 2019
      Video: Is CO2 actually dangerous?
      

      The following seems to be a fairly thorough reveiw of CO2 toxicity.  

      Carbon dioxide toxicity and climate change: a serious unapprehended risk for human health.

      P.N. Bierwirth, PhD
      Emeritus Faculty
      Australian National University

      First draft - Web Posted 25 February, 2014
      Current Version – 23 Dec 2016
      Web Published: ResearchGate DOI:10.13140/RG.2.2.16787.48168

      https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a53f/3a6f7a0db8cfd006c51f19c76a68f3386f7e.pdf

8706. One Planet Only Forever at 08:38 AM on 1 December 2019
      2019 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #48
      

      nigel southway,

      Human activity resulting in accumulating impacts that are likely to produce negative consequences is an accurate description of the impacts of excess CO2 added to the environment by the burning of ancient hydrocarbons.

      Claiming "It is not pollution" does not change the reality.

      Policies to curtail the use of fossil fuels are not in the interests of developed perceptions of superioriy in the Western World. Those policies are in the interests of the future of humanity.

      In summary, all of the Sustainable Development Goals are a very robustly established set of objectives required to be achieved for humanity to have a lasting future that will actually be able to be sustainably improved.

      Some perceptions of superiority need to be corrected to achieve those goals. Those corrections are undeniably Good Things no matter how disappointed some developed interests in the Western World become as a result of their achievement.

      Truly sustainable perceptions of superiority are not at risk. Only the unsustainable ones have to be worried about. And those worriers should not deter responsible leadership from enacting the policies required to help achieve all of the Sustainable Development Goals, especially the Climate Action goal because achieving that one quicker makes it easier to sustainably achieve the Others.

8707. nigelj at 08:26 AM on 1 December 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      Blub @20, just because something could be wrong doesn't mean it is wrong, so prove the greenhouse effect is wrong by submitting a research paper, and stop filling up this website with sophistry. Even Einsteins theories may have some problems in them because they can't be reconciled with quantum theory, but they are good enough to do all sorts of reliable calculations. So it is with climate models. They are not perfect, everyone knows that, but they are good enough to be taken seriously, especially given whats at stake.

8708. nigelj at 08:18 AM on 1 December 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      NYood @28

      "This is another example from 2009 where uncertainty is expressed, but must never be admitted in public"

      I strongly disagree. Of course there will be uncertainties and scientists are not going to publish their every utterance, just like you or anyone wouldn't, but the IPCC reports openly admit areas of uncertainty and in painstaking detail and pedantry. Read the summary for policy makers.

      It's the sceptics who have never admitted uncertainty about their sceptical positions, and who have the most politiciesd processes, eg The Heartland Institute promotes climate scepticism and is a right wing political think tank, that tries to influence processes and other organisations. There are many similar organisations eg the GWPF. You cannot get more politicised than that, by any definition of political.

8709. nigelj at 08:09 AM on 1 December 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      Blurb @19, tree ring proxy data is not based only on correlations between tree rings and temperatures. There is an understanding of why variations in tree ring growth relate to temperatures, ie causation. You seem utterly confused and incoherent. 

8710. nigelj at 07:41 AM on 1 December 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      Sorry  for repeating some stuff mentioned by MS @27. Missed that post somehow.

8711. nigelj at 07:24 AM on 1 December 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      nyood @23, I hear you about Wigley but you are not seeing the bigger picture. He has ultimately been proven incorrect by the longer passage of time, so the obvious increasing temperatures since 2014, and the increasing levels of concern coming from the IPCC and most of the climate science community.

      You are also again taking a few comments by a couple of scientists utterly out of context, and also assuming this somehow represents thousands of scientists and you just cannot do that. There is no rigour in your 'scepticism'.

      Again the emails you list are no big deal as far as I'm concerned. Scientists argue and bicker like anyone, and will obviously not like some junk science being published. Of course they are political in terms of talking about processes and organisational issues, anyone is, and this is a far cry from letting personal party politics intrude.

      You have no smoking guns, no fraud or serious errors, no party politics, nothing, so your comments look more and more like paranoia to me.

      
      You say "This is wrong to me, ten years ago we were estimating with a warming of 3°C, now we have come to the lowest threshold of 1,5°C. To me the explanoray power of the IPCC declines towards none."

      I assume you are talking about climate sensitivity. You are wrong. The IPCC has not said climate senstivity is at the lower threshold of 1.5 degrees, and you provide no internet link to where they have said that.

      All the IPCC have said is climate sensitivity is somewhere between 1.5 degrees and 4.5 degrees. Most published research is around 3 degrees, and the latest modelling also finds this. Papers finding climate sensitivity of 1.5 degrees have not been widely accepted and have flaws. Some relevant material:

      skepticalscience.com/climate-sensitivity.htm

      www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/04/new-climate-models-predict-warming-surge

       

      "The Soon and Baliunas paper couldn’t have cleared a “legitimate” peer review process anywhere....I do not want such peolpe (Mann) to advise our gouverments, can you understand that?"

      You say you don't want people like Mann advising governments, despite the fact he has exposed some real problems with the Soon and Balinaus paper and the peer review process at that point. You make no sense at all. You should be thanking Mann, not criticising him. It's his job to identify problems, as well as do research.

8712. nigelj at 06:54 AM on 1 December 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      nyood @20

      "If the IPCC wishes it will get warmer or stay hot, just because they will be right is demasking and reduces integrity."

      I think you have just misinterpreted things a bit. The IPCC don't wish it to remain hot. Let me explain. The IPCC have always stated that the temperature trend going forwards will be a positive trend of largely increasing temperatures on 30 years plus timeframes, and out to 2100, but it will have periods of flat or slightly declining temperatures of about 10 years due to the intermittent effects of ocean and sunspot cycles. So the IPCC have always accepted there will be some small cooling periods.

      The so called pause after 1998 had scientists puzzled, because it looked like it was lasting more than 10 years, and there was no obvious explanation at the time, thats all. It ended with the high temperatures of 2o15 - 2018, and has been explained by certain ocean processes and some bad temperature data that underestimated temperatures. If you look at any temperature dataset the pause is just a flattening off around 2002 - 2010.

      Claiming these flat periods are desirable is a nonsense. They are just inevitable and there will probably be more, but they will be temporary because they are a natural cycle intruding on the underlying warming from greenhouse gases.

8713. blub at 02:40 AM on 1 December 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      Hi Eclectic,

      how do I justify this "bias"? (don´t know if "bias" is the right word here). Physics is purely based on descriptive models, which means if you ask why is something happening the answer will always be because instrumental data from perfectly designed and controlled experiments made us develop a model which discribes experiment inside a certain framework and not we have developed a statisitcal relevant model where we can draw conclusion, opinion or facts, which have never been proven in a controlled experiemts with every influencing parameter is either observable or identified as an unobservable.

      You mention: Likewise, the classical Newtonian mechanics provide a pragmatically correct usage for almost all human activities.

      You are probably familiar with the development of quantum mechanics. One of the first experiments indicating the newton mechanics is not pragmatic but just plain incorrect in a lot of cases are experiemts on black body radiation. According to newton mechanics the radiativ spectrum from black body radiation should show a UV catastrophy, which just never happened, but could be resolved by a much more sophisticated model namely quantum mechanics. Ironically the EM radiation of our sun is described by quantum mechanical black body radiation. Apply newton mechanics and you would need a lot of sun screen here on earth ;) I just want to highlight how data and models are applied in physics and can be missleading if generalised or too complex or not well understood or error prone. In science if somebody claims something as fact or undisputable good scientists usally start to question, do experiments and very seldomly judge and not the other way around... as history has shown this process can take hundreds of years depending on technology,  experiment and data available.

8714. nyood at 02:16 AM on 1 December 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      MA Rodger @25

      You try to relativise the harsh critic by Wigley with the concluding sentence:

      "Wigley's response is robust because that is how academics fire off at each other."

       

      To me, you attempt to downplay the criticism here and putting the email in a larger context like you did with your post, does not change its explanatory power whatsoever.
      

      The message of Wigley is crystal clear, alarmed and referring to general scientific principles and ethics and exactly the high responsibility we are talking about. Therefore, other users already tried to discredit Wigley himself as obsolete and dangerous, standing in the way of the 11; skipping your attempt of just downplaying the message of Wigley.

      What Wigley foresees here is the onset of political thinking and acting, documented by numerous emails of the coming years. Wigleys apprehensions will be confirmed and peak with Mann´s Hockeystick.

      This is another example from 2009 where uncertainty is expressed, but must never be admitted in public:

      M.Mann to K.Trenberth:

      "Thanks Kevin, yes, it’s a matter of what question one is asking. To argue that the observed global average temperatures of the past decade falsifythe model projections ..., as the contrarians have been fond of claiming, is clearly wrong. But that doesn’t mean we can explain exactly what’s going on."

      T.Wigley continues:

      "Kevin,I didn’t mean to offend you. But what you said was “we can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment”. Now you say “we are nowhere close to knowing where energy is going”. In my eyes these are two different things—the second relates to our level of understanding, and I agree that this is still lacking."

8715. michael sweet at 01:12 AM on 1 December 2019
      There is no consensus
      

      For a follow up to my post at 851 on being fooled by lies:

      While I do not know all the data and can be fooled by deliberate lies, I find that between my friends Eclectic, DB, Bob Loblaw and the other posters here at SkS, someone recognizes the lie and links to the actual data.   All of us have different interests and are knowledgable about different facets of climate change.  We have strength in numbers to fight deliberate propaganda.

8716. Eclectic at 01:00 AM on 1 December 2019
      Welcome to Skeptical Science
      

      Markovnikov, if you enter the name "Wrightstone" in the search box [top left], you get a couple of entries for April 2019.

      The second one ( 27th April) takes you to a recent lengthy piece by Willard MacDonald, discussing the extensive disinformational propaganda by Wrightstone.

      It sounds like Wrightstone is someone who can't even lie straight in bed.  So I think you will be completely wasting your time if you are trying to understand whatever mathematics he is proposing.  It is the same case with Monckton ~ who generates specious (and ultimately wrong) grand calculations "showing how the world's scientists are all wrong".   Every year or two, it's a new doozy.

8717. michael sweet at 00:47 AM on 1 December 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      Nyood at 23:"

      Most of your post is simply repeating the arguments used when the climate gate emails first came out.  These were all shown to be false many years ago.  Your posts are just sloganeering old denier points.

      You claim additionally

      "This is wrong to me, ten years ago we were estimating with a warming of 3°C, now we have come to the lowest threshold of 1,5°C. To me the explanoray power of the IPCC declines towards none."

      This claim is simply false and uninformed.  The 1.5C threshold in the SR5 report was based solely on analysis of the "pause" data.  The past 5 years of data have demonstrated conclusively that that analysis was incorrect.  Getting all worked up and angry about false claims does not help to solve any problems.  You are reading too many denier web sites who deliberately lie to you.

      Currently the world temperature is 1.2C above pre-industrial.  We are only at 410 ppm CO2 and doubling is 540 ppm.  There is at least 0.5C warming in the pipeline.  We are already far over 1.0C heating you suggest for doubling and are nowhere near doubling carbon.  

      The claim of low sensitivity was never very strong and it has been proven incorrect by the increase in temperature.  Very unfortunately, recent modeling studies have found that the best fit is from models with sensitivities over 4.5C.  Pray that those studies are incorrect since if they pan out we are already far past any reasonable threshold for disaster.

8718. Eclectic at 00:41 AM on 1 December 2019
      There is no consensus
      

      Michael, the claims of Klmartinson are in the category of "amusing".

      I am reasonably sure that even he himself doesn't believe them.

8719. michael sweet at 00:27 AM on 1 December 2019
      There is no consensus
      

      To all posters:

      Moderator DB posted data that shows klmartinson's claim that

      "last winter in continental USA was the coldest in 110 years. I don't understand how we can have "record heat" and yet have "record cold seasons"

      was simply made up.  I note that several informed posters replied to this claim as if it were actually correct.  This shows how difficult it is to argue with deniers: they simply lie about data to support their wild claims.  No-one can know all the data so all of us can be fooled.  data that is numerical and very specific ("coldest in 110 years") is genrally aclcepted as from a reliable source.

      My questions to klmartinson: who told you this deliberate lie?  Why do you believe them?

8720. Eclectic at 00:12 AM on 1 December 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      Blub @24 ,

      You are giving the message that your own bias is to not draw any conclusions from data and models.  But how do you justify that bias?

      Many thousands of climate scientists (with hardly any exceptions) have a bias in the direction of understanding and using the climate data from pyrometers and proxies.  The information they produce is internally logically consistent, and (so far) has been pragmatically correct.

      Likewise, the classical Newtonian mechanics provide a pragmatically correct usage for almost all human activities, and the Einsteinian and Quantum Mechanics corrections are not usually required.  Are you proposing that we stop using Newtonian concepts?  I suspect you are not really proposing that action.

      Blub, we have to be practical.

8721. Markovnikov at 00:11 AM on 1 December 2019
      Welcome to Skeptical Science
      

      Sorry if this has been discussed above.  I scanned the earlier posts but may have missed it.

      A commenter in our local newspaper cited a posting by Wrightstone in which he (Wrightstone) claims to have used a program called MAGICC Climate Simulator to show that even if CO2 emissions were cut to zero, the change in global temperature increase would be negligible.  Does anyone have a link regarding this?

      My gut feeling is that Wrightstone has set the input into the program to produce the results he wants and then uses the fact that the program was produced by a government lab to give credibility to his calculations.

      The link to Wrightstone's calculations is https://inconvenientfacts.xyz/magicc-simulator?fbclid=IwAR0VEQ6B_g5UoYv5SzXH4bXLyJt3nMF3D8LFd3aMWOSkzy_AO8GoC_UYQyw

      Thanks for any help you can give.

8722. MA Rodger at 00:02 AM on 1 December 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      This 'deep understanding' by Tom Wigley being protrayed in this thread based on his 1997 e-mail is pure fantasy. The e-mail is presented upthread @12 with passages missing. A full presentation of the e-mail exposes a situation where Wigley's grand work is potentially being rendered obsolete by the call for 'immediate control' of emissions. Wigley's response is robust because that is how academics fire off at each other.

      And to put this ancient interchange into context, the argument was how to time the reduction of emissions when the target is 550ppm(v) and the limit to global AGW was seen as +2.0ºC; thus whether it made much difference if BAU was allowed to run until 2000, 2010, or 2020 before emissions reigned them in. Today, we are marginally ahead of the BAU secnario set out by Wigley while 2020 is upon us with stricter limits to AGW now in play. As for Wigley's grand work, it rather fell from grace although Wigley did revive oit following COP15 at Paris - note that there is no longer any delay to emissions control mentioned in Wigley (2017) but that the scenarios show cuts immediate to 2015 and also only consider FF emissions.

8723. Hank11198 at 23:40 PM on 30 November 2019
      CO2 lags temperature
      

      Looking at figure 2 the global temperature shows an increase of 3.5C and a CO2 increase of about 1.5. This would indicate a higher climate sensitivity that the 3.0C per the IPCC. Is this just one of the calculations that shows a higher climate sensitivity?

      Also the global temperature change is 3.5C while the Antarctic temperature change is 2.0C. Doesn’t temperature change increase as the area included decreases (global vs more local)?

8724. blub at 23:29 PM on 30 November 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      Hi Eclectic,

      I am confused of the two responses to my post so far. In the first post I opened a discussion about this article showing Fig.1 of a reconstruction study on global temp variation of the last 2000 years for confirmation of the robustness of proxy studies on temp variation. I highlighted the basis of this study (proxies) and the authors own awareness of bias and proxy problems. In my point of view care has to be taken to use this study and proxy studies in general as an example for confirmation, evidence or "fact" on human induced global warming and I tried to explain difficulties of statistical based data interpretation in the scope of too few and error prone data and error prone modeling because of the physical complexity of climate.

      You mention: "but the major ones are alterations of insolation / greenhouse gasses / aerosols. That is well known."

      That is well known is actually an opinion of people. Newton mechanics was well known, statistically robust and widely accepted before instrumental experiemtation and data collection advanced leading to clarification and advancement into quantum mechanics. This is how physics works. Now, climate from a physical point of view is one of the most complex and abstract experiments ever made with an uncounteable number of physical processes influencing temperature over a time frame from pico seconds to thousands of years.

      I personally would not draw any conclusions, facts, predictions or recomendations from the data and models present... This is why for me it seems that bias is present.

8725. Hank11198 at 23:05 PM on 30 November 2019
      Video: Is CO2 actually dangerous?
      

      I agree with Billy Joe about this presenter being annoying. But more importantly it seems to me he is trying to use comedy to discuss climate change. I can’t find any humor in what we are doing to the planet.

      Eclectic is right about Potholer54. It has great videos. In addition to debunking Monckton Bunkum, the 4 back and forth interchanges with Tony Heller who operates realclimatescience is just a pleasure to watch. One by one he demolishes Tony’s erroneous climate change statements until Tony refuses to continue the debate. And he does this all without making the audience feel like he is in an attack mode.

8726. nyood at 22:47 PM on 30 November 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      nigelj @16

      T.Wigley was not proven incorrect, quite the opposite for two reasons:

      1: His concern was confirmed with hundreds of emails of the following decade. Here are two more examples: M.Mann to E.Cook:

      "I don’t in any way doubt yours and Jan’s integrity here.I’m just a bit concerned that the result is getting used publicly, by some, before it has gone through the gauntlet of peer review. Especially because it is, whether you condone it or not, being used as we speak to discredit the work of us, and Phil and his co-workers; this is dangerous. I think there are some legitimate issues that need to be sorted out ....I’d be interested to be kept posted on what the status of the manuscript is."

      E.Cooks reply:

      "Unfortunately, this global change stuff is so politicized by both sides of the issue that it is difficult to do the science in a dispassionate environment. I ran into the same problem in the acid rain/forest decline debate that raged in the 1980s. At one point, I was simultaneous accused of being a raving tree hugger and in the pocket of the coal industry. I have always said that I don’t care what answer is found as long as it is the truth or at least blood close to it."

      And E.Cook to K.Biffa:

      "Also, there is no evidence for a decline or loss of temperature response in your data in the post-1950s (I assume that you didn’t apply a bodge here)"

       

      2. You state that Wrigley was wrong since it turned out he was hindering the 11 on their path to prove warming is manmade and a threat.

      This is wrong to me, ten years ago we were estimating with a warming of 3°C, now we have come to the lowest threshold of 1,5°C. To me the explanoray power of the IPCC declines towards none.

      I want to remind here that in my original post i was saying that climategate reveals the extent in which the thinking is political and strategical within the IPCC. Wrigley seems to realize this early on.

      I do not want the IPCC to fight an information war for us. The emails show countless concerns, predominantly expressed by M.Mann towards skeptics publishing stuff in Natur, Science and alike.

      The public and  media perception of the global warming issue seems to be the dominant task for M.Mann.

      The science itself is not in focus anymore, focus shifted towards: "What is the public thinking" and "How can we make our enemies look bad or hinder them from publishing".

      This is evidenced by numerous emails where certain media is considered "on our side" while others are considered "lost" to the skeptics:

      P.Jones to M.Mann:

      "Writing this I am becoming more convinced we should do something ...I will be emailing the journal to tell them I’m having nothing more to do with it until they rid themselves of this troublesome editor. A ClimaticResearch Unit person is on the editorial board, but papers get dealt with by the editor assigned by Hans von Storch."

      M.Mann replies:

      "The Soon and Baliunas paper couldn’t have cleared a “legitimate” peer review process anywhere. That leaves only one possibility—that the peer-review process at Climate Research has been hijacked by a few skeptics on the editorial board. And it isn’t just De Freitas; unfortunately, I think this group also includes a member of my own department... The skeptics appear to have staged a “coup” at Climate Research (it was a mediocre journal to begin with, but now it’s a mediocre journal with a definite “purpose”)."

      I do not want such peolpe to advise our gouverments, can you understand that?

      According to you and pretty much all alarmists, skeptics should be clowns, it should be easy to crush them in debates. There should be no reason to fear them this much. Ironically the fierce fight against skeptics makes them stronger, giving them meaning.

      This happened over and over in history.

8727. Eclectic at 22:47 PM on 30 November 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      Nyood @20 ,

      you are missing the point: that both the scientist group and the anti-scientist group are wishing it would get colder.

      Clearly you are having trouble understanding the scientists' emails.

8728. Eclectic at 22:42 PM on 30 November 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      Blub , 

      in reading your posts #13 and #19 , it is not at all clear what point you are wishing to make.  Please clarify !

      Average readers here (such as me) are aware of data and correlations and causalities.

      Basically, the climate changes when something causes it to change.  And yes, there are many factors or drivers affecting climate ~ but the major ones are alterations of insolation / greenhouse gasses / aerosols.  That is well known.

      Are you saying that some confirmation bias is affecting your own views on climate?

      So far, you have (in a general way) touched on abstract concepts and the difficulties of achieving valid scientific knowledge (such as the well-researched PAGES 2K studies) . . . but you have not actually given any empirical or logical disproof of the extensive PAGES 2K information.

      Please be clear about the message you are trying to convey.  

8729. nyood at 21:21 PM on 30 November 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      One Planet Only Forever @18

      You are missing the point. My concern was that the hiatus is considered to be something bad by some authors of the emails. It does not need any skeptic here, it is the authors themselfs, hence the terms pschology and political thinking.

      So it is not about skeptics abusing the hiatus.

      It is not about reasoning why the haitus happened.

      It is about considering good news (less warming) as bad news.

      Despite of all poralization one would hope that these scientists still want the best for humanity and not see cooling as a problem.

      If skeptics wish that it will be colder, just because they are "more" right is demasking, almost childish.

      If the IPCC wishes it will get warmer or stay hot, just because they will be right is demasking and reduces integrity.

8730. Postkey at 20:01 PM on 30 November 2019
      There is no consensus
      

      “Abstract
      The consensus among research scientists on anthropogenic global warming has grown to 100%, based on a review of 11,602 peer-reviewed articles on “climate change” and “global warming” published in the first 7 months of 2019.”

      journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0270467619886266?journalCode=bsta#articleShareContainer

8731. blub at 17:33 PM on 30 November 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      Hi Philippe Chantreau,

      i used "mainly" for meaning more then 50% of proxy data is based on tree ring data, which you can look up in the supplementary data of this study. Sup.Figure 1 also depicts a world map locating the proxy data used and a graph showing the amount and type of proxy data used during a certain time period. You are entirely right by highlighting all other proxies used and I shoud have done this in the first place, but my arguementation was actually not that tree rings in particular are bad proxis, but that proxy studies in general are not confirmed or evident by statistical correlation or robustness and that the thought chain of doing so is unlogic. The practical scientifc method of this study is perfectly fine, but correlation is not causality or evidence at all. Therefore, there shouldn´t be any conclusion drawn from this study.

      One fictional example may be a proxy study on a historical link betweeen vitamin c amount of apples and and apple tree ring information. Lets say there is instrumental data for the last 100 years on vitamin c amount of a couple of apple species and robust statistical correlation to tree ring size and color between species. Tree ring data of the last 2000 years is available so the authors develop a model which correlates statistically robust with this data. Does this mean that they have discovered the actual variation of vitamin c amount of apples for the last 2000 years and based on their statistically robust model may even project the development of vitamin c amount into the future? Statistically yes but causally no. Nobody has ever measured the actual vitamin c amount older than 100 years without error and could then find meaningfull error sources for proxies because there is not enough and no real data available. Further no change and influences of environmental factors can be causally linked to the past without instrumental data.

      There are a lot of problems in science with this type of data, for example a couple of physicists published  a breathtaking discovery that the speed of light is exceeded by neutrino particles just to refute their own study because they found a broken cable which was generating false data in their experiment. Data itself but even more data interpretation is extremly tricky even in controlled studies and it does not get better with proxy studies...

      This is why causality always beats correlation and data and model quality always beats quantity.

       

      Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, and recall information in a way that affirms one's prior beliefs or hypotheses. (Wikipedia)

      You may have done this by highlighting several studies to me. Weight of evidence does not matter, but the question of quality and causality of evidence

8732. benboyo at 16:01 PM on 30 November 2019
      Sea level rise is exaggerated
      

      daniel! I have read all the comments and find on the internet something that I can't reconcile.  The Australian Bureau of Meteorology page on

      Pacific Sea Level and Geodetic Monitoring Project

      http://www.bom.gov.au/oceanography/projects/spslcmp/data/monthly.shtml

      studies a number of pacific islands from 1993 to 2019. Islands are:Cook Islands; Fiji; Kiribate; Marshall Islands; Nauru; Papua New Guinea; Solomon Islands; Samoa; Tonga; Tuvalu; Vanuatu; Federated States of Micronesia; Niue.

      When I look at the graphs and tables for each island/islands, I find that the ghttp://www.bom.gov.au/oceanography/projects/spslcmp/data/monthly.shtmlraphs are uniformly even and NOT showing increases in sea level.

      Could you please enlighten me

8733. Eclectic at 13:37 PM on 30 November 2019
      Video: Is CO2 actually dangerous?
      

      BillyJoe , you might care to look at the Youtube video series by Potholer54  (science journalist Peter Hadfield).

      I'm not sure if it's the ideal Climate Change explainer for the general public . . . who might rather prefer an Attenborough-ish 25 minute program of hi-rez superbo photography and rich voice-overs.  Though perhaps with Yankee drawl?

      However, the Potholer54 videos (from low-rez 2009 to higher-rez 2019) are very good value for a video-watcher who has already started to develop an interest in climate topics.  All the videos are reasonably up-to-date in their science.  They range from mostly short ( five to ten minutes) through to a few long'uns (twentyish minutes).

      They are very informative, and they have the slant  of debunking the myths & lies put about by the denialist propaganda industry.

      There's a lot of them (48) ~ but they are easy-going to digest, because of their brevity and their entertainingly humorous style.  Especially amusing, are the 5 Monckton Bunkum videos, regarding the "error-prone Viscount".

8734. One Planet Only Forever at 12:29 PM on 30 November 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      nyood @10,

      It is very polarizing indeed to still see people still make claims like: "And other sentences make you wonder why a cooling or hiatus is considered to be a problem, instead of a relief when it comes towards warming as a threat."

      The trend of the temperature record is undeniable. The existence of variations in the short-term rate of warming is abundantly clear. The skeptics harmfully abusing any period of slower temperature change to reduce popular support for the required Responsible Leadership Actions are definitely deserving of derision (not praise for relieving concern).

      Refer to the SkS Escalator.

8735. Bob Loblaw at 11:55 AM on 30 November 2019
      There is no consensus
      

      Also klmartinson @ 846:  I don't understand how we can have "record heat" and yet have "record cold seasons".

      An argument from incredulity is a pretty weak argument. But to take a bite of the apple...

      • The first year measurements are taken will set both a new high and a new low record.
      • The second year will set either a record high, or a record low - except in the rare case of a tie.
      • In subsequent years,the probabilty of setting a new record high or low decreases.
      • In a non-warming world, the probability of seeing a high record set will be the same as the probability of seeing a low record set.
      • What we see is far more high records being set than low records.
      • We still see the occasional low record, and this is not evidence against against the conclusion that things are warming overall.
8736. Bob Loblaw at 11:45 AM on 30 November 2019
      There is no consensus
      

      klmartinson @ 846: "...seems to indicate that there is a correlation between a scientist's opinion and their ability to publish."

      And a strong correlation it is.

      The opinions that are little more than an opinion, use faulty methodology, are internally self-inconsistent, rely on cherry picking, ignore vast swaths of well-established physics, and are largely unsupported by evidence usually find it difficult to make their way into the published literature.

      On the other hand, good science usually manages to overcome the hurdles involved in the publishing process. Not easily though - the review process can be pretty tough, and I"ve seen reviews that can get to be pretty nasty. The papers end up being better as a result.

8737. One Planet Only Forever at 09:35 AM on 30 November 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      nyood,

      To me, your context for Climategate is incomplete and incorrect.

      Prior to Climategate it had been fairly robustly established that the developed ways of living that relied on using fossil fuels needed to be curtailed far sooner than the natural response of the marketplace would do it (especially with misleading marketing failing to be effectively penalized).

      The making of the "misleading claims regarding the illegally obtained emails" happened just before a major global leadership meeting. The timing reduced popular support for the required corrections and gave some Leaders a poor excuse to resist being Responsible Leaders on this very important issue.

      After that tragic impact on global leadership, and the delayed corrections of how people lived, it was discovered and established that:

      • The theft of the emails had happened well in advance of the release of the claims.
      • Some people scoured through the stolen emails to find nuggets they could abuse out of context in their disinformation campaign released just before the global leadership meeting.
      • Media reported the claims without any investigation into the legitimacy of the claims being made.
      • To this day there continues to be a degree of totally unjustified reduced credibility of climate science.
      • To date there is little effort to determine all the players in the damaging disinformation campaign and penalize them. Climategate damaged the future of humanity. And yet there are people who still try to defend the people who continue to repeat unjustified scepticism of climate science.

      And that Context for Climategate does not completely present how damaging the initial cuplrits of Climategate and their parade of fans have been to the future of humanity.

      As nigelj suggested some people deserve to be severely punished. I would include serious penalties for anyone today who still tries to play the Climategate card to dismiss or discredit climate science and the corrections of developed human activity that it has exposed are required. Climategate and actions like it reduced the required correction and produced the current and growing need for more rapid correction.

8738. BillyJoe at 08:49 AM on 30 November 2019
      Video: Is CO2 actually dangerous?
      

      Each to his own, I guess, but I find this presenter particularly annoying. But I couldn't stand Jerry Lewis either. Is there someone else who explains climate change to the general public in short bites like this without all the intolerable cornyness. Sorry, I just had to get that off my chest. Delete the comment if you must. 

8739. nigelj at 07:16 AM on 30 November 2019
      Video: Is CO2 actually dangerous?
      

      Regarding the question "people ask whether carbon dioxide is actually bad?" They want people to say its not bad, so that they can dismiss climate change problem. They know perfectly well that CO2 is not bad at stable levels. Its not a genuine question unless its coming from a young child.

      They mostly hear Climate Adam saying CO2 is not bad. It's better to reply that some CO2 is necessary for plant growth and photosynthesis works like this, but excessive levels of CO2 are bad for the planet because they cause climate change. Add that photosynthesis works fine without requiring more CO2, which only provides a limited boost for plant growth and this is is offset by more heatwaves and droughts etc.

      The science in the video is well explained and made interesting, but stop letting these denialist guys set the agenda with their endless strawan statements and questions, because thats all they are.

8740. nigelj at 06:29 AM on 30 November 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      nyood @12, you are worried about the level of antagonism in the email? I have worked for several organisations and companies, and disagreements are common enough. The one you quote is polite so nothing to be concerned about. In this case someone is being picked up for letting personal views allegedly intrude, and shows the organisation is self correcting and thus avoiding group think. However like MS says Elven was ultimately proven correct, ironically. Your email is not a smoking gun, its not even a damp fire cracker, its a nothingburger.

8741. Philippe Chantreau at 04:55 AM on 30 November 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      blub at 13 " manly tree rings"

      That is at best a misrepresentation. I looked through the 47 pages of data listed by PAGES 2K here. I think you should do the same, count how many data series come from trees vs the total number of series, and give a percentage that will subtantiate the word "mainly", which is rather vague. In addition to trees, it includes lake sediments, marine sediments, boreholes, gacier ice, coral, bivalve, sclerosponge, speleothem and documents. The specific proxies for these sources vary. They are compared and correlated to verify validity. The publications explain calibration and validation methods. There are papers exclusively devoted to calibration and validation.

      Following the link in the OP to the PAGES 2k paper leads to these other papers:

      No evidence for globally coherent warm and cold periods over the preindustrial Common Era

      The aberrant global synchrony of present-day warming

      As always, the overall weight of the evidence is what matters. 

8742. Eclectic at 01:48 AM on 30 November 2019
      There is no consensus
      

      Klmartinson @846 , 

      thank you for your "less wordy" reply  ;-)

      Brevity is truly the soul of wit ~ but not always the soul of precision !

      #0.  My comment of "low quality" applies to the AMS survey as a whole, not just to the 30% reply rate.   Indeed, 30% is poor in itself, because of the dangers of self-selection and unrepresentativeness [oh, what a wordy word! ] . . . as I am sure you are very well aware yourself.   As you have scrutinised the report, you will have noticed that the authors were slightly uncomfortable with the over-representation of student members and elderly/retired members (among other selection criticisms).

      Best if the survey were repeated nowadays, and done more carefully, so that the survey could be of high enough quality to achieve a worthy comparison to other surveys of Consensus.

      I agree the 30% is still rather poor, for the widely cited Doran survey ~ but Doran gains in strength because it closely fits with other surveys.   And "your" AMS survey also loses points, because of the lamentable extent of incompletion of those forms actually returned.

      And the fact that your quoted  52% was such an outlier , should have raised your suspicion that you had misinterpreted the figure or its context (or that the survey itself was faulty).

      #1.  Yes, there is such a thing as a "mandatory" survey.

          They are far and away the best sort of survey, in assessing the Consensus accurately.   [see part A of the Cook et al., 2013 survey]

      #2.  50 years vs 150 years in the questions, should have produced the same answers.   That it didn't do so, reflects rather poorly on the AMS members themselves (rather than on the survey itself!)

      #3.  Now you are adducing one winter in CONUS ?!   And you "don't understand how we can have record heat and yet have record cold seasons" ?!

      Hmmm ~ move another tenth of an inch in that direction . . . and some of the readers here will begin  to feel you are being a tad disingenuous   ;-)

      #4.  As I pointed out above, the survey was by definition limited to Americans.   Is that a bias?   It is only a bias, if the survey is falsely represented as worldwide (misrepresenting through omission).

      Though I hear that a percentage of AMS members are "furriners" . . . but only a small percentage.

      No, I am not shocked  at such (11%) a proportion of "Flat-Earther-type" opinions in some alleged scientists.   I myself know a PhD (in biological sciences) who is a proud member of his local Flat Earth Society . . . indeed, it's even worse , because he was born outside the USA !

      Klmartinson, the historic record is so clear on the fact  of modern global warming ~ that it takes an absolute willful blindness for any meteorologist to deny it, even back in 2012 or 2002.

      #5.  (which really deserves to be #6.)   Klmartinson, if you read a dozen or two of the upthread comments, and if you truly think it through, then you will come to see that a survey of published scientific articles is the far superior method of determining the real consensus.

      The analogy might be political surveys (examples: the Dewey/Truman 1948 election and the Clinton/Trump 2016 election) ~ inadequate survey size plus the tendency for "coyness" of replies to the vox-pop microphone or other polling method . . . results in an invalid "figure".   In reality, the accurate figure is the totality of the "on-paper" survey.  ;-)

8743. michael sweet at 01:43 AM on 30 November 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      Nyood,

      You have chosen an interesting email to post.

      Scientists always challenge each others findings.  Your email is a clear demonstration of the fact that scientists challenge each other.  In private communitcations these arguments are heated.  After they are privately discussed the scientists with the best arguments publish them.  After they are published they are challenged again.  Only the very best proposed answers survive this constant challenge.  Even then they can be later challenged if new information turns up.

      It is also interesting that you pick an email where Tom Wigley is challenging Eleven and says Eleven is being too alarmist!!  Are you arguing that scientists are exaggerating warming by telling other scientists to dial back their assertions??

      Further, today in 2019, the scientific consensus is clearly that Eleven was correct and that the problem is critical and must be immediately addressed.  So are you arguing that someone who was correctly arguing that we needed to take inmediate steps to avoid catastrophie, perhaps before it was a clear consensus, needs to be silenced??

      My read of your email is that Tom Wigley was clearly completely incorrect.  His approach has threatened civilization because it has led to delay in implementing required pollution control.  The denier argument that somehow this email shows that scientists are exaggerating warming and the dangers it presents is the opposite of what this email clearly shows.

8744. blub at 23:28 PM on 29 November 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      I have a couple of comments to add regarding the part: The most recent and robust such reconstruction was completed by a team of over 5,000...which produced the following chart of global temperatures over the past 2,000 years. It shows temperatures today rapidly rising above the historical record like the blade of a hockey stick.

      This study is based on proxy and some real measurements, manly tree rings. Proxy measurements are not significant due to meassurment errors. Nobody has actually measured the temperature on earth with sufficient little error before about 200 years ago, therefore causality of a proxy and a model is just impossible. A statistically based study based on proxy is unsuitable because every single conclusion is insignificant by definition.

      Nobody is questioning global warming, but the methods and conclusions drawn are highly questionable. Way to less data and physical understanding. Apart from high energy physics, about every physical and chemical processes possible (probably billions) are happening on earth, which may influence climate. It is just that simple, no conclusions have to be made without sound understanding. This field of study is extremly complex and statistically averaging data will only add confusion.

      The authors of this study mention:"Our inferences on the multidecadal GMST variability for the Common Era are robust to all these permutations (Supplementary Figs. 17–20). Nevertheless, we cannot rule out biases due to errors in the individual proxy records and the unequal spatiotemporal distribution of proxy data (Supplementary Fig. 1). Warm-season-sensitive records from the Northern Hemisphere high and mid latitudes dominate the collection of proxy records21 , thus our results may be biased towards this region and season,..."

      In science or in humans in general there is something as confirmation bias, which seems to be advancing due to the internet and social media...

8745. nyood at 22:29 PM on 29 November 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      Thank you for your view nigelj, it is confirming how polarized the debate is.

       

      However, with the leaked emails that you quote in advance, you mention those which I agree on to be unproblematic with my sentence: "Climategate is not about scientific fraud to me, I am aware of the quotes taken out of context as a cheap trick on the far skeptical side.."

      This email here by Tom Wigley might be a good quote that shows that there is concern about the antagonism amongst themselves:

      "Dear Eleven,I was very disturbed by your recent letter, and your attempt to get others to endorse it. Not only do I disagree with the content of this letter, but I also believe that you have severely distorted the IPCC “view” when you
      9say that “the latest IPCC assessment makes a convincing economic case for immediate control of emissions.” ...This is a complex issue, and your misrepresentation of it does you a disservice. To someone like me, who knows the science, it is apparent that you are presenting a personal view, not an informed, balanced scientific assessment. What is unfortunate is that this will not be apparent to the vast majority of scientists you have contacted. In issues like this, scientists have an added responsibility to keep their personal views separate from the science, and to make it clear to others when they diverge from the objectivity they (hopefully) adhere to in their scientific research. I think you have failed to do this.Your approach of trying to gain scientific credibility for your personal views by asking people to endorse your letter is reprehensible. No scientist who wishes to maintain respect in the community should ever endorse any statement unless they have examined the issue fully themselves. You are asking people to prostitute themselves by doing just this! I fear that some will endorse your letter, in the mistaken belief that you are making a balanced and knowledgeable assessment of the science—when, in fact, you are presenting a flawed view that neither accords with the IPCC nor with the bulk of the scientific and economic literature on the subject....When scientists color the science with their own personal views or make categorical statements without presenting the evidence for such statements, they have a clear responsibility to state that that is what they are doing. You have failed to do so. Indeed, what you are doing is, in my view, a form of dishonesty more subtle but no less egregious than the statements made by the greenhouse skeptics .... I find this extremely disturbing"

8746. michael sweet at 22:15 PM on 29 November 2019
      Search For 'Missing Heat' Confirms More Global Warming 'In The Pipeline'
      

      Ritchie,

      Good luck pinning down warming in the pipeline.  This is a much discussed topic.  

      One problem is different scientists use different definitions of the term. Make sure you are comparing apples and apples.

       Hansen has estimated a long term Whole Earth Equilibrium.  That used to be double other estimates but it may have been changed.  As the ice sheets melt (over hundreds of years) albedo goes down, causing more warming. Sea ice melt has started this change already.  Do you care about the pipeline for the next 50 years or the final temperature in 1000 years? 

      Sea level rise is the same.  Recent estimates of 600 million refugees by 2100 (for a moderate rise estimate) do not discuss equilibrium sea level rise (the last time CO2 was over 400 ppm sea level was 23 meters higher!!!).  

      You did not mention the delay caused by deep ocean warming.  The ocean is a gigantic heat sink that will take hundreds of years to come to equilibrium.  Sometimes 40 years is used for just the upper layers to warm.

8747. richieb1234 at 20:04 PM on 29 November 2019
      Search For 'Missing Heat' Confirms More Global Warming 'In The Pipeline'
      

      Rob Painting

      "Warming in the pipeline"

      As a newcomer to the AGW, I realize that global warming "in the pipeline" is an important topic.  Your post of February, 2012 is an excellent reference.  The debate that ensued among commenters was interesting to read, with many interesting points annd counterpoints.  In the final analysis, I felt that the bottom line on this topic was still up in the air.

      One confusing aspect of the debate was whether the warming in the pipeline was purely from reemergence of carbon sequestered in the ocean, or did one have to include the effect of future reductions in particulates to see the effect.

      Have you continued to work on this topic over the past 8 years?  Do we now have more complete data and better analyses?  Have the objections of "Neil" and other commenters been resolved?  I would very much appreciate learning where this issue stands today.  Could you point me to a source?

      Thank you in advance.  --richieb1234

8748. klmartinson at 19:50 PM on 29 November 2019
      There is no consensus
      

      Eclectic,  Well, thanks for your wordy reply.

      0. re: "low quality". At 30% reply rate, I don't think that it is valid to just dismiss it as "low quality". Read the paper and you will know where I get the 52% from. I did read it.

      1. Is there such a thing as a mandatory survey?

      2. 50 years vs 150 years. A fair point. The questions could have been better.

      3. I'm sure there have been some record high temperatures in the last few years. And last winter in continental USA was the coldest in 110 years. I don't understand how we can have "record heat" and yet have "record cold seasons".

      4. Yes, limited to Americans. You seem to show your bias here. Yes, it seems a shock to some that 11% of climate scientists (=200 people) in the USA do not accept or don't know that there is any warming at all. Maybe they should explain those opinions in detail, and inform us better. Maybe it has to do with the global cooling period from 1940s to 1979, or something else. I would call it anti-science to call these Science professionals Flat Earthers.

      5. I don't think it is fair to equally compare a direct survey of scientists and a survey of published articles that seem to indicate an opinion.  A comparison of the surveys seems to indicate that there is a correlation between a scientist's opinion and their ability to publish.

      Moderator Response:

      [DB]  "And last winter in continental USA was the coldest in 110 years"
      
      Making things up is unhelpful.  Temperatures last winter in the continental US were well-above the long-term average for winters in the continental US.  These things are easily looked up.

      

      

      Please comport future response to more fully comply with this site's Comments Policy (making things up falls under the category of sloganeering).

8749. nigelj at 05:59 AM on 29 November 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      nyood @10

      "However, as an every man lay when you come in contact with these leaked emails for the first time, it makes you really wonder why there is such a severe hostility towards skeptics"

      The reasons for the hostility towards sceptics include the following:

      1) the sceptics relentlessly mislead and cherry pick. Dont ask me for examples - read this website regularly.

      2) the sceptics tie up working scientists with endless pointless information requests.

      3) the sceptics verbally abuse scientists and have made death threats, particularly with M Mann, and naturally this in turn makes all climate scientists hostile towards sceptics. Why wouldn't it?

      4) the sceptics relentless junk science.

      This is more than enough to explain the scientists hostility towards sceptics, and if anything scientists have been very restrained and patient. As far as I'm concerned some of the sceptics should be in jail.

      "The language used in these emails is concerning, they are very political and extremely polarized to a point where it makes one wonder if it is still possible for the authors to keep a scientific neutrality. As I am not sure if quoting emails is allowed here..."

      Oh I'm happy to post a few from an article in Forbes, and that will be enough. We don't need too many silly lists distracting us all. I don't know if they are genuine. They are indicative of normal people dealing appropriately with difficult issues as anyone does. If they are political, its no more than any other organisation on this fine planet. There is nothing criminal, unethical or sinister, and numerous official investigations found no corruption of science.

      You denialists make me laugh. You are the people with obvious political motives, mostly right wing, and with lashings of paranoia. But people with nasty suspicious minds and bad motives assume everyone is the same. News flash - we aren't all the same.

      The emails:

      “The trick may be to decide on the main message and use that to guid[e] what’s included and what is left out” of IPCC reports, writes Jonathan Overpeck, coordinating lead author for the IPCC’s most recent climate assessment."

      This is meaningless without background context. Its a selective quote. And professional people decide content all the time, theres no indication of wrong doing.

      “I gave up on [Georgia Institute of Technology climate professor] Judith Curry a while ago. I don’t know what she thinks she’s doing, but its not helping the cause,” wrote Mann in another newly released email."

      It helps to actually know something about Judith Curry then you would understand and commiserate with the scientists in question.

      “I have been talking w/ folks in the states about finding an investigative journalist to investigate and expose” skeptical scientist Steve McIntyre, Mann writes in another newly released email."

      Oh dear oh dear. Given M Mann has received death threats and packets of white powder in the mail, and endless abusive emails. I'm going to "cut him some slack".

8750. nyood at 05:12 AM on 29 November 2019
      Here Are 3 Climategate Myths That Have Not Aged Well
      

      To me Climategate is about the psychology and about the casual conversation within East Anglia, nothing more but nothing less.

      
      Climategate is not about scientific fraud to me, I am aware of the quotes taken out of context as a cheap trick on the far skeptical side and I am aware that there is in general, some ferocity in the operating language of such an institute. I  can also  follow the antagonistic attitude to an extent, since the attacks by skeptics are not always fair and go on for decades now.

       

      However, as an every man lay when you come in contact with these leaked emails for the first time, it makes you really wonder why there is such a severe hostility towards skeptics. And other sentences make you wonder why a cooling or hiatus is considered to be a problem, instead of a relief when it comes towards warming as a threat.

      The language used in these emails is concerning, they are very political and extremely polarized to a point where it makes one wonder if it is still possible for the authors to keep a scientific neutrality.

      As I am not sure if quoting emails is allowed here,  I will not risk to quote any, if it is within the policy of SkepticalScience please tell me, then we could talk about some examples which highlight  political thinking and involuntary confessions.

       

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