Month: April 2017

Objection to Repeal of Privacy Rule

Objection to Repeal of Privacy Rule

via Defeat Climate Alarmism
https://defyccc.com

On March 28, The House of Representatives passed S.J.Res. 34 – Disapproving the Federal Communications Commission’s Rule on Privacy of Customers of Broadband ServicesS.J.Res. 34 which would nullify the Federal Communications Commission’s final rule titled “Protecting the Privacy of Customers of Broadband and Other Telecommunication Services,” 81 Fed. Reg. 87274 (December 2, 2016).

Our private and personal information should not be for sale, not even with consent.  ISPs cannot be compared to the providers of content and web-based services because a) the Internet users must use an ISP to access the Internet and b) ISPs have no legitimate reason to collect personal information.  Other way around, Congress should consider limiting aggregation and abuse of personal information by the content and web-based services providers.

There are many areas in which the Internet Service Providers are subjected to unfair restrictions under the slogan of net neutrality, but the duty to protect privacy of the subscribers is not one of them.

Based on my 20+ years experience in the software and Internet industries, I petition President Trump to not sign S.J.Res. 34 into law.

via Defeat Climate Alarmism https://defyccc.com

April 2, 2017 at 04:54AM

Winter Continues To Plague US In April …Also Data Show February Getting Colder

Winter Continues To Plague US In April …Also Data Show February Getting Colder

via NoTricksZone
http://notrickszone.com

Winter in the US refuses to yield as snow falls in the Rockies and in New England. More is on the way.

April Fools on global warming. Snow blankets parts of New England on April 1st. Photo: Reader Snowman.

And according to veteran meteorologist Joe Bastardi at Weatherbell, more surges of cold and snow are forecast later this week from Pennsylvania to the Smokies, and in California and Colorado, which is forecast to be hammered by a snowstorm. Even Chicago could get snow later in the week.

So winter obviously still has a ways to go and many ski lifts will be operating into Easter, which this year is in mid April.

Dramatic ocean sea surface cooling

Later Joe notes that the ocean sea surface temperature has seen a “dramatic cooling” since last year – especially the Indian Ocean, which may act to feed another El Nino.

Bumper crop – “very little drought area”

The warm Estern Gulf of Mexico will serve to bring more rain over central USA, which Joe says will help lead to a “great growing season” this summer in the United States. Bastardi also says he expects: “very little drought areas this year” and adds: “I think we’re going to see a bumper crop in the Plains in whatever you want to grow“.

Below normal Atlantic hurricane season forecast

On the hurricane season forecasting front, Joe expects a somewhat below normal hurricane season for the Atlantic this year:

Joe Bastardi predicts generally below average hurricane activity for the 2017 season. Along the eastern seaboard, western Gulf of Mexico and western Atlantic the forecast is for above normal activity (red area). Chart source: Weatherbell Weekend Summary

Joe’s forecast is different from what veteran meteorologist David Dilley here issued earlier this year. In it Dilley warned it’ll probably be one of the worst in years. But Joe emphasized that this year’s forecast “is tricky” and harbors uncertainty. Yet overall he thinks the season will be more on the gentler side.

US months of February have been cooling

At 9 minutes into the Saturday Summary, Joe debunks claims that the months of February have been getting warmer over the years (a claim that is also often made about Europe, which is false). Joe shows that the recent 10 years (2007 – 2017) in fact “have been getting colder” and were much cooler than the previous 1996 – 2006 years.

via NoTricksZone http://notrickszone.com

April 2, 2017 at 04:48AM

ESB seeking backers for 1600 MW UK gas-fired power plant 

ESB seeking backers for 1600 MW UK gas-fired power plant 

via Tallbloke’s Talkshop
http://ift.tt/1WIzElD

Knottingley is next door to the recently closed Ferrybridge C coal-fired power station [credit: Google maps]

If (as stated below) the UK’s electricity reserve margin fell to a feeble 0.1% this winter, now seems like a good time to get some new reliable power generation organised.

The ESB is planning a $1bn (€1bn) power plant in the UK and seeking an equity partner to help build the huge 1,600 megawatt facility, reports PEI.

The plant earmarked for Knottingley in Yorkshire would be one of Britain’s biggest, if it goes ahead. The company has already secured planning permission on the 50-acre site.

The Irish Independent reports that investment bank Nomura has been hired by the ESB to find a partner for the new gas-fired power station development, code-named Project Knight Rider.

Speaking to the Irish Independent earlier this month, group finance director Pat Fenlon said it would be the end of the year at the earliest before a decision would be made about when the project will actually proceed as the UK government doesn’t hold its next annual capacity auction until the end of this year.

Those auctions are held to ensure that the UK has adequate power supplies during winter periods, when demand peaks. The ESB has told potential investors that the UK will need new gas-fired power stations to take up the slack as about 20 GW of coal-fired and nuclear-powered electricity generation is shut down by 2025.

It has also told likely backers that the UK’s electricity reserve margin fell from about 18pc in 2011 to just 0.1pc during the winter that has just ended, before the use of emergency supplementary balancing reserves.

According to industry publication ‘SparkSpread’, which first reported that the ESB is now seeking an equity partner for Knottingley, the utility is also in talks with General Electric for the supply of two 800-MW turbines for the project.

Source: ESB seeking backers for 1600 MW UK gas-fired power plant – Power Engineering International
– – –
Talkshop note: the successful ‘Knight Rider’ TV series is described as ‘A lone crimefighter battles the forces of evil’. Interesting choice of project name 😉

via Tallbloke’s Talkshop http://ift.tt/1WIzElD

April 2, 2017 at 03:51AM

Week in review – science edition

Week in review – science edition

via Climate Etc.
https://judithcurry.com

by Judith Curry

A few things that caught my eye this past week.

Sun’s impact on climate quantified for the first time [link]

North Pacific 20th century decadal-scale variability is unique for the past 342 years [link]

A reconstructed South Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation time series since 1870 [link]

A robust empirical seasonal prediction of winter NAO and surface climate [link]

An interannual link between Arctic sea-ice cover and the North Atlantic Oscillation [link]

Cosmic Rays Increase Cloud Cover, Earth’s Surface Cools [link]

“New Studies Confirm Solar Activity Plays Important Role On Driving Climate” [link

Removing from models affects amplitude, frequency & regularity.  [link]

Melting sea ice may lead to more life in the sea [link]

Lovejoy: How accurately do we know the temperature of the surface of the earth? [link]

Russia identifies 200 lakes “bubbling like jacuzzis” with methane [link]

Deep-water masses in the Subpolar North Atlantic, where do they occur & what are the physics? [link]

New paper: “eastern Medit. experienced wetter-than-present summer conditions during the early–late Holocene.” [link]

“Influences of temperature &precipitation on historical &future snowpack variability over N Hemisphere in…Model” [link]

“The relationship between wintertime extreme temperature events & large-scale atmospheric circulations” [link]

“Higher Southern Oscillation Index &Pacific Decadal Oscillation trigger increase in frequency of heavy precipitation

Greenland’s Coastal Ice Passed a Climate Tipping Point 20 Years Ago [link]

Climate seesaw at the end of last glacial phase” finds “regional warming in Europe caused COOLING &snow in E Asia [link]

Sensitivity of attribution of anthropogenic near-surface warming to observational uncertainty [link]

Paper finds glaciers have been melting at the same rate since 1850 link]

Prediction of may help risk forecasts, especially near coasts.  [link]

Theory: oceanic feedback across Indian Ocean in 70 days triggers new MJO convection. [link

The main outcomes of the Fourth International Workshop on the Advances in the Use of Historical Marine Climate Data. [link]

The many flavors of are traced by model test to coupling w/Pacific westerly wind bursts. [link]

Paper on East Asia summer monsoon  finds extreme rainfall more intense due to climate change [link]

Amplification of AMO by AGW [link]

“Severe testing of climate change hypotheses”, Joel K. Katzav, [link]

Weather/land model of 2012 US shows locally 2-3 deg. cooler air near . [link]

NH midlats haven’t been warming as fast recently due in part to decadal trends in strat polar vortex. [link]

Molecular liquid storage of solar energy [link]

New mesoscale convective prediction study shows errors matter a lot: [link]

How Will Earth Respond to Plans for Carbon Dioxide Removal? First Workshop of CDR Model Intercomparison Project [link]

Regional Greenland accumulation variability from Operation IceBridge airborne accumulation radar [link]

US varied over 15 yrs: frequency up, base heights down, especially in Eastern winters. [link]  

Dynamical reconstruction of the global ocean state during the Last Glacial Maximum [link]

Transient atmospheric response to a reduction of sea-ice cover in the Barents and Kara seas [link]

Precipitation-driven glacier changes in the Pamir and Hindu Kush mountains [link]

Enormous volcanoes vomited lava over the ancient Earth much more often than geologists had suspected. [link]

New approach treats missing parameterizations of organized in contemporary GCMs.  [link]

If climate models have trouble w/internal low freq var (underest amp) their use in attribution studies is limited. [link]

Climate change combines with fishing & nutrients to threaten world’s coral reefs [link]

Comparison of Arctic sea ice thickness and snow depth estimates from CFSR with observations [link]

Automated parameter tuning applied to sea ice in a global climate model [link]

Russian Scientists Predict Global Cooling In The Next Few Decades [link]

Variations of Northern Hemisphere Storm Track &Extratropical Cyclone Activity Associated w/Madden-Julian Oscillation [link

How does SST variability over western N Atlantic control Arctic warming over Barents–Kara Seas? [link]

Skill possible for US precip & temp predictions out 3-4 weeks, using signal, etc.  [link]

Ocean State Report [link]

Contribution of natural variability to Arctic sea ice loss quantified [link]

Hypothesis testing in hydrology – theory and practice [link]

The effect of climate–carbon cycle feedbacks on emission metrics [link]

Soils could release much more carbon than expected as climate warms: [link]

New modeling study in demonstrates global effects on of the Atlantic Multidecadal Variability: [link]

New study identifies 2 processes that contribute to enhanced Saharan & increased Sahel : [link]

Flavors of ENSO and stratospheric polar vortex response: [link

Role of external forcing and internal variability in regulating global mean surface Temperature [link]

On the Seasonality of Arctic Black Carbon [link]
.
Improved estimates of ocean heat content from 1960 to 2015 [link]
.
Impact of icebergs on net primary productivity in the Southern Ocean [link]
 .

Decision making under uncertainty

Turning uncertainty into useful information for conservation decisions [link]

Robust decision making in data scarce contexts: addressing data and model limitations for infrastructure planning [link]

Consensus? No, Good Decisions Require “Respectful Disagreement” [link]

Why most reasoning for policy interventions is (possibly) wrong [link]

About science

Comment: Research needs more competence, less ‘excellence’ : Nature link]

On being female in science [link]

The suicide of expertise [link]

This is as good an article as you’re going to read on science and innovation policy. [link]

“Expert reviewers spend a lot of time allocating grant money… But the truth is that they’re not very good at it” [link]

The Problem Is Epistemology, Not Statistics: Replace Significance Tests by Confidence Intervals [link]

 

 

via Climate Etc. https://judithcurry.com

April 2, 2017 at 03:19AM