by Judith Curry
A few things that caught my eye this past week.
‘modern climate sensitivity is relatively low in the context of the geological record, as a result of relatively weak feedbacks due to a relatively low CO2 baseline, and the presence of ice and relatively small ocean area’ [link]
High-resolution proglacial lake records of pre-Little Ice Age glacier advance, northeast Greenland [link] Greenland was warmer during Medieval times, cooled by nearly 2°C from the 1930s to 1980s, has undergone no ice accumulation trends in 1800 years, and has had no apparent change in Arctic-chilled freshwater delivery to the Atlantic in recent decades.
More sensitive climates are more variable climates [link]
Hydroclimate variability in southeast Asia over past two millennia [link]
Large volcanic eruptions in the first half of the 19th Century led to sustained cooling, drought in Africa, and weakened monsoons https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-019-0402-y
North Atlantic jet stream has become 15% more sheared in the upper atmosphere since 1979 [link]
“…the authors say that their results demonstrate that volcanic eruptions are imperfect analogs for geoengineering and that scientists should be cautious about extrapolating too much from them.” [link]
Rivers are a highway for microplastics into the ocean [link]
The bizarre weather science behind Greenland’s record melting [link]
A phenomenon that makes coral spawn more than once a year is improving the resilience of the Great Barrier Reef. [link]
The polar stratosphere as an arbiter of the projected tropical versus polar tug‐of‐war (polar amplification, tropical upper troposphere warming) [link]
Strengthening tropical Pacific zonal sea surface temperature gradient consistent with rising greenhouse gases [link]
Greenland ice sheet during the last glacial cycle: Current ice loss and contribution to sea-level rise from a paleoclimatic perspective [link]
Pliocene warmth consistent with greenhouse gas forcing [link]
Weak average liquid-cloud-water response to anthropogenic aerosols [link] Important implications for cloud feedback.
Perspective on European heat waves [link]
A new understanding of why oxygen stays in the air [link]
Midlatitude net precipitation decreased with Arctic warming during the Holocene [link]
Arctic Amplification Response to Individual Climate Drivers [link] Oops they forgot to discuss internal variability (e.g. AMO etc).
Technology & policy
New Michael Moore documentary challenges alternative energy [link]
Turning giant underground salt piles into renewable energy batteries [link]
Oregon’s supreme court has just blocked a proposed wind farm that would have killed threatened species bald eagles, golden eagles and bats [link]
A reality check…. Renewable energy is a misnomer. Building one wind turbine requires 900 tons of steel, 2,500 tons of concrete and 45 tons of plastic, writes Mark P. Mills https://www.wsj.com/articles/if-you-want-renewable-energy-get-ready-to-dig-11565045328?shareToken=st40eef22dd4c2457ea580dd9536257fd4
Could just-add-water products save us? [link]
The Photovoltaic Heat Island Effect: Larger solar power plants increase local temperatures” https://www.nature.com/articles/srep35070
Kate Marvel: Lost cities and climate change [link]
Combating climate change with regenerative farming [link]
How to optimize hydroelectricity production. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148119311462
Cement soaks up greenhouse gases [link]
More evidence that even a high carbon price ($200/ton) will have very, very little effect on oil-related greenhouse gas emissions. http://papers.nber.org/tmp/57241-w26086.pdf
How Dutch stormwater management could mitigate damage from hurricanes [link] This one is fascinating
Are bioplastics better for the environment? It’s complicated [link]
We should prepare for extreme weather, but tying it to climate change is a mistake [link]
About science and scientists
We should all be science critics [link] Interview with Sheila Jasanoff
Just the facts? Interesting essay by Gavin [link]
Confirmation Bias: Real Bias or Delegitimization Rhetoric? [link]
Why facts don’t change our mind [link]
Is an adversarial justice system compatible with good science?https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/07/is-an-adversarial-justice-system-compatible-with-good-science/?tid=ss_tw
Diversity, inclusion and anti-excellence [link]
The downside of diversity [link]
We need a new science of progress [link]
Patrick Brown: Empiricism and dogma: why left and right can’t agree on climate change [link]
Robustness analysis as explanatory reasoning [link]
via Climate Etc.
August 11, 2019 at 01:38PM
Iowa Climate Science Education 