I know some folks here are interested in the topic and I thought they might like to read the more recent activities in the area. It's really just for informative purposes because, well, I think this is an important subject to keep ourselves informed about.
This is a funny link (to me anyway) describing a climate change conference in the '80s. I laughed out loud at the shoe throwing incident, because I can imagine it happening in some of the "somber" scientific conferences. I've also seen similar situations in some conferences I've attended (without the shoe throwing, unfortunately).
And just for fun, here is a list of climate change headlines from the NY Times over the years (via Anthony Watt's blog, whose readers dug the stories up). The snarky comments in between are by Tim Blair.
1. 3000 ocean-plying data-gathering robots show no signs of ocean warming. Ocean warming is an important factor in the catastrophic global warming scenario
2. NASA's Aqua satellite designed to gather atmospheric data, like temperature and cloud formation, show probable cooling or no change since 2002 and no "positive feedback" on warming (positive feedback, something that almost never exists in nature, is the key reason for runaway global warming as pointed out by Al Gore, not the direct action of greenhouse gases). Key point (for me anyway) in the article:
3. Canadian and German solar researchers correlate global warming/cooling with solar activity.
4. Former NASA researcher rederives equations used in global warming models and found mistakes (for example, the assumption that the atmosphere is infinitely thick is used in the present models). NASA refuses to publish his findings and he publishes elsewhere instead. Oh, and the conclusion is that there is no positive feedback mechanism in global warming. His new equations also correlate very well with the Earth's climate predictions, as well as Mars'. This should definitely be reproduced/replicated and his results should be tested by other scientists (which is what science is about anyway)
5. Finally, if you want to see the state of NASA's GISS stations - they're the temperature recording stations around the country whose data NASA uses in its models - you might want to take a look at a grass roots project that has people around the United States documenting these stations. Many of these stations are situated near buildings and other obstructions. Some are on concrete surfaces. Some are even just a few feet away from air conditioner exhaust. A lot of these stations started when the surroundings were still rural. NASA has repeatedly said that there are no urban island effects and have actually adjusted some temperatures up because of the assumption that the readings are "too cool." (Discussion here)
2. NASA's Aqua satellite designed to gather atmospheric data, like temperature and cloud formation, show probable cooling or no change since 2002 and no "positive feedback" on warming (positive feedback, something that almost never exists in nature, is the key reason for runaway global warming as pointed out by Al Gore, not the direct action of greenhouse gases). Key point (for me anyway) in the article:
"... with a little bit of warming, weather processes are compensating, so they're actually limiting the greenhouse effect and you're getting a negative rather than a positive feedback..."
4. Former NASA researcher rederives equations used in global warming models and found mistakes (for example, the assumption that the atmosphere is infinitely thick is used in the present models). NASA refuses to publish his findings and he publishes elsewhere instead. Oh, and the conclusion is that there is no positive feedback mechanism in global warming. His new equations also correlate very well with the Earth's climate predictions, as well as Mars'. This should definitely be reproduced/replicated and his results should be tested by other scientists (which is what science is about anyway)
5. Finally, if you want to see the state of NASA's GISS stations - they're the temperature recording stations around the country whose data NASA uses in its models - you might want to take a look at a grass roots project that has people around the United States documenting these stations. Many of these stations are situated near buildings and other obstructions. Some are on concrete surfaces. Some are even just a few feet away from air conditioner exhaust. A lot of these stations started when the surroundings were still rural. NASA has repeatedly said that there are no urban island effects and have actually adjusted some temperatures up because of the assumption that the readings are "too cool." (Discussion here)
And just for fun, here is a list of climate change headlines from the NY Times over the years (via Anthony Watt's blog, whose readers dug the stories up). The snarky comments in between are by Tim Blair.
• 1923:
Glaciers have disappeared and land once covered with field ice is bare.
• 1924
Glaciers are moving from their age-old beds, pouring greater quantities of ice into the sea than recorded history has known. Broad areas of land are sinking to new levels. A number of islands have disappeared.
• 1930:
The Alpine glaciers are in full retreat. Out of 102 glaciers observed by Professor P.L. Mercanton of the University of Lausanne and his associates more than twothirds have been found to be shrinking.
• 1935:
The great glaciers of the West, last remnants of the Ice Age on continental United States, have been retreating from their strongholds in the mountains at double time since last year.
• 1947:
A mysterious warming of the climate is slowly manifesting itself in the Arctic, engendering a “serious international problem,” Dr. Hans Ahlmann, noted Swedish geophysicist, said today.
Of course, the same archives also yield collosal climate coldness concerns:
• 1895:
The question is again being discussed whether recent and long-continued observations do not point to the advent of a second glacial period, when the countries now basking in the fostering warmth of a tropical sun will ultimately give way to the perennial frost and snow of the polar regions.
• 1961:
Winters Since ‘40 Found Colder In Studies by Weather Bureau; Data Indicate, a Reversal of a Warming Trend That Began in 1881
• 1961:
After a week of discussions on the causes of climate change, an assembly of specialists from several continents seems to have reached unanimous agreement on only one point: it is getting colder.
• 1975:
Scientists Ponder Why World’s Climate Is Changing; a Major Cooling Widely Considered to Be Inevitable
• 1978:
An international team of specialists has concluded from eight indexes of climate that there is no end in sight to the cooling trend of the last 30 years, at least in the Northern Hemisphere.
Thus nature, and the NYT, balances itself. The paper really should return to the Grandfather Index of climate judgment:
• 1934:
America is believed by Weather Bureau scientists to be on the verge of a change of climate, with a return to increasing rains and deeper snows and the colder Winters of grandfather’s day.
• 1936:
The recent severely cold weather, following, in the main, many mild Winters, has caused people throughout the country to ask: “Does this portend a return to the reputed cold Winters of ‘granddad’s day’ years ago?"
Yep; all over the US, that’s exactly what people were asking. But listen to folks from the actual Granddad’s Day era and they’ll tell you the real cold was earlier still:
• 1890:
Is our climate changing? ... The older inhabitants tell us that the Winters are not as cold now as when they were young ...
Also, there are fewer mastodons. Last word to the ominously-named, but perfectly sensible, Mr Scarr:
• 1924:
Some People Always Think the Climate Is Changing, But Mr. Scarr Says There Is Nothing in His Records to Justify the Notion
Glaciers have disappeared and land once covered with field ice is bare.
• 1924
Glaciers are moving from their age-old beds, pouring greater quantities of ice into the sea than recorded history has known. Broad areas of land are sinking to new levels. A number of islands have disappeared.
• 1930:
The Alpine glaciers are in full retreat. Out of 102 glaciers observed by Professor P.L. Mercanton of the University of Lausanne and his associates more than twothirds have been found to be shrinking.
• 1935:
The great glaciers of the West, last remnants of the Ice Age on continental United States, have been retreating from their strongholds in the mountains at double time since last year.
• 1947:
A mysterious warming of the climate is slowly manifesting itself in the Arctic, engendering a “serious international problem,” Dr. Hans Ahlmann, noted Swedish geophysicist, said today.
Of course, the same archives also yield collosal climate coldness concerns:
• 1895:
The question is again being discussed whether recent and long-continued observations do not point to the advent of a second glacial period, when the countries now basking in the fostering warmth of a tropical sun will ultimately give way to the perennial frost and snow of the polar regions.
• 1961:
Winters Since ‘40 Found Colder In Studies by Weather Bureau; Data Indicate, a Reversal of a Warming Trend That Began in 1881
• 1961:
After a week of discussions on the causes of climate change, an assembly of specialists from several continents seems to have reached unanimous agreement on only one point: it is getting colder.
• 1975:
Scientists Ponder Why World’s Climate Is Changing; a Major Cooling Widely Considered to Be Inevitable
• 1978:
An international team of specialists has concluded from eight indexes of climate that there is no end in sight to the cooling trend of the last 30 years, at least in the Northern Hemisphere.
Thus nature, and the NYT, balances itself. The paper really should return to the Grandfather Index of climate judgment:
• 1934:
America is believed by Weather Bureau scientists to be on the verge of a change of climate, with a return to increasing rains and deeper snows and the colder Winters of grandfather’s day.
• 1936:
The recent severely cold weather, following, in the main, many mild Winters, has caused people throughout the country to ask: “Does this portend a return to the reputed cold Winters of ‘granddad’s day’ years ago?"
Yep; all over the US, that’s exactly what people were asking. But listen to folks from the actual Granddad’s Day era and they’ll tell you the real cold was earlier still:
• 1890:
Is our climate changing? ... The older inhabitants tell us that the Winters are not as cold now as when they were young ...
Also, there are fewer mastodons. Last word to the ominously-named, but perfectly sensible, Mr Scarr:
• 1924:
Some People Always Think the Climate Is Changing, But Mr. Scarr Says There Is Nothing in His Records to Justify the Notion
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