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All IPCC definitions taken from Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Working Group I Contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Annex I, Glossary, pp. 941-954. Cambridge University Press.

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Comments 101101 to 101150:

  1. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    archiesteel (RE: Post 35), Vostok is in Antarctica - not the Arctic, which I know is more variable than global averages. Antarctica is considerably less variable than the Arctic. Even if you assume the global averages were only half of what Vostok depicts, that still means the amount of warming we've seen is only about average or maybe a little above. The 0.6 C rise was from 1900-2000 (i.e. 100 years), not necessarily the total rise since we've been measuring, which I don't doubt is about 0.8 C.
  2. It's freaking cold!
    Tom,and all record November high temperature here in New Zealand. Your point? "Global" warming means look at temperature of whole globe. If you believe that AGW predicts no more record lows in every region of the world then you are sadly mistaken. Are you going to spam us with all the record high temperatures as well or do you have tunnel vision?
  3. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    Can I say I am confused about what is actually being argued about here? A TOA energy imbalance implies earth is storing energy - this make future temperature rise inevitable but surely this is information about current energy imbalance. Since 1750, top of tropopause downward radiative forcing is 2.9W/m2 due to change in GHG composition. Would this be the more relevant number?
  4. It's freaking cold!
    @Tom: spamming these comments sections with irrelevant links isn't going to change reality. As this article explains, cold weather doesn't disprove global warming - but hey, I'm sure you can continue flooding this site with your worthless anecdotal evidence!
  5. It's freaking cold!
    "large regions may experience a precipitous and disruptive shift into colder climates." President and Director Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution 1/27/2003
    Moderator Response: Please read comment policy and the fourth point in particular. Thank you.
  6. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    @RW1: you're not sticking to the science - in fact, you have failed to provide evidence that point to climate sensitivity being lower than 3C. The 0.8C increase in temp is in line with what models predict for a 3C sensitivity.
  7. A Merchant of Doubt attacks Merchants of Doubt
    Fred Singer is a lot like George Costanza
  8. It's freaking cold!
    @Tom Loeber: cherry-picked anecdotal evidence = epic fail.
  9. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    #45. RW1 - I'm sorry but you are damorbel and I claim my £5! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lobby_Lud)
  10. We're heading into an ice age
    @Tom Loeber: worthless anecdotal evidence. Try again.
  11. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    Riccardo (RE: Post 43), I'm sticking to the science via civil discourse. And for the record, I don't believe that the 2nd law of thermodynamics contradicts the greenhouse effect or global warming theory at all. I don't dispute that increased CO2 likely has some warming effect - I'm just presenting empirically derived evidence and logic that suggests the magnitude of the warming predicted - 3 degrees C, is simply much too high.
  12. A Merchant of Doubt attacks Merchants of Doubt
    Merchants of Doubt is an excellent piece of work, well documented, transparant. I've been tracing-down some of the claims and arguments some climate change deniers here in the Netherlands put on their blogs regularly. It is exactly as analysed by Oreskes and Conway: sources are a limited (and connected) number of think-tanks and pseudo-scientific institutions, producing loads of disinformation that is continuously amplified in the blogosphere. Analyzing the skeptical arguments is as important as analyzing the denial and doubt-mongering strategies and backgrounds. Jan Paul van Soest
  13. A Merchant of Doubt attacks Merchants of Doubt
    Fred Singer has long been an unscientific "scientist." His credibility evaporated when he denied receiving money from ExxonMobile. He has been in the pocket of big oil for many years and I suspect that coal and other fossil fuel companies contribute to his coffers as well. We would be wise to stand up and attack this pseudoscientist for what he is; A pawn of dirty industry and a purveyer of falsehoods. He has done nothing positive with his life's work and will be remembered as the charlatan that he is. Oreskes and Conway do an excellant job of outing this guy and should be commended for their work.
  14. Stratospheric Cooling and Tropospheric Warming - Revised
    Bob, generally, you have to tell people how they can use the work. The Creative Commons site: http://creativecommons.org/ I haven't used creative commons licenses, I would contact John Cook who has. Also consider discussing this on the forum??
  15. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    Riccardo (RE: Post 42), Explain to me what is happening at the TOA vs. what is happening at the surface. I need some specifics. I understand that an imbalance at the surface from a increase in radiative forcing will be offset by radiating out more power at the TOA to compensate - to achieve equilibrium. Is this what you're saying?
  16. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    As I pointed out in another thread quoting Mombiot, I'm afraid that some trolling need to be taken into account. The obstinacy in certain errors and the conceitedness of having found a "significant hole in the AGW theory" with a few (wrong) back of the envelop calculations are typical; the tactics in the dicussion are also always the same. Sound familiar.
  17. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    RW1 no one addressed your question because it makes no sense. As I'm trying to explain your reasoning is wrong beacuse you mix what happens at TOA with what happens at the surface. You should work out the correct energy balance starting with a simple zero-dimensional model.
  18. It's freaking cold!
    What is the relevance in pointing to a record cold month on 0.03% of the globe when the globe has had a near record hot year in continuance of a multi-decade trend?
  19. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    Eric and CBD, The response of incrementally more CO2 is not linear - but logarithmic, which means each additional amount added only has about half of the effect of the previous amount. This is how and why I'm getting about 75-80% when going from 280 ppm to 380ppm. What this also means is that the remaining 180 ppm to get to a doubling of 560 ppm will only have about 20-25% of the effect as the first 100 ppm
  20. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    CBD said: "ln(380/280)=0.305382, or about 31%... not 75-80%" But ln(2) is 0.693 so it should be 44%, not 31%, and not 75-80% in post 31
  21. Stratospheric Cooling and Tropospheric Warming - Revised
    The Ville - 30 Thanks for your response. Actually I do want people copying and using it for any purpose as long as my name remains on it and my words are not plagiarized. I suppose what I need is a creative commons license. How is this done? Thanks again, Bob
  22. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    VeryTallGuy (RE: Post 38), I'll break it down into a series of questions: 1. Do you agree that the infrared power at the surface is on its way up out to space when it gets absorbed by GHGs (i.e. CO2)? 2. Do you agree that when re-radiated, half of the power absorbed is directed upward out to space and the other half is directed downward toward the surface? 3. Do you agree that all infrared power at the surface that isn't absorbed goes directly out to space? 4. Do you agree, therefore, that re-radiated power that is directed up out to space is same as power that was never absorbed to begin with? 5. Do you agree that about 4 W/m^2 is the total absorbed power from a doubling of CO2? 6. Do you agree that half of 4 W/m^2 is 2 W/m^2?
  23. Stratospheric Cooling and Tropospheric Warming - Revised
    @ oamoe at 10:40 AM on 19 December, 2010 #17 "reducing the amount of surface-originated IR that stratospheric CO2 absorbs? Does this help explain the cooler stratosphere?" The radiation depends only from the temperature. The absorption and convection replaced only the emitted energy. Otherwise, the temperature profile can not be explained solely by the radiation, the convection is essential for the temperature gradient. In the troposphere, the temperature gradient follows nearly alone from moist adiabatic vertical circulation.
  24. It's freaking cold!
    Coldest December in England's history
  25. We're heading into an ice age
    Coldest December in England's history: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1339149/Big-freeze-Temperatures-plummet-10C-bringing-travel-chaos-Britain.html
  26. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    RW1 "4 W/m^2 would the total that affects the surface only if all the absorbed power is directed back toward the surface, but only about half of it does because GHG infrared absorption and re-radiation is in all directions - i.e. about half goes down and other half goes up out to space in the same general direction it was already headed" I have already pointed out twice that this is simply plain wrong. The point on emissions being both up and down is irrelevant - the calculation already takes account of the fact that emission is isotropic. No amount of you baldly stating the opposite makes the fact go away. Doubling CO2, devoid of feedbacks, adds 4W/m2 to the Earth's energy budget. When you insist on quoting again and again, without references something plainly wrong, there's no point in any "debate".
  27. Stratospheric Cooling and Tropospheric Warming - Revised
    Excellent work, Bob ... but my final point of confusion was cleared up by this comment from Jeff T. You might want to consider adding it to the main text: "The characteristic vibrational energies of O2 and N2 are relatively high; they are not excited by collisions in earth's atmosphere. CO2's characteristic energy is lower. Its vibrations are excited by collisions in the atmosphere." Thus the more CO2, the more energy is lost via radiation.
  28. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    Riccardo (RE: Post 36), I know the feedbacks are not included in the 4 W/m^2 (2 W/m^2 net) - that is why the actual response is greater than 2 W/m^2 or about 3.2 W/m^2 (or 6.4 W/m^2 if all the absorbed power is assumed to be directed back to the surface). The point is even if all the power is directed back down, the temperature increase would still only be about 1.2 C, which is significantly less than the 3 C predicted (390 W/m^2 + 6.4 W/m^2 = 396.4 W/m^2 = 289.2K). No one has yet to really address the initial question, which is what's so special about 1 W/m^2 additional of power from CO2 that the system is all of the sudden going to treat it as being at least 5 times more powerful than 1 W/m^2 of power from the Sun?
  29. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    RW1 feedbacks are not included in the 4 W/m2 and you're still separating the whole system into two parts. It does not work this way. Try the enrgy balance of the earth as a whole.
  30. Debunking this skeptic myth is left as an exercise to the reader
    @muoncounter #51 I wasn't thinking in fine psychology but something in the style of The contradictory nature of global warming skepticism. For me, paragraphs like
    It's a testament to the robustness of the AGW theory that skeptics can't seem to decide what their objection to it is. If there were a flaw in the theory, then every skeptic would pounce on it and make a consistent argument, rather than the current philosophy which seems to be "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks."

    are worth a gold ingot because almost everyone can understand them. With these kind of messages, people who can't follow the arguments suddenly understands what's going on 'behind the scenes'. No wonder some 'big shot' who drives real funding to GW denialism felt the need to comment on that post.

  31. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    @RW1: cherry-picking. That graph is for a single region, not a global average. It is well known certain areas see greater variability, especially near the poles. For example, the current Arctic anomalies are more than twice the global one (which is 0.8, not 0.6), putting them in the high end of what this graph shows. Never mind the fact that most of the warming has occured over the last 40 years, not century. Nice try, but this has been debunked here countless times. Perhaps you should actually learn the science on this site before arrogantly claiming to overturn decades of climate science with your old and tired talking points?
  32. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    RW1 writes: "Due to the logarithmic response of CO2, an increase from 280 ppm to 380 ppm equals about 75-80% of the forcing from a doubling of CO2." Forget about learning the science... you aren't going to get anywhere until you learn math. ln(380/280)=0.305382, or about 31%... not 75-80% Also: "75% of 3 degrees C is 2.25 degrees C." Which, in addition to the incorrect starting factor, would assume that all the warming feedbacks were instantaneous... which is not what climate science projects. It will take decades after any given CO2 level is reached for all the FAST feedbacks to play out and centuries for slow feedbacks to complete. Also: "During the period from about 1900-2000, the amount of warming was only about 0.6 C" The CO2 level at 1900 was higher than 280 ppm... so you are also using different base periods for your calculations of percentage increase of CO2 vs warming purportedly caused by this percentage increase. Finally: "...less than 1/3rd of the predicted amount, and that's only if you assume all the warming was from CO2 (highly unlikely)." The figure of 3C from a doubling of CO2 you cite is the amount climate science projects from CO2 and fast feedbacks not CO2 alone. If you correct for the host of errors identified above you will find that based on the increase of CO2 levels observed so far we'd expect, and have observed, temperature increases of about 0.8 C globally since CO2 rose above 280 ppm. In short, projections of 3 C warming are right on track... which is precisely why that IS the average projection... because it is what observations thus far suggest is most likely.
  33. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    @RW1: again, that has been debunked over and over again. First, most of the CO2 has been added to the atmosphere in the past 40 years. Second, it takes quite a while for the entire impact of CO2 to be felt, so some of that temperature increase is still "in the pipeline." Third, I don't believe you get 75% of the increase you'd get from doubling CO2 from a 35% increase in its concentration. I'd be curious to see where you got those figures - hope it's not from that same website. Fourth, the current temp increase is 0.8C, not 0.6C. "and that's only if you assume all the warming was from CO2 (highly unlikely)" CO2 + Feedbacks. It's not "highly unlikely", but rather very likely that the greater part of the warming is due to CO2 increase, and you have not provided any evidence to the contrary. "I've never seen the fundamental science, calculations and logic presented there adequately disputed anywhere." May I suggest that you actually look at peer-reviewed litterature rather than seeking confirmation for what you already believe from random web sites on the Internet?
  34. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    archiesteel (RE: Post 31), Just look at the icecore data from Vostok, for example. The amount of warming we've experienced in the last 100 years of about 0.6 degrees C is not only within the range of natural variability - it's below average. Over the last 10,000 years the average amount of temperature change per century is roughly 1 degree C - with some 100 year periods seeing as much as 2 degrees C:
  35. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    muoncounter (RE: Post 30), The biggest piece of contradictory evidence is that the amount of expected warming is absent. Due to the logarithmic response of CO2, an increase from 280 ppm to 380 ppm equals about 75-80% of the forcing from a doubling of CO2. 75% of 3 degrees C is 2.25 degrees C. During the period from about 1900-2000, the amount of warming was only about 0.6 C - less than 1/3rd of the predicted amount, and that's only if you assume all the warming was from CO2 (highly unlikely). They have tried, after the fact, to ascribe the lack of warming to be due to aerosols. Or is it ocean thermal inertia? Or something different tomorrow or next week? It seems anything but conclude the hypothesis is probably wrong, and the sensitivity is far smaller than they are still claiming it is. The scientific method dictates modifying or discarding a hypothesis when it does not fit the evidence. It does not permit adding unsubstantiated things arbitrarily after the fact when the hypothesis is not in accordance with the evidence. The site that was referenced and the empirically derived calculations of sensitivity by George White totally add up. I've never seen the fundamental science, calculations and logic presented there adequately disputed anywhere. If you believe you have clear evidence that contradicts it, present it in detail and we'll discuss and debate it.
  36. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    @RW1: "The burden of proof is not on the skeptics to demonstrate what caused the warming because the amount and rate of warming we've experienced is well within the range of natural variability." Wrong. The burden of proof *is* on the skeptics to prove that similar temperature increases have happened at this rate in the past, and that similar natural forces are at play today. There is no evidence of this, nor have you provided any. "The burden of proof is on the AGW proponents to demonstrate it was caused by CO2, and all of that evidence has to be in accordance with all other existing evidence." Wrong again. The burden of proof is on the AGW proponents to demonstrate it was caused by CO2, and all of that evidence has to be in accordance with all other existing evidence. The evidence is already there supporting AGW, if only in the satellite-measured OLR or ground-measured downward LR. In other words, all lines of evidence point to the warming being caused by CO2, while there is virtually no evidence supporting your position. "It only takes one piece of contradictory evidence to disprove a hypothesis - no matter how much confirming evidence may exist." As muoncounter said, please provide this evidence. After all, the burden of proof is on you, not on AGW proponents. AGW is the currently accepted science. The burden of proof is on the challengers.
  37. Debunking this skeptic myth is left as an exercise to the reader
    #50: "analyzing the attitudes behind denialism and the underlying mechanisms" Here's a relevant definition: denial /de·ni·al/ (dĭ-ni´il) in psychiatry, a defense mechanism in which the existence of unpleasant internal or external realities is kept out of conscious awareness. That's a fascinating area of study, but probably not what John had in mind for this discussion.
  38. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    #29: "It only takes one piece of contradictory evidence to disprove ... " Where is this piece of evidence? Love to see it. Let's review what we have seen: Begin with this quixotic statement: "... average global temperatures are actually colder at perihelion in January then at aphelion in July." Follow with some back-of-the-envelope-style calculations which some here have already called into question. Continue with the declarative judgment "response time is a non issue". Avoid all attempts to consider other SkS pages wherein these claims, many of which have been raised before, are addressed in detail. When asked for a reference, refer only to a website which concludes with the polemical ... CO2 mitigation will have no effect, other than to drag down the worlds economy and impede the goal of energy independence. A world economy, I might add (with a short veer off-topic), that was (and remains) perfectly capable of dragging itself down without any CO2 mitigation. And in rebuttal, present "... natural forces at work, the bulk of which we don't even know." No, sir, that's not evidence. And in this particular part of the blog-science world, this statement is indeed true: "basic fundamental scientific principles still apply."
  39. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    archiesteel (RE: Posts 27 & 28), The burden of proof is not on the skeptics to demonstrate what caused the warming because the amount and rate of warming we've experienced is well within the range of natural variability. The burden of proof is on the AGW proponents to demonstrate it was caused by CO2, and all of that evidence has to be in accordance with all other existing evidence. There can't be any significant discrepancies or inconsistencies, especially those which cannot be adequately explained in the overall context of the theory. It only takes one piece of contradictory evidence to disprove a hypothesis - no matter how much confirming evidence may exist. Now I know that climate is not an exact science, so there is some leeway; however, these basic fundamental scientific principles still apply. *And no - I'm not damorbel (whoever that is).
  40. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    @RW1: sure we can assume the warming is due to CO2, because there are no other causes that could be indentified. Of course, this means filtering out cyclical patterns, which is what climate scientists do. That said, if you want to chase for those elusive other causes, please do, and come back to us when you have actual evidence. In the meantime, we'll stick with the actual science.
  41. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    muoncounter (RE: Post 24), You can't assume all the increase in temperature we've seen is from additional CO2. The climate doesn't do anything but change. There are many natural forces at work, the bulk of which we don't even know.
  42. Hyperactive Hydrologist at 04:06 AM on 20 December 2010
    Stratospheric Cooling and Tropospheric Warming - Revised
    Just a quick question: The absorption band in figure 3 for 1000ppm of CO2 is only marginally wider than that for 100ppm of CO2. Is this an indication that subsequent increases in CO2 will have a lesser warming effect? And what is the relationship between CO2 concentrations and warming? Is it linear, logarithmic etc? Of course this question is related to the hypothetical planet with no other forcing in play.
  43. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    VeryTallGuy (RE: Post 22), 4 W/m^2 would the total that affects the surface only if all the absorbed power is directed back toward the surface, but only about half of it does because GHG infrared absorption and re-radiation is in all directions - i.e. about half goes down and other half goes up out to space in the same general direction it was already headed.
  44. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    How do these statements, taken together, make any sense? #16: "The albedo adjusted gain factor of about 1.6 ..." #19: "... is just an aggregate empirical measure of the system's response at the surface ..." #23: "... cumulative effect of all the feedbacks are already accounted for in the measured gain response of 1.6. This is why the total increase in temperature is greater" If gain=1.6 and gain is an 'aggregate empirical measure', then 23 is contradicted. If the total increase in temperature is greater than you predict (and it is), then either 16 or 19 are incorrect. It appears that your numbers put you in line with the "ultra-conservative unrealistic low climate sensitivity scenario", which is addressed in a very thorough treatment here.
  45. Philippe Chantreau at 02:55 AM on 20 December 2010
    The 2nd law of thermodynamics and the greenhouse effect
    "althought I feel free, I am not free.....if you see what I mean." I don't. It is clear that you are not free to accuse people of colluding to deceive, engaging in conspiracy, commiting fraud and a number of other things that are outlined in the comment policy. If you want to accuse scientists of fraud, you can go rant on CA or WUWT. I had a great many of my comments taken down on this site, I could always get a clue why they were. Get a grip. If you have something of substance to say on the mattter, say it. If it is not of substance, off topic, or belongs in the categories listed above, keep it to yourself
  46. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    Riccardo (RE: Post 21), The cumulative effect of all the feedbacks are already accounted for in the measured gain response of 1.6. This is why the total increase in temperature is greater than the intrinsic response.
  47. Lindzen and Choi find low climate sensitivity
    RW1 @9 The 4 W/m2 is total change in radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere (TOA). 4W/m2 extra heat absorbed by the earth's system. That's the change in total heat balance at that point. You can't just halve it to suit your argument.
  48. Stratospheric Cooling and Tropospheric Warming - Revised
    RSVP #5,#29: The earth's surface receives energy from the sun at a certain rate. In the lower atmosphere, that energy is transported mainly by convection, but also by radiation. At higher elevations, radiation becomes more important. Because CO2 absorbs infrared in a wavelength range near the peak of the thermal emission, it reduces radiative transport of heat in the troposphere. The result of increasing CO2 is an imbalance: solar energy is still arriving, but it's not leaving as fast. So, the earth gradually heats up. However, as it heats up the earth radiates more. Eventually (if CO2 concentration stops increasing), the temperature rises enough that the heat loss rate matches the rate of heat received from the sun and the temperature stabilizes. That's what Bob Guercio is saying about the troposphere, though he gives more detail. There is no double counting.
  49. Stratospheric Cooling and Tropospheric Warming - Revised
    @ MarkR #26 By this time you should know that answering RSVP by constructing an example based in his/her 'logic' to show any inconsistency would have you -as if by magic- as the proposer of such inconsistent arguments. You should regard that comment #5 starts with an apparent connexion to the subject of the post. The not-possibly-multi-task packet is not in the post nor the idea it describes. It's something created as a particular person reads an article. @ RSVP What makes you think that the post is saying something like what you are describing in #5?
  50. Stratospheric Cooling and Tropospheric Warming - Revised
    RSVP "By double time, I am referring to a single packet of energy. If it gets into the air via CO2,(coming from a hot stone on the ground), the hot stone has just lost that heat. That is not double time. That is heat transfer." CO2 is no different to a hot stone. The stone is continually receiving packets of energy (during the day), as would the CO2. They both emit at the same time as absorbing, largely because they consist of billions of molecules at different states of excitation at any point in time. They are both 'double timing'.

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