November 03, 2014

9:15 PM | Carbon News 3/11/14: NZ fails as UN wails
Our emissions plan hopeless, says renowned academic New Zealand has no chance of meeting its 2020 emissions reduction target under current policies, says a leading scientist involved in the latest IPCC report. Professor Ralph Sims, of Massey University, is recognised around the world for his expertise on climate change and renewable energy, but is never […]
9:00 PM | Paranoid
By Thomas In science, a big part of your daily work is to critically assess other peoples and – more importantly – your own work. This can sometimes lead you into states of mind, which let you seriously doubt that … Continue reading →
6:56 PM | 2014 SkS Weekly Digest #44
SkS Highlights Dana's Republican politicians aren't climate scientists or responsible leaders is another in a long-line of insightful critiques of how prominent U.S. politicians are addressing the science and ramifications of man-made climate change. As to be expected, Dana's article generated the highest number of comments of the articles posted on SkS during the past week.  Toon of the Week   h/t to I Heart Climate Scientists Quote of the […]
1:12 PM | Mapping the global palm oil boom
Palm oil is widely blamed for deforestation, but also brings jobs and economic development. IIASA researchers Aline Mosnier and Johannes Pirker argue that with better land-use planning, healthy forests and palm oil plantations can co-exist. Continue reading →
9:47 AM | The world is certainly warming. What about where I live?
You may have heard that the world is getting warmer. But it would be perfectly fair to ask – what does that mean for my neighborhood? I can be fairly confident, even without knowing exactly where you live, in telling you that it is also going to get warmer in your neighborhood, at least on […]Author informationRobert WillsI am a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology studying climate dynamics, specifically the influence of planetary scale waves on precipitation […]
9:06 AM | In brief: the IPCC Climate Change 2014 Synthesis Report
Ignorance can no longer be used as an excuse for no action Michel Jarraud – World Meteorological Organization    What is the Synthesis Report?  The newly published IPCC Synthesis Report, released on 2nd November, draws together the key findings of the three Working Groups of the IPCC (The Physical Science Basis; Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability; Mitigation of Climate Change) as well as two Special Reports. It forms the final, and possibly most important, instalment of […]
1:24 AM | IPCC AR5 completed: science has spoken – cut deep, cut soon

November 02, 2014

2:53 PM | Understanding the past to know more about our future: study finds spikes in carbon dioxide levels correlated with end of last glacial cycle
Scientists often look to the past to understand what will happen in the future.  This is possible because we expect the same natural laws at play then will be the same now and in the years to come.  This is … Continue reading →

Marcott, S., Bauska, T., Buizert, C., Steig, E., Rosen, J., Cuffey, K., Fudge, T., Severinghaus, J., Ahn, J., Kalk, M. & McConnell, J. (2014). Centennial-scale changes in the global carbon cycle during the last deglaciation, Nature, 514 (7524) 616-619. DOI: 10.1038/nature13799

1:09 PM | Unforced variations: Nov 2014

November 01, 2014

9:00 PM | Not-so-serious Sunday 55: Ambitious science communication
By Kelly The European Space Agency shows the world what science communication can achieve (on a large budget). The making of below is also excellent. Ambition is a collaboration between Platige Image and ESA. Directed by Tomek Bagiński and starring … Continue reading →
8:16 AM | Why the IPCC synthesis report is necessary but not sufficient to secure a response to climate change
This article was originally posted on The Carbon Brief on Oct 31, 2014 by Simon Evans On Sunday 2nd November, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) will publish its latest synthesis report, distilling the latest knowledge on what UN chief Ban Ki-Moon has called the greatest threat ever faced by humanity. The synthesis report will wrap up the IPCC's fifth assessment (AR5) of climate change. It draws together information from the IPCC's reports on […]

October 31, 2014

6:30 AM | 2014 SkS Weekly News Roundup #44B
5 ideas for protecting New York from the next Sandy Climate scientists aren’t too alarmist. They’re too conservative Direct Action is like a dodgy laundry powder that never gets the climate clean Emissions trading will be back in the game if Direct Action proves ineffective Fossil fuels won’t benefit Africa in absence of sound environmental policies Hot enough? Things are going to get hotter How Interstellar made Michael Caine think again about climate change If we want to […]

October 30, 2014

11:46 PM | NZ cranks finally publish an NZ temperature series – but their paper’s stuffed with errors
10:04 PM | An App’s Guide to Sustainable Eating
Hi all!  I’ve been on a bit of a hiatus from blogging due to a very busy past couple weeks preparing for and getting married!  Everything went wonderfully and I am now back in the swing of things and trying … Continue reading →
8:10 AM | Sinking on the Seven Seas
As I boarded the ferry to go and see my family, I recalled my first research cruise, on the Mediterranean Sea. The long naps in the sun while the deep CTD casts were going down to 3000 m, watching the dolphins jump around us and counting the jellyfish. And the storm, on the last night, […]Author informationCéline HeuzéPhD student in physical oceanography at UEA (UK) and amateur philologist. |
5:25 AM | New research quantifies what's causing sea level to rise

October 29, 2014

2:41 PM | The slowdown zoo
Investigations into the recent observed slower rate of global warming have largely been focussed on variability in the Pacific basin. Climate models also show similar slowdowns focussed in the Pacific (e.g. Meehl et al. 2011). But, is this the only … Continue reading →
11:38 AM | Storm surge: Hurricane Sandy

October 28, 2014

9:16 PM | Carbon News 28/10/14: oil drilling, honey and crowd-funding green coke
Hunt for oil anchors govt’s environment plan The National Party is leading off its environmental package for its new term in power with plans to encourage more oil exploration — despite the burning of fossil fuels being the single biggest cause of climate change. Honey hits the jackpot for steep-land believer In 2010, Taranaki farmer […]
9:00 PM | ANU Climate Café
By Liane Free coffee and snacks at Vivaldi’s Café (Union Court), on the first Wednesday of every month from 3:30 – 5:00 PM. Well that got your attention, didn’t it? A group of diverse PhD students are interested in overcoming … Continue reading →
8:22 PM | 2014 SkS Weekly News Roundup #44A
A chronicler of warnings denied Arctic Ice Melt Seen Doubling Risk of Harsh Winter in EU Building for the next big storm Carbon trading edges closer as UN brokers deal Five things to know about 2014 global temperatures Great Barrier Reef protection plan 'ignores the threat of climate change' Maybe you can change people’s minds about climate change after all New study strengthens link between Arctic sea-ice loss and extreme winters Our planet's primal scream — Is anyone […]
5:54 AM | Republican politicians aren't climate scientists or responsible leaders
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is hoping to become the Senate Majority Leader after the forthcoming election on November 4th, although despite hailing from conservative Kentucky, McConnell is in a very tight race. The Cincinnati Enquirer editorial board recently had a long discussion with McConnell and tried to pin him down on the subject of global warming. McConnell wouldn’t directly answer whether he believes in climate change. Enquirer’s editorial board […]

October 27, 2014

10:00 PM | Droughts and fish highways
"I grew up on the shores of Connecticut looking into tidal pools and wondering about the plants and animals living there: where they move to when the tide goes out, and from when the tide comes in, and why. Once I even tracked my cat out my 3rd floor window and onto the roof to see how she accessed my bedroom at night. So I’ve always been curious about movement patterns in nature. The whys and hows of nature are... Read more
8:12 PM | Detecting Crap on the Internet
For our course about the impacts of the internet, we developed an exercise to get our students thinking critically about the credibility of things they find on the web. As a number of colleagues have expressed in interest in this, I thought I would post it here. Feel free to use it and adapt it! […]
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