The Abstracts Survey

A new survey of over 12,000 peer-reviewed climate science papers by our citizen science team at Skeptical Science has found a 97% consensus among papers taking a position on the cause of global warming in the peer-reviewed literature that humans are responsible.

The first step of our approach involved expanding the original survey of the peer-reviewed scientific literature in Oreskes (2004).  We performed a keyword search of peer-reviewed scientific journal publications (in the ISI Web of Science) for the terms 'global warming' and 'global climate change' between the years 1991 and 2011, which returned over 12,000 papers. John Cook created a web-based system that would randomly display a paper's abstract (summary).  We agreed upon definitions of possible categories: explicit or implicit endorsement of human-caused global warming, no position, and implicit or explicit rejection (or minimization of the human influence).

Our approach was also similar to that taken by James Powell, as illustrated in the popular graphic below.  Powell examined nearly 14,000 abstracts, searching for explicit rejections of human-caused global warming, finding only 24.  We took this approach further, also looking at implicit rejections, no opinions, and implicit/explicit endorsements.

read more: http://www.independentaustralia.net/2013/environment/study-finds-97-scientific-consensus-on-global-warming/

'The scrapping of the carbon pricing which Tony keeps calling the "carbon tax" would be an act of vandalism on the future of this planet... Tony is an idiot.

A new report says the planet may be warming slower in the short-term than had been previously projected.

The study published in the journal Nature Geoscience reveals that while the world has experienced its hottest decade since records began, the rate of average warming has been lower over the past decade.

By using modelling based on data from the past 10 years, the report says that after significant rises in the 1980s and 1990s, the most extreme projections are now looking less likely than before.

The lead author of the report, Dr Alexander Otto from Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute, estimates that in the coming decades, global average temperatures will warm about 20 per cent more slowly than expected.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-20/global-warming-could-be-slower-than-first-thought-report/4701010

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Gus: WHAT A LOT OF CODSWALLOP!...

In the last ten years we had a "cooler sun", with no sun spots to speak of — and the thermosphere actually cooled because of this... On top of this we had a LA NINA event which usually cools the entire globe... BUT there has not been any cooling, just a slowdown in the increase of global temperatures... As well the melting of glaciers and of polar ice caps are 'retarding" the full-blown process of global warming in complex feed-back mechanisms.

NOW THE PLANET IS ENTERING AN EL NINO EVENT and the sun IS HOTTING UP... One cannot plan on trends of global warming on a ten (10) year timeframe. THAT IS LUDICROUS. TOTALLY UNSCIENTIFIC and contrary to previous records of carbon dioxide increases, which also show some "slowdowns" and sometimes some apparent regression, but soon are followed by massive acceleration of the process...

According to my own "parallel" estimates, the years around 1015, 2021, 2032 and 2075 will show some big (HUGE) rise of temperatures...

 

Contrary to the claims of those who want to strictly regulate carbon dioxide emissions and increase the cost of energy for all Americans, there is a great amount of uncertainty associated with climate science. These uncertainties undermine our ability to accurately determine how carbon dioxide has affected the climate in the past. They also limit our understanding of how anthropogenic emissions will affect future warming trends. Further confusing the policy debate, the models that scientists have come to rely on to make climate predictions have greatly overestimated warming. Contrary to model predictions, data released in October from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit show that global temperatures have held steady over the past 15 years, despite rising greenhouse gas emissions.

Among the facts that are clear, however, are that U.S. emissions contribute very little to global concentrations of greenhouse gas, and that even substantial cuts in these emissions are likely to have no effect on temperature. Data from the Energy Information Administration show, for example, that the United States cut carbon dioxide emissions by 12 percent between 2005 and 2012 while global emissions increased by 15 percent over the same period.

Using data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a Science and Public Policy Institute paper published last month found that if the United States eliminated all carbon dioxide emissions, the overall impact on global temperature rise would be only 0.08 degrees Celsius by 2050.

Further confounding the debate are unscientific and often hyperbolic claims about the potential effects of a warmer world. In his most recent State of the Union address, President Obama said that extreme weather events have become “more frequent and intense,” and he linked Superstorm Sandy to climate change.

But experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have told the New York Times that climate change had nothing to do with Superstorm Sandy. This is underscored by last year’s IPCC report stating that there is “high agreement” among leading experts that trends in weather disasters, floods, tornados and storms cannot be attributed to climate change. While these claims may make for good political theater, their effect on recent public policy choices hurts the economy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/lamar-smith-overheated-rhetoric-on-climate-change-hurts-the-economy/2013/05/19/32cb6d94-bda4-11e2-97d4-a479289a31f9_print.html

 

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Gus: all I can do here is write again "WHAT A LOT OF CODSWALLOP!..."

In the last ten years we had a "cooler sun", with no sun spots to speak of — and the thermosphere of the earth actually cooled because of this... On top of this we had a LA NINA event which usually cools the entire globe... BUT there has not been any cooling, just a slowdown in the increase of global temperatures... As well the melting of glaciers and of polar ice caps are 'retarding" the full-blown process of global warming in complex feed-back mechanisms.

NOW THE PLANET IS ENTERING AN EL NINO EVENT and the sun IS HOTTING UP... One cannot plan on trends of global warming on a ten (10) year timeframe. THAT IS LUDICROUS. TOTALLY UNSCIENTIFIC and contrary to previous records of carbon dioxide increases, which also show some "slowdowns" and sometimes some apparent regression, but soon after are followed by massive acceleration of the process...

According to my own "parallel" estimates, the years around 1015, 2021, 2032 and 2075 will show some big (HUGE) rise of temperatures...

.... One can turn the figures around, Mr Lamar Smith.

Every which way we choose, the later we deal with the problem of global warming, the stronger its impact.

Yes, it's hard and possibly foolish to point out that Sandy was due to "global warming", but the combination and frequency of storms like Katrina, Irene, Sandy and a few other climatic events not just in the USA but around the planet — including floods, tornadoes, snow storms, droughts and heat-waves as "storms of the century" now happening nearly on a yearly basis — tell us of a major change, even without counting the incredibly fast melting of glaciers and polar ice...

Even your own state, Mr Smith, Texas, is in the grip of a massive drought, s I have been told...

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-21/tornado-rips-through-oklahoma-town/4702082

 

At least 91 people are dead after a powerful 3km-wide tornado tore through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore, destroying entire blocks of homes and trapping two dozen school children beneath rubble.

The monster tornado with winds of up to 320kph touched down mid-afternoon (local time) on Monday. It is now late evening and rescue workers, including the National Guard, are searching for survivors.

Key points

Tornado struck about 3pm on Monday afternoon (local time) at speeds of up to 320kph.3,000 homes were in the tornado's path.Children and teachers are being pulled from the rubble of a school, where more than 20 people are unaccounted for.Hundreds of people are still missing.17 counties declared as disaster areas, with the town of Moore (population 55,000) the worst hit.Meteorologists estimated the tornado to be 3.2km wide and say it left a path of destruction of about 77 square km.Weather services say the EF4 tornado could be upgraded to EF5, the highest possible category.Look back at our live coverage of the aftermath.

The death toll is expected to rise significantly overnight as emergency crews comb through smashed homes and the collapsed remains of an elementary school.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-21/tornado-moore-oklahoma-survivors-search/4703260

 

Zee Media Bureau 

New Delhi: The national capital will continue to sizzle on Friday as well, after recording the hottest day in 10 years in May on Thursday. 

The maximum temperature in Delhi is expected to hover around 46 degrees Celsius on Friday, a day after Safdarjung recorded a maximum of 45.7 degrees - six degrees above normal. 

The minimum temperature recorded at Safdarjung was also five degrees above average at 31.5 degree Celsius. 

As per the Met department, heat wave is expected to intensify further today. 

"The heat wave conditions will prevail over the city on Friday. The maximum temperature is expected to be around 46 degrees Celsius," an IMD official said. 

The minimum temperature early Friday was three notches above average at 29.5 degrees Celsius, while the humidity recorded at 8.30 am was 37 percent. 

North India and parts of West India are reeling under an intense heat wave due to the absence of western disturbances, coupled with strong and hot westerly winds. Apart from Delhi, among the states recording high temperatures include Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. 

The Met department has forecast a thunder storm in Jammu and Kashmir and neighbouring areas tomorrow, which could bring down day-time temperatures in the plains, including Delhi, by about two degree Celsius. 

Next week, heat wave is expected to continue but the intensity will come down, said IMD officials.

 

Sydney's series of unusually warm spells is continuing into winter, with the city forecast to break its record for consecutive days in which the temperature has risen to at least 20 degrees.
Harbour City temperatures are tipped to hit the 20s each day until at least Tuesday, an eight-day sequence that would break the previous record of seven consecutive days, set in 1921.
“This is staggering, as Sydney's average [high] for the first month of winter is just 17 degrees,” Rob Sharpe, a meteorologist with Weatherzone said. “This week would fit nicely into late April or early May.”
Sydney's autumn was also marked by long spells of warmer-than-average weather, with just six days in which the maximum was below 20 degrees, breaking the previous record low of nine such days, set in 1958. The warmer conditions have also been marked by drier-than-usual weather, particularly in regions west of the Great Divide.

For much of 2013, weather over southern Australia has been dominated by big, slow-moving high-pressure systems that have blocked the cold fronts that usually break up the warmer conditions and bring rain.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/sydneys-warm-start-to-june-staggering-20130605-2np1c.html#ixzz2VIbzm04B
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A lot of sceptic denialist sites are pointing out that one strong tornado in the US does not indicate global warming...
What does really point to it and if you live in Sydney (the real capital of the happiest country in the world — I am going to cope a whacking from the Melbournians) one would have to know that global warming IS accelerating.... plus floods of the century, three decades in a row in central Europe, TWO major tornadoes amongst a bunch of 50 in the USA, plus major melting in Greenland, and a heap of other indices point to global warming... 
Come on! Stop being blind and stupid... All of you, the misery guts of ignorance from Jones to Miranda and not forgetting the creme de la crap, Andy Bolty...

 

Revealed: 80cm sea rise warning

Jon
Yeah where did science ever get us? Just like the old ozone layer myth. The scientists said the depletion was caused by CFCs. Pfft! They got rid of CFCs and claim that the hole closed up. Now those fools are at it again and telling us about the dangers of climate change caused again by man. I could go on about nuclear physics, electricity, modern medicine, telecommunications etc. etc. So again, what has science ever done for us?

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/comments-of-the-week-august-1622-2013-20130822-2sdql.html#ixzz2clWMkV00

 

I like this fellow's sarcasm... Without science we'd still be swinging from tree to tree in Africa... Might have been a good thing...