Monthly Archives: March 2012

U.S. weather prediction: falling behind

by Judith Curry

“It’s a national embarrassment. It has resulted in large unnecessary costs for the U.S. economy and needless endangerment of our citizens. And it shouldn’t be occurring.

What am I talking about? The third rate status of numerical weather prediction in the U.S. It is a huge story, an important story, but one the media has not touched, probably from lack of familiarity with a highly technical subject. And the truth has been buried or unavailable to those not intimately involved in the U.S. weather prediction enterprise.” —  Cliff Mass, UW

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Republican(?) brain

by Judith Curry

Multiple choice test: Republicans are more skeptical than Democrats about climate change because:

a)  A defensive ideology is hardwired into their brain

b)  A growing distrust of scientific institutions because of the politicization of science

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U.S. greenhouse gas regulations

by Judith Curry

The Obama administration proposed on Tuesday the first ever standards to cut carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants, a move likely to be hotly contested by Republicans and industry in an election year.

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A science-policy research agenda

by Judith Curry

The need for policy makers to understand science and for scientists to understand policy processes is widely recognised. However, the science-policy relationship is sometimes difficult and occasionally dysfunctional; it is also increasingly visible, because it must deal with contentious issues, or itself becomes a matter of public controversy, or both. We suggest that identifying key unanswered questions on the relationship between science and policy will catalyse and focus research in this field. 

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NRC’s artless untruths on climate change and food security

by Rud Istvan

Here is a recent example of artful lack of disclosure in the climate change debate, on the possible negative impacts of climate change on food security.

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Nuclear power discussion thread

by Judith Curry

THE LIGHTS ARE not going off all over Japan, but the nuclear power plants are. Of the 54 reactors in those plants, with a combined capacity of 47.5 gigawatts (GW, a thousand megawatts), only two are operating today. A good dozen are unlikely ever to reopen . . .  (from the Economist)

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Pseudoscience (?)

by Judith Curry

Climate science is sometimes characterized by skeptics as pseudoscience.   Here are the arguments for why climate science is not pseudoscience.

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On the adjustments to the HadSST3 data set

by Greg Goodman

**UPDATE at end of thread**

The effect of the adjustments introduced in Met. Office’s HadSST3 release are compared to the original ICOADS data to evaluate their effects on the frequency content of the data. The relative merits of making a simple adjustment for the war-time glitch in ICOADS are also investigated. It is demonstrated that the various adjustments made in preparing Hadley SST versions combine to effectively removing long term variations from the climate record. Frequency analysis shows the adjustments generally disrupting, rather than improving the data.

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Sir Paul Nurse on the science-society relationship

by Judith Curry

In late February, Sir Paul Nurse, president of the Royal Society, gave the Dimbleby Lecture for the BBC.  There are some good statements in his address, but here I focus on his statements about the relationship between science and society.

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Demon Coal

by Judith Curry

Last week I conducted an extensive interview with Max Allen of the Canadian Broadcast Corporation.

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Messes and super wicked problems

by Judith Curry

Believe it or not, “messes” is a technical term used to describe complex problems.  Social messes are resistant to analysis and to resolution.

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21st century solar cooling

by Judith Curry

During the 20th century, solar activity increased in magnitude to a so-called grand maximum. It is probable that this high level of solar activity is at or near its end. It is of great interest whether any future reduction in solar activity could have a significant impact on climate that could partially offset the projected anthropogenic warming. (Jones et al. 2012).

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Should we tell the whole truth about climate change?

by Judith Curry

In principle, yes of course.  In practice, many journalists, scientists and government officials are not so certain as to how to balance telling the whole truth and being truthful in an “effective” way.

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Lindzen’s seminar: Part II

by Judith Curry

The comment thread is getting unwieldly on the original post Lindzen’s seminar at the House of Commons, so here is a new thread.

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AMS members surveyed on global warming

by Judith Curry

The results of the American Meteorological Society member survey on global warming are now available.  Some surprises.

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Impact of declining Arctic sea ice on winter snowfall

by Judith Curry

Liu, Curry et al. have a new paper published in PNAS entitled “Impact of Declining Arctic Sea Ice on Winter Snowfall.”

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Climate policy discussion thread

by Judith Curry

There are several topics in the news regarding climate policy, that I am trying to follow and understand.

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Week in review 3/2/12

by Judith Curry

A few things that caught my eye this past week.

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What can we learn from climate models? Part II

by Judith Curry

In my original essay on this topic October 2010, my short answer to this question was “I’m not sure.”   My current thinking on this topic reframes the question in the context of fitness for purpose of climate models across a range of uses and applications.

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