Category: Uncategorized

Trump Administration Lining Up Climate Change ‘Red Team’

Trump Administration Lining Up Climate Change ‘Red Team’

via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF)
http://www.thegwpf.com

The Trump administration is in the beginning stages of forming an adversarial “red team” to play devil’s advocate in a plan to debate the facts behind global warming and take on what skeptics call climate alarmism.

The White House and the Environmental Protection Agency are recruiting scientists by enlisting the help of the Heartland Institute, considered to be the lead think tank for challenging the majority of scientists on climate change.

The institute has its own red team, which is the antithesis to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which it calls, unabashedly, the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change.

“The White House and the Environmental Protection Agency have reached out to the Heartland Institute to help identify scientists who could constitute a red team, and we’ve been happy to oblige,” Jim Lakely, the group’s communications director, told the Washington Examiner.

“This effort is long overdue,” he said. “The climate scientists who have dominated the deliberations and the products of the IPCC have gone almost wholly without challenge. That is a violation of the scientific method and the public’s trust.”

The Heartland Institute has been a long proponent of a red team “to critically examine what has become alarmist dogma rather than a sober evaluation of climate science for many years,” Lakely said. “In fact, Heartland has worked closely with a red team that has been examining the science for several years: the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, or NIPCC.”

What the Trump administration may pull together in creating its red team might look a little like what Heartland has created.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt “believes that we will be able to recruit the best in the fields which study climate and will organize a specific process in which these individuals … provide back-and-forth critique of specific new reports on climate science,” a senior administration official told the news service Climatewire late last month.

“We are, in fact, very excited about this initiative. Climate science, like other fields of science, is constantly changing. A new, fresh, and transparent evaluation is something everyone should support doing,” the official said.

The Heartland team continues to publish reports challenging IPCC and other climate scientists, which it began eight years ago. The group has produced four volumes of “Climate Change Reconsidered,” with a fifth coming out later this year, Lakely said.

“Hundreds of scientists have reviewed and helped produce those volumes, which have been published by the Heartland Institute,” Lakely said. The reports total more than 3,000 pages.

The irony behind the Trump administration taking up the approach is that it was suggested by a former Obama administration official, Steve Koonin, who suggested a red team-blue team approach to clear out the politics and address the science. Koonin teaches at New York University.

He suggested the idea in an April op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. The exercise would include a red team, representing climate skeptics, squaring off against a blue team, representing the majority of scientists who believe the Earth’s temperature is warming because of increased greenhouse gas emissions caused by manmade activity.

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via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF) http://www.thegwpf.com

July 24, 2017 at 05:02AM

Modern Warming Is Substantially Artificial, Traced To Urbanization, Bias

Modern Warming Is Substantially Artificial, Traced To Urbanization, Bias

via NoTricksZone
http://notrickszone.com

Scientists: Temperature Data Contamination

Accounts For 33% – 75% Of Modern Warming

Urban heat from paved roads, buildings, and machinery can artificially inflate temperatures substantially above measured temperatures from non-urban areas.  This introduces a significant non-climatic warming bias into long-term records.

Heat from an urban (or highly populated) environment can artificially raise temperatures by as much as 3°C to 10°C relative to nearby rural locations.   This is true even for villages in the Arctic.


Imhoff et al., 2010     On a yearly average, urban areas are substantially warmer than the non-urban fringe by 2.9°C 

Konstantinov et al., 2015     This article presents the results of a study of the urban heat island (UHI) in the city of Apatity [Russian Arctic] during winter that were obtained according to the data of field meteorological measurements and satellite images. Calculations of the surface layer temperature have been made based on the surface temperature data obtained from satellite images. …  As a result of the analysis of temperature fields, an intensive heat island (up to 3.2°C) has been identified

Kim, 1992     The results indicate that urban heating is attributable to a large excess in heat from the rapidly heating urban surfaces consisting of buildings, asphalt, bare-soil and short grasses. In summer, the symptoms of diurnal heating begin to appear by mid-morning and can be about 10°C warmer than nearby woodlands.

Artificial Warming From Urban Bias A ‘Substantial Portion’ Of Overall Global Trend


Scientists were at one time concerned that artificial warming biases from expanding urbanization might contaminate the measured surface temperature record.

As recently as the late 1980s it was concluded that the “artificial warming” from urban heat could add an extraneous 0.1°C to 0.4°C of warming per decade in some regions, and that the non-climatic warming attributed to urbanization exceeds the observed overall long-term trends after the 1950s.  In other words, a substantial portion of the warming since the mid-20th century could be attributed to artificial heat.


Karl and Quayle, 1988     Karl et al., 1988) has shown that at some ‘sun belt’ cities in the West, the rise of temperature that can be attributed to the urban heat island is as much as 0.3 to 0.4°C per decade. In the East, the rise is over 0.1°C per decade. … The artificial warming in the primary station network, relative to the climate division data, is nearly 0.17°C over the past 34 years [1950s]. Such trends are at least as large as any of the observed trends over the United States (Karl, 1988) or the globe (Jones and Wigley, 1987).

Karl and Jones, 1989     Results indicate that in the United States the two global land-based temperature data sets have an urban bias between +0.1°C and +0.4°C over the twentieth century (1901-84).  … The magnitude of this urban bias in two global, land-based data sets was found to be a substantial portion of the overall trend of global and regional temperatures.

Modern Temps Rising 0.05°C – 0.12°C/Decade…Urban Heat Bias Rising Faster


The IPCC considers the year 1750 as the starting point for the radiative anthropogenic influence on climate, due principally to fossil fuel burning and concomitant CO2 emissions.  Since 1850, CO2 concentrations have risen from 285 ppm to 400 ppm.  During these ~165 years, the IPCC has concluded that surface temperatures have warmed by 0.78°C.  This is a warming rate of only 0.05°C per decade for 1850-2012 — which happens to be the same rate of warming over the 1998-2012 period.   Temperatures are rising at a rate of 0.12°C per decade during 1951-2012.


IPCC AR5 (2013):     The globally averaged combined land and ocean surface temperature data as calculated by a linear trend, show a warming of 0.85°C over the period 1880 to 2012, when multiple independently produced datasets exist. The total increase between the average of the 1850–1900 period and the 2003–2012 period is 0.78 °C, based on the single longest dataset available 4 (see Figure SPM.1). … [T]he rate of warming over the past 15 years (1998–2012; 0.05 °C per decade), which begins with a strong El Niño, is smaller than the rate calculated since 1951 (1951–2012; 0.12 °C per decade).

As suggested above, (a) non-climatic urban heating may artificially add 0.1°C per decade (or more) to the temperature record; (b) the overall surface temperature record is only rising at a rate of +0.05°C to +0.12°C per decade;  therefore, (c) this would imply that all or nearly all the warming since 1850 or 1950 may be attributed to rapidly expanding urbanization and measurement bias, not climate change.


4 New Papers Highlight Artificial Warming Bias, Adjustments


Four new studies can be added to a large collection of scientific papers documenting an accelerating artificial warming bias.


1. Urbanization Adds +0.13°C Per Decade To Temp Record


Liao et al., 2017     We examine the urban effect on surface warming in Eastern China, where a substantial portion of the land area has undergone rapid urbanization in the last few decades. Daily surface air temperature records during the period 1971–2010 at 277 meteorological stations are used to investigate temperature changes. Owing to urban expansion, some of the stations formerly located in rural areas are becoming increasingly influenced by urban environments. To estimate the effect of this urbanization on observed surface warming, the stations are dynamically classified into urban and rural types based on the land use data for four periods, i.e. 1980, 1990, 2000 and 2010. After eliminating the temperature trend bias induced by time-varying latitudinal distributions of urban and rural stations, the estimated urban-induced trends in the daily minimum and mean temperature are 0.167 and 0.085 °C decade−1, accounting for 33.6 and 22.4% of total surface warming, respectively. The temperature difference between urban and rural stations indicates that urban heat island intensity has dramatically increased owing to rapid urbanization, and is highly correlated with the difference in fractional coverage of artificial surfaces between these two types of stations. This study highlights the importance of dynamic station classification in estimating the contribution of urbanization to long-term surface warming over large areas.

2. ‘Very Likely’ GISS Artificial Warming Bias Of 0.65°C/Century (Globe)


Parker and Ollier, 2017     The global reconstructions as GISS (Hansen et al. 2010, GISTEMP Team 2017) are artificially biased upwards to reproduce the carbon dioxide emission trend, but the strong natural oscillation signal prevails. The very likely overrated warming rate since 1880 is 0.00654°C/year or 0.654°C/century. This rate increases to 0.00851°C/year or 0.851°C/century by considering the data only since 1910. The warming rate cleared of the oscillations is about constant since the 1940s.
As there is no way to perform a better measurement going back in the past, there is no legitimate way to correct recorded data of the past. Therefore, we should stick to the raw data.

2. Australia Has ‘Warmed’ By 0.04°C Since  1800s…BOM Artificially Inflated Temps


Parker and Ollier, 2017 (Continued)     Table 1 presents the warming trend for the 30 longest temperature records of Australia collected in a single location, with measurements started before 1900 and continued until after 1985.  … In the 30 locations, the monthly mean maximum temperature is warming 0.0004°C/year, or 0.04°C/century. That means there is no change within the limits of accuracy of the measurements.

A definitive statement about the BOM procedure is provided by Parker (2016). The Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN) v2 temperature time series (GISS Surface Temperature Analysis, 2012) in Alice Spring and all the 36 other stations located in a circle of 1,000 km from Alice Springs do not show any warming.

There are stations covering different time windows having very close patterns of temperatures. In this circle of 3,141,593 km2 (roughly 50% of Australia) that is mostly underdeveloped, none of the stations […] actually has a warming trend. … It is therefore only an artefact by BOM to produce the warming. Homogenization is supposed to be used to account for upwards biases such as Urban Heat Island, not to introduce upwards biases.

As noticed by Parker (2015a), the ACORN adjustments of Australian temperatures are in the wrong direction, inevitably in the direction to produce a warming much larger than the legitimate. In the centre of Australia, all the stations available in a circle of radius 1,000 km were showing very little or no warming, as still acknowledged in the GHCN v2 data set up to October 2011 (Fig. 6). To move from a scattered population of stations with unequal time coverage and many missing data but both uniformly not warming to produce the largest warming trend for Australia as depicted by the BOM it only requires many administrative corrections and the development of an ad-hoc procedure to compute spatial trends.
We should also consider the role of the Bureau of Meteorology. The climate trend maps compiled by Bureau of Meteorology in their climate change section are completely unreliable, as the alleged increasing temperature is obtained by lowering temperatures of the past by “adjustments”.
The longest of the Australian temperature records that were considered the most reliable by Bureau of Meteorology on February 2009 (BOM 2009) are still available as raw temperatures in the climate data online section and consistently show no warming and no increased extreme events within the limit of accuracy of measurements.

3. Moving Stations, ‘Adjustment’ Bias Adds +0.47°C To Temp Record Since 1800s


Dienst et al., 2017     We here assess these influences and demonstrate that even in villages urban heat island biases might affect the temperature readings. … Due to the station movement from the village centre to the outskirts, the net correction results in an additional warming trend over the past 155 years. The trend increase is most substantial for minimum temperatures (+0.03 °C /10 years−1) [+0.47°C over 155 years] . … An increase in trend is even more severe if the 20th century is regarded exclusively, displaying a rise in annual mean temperature trend by +0.03 °C /10 years−1 and +0.07 °C /10 years−1 in annual minimum temperatures, respectively.  … The adjustment of the Haparanda station record results in an increased warming trend.

4. Rapidly Increasing Urbanization To Add 2.4°C To Temps By 2100


Levermore et al., 2017     The urban heat island intensity in Manchester has a highly significant rising trend which by the end of the century could add 2.4 K to the average annual urban temperature, on top of the predicted climate change increase. An analysis of the urban morphology showed that the urban site had indeed become more urban over 9 years of the study, losing green spaces which mitigate against the UHII [urban heat island intensity].

Below are several more scientific papers supporting the conclusion that a substantial portion of modern warming can be traced to urbanization, bias, and measurement contamination.


‘Data Contamination’ Accounts For ~50% Of Warming During 1980-2002


McKitrick and Michaels, 2007     [E]xtraneous (nonclimatic) signals contaminate gridded climate data. The patterns of contamination are detectable in both rich and poor countries and are relatively stronger in countries where real income is growing. We apply a battery of model specification tests to rule out spurious correlations and endogeneity bias. We conclude that the data contamination likely leads to an overstatement of actual trends over land. Using the regression model to filter the extraneous, nonclimatic effects reduces the estimated 1980–2002 global average temperature trend over land by about half.

Urbanization Accounts For 65-80% Of Warming Trend Since 1960s


Ren et al., 2007     The annual urban warming at the city stations can account for about 65∼80% of the overall warming in 1961∼2000, and about 40∼61% of the overall warming in 1981∼2000.

Urbanization Adds 0.2 °C/Decade, Half Of  Athens’ Warming Since 1970


Founda et al., 2015     Highlights: UHI [the Urban Heat Island effect] accounts for almost half of Athens’ warming.
The study explores the interdecadal and seasonal variability of the urban heat island (UHI) intensity in the city of Athens. Daily air temperature data from a set of urban and surrounding non urban stations over the period 1970–2004 were used. Nighttime and daytime heat island revealed different characteristics as regards the mean amplitude, seasonal variability and temporal variation and trends. The difference of the annual mean air temperature between urban and rural stations exhibited a progressive statistically significant increase over the studied period, with rates equal to +0.2 °C/decade. A gradual and constant increase of the daytime UHI intensity was detected, in contrast to the nighttime UHI intensity which increases only in summer, after the mid 1980s.

A+217 to +562% Artificial Warming Detected In Western U.S. Due To ‘Artifacts’


Oyler et al., 2015     Artificial Amplification of Warming Trends …Western United States     Observations from the main mountain climate station network in the western United States (US) suggest that higher elevations are warming faster than lower elevations. This has led to the assumption that elevation-dependent warming is prevalent throughout the region with impacts to water resources and ecosystem services. Here, we critically evaluate this network’s temperature observations and show that extreme warming observed at higher elevations is the result of systematic artifacts and not climatic conditions. With artifacts removed, the network’s 1991–2012 minimum temperature trend decreases from +1.16 °C decade−1 to +0.106 °C decade−1 and is statistically indistinguishable from lower elevation trends. Moreover, longer-term widely used gridded climate products propagate the spurious temperature trend, thereby amplifying 1981–2012 western US elevation-dependent warming by +217 to +562%. In the context of a warming climate, this artificial amplification of mountain climate trends has likely compromised our ability to accurately attribute climate change impacts across the mountainous western US.

‘Half Or More’ Of Recent Warming Due To Urban Growth


Hughs and Balling, 1996     The long-term mean annual temperature record (1885 –1993) shows warming over the past century, with much of the warming occurring in the most recent three decades. However, our analyses show that half or more of this recent warming may be related to urban growth, and not to any widespread regional temperature increase.

24% – 44% Of Overall Warming Due To Urbanization


Yang et al., 2011     [R]apid urbanization has a significant influence on surface warming over east China. Overall, UHI [urban heat island] effects contribute 24.2% to regional average warming trends. The strongest effect of urbanization on annual mean surface air temperature trends occurs over the metropolis and large city stations, with corresponding contributions of about 44% and 35% to total warming, respectively. The UHI trends are 0.398°C and 0.26°C decade−1. The most substantial UHI effect occurred after the early 2000s, implying a significant effect of rapid urbanization on surface air temperature change during this period.

Long-Term New Zealand-Wide Temps Artificially Inflated By Factor Of 3


de Freitas et al., 2015     New Zealand’s national record for the period 1909 to 2009 is analysed and the data homogenized. Current New Zealand century-long climatology based on 1981 methods produces a trend of 0.91 °C per century. Our analysis, which uses updated measurement techniques and corrects for shelter-contaminated data, produces a trend of 0.28 °C per century.

via NoTricksZone http://notrickszone.com

July 24, 2017 at 04:37AM

Green Ministers May Block UK-US Trade Deal Over EU Food Scares

Green Ministers May Block UK-US Trade Deal Over EU Food Scares

via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF)
http://www.thegwpf.com

Cabinet split over whether to allow the import of controversial “chlorine washed” chicken could cause a major stumbling block in Liam Fox’s trade talks with the US today.

Dr Fox wants to allow the import of poultry treated with a chlorine wash process, which is currently banned under EU rules.

It is more than one-fifth cheaper than British chicken, and has been deemed safe by the European Food Safety Authority, despite the EU ban.

The American Farming Association has been clear that any free trade deal must include agriculture, and that chlorine-washed chicken, hormone-fed beef and genetically modified crops must be approved for export to the UK.

Dr Fox, who has the support of Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, wants agriculture to be included in free trade discussions and believes chlorine-washed chicken is safe to eat and should be included in any deal.

But Michael Gove, the Environment Secretary, has insisted that British food standards will not be downgraded in any way, and Andrea Leadsom, the Leader of the House and former environment secretary, is opposed to the move, saying cheap, poor quality imports could damage British farming.

Chicken in the US is immersed in a chlorine dioxide solution to kill harmful bacteria such as salmonella. It costs American shoppers 21 per cent less than the equivalent product on UK shelves.

A spokesman for Dr Fox said he currently had “no position” on chlorine-washed chicken and said the talks were “a long way” from discussing any deal on agriculture.

But a source close to Dr Fox recently said he believed that “Americans have been eating it perfectly safely for years” and that any “meaningful” trade deal with the US would have to include agriculture, which would give giant American farms access to the UK market.

Mr Gove and Ms Leadsom have argued strongly against such a move. Ms Leadsom has “serious concerns” about the consequences for British farmers.

As well as losing market share in the UK to cheap US imports, she believes that if Britain lowers its standards to compete with US food prices, it will lose its access to EU markets as European countries will no longer accept our products.

Asked earlier this month if he was “absolutely clear” that British food standards “will not be loosened in any way”, Mr Gove said: “Yes.”

It comes as a think tank report said removing the ban on chlorinated chicken would be a “highly symbolic move”. According to the Adam Smith Institute, the average man would have to eat three whole chickens that had been washed in chlorine per day to risk harm.

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via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF) http://www.thegwpf.com

July 24, 2017 at 04:32AM

Green Jobs Growth Slows Amid Government Paralysis

Green Jobs Growth Slows Amid Government Paralysis

via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF)
http://www.thegwpf.com

The pace of green jobs growth in the UK has plunged to its lowest level in five years as ministers dither over a raft of decisions on the future of a renewable energy industry battered by subsidy cuts.

The number of jobs in wind, solar, biofuel and other clean power companies rose to just under 126,000 last year, new figures show, a record amount for a sector that barely existed 20 years ago.

However, this is only a 2.5 per cent rise from the previous year, the smallest increase since 2012 and well below the 9 per cent jump recorded in 2014.

“What is deeply frustrating is that this growth could have been greater,” said Nina Skorupska, chief executive of the Renewable Energy Association, which compiled the latest data. “Policy instability in Westminster, however, has slowed growth.”

Businesses across the UK energy sector have grown increasingly frustrated by delays on a slew of policy decisions affecting future investments, as ministers grapple with Brexit and the fallout from the second general election in two years.

Renewables companies are still waiting for the energy department to publish a much-delayed “clean growth plan” setting out how the UK will meet targets to cut carbon emissions. Ministers said in 2015 it would be published by the end of 2016 but now say it will not come out until autumn 2017.

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via The Global Warming Policy Forum (GWPF) http://www.thegwpf.com

July 24, 2017 at 04:32AM