Category: Uncategorized

Uncategorized 17 May 2017

April 2017 Archive of CO2 Science Postings

Reviews by Dr. Craig Idso

Elevated CO2 Enhances the Removal of Cadmium and Lead Contamination from Toxic Soils (28 April 2017)
According to the authors of this study, “elevated CO2 benefited the microenvironment in the rhizosphere of R. pseudoacacia seedlings under Cd and Pb stress by increasing the concentration of dissolved organic carbon and organic compounds, microbial population, and microbial and enzyme activity”…

Plant Growth Database (28 April 2017)
Our latest result of plant growth responses to atmospheric CO2 enrichment obtained from experiments described in the peer-reviewed scientific literature is for Maize (Wijewardana et al., 2016; combined UV-B and drought treatment). To access the entire database, click here.

How Coral Polyps May Counteract Ocean Water Acidification (27 April 2017)
It may seem like an impossible task; but real-world data are leading the way to describe how it is done in the real-world of nature…

A Two Hundred Year Proxy Temperature Record for Turkey (26 April 2017)
It would appear that rising CO2 emissions have exerted no fingerprint of anthropogenic global warming here…

450 Years of Streamflow for a Florida River (25 April 2017)
There is nothing unusual, unnatural or unprecedented about streamflow values recorded during the instrumental period, indicating that there has been no impact of rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations on wet and dry periods…

Coral-Algal Symbiosis in the South China Sea (24 April 2017)
How the warm-water corals get by with a little help from their little algal friends…

A Sea Anemone’s Response to Ocean Acidification (21 April 2017)
Higher levels of pCO2 induce a reduction in an important energy-demanding enzyme involved in the process of dissolved inorganic carbon absorption, which frees up the availability of energy to be used elsewhere, thereby allowing A. viridis to survive and even thrive under future projections of ocean acidification…

Plant Growth Database (20 April 2017)
Our latest result of plant growth responses to atmospheric CO2 enrichment obtained from experiments described in the peer-reviewed scientific literature is for Tomato (Pazzagli et al., 2016). To access the entire database, click here.

The Status of Antarctic Precipitation in CMIP5 Climate Models (19 April 2017)
Is it a valid representation of reality? Or do the models still have a long way to go?…

The Impact of Elevated CO2 and Nitrogen Supply on Sunflower Growth and Senescence (18 April 2017)
Elevated CO2 levels stimulated sunflower growth under either low or high levels of nitrogen availability, whereas it advanced leaf senescence in the low nitrogen treatment but delayed it in the high nitrogen treatment…

Soil Respiration Responses to Experimental Warming (18 April 2017)
The more CO2 that is yearly expired to the atmosphere by Earth’s soils, the greater is the likelihood that global temperatures will decline as time progresses…

The Antarctic Peninsula: No Longer the Canary in the Coal Mine for Climate Alarmists (13 April 2017)
Evidence is mounting against those who point to the Antarctic Peninsula as proof of CO2-induced global warming…

Mantis Shrimp Tolerate Ocean Acidification and Warming (13 April 2017)
In response to the “twin evils” of ocean acidification and warming, mantis shrimp are no worse for the wear having evolved mechanisms fully capable of allowing them to cope with seawater conditions projected for the next century…

Plant Growth Database (13 April 2017)
Our latest result of plant growth responses to atmospheric CO2 enrichment obtained from experiments described in the peer-reviewed scientific literature is for Wheat (Li et al., 2016). To access the entire database, click here.

Recent Storminess Trends in the Bristol Channel, UK (12 April 2017)
Recent trends in wave climate, wave energy and storminess are not living up to model projections of how they should be behaving in response to CO2-induced global warming…

How Climate Change Impacts the Malaria Burden of West Africa (10 April 2017)
Once again, real-world data suggest that another supposedly climate-change-induced destroyer of human health is not nearly as bad as some would make it out to be…

Plant Growth Database (7 April 2017)
Our latest result of plant growth responses to atmospheric CO2 enrichment obtained from experiments described in the peer-reviewed scientific literature is for Castor Aralia. To access the entire database, click here.

How a Small Afrotropical Bird May Respond to Global Warming (7 April 2017)
When the going gets tough — in the case of birds and global warming — an important study suggests that the tough may have no need to “get going”…

The Unsuspecting Thermotolerance of an Antarctic Bivalve (7 April 2017)
Field observations indicate an Antarctic bivalve is much more resilient to warmer temperatures than laboratory studies suggest…

Elevated CO2 Ameliorates the Negative Impact of Ozone Damage in Wheat (4 April 2017)
It’s good news for wheat growers, especially in regions where elevated O3 is indeed a pollutant problem. And that is yet another reason to celebrate CO2…

Double Broodedness of Important Bird Species of Central Poland (3 April 2017)
The birds appear to be well-equipped to successfully meet the challenges of both potential warming and cooling…

via The SPPI Blog http://sppiblog.org

May 17, 2017 at 07:38AM

Uncategorized 17 May 2017

Real World energy and climate

via The SPPI Blog
http://sppiblog.org

Source: SPPI

“The sky is falling” scare stories have no place in public interest science or policy

by John Coleman

Earth Day 2016 brought extensive consternation about how our Earth will soon become uninhabitable, as mankind’s activities of civilization trigger unstoppable global warming and climate change. President Obama used the occasion to sign the Paris climate treaty and further obligate the United States to slash its fossil fuel use, carbon dioxide emissions and economic growth.

I love this little blue planet and do all I can to preserve it for my children and grandchildren.

If I thought for even a second that the civilized activities of mankind are producing a threat to our planet, I would spend the rest of my life correcting the problems. However, after devoting a decade to carefully studying mankind’s impact on our climate, I am firmly convinced that the entire global warming/climate change campaign is based on a failed scientific theory.

In short, there is no dangerous manmade climate change problem.

“Who cares about your scientific study,” many people respond. “This is about loving a native environment. This is about escaping from the horrors of so-called civilization.”

That response is understandable because for fifteen years the Greenpeace-Sierra Club crowd has been constantly decrying the “ugliness” of civilization: cars, planes, trains, trucks, factories, power plants and all the rest. It seems they think things were better in pre-industrial times, or perhaps the world of Tarzan or modern-day central Africa.

There certainly has been a steady barrage of “research” that finds everything going drastically wrong with Planet Earth because of our civilized life. The media join in, of course, proclaiming “the sky is falling,” and Al Gore’s book, movie and “climate crisis tipping point” mantra stirred the media into an even bigger tizzy. Now almost the entire Democrat Party has climbed aboard.

As a result, billions of dollars in annual government funding keep the alarmist climate research and environmental campaigns marching on. Tens of billions more subsidize wind, solar and biofuel energy that is supposedly more “sustainable” and “climate friendly.”

Today, a high percentage of Americans accept climate change as a valid problem, even though the vast majority rate it at the bottom of their top ten or twenty concerns. Many accept news reports that tell us the United Nations through the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UN IPCC) has “settled” the science in the last fifteen years.

In fact, President Obama and others say the matter is so proven that 97% of scientists agree on climate change. But this oft-quoted phrase has been totally debunked as fabricated or bait-and-switch. A group of scientists is asked, “Do you agree that Earth has warmed in recent years and Earth’s climate is changing?”

Probably every honest, competent scientist would answer “Yes.” But then the “survey” team changes the question to have them say, “Yes, humans are causing dangerous climate change.” Since 100% agreement would look suspicious, they back off a little and make it a “97% consensus.”

This leaves a somewhat David and Goliath situation for those of us climate experts who agree that Earth’s climate is changing, has always changed, and humans have some effects today – but do not believe that mankind’s emissions of plant-fertilizing carbon dioxide have replaced the powerful natural forces that have always driven climate change, or that any current or future changes must necessarily be dangerous or cataclysmic. We are frequently insulted and dismissed as Deniers.

Our side is not as small as the media may have you think. Many notable scientists totally reject claims of a manmade climate crisis. Over 31,000 have signed a statement that rejects the manmade global warming scare and says we see “no convincing evidence” that humans are causing dangerous climate change. They and other experts have widely discredited the IPCC and other assertions about the climate.

There is even a Non-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC). It has published several impressive 4,000-page books of scientific papers that totally dismantle IPCC claims. The NIPCC’s Climate Change Reconsidered and other books are also published on-line.

Even the late, great author/physician/scientist Michael Crichton (of Jurassic Park fame) debunked global warming and wrote about it in his novel State of Fear.

Our fossil fuel, nuclear and hydroelectric powered civilization has made billions of lives much healthier, longer and more pleasant than in previous times. Heating and air conditioning, power for lights and computers and smart phones, and modern hospitals and schools are just a few of the blessings that bring incalculable value to our lives. What we enjoy today is the result of hundreds of generations of hard working men and women, each one moving us forward by inches or miles.

In my 80s now, I think about the world into which I was born. Radio was just beginning. Phones were few and far between and very primitive, requiring hand cranks and operators. Cars and trucks were slow and produced awful soot, smoke, carbon monoxide and other pollutants. Factories, power plants and home furnaces fueled by dirty unprocessed coal with un-scrubbed smoke billowing from their chimneys, left us all in smoggy, unhealthy air.

Doctors had few medicines to offer, and only primitive x-ray devices to peer inside us. Jet airplanes, computers, televisions, rockets, satellites and so much more had not yet been invented. Most people died in their late 40s or 50s. In this one man’s lifetime, civilization has made amazing progress.

Now think about what life on Earth will be like when you are my age. I predict the fossil fuel-powered society will have been replaced by systems only a few geniuses are even thinking about today. A long list of now fatal diseases will have been conquered, and people will live healthy life into their late nineties.

I predict our cars and planes will not need drivers or pilots, and space flight will become common. Robots will do much of the work, so people can enjoy their lives much, much more.

And I predict that anyone who looks back on the threat of climate change/global warming and all the threats to life on Earth will have a hearty laugh, as mankind will have progressed beyond accepting any such silliness.

Life is good. Enjoy it. And stop worrying about climate hobgoblins.

___________

Weather Channel founder John Coleman was the original meteorologist on ABC’s Good Morning America. He has been studying weather and climate for over 60 years.

via The SPPI Blog http://sppiblog.org

May 17, 2017 at 07:23AM

Uncategorized 17 May 2017

Are we headed for a new solar minimum?

via The SPPI Blog
http://sppiblog.org

Source: http://ift.tt/297rgYJ

by Judith Curry

We can conclude that the evidence provided is sufficient to justify a complete updating and reviewing of present climate models to better consider these detected natural recurrences and lags in solar processes. – Jorge Sánchez-Sesma

In pondering how the climate of the 21^st century will play out, solar variability has generally been dismissed as an important factor by the proponents of AGW. However, I think that it is important that scenarios of future solar variability and their potential impacts on climate should by considered in scenarios of future climate change.

I have been cursorily following the literature on this topic. I have recently been in communication with Jorge Sanchez-Sesma. He has new paper that was just accepted for publication in Earth System Dynamics, an interactive open-access journal published by the EGU. I am featuring this paper in a post since it provides important new analysis and insights on this topic, and also provides a useful assessment of the literature and current state of knowledge on this topic.

The significance of this paper is reflected in the EG

U metrics link that indicates that this paper has been downloaded 1531 times so far (before it has been formally published).

For full text of the Curry post, see here: http://ift.tt/297rgYJ

JC reflections

This is a remarkable paper in many ways. This paper has a single author — Jorge Sanchez-Sesma, who is a climatologist (not a solar physicist). I have been in contact with Jorge and will be posting an interview with him in several weeks. He has a remarkable story to tell.

This paper indicates that the case is increasingly compelling for millennial-scale variations in solar activity. The arguments for a forthcoming Grand Solar Minimum are also increasingly compelling.

To what extent a Grand Solar Minimum will influence

the Earth’s climate remains uncertain. As discussed on a previous blog post IPCC: solar variations don’t matter, the IPCC AR5 Ch 8 stated:

Nevertheless, even if there is such decrease in the solar activity, there is a high confidence that the TSI RF variations will be much smaller in magnitude than the projected increased forcing due to GHG.

The previous post also describes different perspectives on this from Svensmark and a 2013 NRC report (see also Effects of solar variability on climate; 21^st century solar cooling.)

Solar indirect effects on climate remain at the knowledge frontier, and ar

e associated with substantial uncertainty and ignorance. This uncertainty and ignorance is not a rationale for ignoring solar effects on the 21^st century climate (and 22^nd, 23^rd centuries). And anyways, is the solar uncertainty (we understand the sign) really so much more greater than that associated with the effects of clouds on climate (see my recent post The cloud climate conundrum), where even the sign of the feedback is uncertain and the magnitude of cloud forcing swamps greenhouse gas radiative forcings.

But we are starting to see some ideas emerge as to how these solar effects and processes could be included in climate models. Independently of climate models, the statistical forecast technique used by Sanchez-Sesma provides the basis for creating alternative scenarios of the 21^st century climate. I find his arguments about lags to be particularly important as we sort out the solar-climate effects.

Tackling the variability of solar activity and solar indirect effects seems more tractable than the cloud-climate problem and untangling the myriad of scales of ocean oscillations, so I would hope to see much more emphasis put on unraveling the solar-climate connections.

The policy significance of this issue is clear: if we are headed to a

mid-20th century solar minimum, or a Grand Solar Minimum for the next two centuries, this will offset greenhouse warming to some extent. The extent of the offset depends on whether climate sensitivity to CO2 is on the larger or smaller end of the range of estimates, and the magnitude of the solar impact. But the sign of the solar offset is becoming increasingly clear: towards cooling.

via The SPPI Blog http://sppiblog.org

May 17, 2017 at 07:16AM

Uncategorized 17 May 2017

Cool science: Watch water droplets navigate a maze

via Watts Up With That?
http://ift.tt/1Viafi3

Cool science: Watch water droplets navigate a maze | Watts Up With That?

Cool science: Watch water droplets navigate a maze

From the American Chemical Society.

WASHINGTON — Have you ever seen a drop of water navigate a maze? It’s possible thanks to the same phenomenon that lets you know if a griddle is hot enough for pancake batter. Water droplets that dance and skitter across a hot surface instead of boil away on the spot are experiencing the Leidenfrost effect.

Understanding Leidenfrost — first described more than 200 years ago — helped engineers make more efficient steam engines. Today, scientists are using high-speed cameras to better characterize how superhot water behaves on metal surfaces. The investigation might lead to improvements in power generation. Watch the superhot dancing droplets here: