Press Conference at the Launch of the IPCC Synthesis Report (Tivoli Conference Center, Lumbye Room) (REMARKS, Q&A) (with Mrs. Ban) (Nesirky)

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HOW HUMANS CAUSE CLIMATE CHANGE

1. Humans burn fossil fuels and release carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. This causes the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration to rise. This process is explained in two related posts [LINK] [LINK] .
2. The more CO2 there is in the atmosphere, the more heat it can trap, and the more heat it traps, the warmer the surface of the earth gets. This is called climate sensitivity and it is the fundamental force that drives anthropogenic global warming as explained in these related posts [LINK] [LINK] .
3. A direct relationship that shows how surface temperature responds to fossil fuel emissions has been found by climate scientists. It is called the Transient Climate Response to Cumulative Emissions or TCRE for short. This strong proportionality leaves no doubt that human emissions are causing the observed warming of our planet as explained in these related posts [LINK] [LINK] [LINK] .
4. The TCRE relationship can be used to design climate mitigation actions humans can take to limit the amount of warming from our use of fossil fuels in the form of Climate Mitigation Pathways and Carbon Budgets such that we can actually set a target of how much warming we can tolerate and then dial in a reduced rate of emissions that will produce exactly that amount of warming and not more. This procedure is the foundation of all calls for climate action in the form of overhauling the world’s energy infrastructure away from fossil fuels to green and renewable sources such as solar and wind. The carbon budget is explained in a related post on this site [LINK] .
5. Climate mitigation action taken by us in time can save us from the horrors of sea level rise that, without climate action, could inundate places like Florida, Louisiana, Bangladesh, Pacific islands, and the Maldives. The effect of climate action on sea level rise is explained in two related posts [LINK] [LINK] .
6. It is also known that higher sea surface temperature causes stronger tropical cyclones such as the hurricanes of the North Atlantic and the Typhoons of the Pacific. Climate mitigation actions described above can also be used to reduce the destructiveness of extreme weather. Related posts [LINK] [LINK] .
7. Yet another horror of human caused global warming with the use of fossil fuels that can be prevented with the climate action described above is that some of the carbon pollution from our fossil fuels end up in the ocean and cause what scientists call “ocean acidification”. It is a widespread pollution problem that can cause mass extinction of species as explained in these related posts [LINK] [LINK] .
8. The horror of rising temperature, melting of ice sheets and glaciers, catastrophic sea level rise, and extreme weather that awaits us if we do not take climate action can be seen in prior interglacial events.  These interglacial events are described in two related posts [LINK] [LINK] .
9. Scientists at NASA have kindly provided a “How we Know” document in plain English that explains to non-scientists how scientists know that climate change is human caused and the very real possibilities of its tragic consequences [LINK] ..

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NON-LINEAR DYNAMICS OF THE SUNSPOT NUMBER CYCLE 

1. Sunspots are evanescent dark spots on the sun ranging in size from megameters to gigameters in diameter. Their life span varies from two days to two weeks and their number at any given time from a few to more than a hundred. The total number of sunspots is known to serve as a measure of the level of solar activity (Rogers, 2006) (Yan, 2013). The time series of the number of sunspots appears to form a cyclical pattern with a period of about eleven-years. However, both the period and the amplitude of this cycle are variable and irregular apparently containing long run and irregular cycles of their own (Hathaway, 1994) (Rogers, 2006) (Miletsky, 2014). Sunspot cycles have presented researchers with an enigmatic and vexing quandary for centuries because their irregular nature is not well understood (Hathaway, The Solar Cycle, 2010).
2. Sunspot counts have been recorded and studied since 1610 and all aspects of the patterns in the time series have been subjected to intense scrutiny and interpretation in terms of solar phenomena and their effects on earth (Usoskin, A solar cycle lost, 2009) (Usoskin, Grand minima and maxima of solar activity, 2007) (Hathaway, The Solar Cycle, 2010). The interest in sunspot numbers has grown in the climate change era due to advances in satellite measurements of solar activity and also because of the possible effects of changes in solar irradiance on climate (Weart, 2003) (Haigh, 2007) (Fox, 2004). However, certain issues in the utility of sunspot count time series data remain unresolved, the most prominent being the irregular nature of both the short term solar cycle and the long wave of its amplitude. In this short note we show that these issues may be addressed by separating the regular cyclical components of the solar cycle from the irregular and by describing the system as a sum of two independent phenomena – one cyclical and the other random. The random component is shown to be a non-Gaussian Hurst process with dependence and persistence, properties known to create irregular patterns from randomness (Hurst, 1951) (Koutsoyiannis D. , 2002) (Mandelbrot B. , 1972) (Kim, 2006) (Watari, 1995) (Zhou, 2014).
3. Daily counts of sunspots converted into monthly means are maintained and provided by WDC-SILSO2, Royal Observatory of Belgium, Brussels (SIDC, 2015). Although daily data are available, monthly means are expected to provide sufficient precision for this work because the unit of time represents less than one percent of the period of the average solar cycle. Currently these data are available as Version 2 of the SILSO dataset. The release of version 2 has removed certain inconsistencies between the SILSO data and the sunspot count data maintained by the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the USA). The SILSO mean monthly sunspot counts are available from January 1749 to November 2015 as of this writing. The latter segment of the data series starting from January 1818 contains additional information including the number of different counts taken and both the mean and the standard deviation of these counts. This portion of the dataset is considered to be more reliable than the older data (Clette, 2014) (SIDC, 2015) and it therefore forms the principal source data for this investigation. The time series of monthly mean sunspot counts are decomposed into two components – a cyclical component and a random component. The cyclical component is estimated with a triangular wave generator for Microsoft Excel provided by e-circuitcenter.com (Circuit Center, 2008). The VBA code used is included in the Appendix. The function can generate an asymmetric triangular wave in time with specified low value, high value, time to reach the high value from the low value, and time to reach the low value from the high value. Two cycles are overlaid, one short wave and one long wave. The short wave cycle is used to describe the 11-year solar cycle and the long wave is used to capture the gradual waxing and waning of the amplitude of the solar cycle. The low value is set to zero for both cycles. Prediction errors are computed as the difference between observed counts and the counts predicted by the two overlaid wave functions. The optimal values of the wave parameters are then estimated by minimizing the sum of squared prediction errors with a Generalized Reduced Gradient (GRG) trial and error procedure provided in Excel’s “Solver” tool (Munshi, Methods for Estimating the Hurst Exponent of Stock Returns, 2015).
4. A hypothesis test of the correlation is used to determine whether the optimal wave functions explain a sufficient fraction of the total sum of squared deviations from the mean to represent the underlying cyclical component of the sunspot phenomenon. The hypotheses are stated as H0: ρ=0 versus HA: ρ>0, where ρ represents the correlation in the underlying population from which the sample was taken. If H0: ρ=0 is rejected, the residuals of the optimal waveform are taken to be the random component of the sunspot count series and subjected to further tests with Rescaled Range Analysis to determine whether the residuals are Gaussian or whether they contain the so called Hurst phenomenon that implies long term memory and persistence (Hurst, 1951) (Koutsoyiannis D. , 2002) (Mandelbrot-Wallis, 1969). Hypothesis tests are carried out at a maximum false positive error rate of α=0.001 per comparison in accordance with “Revised standards for statistical evidence” published by the National Academy of Sciences (Johnson, 2013). For multiple comparisons the total study-wide error rate is reported with a Bonferroni adjustment (Holm, 1979). Rescaled range analysis is carried out by taking subsamples without replacement from the residuals in eight cycles. The total sample size of the residuals is N=2375. In the first cycle, 2 subsamples of ѵ≈1187 are taken, in the second cycle 3 subsamples of ѵ≈791, and in the eighth cycle 24 subsamples of ѵ≈99 are taken. The complete sub-sampling strategy is described in Table 1 where n refers to the average sample size per cycle.
5. The value of the Hurst exponent H is computed according to the equation R/S = ѵ^H where R/S is the rescaled range, ѵ is the subsample size, and H is the Hurst exponent. The rescaled range for each subsample is computed as the range of the cumulative sums of differences from the mean that has been “rescaled” by the standard deviation of the subsample. This is the key variable that makes it possible for the exponent H to distinguish a Gaussian series with no dependence or memory from a Hurst series that exhibits long term memory and persistence. The value of H lies in the range 0<H<1. In theory, a value of H=0.5 indicates a Gaussian series with the interval 0<H<0.5 indicating anti-persistence and the interval 0.5<H<1 indicating persistence (Hurst, 1951) (Mandelbrot B. , 1972). These theoretical interpretations apply only when both N and ѵ approach infinity. In actual empirical tests, the observed values of H are affected by N, ѵ, and the sub-sampling structure used in the test (Granero, 2008). In addition, the method employed in estimating the mean unbiased value of H implied by the subsamples also affects the results (Munshi, Methods for Estimating the Hurst Exponent of Stock Returns, 2015) (Munshi, The Hurst exponent of precipitation, 2015). Therefore, it is necessary to calibrate the sampling structure and estimation method with a known Gaussian series to determine the neutral Gaussian value of H under identical test conditions. The observed value of H for the test series is then compared with the calibrated neutral value to determine whether the data contain evidence of non-Gaussian behavior. Each subsample implies a value of H. The best unbiased estimate of H from all 75 subsamples is made using four different estimation methods for both the test series and the calibration Gaussian series. They are (1) a simple mean of all 75 H values, (2) a weighted mean of the H values, (3) a simple linear regression with y=ln(R/S) and x=ln(ѵ) with the intercept set to zero, and (4) a weighted regression of the same linear model. In the weighted procedures the values taken from a subsample are weighted by the size of the subsample which varies from 1188 to 99. All four estimates are compared with the corresponding calibration values and the difference tested for statistical significance at α=0.001. Non-Gaussian behavior is implied only if the null hypothesis that ΔH=0 is rejected in all four tests.
6. Figure 1: Monthly mean sunspot counts Jan 1818 to November 2015 and the optimal regular wave function (ORW)
7. In Figure 1 the irregular wave of the monthly mean sunspot count data series is shown in red and the optimal regular wave function (ORW) in blue. The graph covers the entire study period from January 1818 to November 2015. The ORW is estimated with a Generalized Reduced Gradient numerical method that minimizes the sum of squared prediction errors (Munshi, Methods for Estimating the Hurst Exponent of Stock Returns, 2015). Details of the ORW appear in the table below Figure 1. The ORW consists of a short wave and a long wave. The optimal ORW parameters are those at which the sum of squared prediction errors is minimized. This condition yields an asymmetric short wave solar cycle with a rising period of 50 months and a falling period of 81 months; with a total period of 131 months being very close to the well-known 11-year solar cycle. The initial amplitude of the short wave solar cycle is 100 sunspots but it follows a long wave with an amplitude of 130 sunspots. The long wave is symmetrical with a period of 100 years and it implies that the amplitude of the short wave solar cycle varies from 100 to 230 sunspots in a 100-year cycle as evident from the graphical display in Figure 1 where we see a close correspondence between the data and the ORW. This visual intuition is supported by the statistics in the table below Figure 1 which show that more than 50% of the sum of squared deviations of sunspot counts from the mean are explained by the ORW model yielding a correlation coefficient of 0.745. The statistical significance of this correlation is established by the high value of the t-statistic of t=81.72 shown in the table below Figure 1. These relationships support the assumption that the ORW is the true underlying phenomenon of nature that generates sunspots and that variations from it represent the randomness of nature. The ORW residuals are shown in Figure 2 along with a corresponding random Gaussian series. The visual comparison indicates that the ORW residuals are not Gaussian because they contain patterns.
8. Patterns in residuals often imply that the model is incomplete because it has missed certain behaviors in the data. However, it can also mean that the residual patterns are the product of the Hurst phenomenon in which dependence and long term memory in random data generate faux patterns (Hurst, 1951) (Koutsoyiannis, 2002). Behavior of this kind in sunspot data has been reported in previous studies as a way of addressing the irregularity of solar cycles (Kim, 2006) (Zhou, 2014) (Watari, 1995). In this study we use rescaled range analysis to determine whether the Hurst exponent of the ORW residuals can provide a suitable explanation for the observed patterns. Four different methods are used for the estimation of H with rescaled range analysis. The table below shows that in all four cases, The Hurst exponent of the ORW residuals greatly exceeds the neutral Gaussian value in the calibration series. The least difference is 0.2266 observed in the last row of the table for the weighted OLS estimation method. The standard error of the two values of H are computed as 0.003 and 0.00275 and the standard deviation of the sampling distribution of differences is estimated to be 0.004. The corresponding t-statistic is t=56.56 indicating a strong statistical significance of the difference. We conclude that the Hurst exponent of the random component of the sunspot data is higher than the neutral Gaussian value and that therefore the ORW residuals contain the Hurst phenomenon of long term memory and persistence. Such behavior in the residuals can explain the apparent patterns in the data as shown in the charts below.
   

   

   

9. CONCLUSION: A hurdle to the analysis and understanding of the cyclical behavior of sunspot counts has been the irregular nature of these cycles. We therefore propose that the phenomenon is best described as the sum of two components – one regular and cyclical and the other irregular and random. For mean monthly sunspot counts in the sample period 1/1818-11/2015 we show that the regular and cyclical component of the phenomenon consists of two superimposed wave functions, one a short wave and the other a long wave. The short wave is identified as a 131-month asymmetric and triangular cycle of sunspot counts with a 50-month rising leg and an 81-month falling leg. The long wave is found to be a 100-year symmetric triangular wave in which the amplitude of the short wave fluctuates between 100 and 230 sunspots. This optimal regular component of sunspot number behavior is constructed by minimizing the residuals of the compound wave function. It is shown that these residuals are not random Gaussian but that they tend to form patterns.
10. Rescaled range analysis of the residuals shows that they contain the Hurst effect of memory and persistence and it is proposed that the patterns in the residuals may be explained in terms of the Hurst phenomenon of nature. This finding suggests that, at an annual time scale, the behavior of sunspot cycles may be understood in terms of its regular and cyclical components overlaid with a Hurst process. It is not likely that such persistence exists at the longer time scale of 11 years at which the sunspot cycle is studied in the context of climate change [LINK] . With thanks to @pgeerkens on twitter.

REFERENCES

1. Box, G. (1994). Time series analysis: forecasting and control. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
2. Circuit Center. (2008). Triangle Wave Generator. Retrieved 2015, from ecircuitcenter.com: http://www.ecircuitcenter.com/VBA/Topics/Tri_Wave/Tri_Wave.htm
3. Clette, F. (2014). Revisiting the Sunspot Number. A 400-Year Perspective on the Solar Cycle.
4. Clette, F.,Svalgaard, L., Vaquero, J.M., Cliver, E. W.,“Revisiting the Sunspot NumbeSpace Science Reviews ,
5. Clette,F., Svalgaard, L., Vaquero, J.M., Cliver, E. W.,“Revisiting the Sunspot Volume 186, Issue 1-4, pp. 35-103.
6. Draper&Smith. (1998). Applied Regression Analysis. Wiley.
7. Fox, P. (2004). Solar variabiity and its effects on climate. ISBN 0-87590-406-8: American Geophysical Union.
8. Granero, S. (2008). Some comments on Hurst exponent and the long term processes on capital markets. Physica A , 5543-5551.
9. Haigh, J. (2007). The sun and the earth’s climate, in “Living Reviews in Solar Physics”. Livingreviews.org.
10. Hathaway, D. (1994). The shape of the sunspot cycle. Silar Physics , 151: 177-190.
11. Hathaway, D. (2010). The Solar Cycle. Lindau, Germany: Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research.
12. Holm, S. (1979). A simple sequentially rejective multiple test procedure. Scandinavian Journal of Statistics , 6:2:65-70.
13. Hurst, H. (1951). Long term storage capacity of reservoirs. Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers , 6: 770-799.
14. Johnson, V. (2013). Revised standards for statistical evidence. Retrieved 2015, from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: http://www.pnas.org/content/110/48/19313.full
15. Kim, R. (2006). Fractal Dimension and Maximum Sunspot Number in Solar Cycle. JOURNAL OF ASTRONOMY AND SPACE SCIENCE , 23:227-236.
16. Koutsoyiannis, D. (2003). Climate change, the Hurst phenomenon, and hydrological statistics. Hydrological Sciences , 48/1: 3-24.
17. Koutsoyiannis, D. (2002). The Hurst Phenomenon and fractional Gaussian noise. Hydrological Sciences , 47/4: 573-596.
18. Mandelbrot, B. (1972). Statistical methodoloy for non-period cycles: from covariance to R/S analysis. Economic and Social Measurement , 1: 259-290.
19. Mandelbrot, B. (1965). Une classe de processus stochastiques homothetiques . C. R. Acad. Sci. , 260: 3277-3284.
20. Mandelbrot-Wallis. (1969). Robustness of the rescaled range R/S in the measurement of noncyclic longrun statistival dependence. Water Resources Research , 5: 967-988.
21. Miletsky, E. (2014). Interrelation between the amplitude and length of the 11-year sunspot cycle. GEOMAGNETISM AND AERONOMY , 54(8):1000-1005.
22. Munshi, J. (2015). Methods for Estimating the Hurst Exponent of Stock Returns. Retrieved 2015, from SSRN.COM: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2564916
23. Munshi, J. (2015). The Hurst exponent of precipitation. Retrieved 2015, from SSRN.COM: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2695753
24. Munshi, J. (2015). The Hurst Exponent of Surface Temperature. Retrieved 2015, from ssrn.com:http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2689425
25. Munshi, J. (2014). There is no chaos in stock markets. Retrieved 2015, from ssrn.com:http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2448648
26. Munshi2. (2015). Methods for estimating the Hurst exponent of stock returns. Retrieved 2015, from ssrn.com: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2564916
27. Rogers, M. (2006). Long term variabiity in the length of the solar cycle. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific , 121/881.
28. SIDC. (2015). Sunspot number. Retrieved 2015, from SIDC SILSO: http://www.sidc.be/silso/datafiles
29. Usoskin, I. (2009). A solar cycle lost. The Astrophysical Journal , 700:2, L154.
30. Usoskin, I. (2007). Grand minima and maxima of solar activity. Astronomy and Astrophysics , 471/ 1: 301-309.
31. Watari, S. (1995). Fractal dimensions of solar activity. Tokyo, Japan: Communications Research Laboratory.
32. Weart, S. (2003). Changing sun, changing climate? in “The Discovery of Global Warnubg”. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
33. Yan, X. (2013). Phase Relationship Between Sunspot Number, Flare Index and Solar Radio Flux. JOURNAL OF ASTROPHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY , 33(4).
34. Zhou, S. (2014). Low-dimensional chaos and fractal properties of long-term sunspot activity. Research in Astronomy and Physics , Vol. 14 No. 1, 104–11

The explanation of the oddity that all climate impacts are bad, that all bad things are climate impacts, and that in the science of climate impacts there is no good impact and no attribution failure in the face of large uncertainties is that climate science is not unbiased objective scientific inquiry but agenda driven to provide the rationale needed for a pre-determined climate action agenda. The climate action agenda is not made to fit the science but rather it is the science that has to fit the climate action agenda.

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Press Conference at the Launch of the IPCC Synthesis Report (Tivoli Conference Center, Lumbye Room) (REMARKS, Q&A) (with Mrs. Ban) (Nesirky)

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THE UNITED NATIONS IS AN UNCONSTRAINED BUREAUCRACY

ABSTRACT: It is well known that public sector bureaucracies without adequate constraint, oversight, audit, and accountability can devolve into self-serving organisms. The United Nations and its many agencies and programs are ultimately funded by taxpayers but they are too far removed from those taxpayers to be directly accountable to them. But who will discipline the UN? Agency theory ensures that no single country will venture to absorb the cost of disciplining the UN while gaining only pro-rata benefits. United Nations agencies and programs like the UNEP, IPCC, UNCFCCC, the Montreal Protocol, the Kyoto Protocol and their related frameworks, conventions and other bureaucratic artifacts are therefore allowed to operate under insufficient constraint, transparency, oversight, or discipline. Under these conditions they can morph into bureaucratic organisms that operate for their own needs and no longer serve the public interest. A case study of the UNEP and its related agencies, programs, framework conventions, and protocols exposes structural weaknesses that allowed the bureaucracy to extract rents and grow by selling environmental fear and assigning themselves the high office of saving the planet. This sequence was played out in two different episodes.

In the first episode a fear of ozone depletion was sold and after successfully implementing a worldwide ban on alleged ozone depleting substances, the UN declared victory even though no evidence exists of long term trends in latitudinally averaged global mean total column ozone. The absence of trends indicates that the problem that was solved never existed in the first place. Deetails of the ozone depletion scare are provided in related posts on this site: [LINK]   In the second episode, they sold fear of catastrophic global warming and climate change allegedly caused by fossil fuel emissions in an interglacial where four natural global warming cycles preceded the current global warming cycle. The attribuion to humans is based only on the observation that the industrial revolution preceded the begining of the warming that was originally claimed to be 1760 and then moved in stages all the way up to 1950 to fit the data. This hypothesis cannot be tested because a hypotheesis derived from the data cannot be tested with the same data. More to the point, the UN failed to duplicate their success in the first episode. The UN’s utter confusion in global warming issue created an endless series of annual meetings of thousands of delegates at exotic locations with the only concrete achievement of each meeting being that of setting the date and place for the next meeting. Related post: [LINK]  

These episodes serve as evidence that unconstrained and undisciplined public sector bureaucracies do not serve the interest of the public. They can therefore be safely dismantled without any harm to the public interest.

The United Nations is financed mostly by taxpayers from a few donor countries but the large and growing bureaucracy is too far removed from those taxpayers to be directly accountable to them. It is run by unelected, unaccountable, undisciplined, and incompetent bureaucrats. The organization’s size, budget, and scope are unconstrained. The budget funding process provides perverse incentives for these bureaucrats to increase the size and scope of their organization simply by creating multitudes of agencies and programs, and by inventing problems and environmental crises set on a global scale.The remarkable success of the EPA of the USA made it a model for environmental law and environmental protection in countries around the world (Ruckelshaus, 1984) (Andreen, 2004) (Dolin, 2008). It was in this context that renowned Canadian environmentalist and visionary Maurice Strong saw the need for a global version of the EPA that could work at a planetary level with a global reach unhindered by national boundaries (Ward, 1972). He convened the UN meeting on the environment in Stockholm in 1972. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) was conceived in Stockholm and soon thereafter approved by the UN General Assembly with Maurice Strong as its first Executive Director (Bodansky, 2001) (Ball, 2015).

The UNEP quickly became the nucleus of a large and growing cluster of United Nations agencies, secretariats, programs, frameworks, conventions, protocols, and conferences. As of this writing they include the Montreal Protocol, the Ozone Secretariat, the Kyoto Protocol, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), Agenda 21, United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA), UNEP Climate Action, and long sequence of Conference of Parties (COP) annual meetings starting with COP1 in 1995 to COP21 in 2015.Planetary Environmentalism: Ozone Depletion:

CONCLUSIONS

It is well known that public sector bureaucracies without adequate constraint, oversight, audit, and accountability can devolve into self-serving organisms. The United Nations and its many agencies and programs are ultimately funded by taxpayers but they are too far removed from those taxpayers to be directly accountable to them. But who will discipline the UN? Agency theory ensures that no single country will venture to absorb the cost of disciplining the UN while gaining only pro-rata benefits. United Nations agencies and programs like the UNEP, IPCC, UNCFCCC, the Montreal Protocol, the Kyoto Protocol and their related frameworks, conventions and other bureaucratic artifacts are therefore allowed to operate under insufficient constraint, transparency, oversight, or discipline. Under these conditions they can morph into bureaucratic organisms that operate for their own needs and no longer serve the public interest. A case study of the UNEP and its related agencies, programs, framework conventions, and protocols exposes structural weaknesses that allowed the bureaucracy to extract rents and grow by selling environmental fear and assigning themselves the high office of saving the planet. This sequence was played out in two different episodes. In the first episode a fear of ozone depletion was sold and after successfully implementing a worldwide ban on alleged ozone depleting substances, the UN declared victory even though no evidence exists of long term trends in latitudinally averaged global mean total column ozone. The absence of trends indicates that the problem that was solved never existed in the first place. In the second episode, they sold fear of catastrophic global warming and climate change allegedly caused by fossil fuel emissions but failed to duplicate their success in the first episode because their own bureaucratic incompetence created an emissions reduction plan that was too complicated too costly to implement. These barriers ensured an endless series of annual meetings of thousands of delegates at exotic locations with the only concrete achievement of each meeting being that of setting the date and place for the next meeting. These episodes serve as evidence that unconstrained and undisciplined public sector bureaucracies do not serve the interest of the public. They can therefore be safely dismantled without any harm to the public interest. 

RELATED POST ON THE DANIELJMITCHELL SITE: [LINK]  

APPENDIX: CRITICAL EVALUATION OF THE IPCC REPORTS

Although the IPCC was set up as an independent and neutral scientific body to objectively synthesize the current state of climate science purely on its merits and to translate that information into possible impacts and their policy implications, no UN oversight mechanism existed to ensure its objectivity or to audit the scientific credibility of its work. Possibly due to outside influences, the organization quickly turned into an advocacy group for CAGW with their AR documents closely following the Hansen narrative describing the catastrophic consequences of fossil fuel emissions (Hansen, 1988) (Hansen, 2016) (IPCC, 2007) (IPCC, 2014). There is no mention of opposing views or of alternative interpretations of the data in these documents. Large uncertainties in natural flows and in the various estimates of the so called “climate sensitivity” parameter were downplayed. The range of values of uncertain variables are reported as 90% Confidence Intervals (CI) even after the National Academy of Sciences published “Revised standards for statistical evidence” that implied that the appropriate CI should be greater than 99% (Johnson, 2013). Errors in past forecasts were ignored and successive AR reports continued to increase the extent of climate catastrophe in their forecasts. The IPCC AR reports are biased. They are primarily concerned with selling the idea of climate change calamity and its mitigation by emission reduction. Their use of science is limited to its utility in supporting that primary purpose. The bias in IPCC AR documents is documented in a 2010 commentary by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency which took it upon itself to audit the IPCC AR4 WG2 forecasts and concluded that “The IPCC systematically favors adverse outcomes in a way that goes beyond serving the needs of policymakers.” (PBL, 2010). Some points from the PBL audit are summarized below.
1. Exaggeration: The area in the Netherlands that the IPCC said was at risk of flooding by the sea was exaggerated.
2. A systemic tendency by the IPCC to stress negative effects of climate change and to ignore positive effects to the point of a built in misleading bias in the IPCC reports.
3. A systemic tendency to make generalized statements that actually refer to localized data: Example 1. The statement that “by 2020 in some countries yields from rain fed agriculture could be reduced to 50%” was based on a paper that was specific to Morocco. Also the paper said that the 50% reduction in yields would occur only in drought years and not in other years. This information was left out of the IPCC report and the yield reduction was generalized to all years.

4. A systemic tendency to make generalized statements that actually refer to localized data: Example 2. A statement in a source document about lower yields of millet, groundnuts, and cowpeas in Niger was generalized by the IPCC to the entire Sahel region and to all crops.

5. A systemic tendency to make generalized statements that actually refer to localized data: Example: A statement in the source document specific to cattle in Argentina was generalized by the IPCC to all livestock in all of South America.

6. Statements are made without any supporting data or references: Example: The claim by the IPCC that fresh water availability in southern and eastern Asia will decline is not supported by data or by a citation.
7. Statements are made without any supporting data or references: Example: The claim by the IPCC that in balance the net health effect of global warming in Europe will be negative is not supported by data or by a citation.
8. Bad news bias: Where an alarmist statement is supported by a citation, the IPCC interpretation is more alarmist than the text in the citation. Bad news bias: The IPCC report tends to be unremittingly about the harmful impacts of climate change. There is a complete absence of beneficial impacts.
10. Vulnerability bias: Countries classified by the IPCC as vulnerable are asked to make a self-assessment of their vulnerability. These self-assessments are included in the AR without modification. It is known that vulnerability is directly proportional to adaptation funding from Annex-1 countries. The opportunity and motivation for bias in these self-assessments are ignored by the IPCC.
11. The alarming and negative impression of IPCC reports on their readers would not exist if the IPCC presented the source material without bias and with a more narrow and objective interpretation without injecting the authors’ judgment.
12. Statistical fraud: A rise in heat related deaths in Australia is presented by the IPCC as due to rising temperatures. This rise disappears if we look at heat related deaths as a percent of population. This means that the IPCC misrepresented a population effect as a global warming effect. However, it must be said that it has not been determined whether this error is the product of fraud or of incompetence.

Yet another independent audit of the IPCC AR4 was carried out in 2011 by the Inter Academy Council. (IAC), an international scientific body. The IAC audit found as follows:
1. The IPCC does not address genuine controversies.
2. Probabilities of events are reported without sufficient evidence and without providing a basis for how the probability was evaluated.
3. IPCC communication and selection procedures emphasize secrecy not transparency,
4. A sufficiently wide range of scientific viewpoints is not considered and due consideration is not given to properly documented alternative views.

REFERENCES 

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[LIST OF POSTS ON THIS SITE]

How we know that climate change is happening and that humans are causing it

1. CLAIM: The facts are these: The climate of our planet is changing at a pace unlike anything seen in the natural fluctuations traced across geological records, and scientists have therefore traced this global warming trend to human activity. RESPONSE: In related posts on this site it is shown that “natural fluctuations” in the Eemian interglacial, that immediately precedes our Holocene interglacial, are greater than what is seen in our current interglacial [EEMIAN LINK] .
2. CLAIM: “The upper atmosphere is cooling while the lower atmosphere is warming,” he says. “You don’t get that without changing the composition of the atmosphere. We’re seeing changes you would theoretically see in a warming world”. RESPONSE: This is the so called “stratospheric cooling” argument. Climate models predict that the GHG heat trapping effect of atmospheric CO2 should simultaneously warm the troposphere and cool the lower stratosphere. These trends are found in the data. However, their interpretation in terms of a proof of the GHG effect of atmospheric CO2 by way of simultaneous warming of the troposphere and cooling of the stratosphere is not possible because the required correlation is not found. The analysis is presented in a related post at this site [STRATOSPHERIC COOLING LINK] .
3. CLAIM: Data from Scripps Institution of Oceanography Mauna Loa Observatory show that atmospheric CO2 concentration has been rising since 1958 with a little over 300 parts per million by volume (ppm) to over 400 ppm in 2017. Carbon dioxide made up 81 percent of the United States’ greenhouse gas emissions in 2014. Fossil fuels and certain chemical reactions produce this odorless, colorless gas that traps heat in the atmosphere. Despite sinks that remove CO2 from the atmosphere such as soils, forests, and the ocean, industrial-era emissions have steadily raised atmospheric CO2 levels to the highest they have ever been in hundreds of millions of years. Reducing fossil fuel emissions is the number one way to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels. Energy efficiency, carbon capture, and market-based controls are among the most effective measures to curb fossil fuel emissions and to stop the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. RESPONSE: In a related post it is shown that the carbon cycle flow accounting used to attribute rising atmospheric CO2 concentration to fossil fuel emissions contains circular reasoning because this relationship is used to infer the much larger and unmeasurable natural flows of the carbon cycle [CARBON CYCLE LINK] . It is also shown with detrended correlation analysis that atmospheric CO2 concentration is not responsive to fossil fuel emissions [RESPONSIVENESS LINK] and that therefore no empirical evidence exists to support the assumed attribution of changes in atmospheric CO2 to fossil fuel emissions; or for the climate action assumption that reductions in fossil fuel emissions will reduce the rate of increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration. It should also be noted that the claim that atmospheric CO2 concentration today is the highest it has been in hundreds of millions of years is not correct  ([LINK] [LINK] [LINK].
4. CLAIM:  The U.S. Drought Monitor shows that 12.2% of the USA is currently impacted by drought with 0.34% in extreme drought conditions. A drought is a prolonged period of dry weather that occurs when there’s an imbalance between evaporation and precipitation. It’s the real-world consequence of rising temperatures and can have devastating impacts on human health, food availability, animals, and soil. Greenhouse gas reduction will help in the long term to moderate these effects of climate change.  RESPONSE: In a related post it is shown that the Palmer Drought Severity Index for eleven states of the USA from 1908 to 2018 does not show a pattern consistent with the interpretation that these drought events are driven by anthropogenic global warming or that they can be moderated by reducing fossil fuel emissions [DROUGHT LINK] .
5. CLAIM: The current rate of change of the Global Mean Sea Level (GMSL)Measured in: mm (millimeters) anomaly is a rise of 3.4 mm/year. The rise is due to melting ice and a warming oceans. Though the global sea level is also affected by short-term climate phenomena and geographic factors, it is closely linked to temperature. Sea levels rose consistently throughout the 20th century, leaving coastal regions more vulnerable to flooding, storm surges, and salt water seeping into freshwater aquifers and affecting plant and animal habitats. These changes can and should be controlled by reducing fossil fuel emissions. RESPONSE: A paper published in 2018 by Peter Clark of Oregon State University does show a statistical relationship between the rate of sea level rise and the rate of fossil fuel emissions such that sea level rise can be attributed to fossil fuel emissions and it can be argued that emission reduction will attenuate the rate of sea level rise. However, as shown in a related post, the correlation between cumulative emissions and cumulative sea level rise used in that paper is spurious  [CLARK PAPER LINK]. When the analysis is carried out at finite time scales to overcome the statistical issue in the Clark paper, the correlation reported by Clark is not found [SEA LEVEL RISE LINK] . The data do not show that the observed rate of sea level rise can be attributed to fossil fuel emissions. Thus there is no evidence that reducing fossil fuel emissions can be used to control the rate of sea level rise.
6. CLAIM: The global mean temperature estimates show that 2016 was the hottest year ever recorded, with global average temperatures reaching 1.69°F above the 20th-century average. Temperature is a direct effect of global warming. It is also the primary driver for other climate change phenomena like droughts, typhoons, hurricanes, wildfires, and habitat change. Human health and food and water availability are also tied to temperature. It is possible and necessary to control temperature rise by reducing fossil fuel emissions. RESPONSE: Climate science holds that the progress of anthropogenic global warming (AGW) must be measured as long term temperature trends. It is not possible to relate temperature events to AGW because they do not represent a long enough time span and they do not measure the rate of warming. Specifically in this case it should be considered that 2016 was a monster El Nino year and the high temperature reported here tells us about the variability of El Nino events but it does not contain information about a long term warming trend that can be interpreted in terms of global warming and climate change. These hot year and hot month events serve only to raise the fear factor among the public with an inadequate understanding of climate science and yet they are used by climate scientists themselves. The need for such alarmism in climate science implies that the science has become corrupted with activism, Please see paragraph#15 in the related post on activism in climate science [CLIMATE ACTIVISM LINK] .
7. CLAIM: The average SST in 2016 was the warmest ever recorded, averaging 0.75°C warmer than last century’s average. Our oceans absorb heat, and the more they absorb, the warmer they get. This doesn’t just affect marine life, disrupting fish populations, fueling algal blooms, and killing coral. Higher sea surface temperatures also create more atmospheric water vapor. The less heat the oceans must absorb, the cooler they’ll be. There’s only one way to accomplish that: Reduce fossil fuel emissions.  RESPONSE:  The study of SST ( sea surface temperature) as an indicator of AGW should follow the same type of analysis as global mean temperature in terms of long term trends because temperature events do not have long term interpretations. The high SST cited here is evidence of a strong El Nino year. It has no interpretation and no implication for climate change. It serves only certain activism needs and tells us nothing about AGW. Please see paragraph#15 in this related post [CLIMATE ACTIVISM LINK]
   6. CLAIM: Data for Arctic and Antarctic Sea Ice Extent measured in sq km (square kilometers) in which there is at least 15 percent ice In January 2017 show that  Arctic sea ice extent was 13.4 million sq km—1.3 million sq kim less than the 1981-2010 mean for January. The Antarctic sea ice extent was 4.0 million sq km—0.6 million sq km less than the 1981-2010 mean for January.  The polar ice caps have existed for millions of years. Not only are they a reliable indicator of climate change, but they reflect sunlight. That high albedo (reflectivity) helps deflect solar radiation, cooling off Earth. As the ice caps shrink, they stop cooling the poles. The less ice at the poles, the faster global warming will occur. In addition, the ice caps interact with animals (they’re habitat for everything from polar bears to penguins) and influence far-away weather. And as ice caps melt, they increase sea levels around the world. These changes can and should be moderated by reducing fossil fuel emissions. RESPONSE: Sea ice data for January 2017 in isolation as compared with the 1981-2010 average contains no useful information about trends in Arctic and Antarctic sea ice. Most climate scientists study long term trends in sea ice extent from 1979 to the year of the study in the summer minimum (September for the Arctic and February for the Antarctic) and the winter maximum (March for the Arctic and September for the Antarctic). Long term trends in sea ice extent for all twelve calendar months are shown for the period 1979-2018 in related posts at this site for the Arctic and the Antarctic [ARCTIC SEA ICE LINK]   [ANTARCTIC SEA ICE LINK] . These complex trends make it clear that the data posted by Popular Science to indicate that the January sea ice extent in 2017 was about 10% less in the Arctic and 15% less in the Antarctic than the average sea ice extent in the period 1981-2010 contains no useful information that can be interpreted in terms of AGW. In addition, the statement that “as ice caps melt, they increase sea levels around the world” is mysterious as melting sea ice does not raise sea level. The work done at this site shows that there are no long term trends in Antarctic sea ice  [ANTARCTIC SEA ICE LINK]  and that Arctic sea ice trends are complex and vary greatly among calendar months. Although some declining trends were found, there was insufficient correlation to attribute those changes to fossil fuel emissions. In brief, long term trends in sea ice extent are more complex than what has been implied in the Popular Science study [LINK] .

[LIST OF POSTS ON THIS SITE]

[LIST OF POSTS ON THIS SITE]

1. 1980, GLOBAL WARMING TREND IS HINTED: A comparison of the period 1974-1978 to the period 1930-1934 shows that (a) there is less packed ice fringing Antarctica and that (b) the average surface temperature in the zone of northern melting snows is 0.9 C warmer. These data are evidence of a warming trend. Antarctica is melting due to a global warming trend.
2. 1980, CARBON DIOXIDE COULD CHANGE WEATHER: Since 1850 and the Industrial Revolution we have doubled atmospheric CO2 and if we  continue to burn fossil fuels it could double again in the next fifty years (2030) because fossil fuels produce carbon dioxide faster than plants can absorb them. Warming could cause the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to crack and slide into the ocean to raise sea levels by 16 feet and submerge Florida. There are too many uncertainties to asses the economic impact.
3. 1981, AIR POLLUTANTS COMPLICATE GLOBAL WARMING PROBLEM: Chlorofluorocarbons, like carbon dioxide, also trap heat and cause global warming that can lead to melting polar ice caps and rising sea levels. The combination of CFC and CO2 emitted by human activity in the 1980s will raise temperature by 0.2 to 0.3 C rising above the level of the 1930s, the warmest period of this century. The mean surface temperature along the spring and summer line of melting snow in the Northern Hemisphere has gone up. These measurements were taken where the climate models had predicted they would be. The decline in fall and winter temperatures in the 1970s was an exception to the general rule. In addition, CFCs also threaten the protective ozone shield against harmful solar radiation.
4. 1981, ICE CAP MELTING FORECAST: Institute for Space Studies, NYC: Rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere could bring a global warming of unprecedented magnitude melting the polar ice caps and flooding lowlands in the next century. The temperature rise could be 4.5 to 8 F depending on the growth in fossil fuel consumption. A doubling of CO2 will cause a temperature rise of 6 F. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet is vulnerable to rapid disintegration and melting. A global mean temperature rise of 3.6 F could cause a rise of 9 F at Antarctica melting the Ice Sheet and raising sea levels by 15 to 20 feet and flooding 25% of Florida and Louisiana within a span of 100 years or less.
5. 1982, GOVERNMENTS IGNORING GLOBAL WARMING TREND: The use of fossil fuels will cause atmospheric carbon dioxide to double in the next 40 to 100 years raising temperatures by an average of 5 F by virtue of the greenhouse effect because carbon dioxide traps heat. The warming will cause polar ice to melt. In high northern latitudes spring will come earlier and earlier and winter later and later causing a decline in soil moisture. Warmer temperatures and less rainfall will devastate agriculture in much of the United States and the Soviet Union but a more regular monsoon pattern in India will increase rice production. Glaciers will melt and raise sea levels. But the government is not taking these forecasts seriously because scientists have not been able to communicate useful information to them and because some scientists have disputed these forecasts saying that warming can be self-correcting because it causes the formation of more clouds that reflect sunlight. Because there will be winners and losers from global warming, scientists cannot tell policymakers whether the net effect will be positive or negative. There is not a clear message for policymakers. The US government has cut research funds for the study of global warming from $14 million to $9 million eliminating the study of the social and political impact of global warming. Global warming is not a catastrophe because rich nations have the resources to deal with it and most of the developing countries will actually be better off.
6. 1982, GLOBAL MEAN SEA LEVEL AN INDICATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE, Two NOAA scientists published a paper in Science to say that in the period 1940-1980 50,000 cubic km of polar ice has melted by global warming and the sea level has risen by thermal expansion as well as the added water from the ice melt. Global warming is “due in some degree presumably to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide” is self-canceling because melting ice absorbs latent heat and cools the ocean. As polar ice melts, the resultant re-distribution of the earth’s mass slows down its rotational speed. In the 40-year period studied, earth’s rotational speed was thus slowed by 0.00000004%.
7. 1983, EPA GIVES GLOOMY PREDICTIONS ON GREENHOUSE EFFECT: The world is powerless to prevent a greenhouse effect that will dramatically alter food production and living patterns. Instead of fighting the inevitable world leaders should be planning how to cope with its catastrophic impact. Coastal cities without sea-walls will be flooded. The climate of NYC will be like the climate now found in Florida. The US wheat belt will move northward. All because of global warming caused by a buildup of carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels. By the year 2100 these changes will produce catastrophic results. We should respond to this challenge with a sense of urgency. The warming process now set in place is irreversible and the dire predictions of global warming can only be delayed by a few years even with Draconian restrictions on fossil fuels. By the year 2000 the temperature could be 1.1 degrees higher, 3.6 degrees higher by 2040, and 9 degrees higher by 2100. The temperature rise in the poles will be three times higher melting the polar ice caps and causing sea levels to rise 3.5 inches by 2000, one foot by 2025, and five feet by 2100. More research is needed for better planning to cope with the changes. Some scientists expressed reservations about the report saying that the temperature and sea level rise predictions were probably exaggerated and that the alarmist tone of the report is unrealistic.
8. 1984, DAILY SHOWER MAY BE LUXURY IN WATER-SHORT FUTURE: Global warming caused by carbon dioxide pollution will cause noticeable warming by 2000 and increase the evaporation rate of water causing the level of the Great Lakes to drop 30% by 2050. These changes will cause a prolonged severe drought that will turn the American prairies into a dust bowl in the next few decades.
9. 1985, GLOBAL WARMING COULD CAUSE FUTURE PROBLEMS, Roger Barry, Univ of Colorado data center for glaciology. Atmospheric CO2 will double by the end of the century due to burning fossil fuels. CO2 induced warming will be evident in the 1990s particularly in the melting of glaciers and polar ice caps. Glacial melting in the last century is explained primarily by global warming. There is a possibility of a seasonally open Arctic (after the summer melt) in the next century brought about by a doubling of atmospheric CO2 but it is unlikely because Arctic ice “is more stable than we thought”. The future is pretty scary all the same.
10. 1985, WILL MOTHER NATURE’S SCREEN SAVE OUR CLIMATE? CO2 induced global warming is self correcting because warming increases cloud formation and clouds reflect sunlight back into space. Richard Somerville, Scripps Institute of Oceanography, UC San Diego.
11. 1985, SAGAN WARNS, STOP GREENHOUSE EFFECT NOW, Carl Sagan testimony in Senate hearing. Global warming will flood coastal cities and turn Midwest farmlands into a dust bowl. The greenhouse effect makes life possible but too much or too little will kill it off.Use of fossil fuels is pushing earth into too much. The answer is to reduce fossil fuel consumption by switching to nuclear and solar.  If we do nothing we condemn our children and grandchildren to the effects of global warming. The greenhouse effect of fossil fuels is the most dangerous threat to mankind we have ever faced.
12. 1985, RISING SEA LEVEL, The Polar Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences says that the sea level will rise 4-6 cm by 2000 and 12-27 cm by 2030 because global warming from the greenhouse effect will warm the oceans and melt glaciers and polar ice caps including Greenland.
13. 1986, SCIENTISTS PREDICT CATASTROPHE IN GROWING GLOBAL HEAT WAVE, Scientists at Senate subcommittee hearing. The greenhouse effect will cause the earth to be warmer in he next decade than at any other time in the last 100,000 years and cause shoreline erosion, droughts, and other catastrophic changes just as the depletion of the ozone layer is doing.
14. 1986, WARMING PANIC PREMATURE, presentation by NASA scientists to a Senate committee. The warnings of “greenhouse effect”  catastrophe by 2030 are overblown because the computer models used are not good enough to make those predictions. Northern hemisphere temperatures have declined in the last 50 years (since 1935). The National Research Council’s report of 1983 shows two warm years at the end of the record but that is not enough imply a warming trend. The Diaz and Quayle 1981 article in Monthly Weather Review shows a cooling trend from 1949 to 1979. The northern hemisphere temperature history detailed in the February 1986 issue of the Journal of Climate and Applied Meteorology does not show a warming trend. Although global warming is being promoted as “inescapable” and “undeniable” the caveat in the National Research Council’s 1983 paper says “we do not believe the overall pattern yet confirms temperature changes attributable to CO2”. The DOE’s 1985 report also makes similar caveats such as “the findings constitute insufficient evidence that the climate models are correctly projecting the effects of CO2 on climate”. Northern hemisphere ocean temperatures have not gone up since WW2. Since rising CO2 is not causing warming of the northern hemisphere there must be other more potent variables at work that are not in the model. An increase of 4% to 7% the formation of certain types of clouds could offset the heat effect of doubling CO2 (Bretherton and Coakley 1985). Yet, cirrus clouds are an unknown and not in the computer models.  Most of the computer models contain major limitations in oceanic heat transfer and changes in regional rainfall. The southern hemisphere is behaving differently and appears to be warming so perhaps the same will occur in the north eventually.
15. 1988, GLOBAL WARMING HAS BEGUN, EXPERTS TELL SENATE: James Hansen of NASA tells the US Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that “the earth has been warmer in the first five months of this year than in any comparable period since measurements began 130 years ago” and therefore that the effects of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels are now palpable. The nightmare has arrived, “the greenhouse effect is here” with the NYT reporting that “humans, by burning fossil fuels , have altered the global climate in a manner that will affect life on earth for centuries to come”. Southeast and Midwest states in the USA will experience “frequent episodes of very high temperatures and drought in the next decade and beyond”.
16. 1988, CLIMATE CHANGE ALREADY HAPPENING, A buildup of carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels  emitted by human activities into is causing the earth’s surface to warm by trapping infrared radiation from the sun and turning the entire earth into a kind of greenhouse – just as mathematical models had  predicted. Sometime between 2025 to 2050 the earth will be 3F to 9F warmer with higher latitudes 20F warmer. mathematical models had  predicted. Melting glaciers and polar ice and thermal expansion of the oceans will cause the sea level to rise by one to four feet by 2050.
17. 1988, WARMEST YEAR EXPECTED, The hottest years on record occurred in the 1980s with the first 5 months of this year very hot. Just as the models had predicted, the rise in temperature is greater in high latitudes than in low, is greater over continents than oceans, and there is cooling in the upper atmosphere as the lower atmosphere warms up. Clearly, global warming by greenhouse gas emissions as predicted by these computer models has begun. “We can ascribe with a high degree of confidence a cause and effect relationship between the greenhouse effect and observed warming.” The snow is melting earlier each year and the rain belt is moving northwards.
18. 1988, 35-NATION CONFERENCE ADDRESSES GLOBAL WARMING, A global warming meeting in Geneva will examine the scientific evidence. “The effort could lead to an international treaty to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide and other gases in the atmosphere that trap heat from the earth in a ”greenhouse effect” and to “justify actions by governments to limit and cope with climate change” . To mitigate global warming we must reduce the use of fossil fuels that produce carbon dioxide and also agree to further reductions in chlorofluorocarbons beyond the 50% reduction mandated in the Montreal Protocol. The global warming problem is real because ”We know that greenhouse gases are accumulating and in principle, they should lead to a global warming”.
19. 1989, DEFORESTATION SPEEDS UP GLOBAL WARMING, Destruction of forests will speed up global warming because the drying forests will release carbon dioxide. We need a sharp reduction in the use of fossil fuels that produce carbon dioxide, and end to deforestation, and a program of reforestation. The re-development of nuclear power could also slow global warming. The world must immediately ratify a treaty to reduce the use of chlorofluorocarbons because they destroy ozone and contribute to global warming.
20. 1989, GLOBAL WARMING STIRS STORM, “Despite Hansen’s assertions, there is widespread scientific disagreement over global warming trends. Some experts say there is no evidence that the climate has experienced any significant change over the past several decades.”
21. 1989, FORECAST DISSENT ON GLOBAL WARMING, Skeptics are challenging dire greenhouse views” (NYT). Skeptics contend that forecasts of global warming are flawed and overstated and that the future might even hold no significant warming at all and that if the warming is modest, as they believe likely, it could bring benefits like longer growing seasons in temperate zones, more rain in dry areas and an enrichment of crops and plant life”. “It would be a mistake to take drastic and costly steps to limit emissions of carbon dioxide”. Much of the dissenters’ criticism is aimed at computerized mathematical models of the world’s climate on which forecasts of global warming are largely based. The critics also cite data on past climatic trends, and they say the theory of greenhouse warming has not yet been fully explored. “”We have an incomplete theory with a lot of bad science being done”. ” Current forecasts of global warming ”are so inaccurate and fraught with uncertainty as to be useless to policy-makers,” Richard S. Lindzen.
22. 1989, RACE TO ASSESS GLOBAL WARMING, Scientists are using powerful computers and advanced mathematical models to simulate the world’s climate. The computer models predict that the greenhouse effect will make the earth warmer. The resulting climate change will have “important consequences for life on earth”. One problem is that the models don’t agree on what areas will suffer drought and where there will be increased precipitation. The dilemma faced by policymakers is that they don’t have information that is precise enough to make policy but if they wait for more precise information it may be too late to take effective action.
23. 1990, SCIENTIFIC CONSENSUS CONFIRMS GLOBAL WARMING (NYT) Global warming will cause serious environmental damage starting early in the next century long before the maximum predicted temperature is reached. We must set limits beyond which the global temperature and sea level should not be permitted to rise to avoid serious and ever increasing risks posed by the continued flow of heat trapping gases into the atmosphere at present rates. The IPCC report serves as a prelude to the Second World Climate Conference in Geneva later this year.
24. 1990, BUSH ADMINISTRATION COOL ON GLOBAL WARMING.(NYT)The Bush administration’s global warming policy is tepid because of conflicting views within the White House where some are skeptical of the computer models on which forecasts of global climate warming are based because these models have a history of past failures. These models are not good enough to form the basis for policy, they say, but that is only an excuse for inaction. Even though the computer models may not be precise, their forecasts are so grim that we must take corrective action immediately as we do not have to luxury of waiting until all the bugs are worked out. These actions should include preserving tropical forests, banning greenhouse chemicals, and increasing energy efficiency. 
25. 1990, EXPERTS WARN ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING COSTS. A UN panel of international climate experts came out to strongly support the global warming theory saying that the buildup of CO2 from fossil fuel consumption lead to rising temperatures worldwide, altered weather patterns, lower food production, and rising sea levels. In the long run the cost of inaction exceeds the cost of mitigation. The panel put political pressure on President Bush who is not inclined to take costly measures against CO2 as long as there are credible scientists who oppose the global warming theory and as long as there is no “scientific consensus” on the issue. 
26. 1991, PROMPT ACTION TO CURB GLOBAL WARMING THREAT,The National Academy of Sciences says US should act quickly to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by developing new generation nuclear power plants and by implementing reforestation, mass transit, and higher fuel efficiency standards for cars. The plan represents a compromise between the more extreme positions of the EPA and the Bush administration. Despite great uncertainties,global warming poses a threat sufficient to merit a prompt response. 
27. 1991, COST OF REVERSING GREENHOUSE EFFECT WILL BE HIGH. There is division in the scientific community as to the existence and the extent of the greenhouse effect. Environmentalists say that a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions from the industrialized countries is needed. An energy saving program could reduce CO2 emissions by 35% over the next 25 years but it will be costly and it assumes technological breakthroughs. 
28. 1991, COOLING IMPACT DISCLOSED. Burning fossil fuels produces aerosols that reflect sunlight and cool the earth. The resulting rise in temperature could more than offset the cooling achieved by reduction in CO2 emissions in the next 10 to 30 years according to an article in Nature by Prof Wigley, a climatologist at the University of East Anglia in England. The aerosol effect is a sleeping giant because it is something that has been missed and its effect is not trivial. It implies that reducing fossil fuel consumption will cause acceleration in global warming for 10 to 30 years before the gains from CO2 emission reduction kick in. 
29. 1991, PANEL SAYS THE U.S. CAN ADAPT TO GLOBAL WARMING. (NYT), The National Academy of Sciences says that the cost of inaction is not high because the US can easily adapt to the effects of global warming due to the greenhouse effect of pollutants in the atmosphere. It is more costly to control the climate change than to adapt to it. Human adaptability has been grossly underestimated. A dissenting committee member said that indirect costs of global warming have not been adequately considered. The report said it might be harder for developing countries to adapt to global warming. It encouraged “efforts to advance regional mobility of people, capital and goods,” better preparations for disaster and famine relief and expansion of free-market economies, so that changing prices can serve as market signals that would encourage people to adapt to global warming. 
30. 1992, TREATY TO CURB GLOBAL WARMING. Sixty nations sign an agreement at the Earth Summit in which they promise to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels. The agreement is not binding and there is no time table. 
31. 1992, WHITE HOUSE VOWS ACTION TO CUT GLOBAL WARMING GASES. The concentration of greenhouse gases is growing because of human activity and that could lead to catastrophic warming of the earth in the next century. On the eve of the Earth Summit in Rio, the US is seen as uncooperative by the Europeans who insist on a year 2000 deadline for stabilizing CO2 emissions. The US supports increasing energy efficiency and a budget of $75 million in aid to developing countries to do likewise although it does not target CO2 stabilization. Global warming advocates say that this move is positive and shows that the US has abandoned the flat earth society of global warming deniers. 
32. 1992, GLOBAL WARMING ANOMALY. Critics of global warming point out that their computer models predict a temperature rise of 1C for the last 100 years whereas the actual rise has been 0.5C; and that most of the warming in the last 100 years occurred prior to 1940 whereas most of the CO2 was added after that. 
33. 1992, GLOBAL SNUB ON GLOBAL WARMING. To control rising temperatures due to the greenhouse effect of CO2, the Europeans want industrialized countries to put a cap on CO2 emission but the Bush administration is wary. The USA is seen as a laggard and an impediment to global action to ward off the potentially dangerous effects of global warming. A cost effective way to check global warming is for the USA to give foreign aid to developing countries like China to implement clean burning coal technologies. The impasse is that the USA is opposed to imposed CO2 emission caps. As it is, there are countries endorsing emission caps but not implementing programs to achieve them. The real cost of emission caps could be sky high. 
34. 1993, CLINTON ADMINISTRATION: “CLIMATE CHANGEACTION PLAN”. Emissions of CO2, CH4, NO, and CFC have caused temperatures to rise by 0.5C in the last 100 years, and unchecked, global warming could cause melting glaciers and polar ice caps, rising sea level, flooded coastal areas,droughts, damaged ecosystems, and reduced agricultural production. The Clinton administration’s Action Plan proposes 44 action steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000 mainly by voluntary participation of business and industry. The plan is consistent with international efforts outlined by the Earth Summit in 1992. 
35. 1993, SCIENTISTS CONFRONT RENEWED BACKLASH AGAINST GLOBAL WARMING. Conservatives and industry groups attacked the Clinton Administration’s climate change action plan and the global warming scenario characterizing it as hysteria and a plan by socialists to control the economy. Two books, one by the Cato Institute and another by Dixy Lee Ray attacked the greenhouse effect hypothesis. The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal published articles debunking global warming. A column by Jeffrey Salmon of the George C. Marshall Institute said that there was no scientific evidence that the earth is warming because of man-made greenhouse gases. Richard Lindzen of the MIT wrote that the heat trapping amplification through water vapor assumed by the global warming computer model is flawed and therefore that even a doubling of CO2 will have little effect on temperature. Other critics point out that the computer models can’t be right because they give incorrect and inconsistent results for known historical data. Although scientists disagree on global warming the political debate is more extreme than the scientific debate. 
36. 1993, THE NEW YORK TIMES DEFENDS GLOBAL WARMING. There are two undisputed facts about global warming – carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels has been accumulating in the atmosphere for a hundred years, and carbon dioxide traps heat ?reflected? from the earth’s surface that would otherwise radiate out to space. It only remains to compute exactly how much the earth will heat up after an amount of CO2 is injected into the atmosphere. Since a real world experiment is not possible it must be carried out in mathematical models on supercomputers that simulate the earth’s climate although these models are far from perfect. Scientists have examined the results from the best computer models and advised the UN that CO2 will double by 2100 and cause a temperature rise of somewhere between 3C and 5C. These findings are supported by leading experts in the field at the UN and the National Academy of Sciences. Although the amount of heat trapped by the minute amount of CO2 in the atmosphere is small, it snowballs because it causes water to evaporate and water vapor is also a heat trapping gas. The ability of computer models to predict temperature will be greatly improved once the aerosol effect of fossil fuels is incorporated. 
37. 1993, PRESIDENT CLINTON’S PLAN TO HALT GLOBAL WARMING.Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in millions of tons annually: energy efficiency in home and appliance design = 16.3, non-industrial private forest management = 9.5, private sector investment in efficient electrical motors =8.8, increased efficiency of public transit and transportation = 6.6, better regulation of chemical industry = 5.0, recycling and pollution prevention =4.2, methane recovery from landfills = 4.2, natural gas star program to reduce methane emission = 3.0, promote natural gas = 2.2, promote hydroelectricity = 2.0. Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxides and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). 
38. 1993, RISING SEAS A PRECISE MEASURE OF GLOBAL WARMING. Using the most accurate system ever devised for measuring global sea levels,scientists have found a steady rise of 3 mm per year for the past two years. These data now establish beyond any doubt that the greenhouse effect is causing global warming. If this trend continues for another few years it will be solid evidence of a warming trend related to increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide. Doubts about the reliability of older and less precise temperature data may now be put aside as the very accurate sea level data clearly establishes the scientific basis of global warming. The sea level measurement satellite of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory takes 500,000 sea level measurements per day. 
39. 1994, GLOBAL WARMING MAY HELP U.S. AGRICULTURE,(NYT). Civilization is playing a high stakes game with mother nature by emitting heat trapping greenhouse gases that could forever alter our fragile ecosystem in catastrophic ways. The planet is going to get hotter with radically altered weather and rainfall patterns. Yet, a new study appears to show that its effect on American agriculture will not be the dust bowl catastrophe that was once predicted. In fact, global warming is now expected to benefit American agriculture by greatly increasing crop yields. It will be a lot harder in the wake of this study to motivate the American will to fight global warming. It was once predicted that although Canadian and Russian farmers would gain from longer growing seasons, American farmers would lose more than $20 billion per year with “corn blistering on the stalk”. These studies were based on the inability of U.S. farmers to adapt to changes. If farmers change the crops they grow as the climate changes, they will not lose but in fact may gain in the net. 
40. 1994, HOT AIR ON GLOBAL WARMING. The Clinton Plan of Action against global warming is “so much hot air” because it is too vague and not practical. It is typically Clintonian window dressing to give the appearance of doing something. 
41. 1995, GLOBAL WARMING RESUMED IN 1994, CLIMATE DATA SHOW
    After a three year hiatus and a bitter winter in 1993-1994, the warming trend has returned with a warmer than usual winter in 1994-1995. Global warming is not gone, it was just temporarily interrupted by the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo. Aerosols in the upper atmosphere from the eruption reflected sunlight and cooled the earth. In 1994, temperatures rebounded to the levels of the 1980s – the warmest decade on record –reaching the record high of 60C reached in 1990. Global temperatures from March to December were the warmest since 1951. The mainstream view among researchers on climatic change is that atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases could double by the end of the next century and that this could produce a global warming of 1.5C to 4.5C. By comparison, the earth is 3C to 5C warmer now than in the last ice age, which ended about 10,000 years ago. A 2C warming,could cause ice at the poles to melt, rising sea levels, shifting climatic zones, and more extreme floods, droughts, storms, and cold and heat waves. Violent and frequent weather extremes have become more common since 1980.
42. 1995, NEW EVIDENCE POINTS TO HUMAN ROLE IN GLOBAL WARMING
    Global warming will bring altered crop growing seasons, more severe storms, more tropical diseases, and the inundation of low lying areas by rising seas. As to the cause, the scientific debate about whether the warming is a natural variation or caused by man has now been settled. A scientific consensus due to advances in computer modeling has emerged that the cause of the warming is the greenhouse effect of carbon dioxide emitted by man’s fossil fuel consumption. This finding is issued in a new report of the UN-IPCC panel of scientists and is based on the best data and science available. These findings are now beyond question. The debate as to the cause of the warming in the last 100 years is now over. The job now is to implement worldwide emission reduction plans to reverse this trend. If no action is taken global temperatures will rise 1.5C to 4.5C in the next 100 years. It is a very significant rise if you consider that 3C can make the difference between an ice age and an interglacial. Emission reduction starting right now could limit the warming to 0.5C to 2C. The warming cannot be stopped because the CO2 that is already in the air will continue to trap heat. Although it is impossible to know for sure to what extent global warming is caused by man, it only makes sense, in light of the new scientific consensus, to work with other nations to curb greenhouse gas emissions.
43. 1995, GLOBAL WARMING JURY DELIVERS GUILTY VERDICT (New Scientist)
    UN-IPCC scientists issued a report in Dec 1995 saying that the warming of the earth by 0.5C in the last 100 years is the biggest since the last ice age and is not within the range of natural variability. Therefore it must represent a man made influence on global climate.Periods of cooling during the overall warming period can be explained in terms of global warming.
44. 1996, GLOBAL WARMING TO BLAME FOR BLIZZARD
    Just four days after scientists announced on Jan 3 1996 that global temperatures had crept to a record high in 1995, the Northeast US was hit by record cold and snowfall but scientists say that the blizzard of 1996 as well as the bitter cold in Europe were actually caused by global warming because warming increases evaporation that in turn increases precipitation. Besides, the effects of global warming are small compared with seasonal variations and so severe winters are not necessarily incompatible with global warming. The bitter winter this year represents a southward bulge of the Arctic air mass and not a cooling trend.
45. 1996, GLOBAL WARMING POSES THREAT TO PUBLIC HEALTH
    (NYT) According to UN scientists, there are serious threats to public health if actions to reduce global warming come too slowly. The earth’s climate will change rapidly in the coming century as greenhouse gases trap solar radiation. Thousands could die in major cities in heat waves and tens of millions will face malaria epidemics in areas where the disease does not now occur. Last July a heat wave killed 465 people in Chicago alone. This is an issue that must be taken seriously. Climate negotiators are warned against taking a wait and see attitude because the consequences of inaction are dire. We must act quickly even as industry backed lobbyists call for a go slow approach fearing harm to economic growth.The voluntary approach in the USA is not working as emissions have continued to rise since the 1992 treaty at the Earth Summit. Carbon dioxide emissions rose 12% from 1990 to 1995. Immediate action is needed to reverse this trend. Because adverse public health is likely to result from climate change, we do not have the luxury of seeking definitive empirical evidence before acting.
46. 1996, UN IPCC REPORT
    Ahead of Geneva, the second follow up meeting on global warming after the Earth Summit in Rio, the UN IPCC has issued a report that says that humans are influencing global climate. Excerpts from the report issued in June 1996 say that Earth’s temperature will rise by 2C in the next 100 years with serious negative effects. Extreme temperatures will become normal. Habitats will change. Many plants and animals will become extinct. Some regions will suffer water shortages. Polar ice will melt. The sea level will rise. Emissions of greenhouse gases that trap solar energy will double by the year 2010. A 50% reduction in emissions over the next 50 years is needed to reverse the warming trend. We are currently not on track to meet emission reduction guidelines set in the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio. Yet the Rio commitments are not enough to halt global warming.
47. 1996, U.S. URGES BINDING ACCORD ON GLOBAL WARMING
    As an endorsement of the IPCC report the Clinton administration is urging 150 nations meeting in Geneva to agree to binding cuts on greenhouse gas emissions to control global warming as long as the targets are moderate and achievable; although many feel that Clinton is playing politics with global warming in an effort to garner the green vote. Ratification of binding reductions in the Republican controlled Congress is unlikely.
48. 1997, THE BBC MAKES THE CASE FOR THE KYOTO PROTOCOL
    Twenty years of hard data from meteorological stations and nature show a clear warming trend. Growth rings in Mongolian and Canadian trees are getting wider. Butterflies in California are moving to higher ground once too cold for butterflies. Stalactites in Britain are growing faster. The growing season for crops in Australia is getting longer. Permafrost in Siberia and Canada is melting. The evidence is there anywhere you look. A warming rate is one 1C per century is enough to wreak havoc. The cause is the greenhouse effect of CO2 emissions from fossil fuels as well as CFCs and HCFCs that trap heat. The effect is being compounded as deforestation simultaneously removes trees that absorb CO2. Some scientists are skeptical but the majority view is that the greenhouse effect is real and it requires urgent action. This conclusion rests on the results from sophisticated computer simulation models that give the best possible information on this topic even though they are not perfect. These models are giving us scary accounts of the future and we should be paying attention. The IPCC tell us that melting ice and thermal expansion of oceans will cause the sea level to rise one meter by 2037 and inundate low lying areas and island nations. Extreme weather events will become common. El Nino and La Nina cycles will become more extreme. There will be millions of climate refugees driven from their home by global warming. Some regions of the world will become hotter, others colder, some wetter, others drier. Entire weather systems will be dramatically altered. The Gulf Stream will switch off making Europe colder. Tropical diseases such as malaria will ravage the world as vectors migrate to higher latitudes and altitudes. Some wheat farmers may be able to grow more wheat but the net effect of global warming is overwhelmingly negative.
49. 1997, THE ROAD TO KYOTO
    In the Earth Summit of 1992 developed nations promised to hold their year 2000 greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels but they have not acted because of the perceived economic impact of cutting emissions. Forecasts show that CO2 emissions in 2000 will be 14% above 1990 levels. Research in the USA and Australia show that reduced emissions will mean reduced living standards while those in Europe indicate emission reduction will actually have a positive effect on the economy. The industrial lobby is stronger in the USA and it is opposed to emission reduction. The Earth Summit agreement has no teeth because it cannot be enforced. The upcoming meeting in Kyoto in December is expected to address these deficiencies with legally binding cuts in greenhouse gas on a timetable.
50. 1997, U.S. STANCE ON GLOBAL WARMING OFFERS COLD COMFORT
    (LA Times) The USA is out of sync with the rest of the world in the crucial ecological issue of global warming. President Clinton’s statement was met with disdain in Bonn where 150 nations are meeting to control global warming. The U.S. is seen as an environmental pariah in this meeting.
51. 1997, WORLD VIEWS ON GLOBAL WARMING (LA TIMES)
    Entire nations among the Pacific islands vanish beneath the waves, coastal communities in the USA from North Carolina to the Texas Gulf wash out to sea, wild swings in precipitation first bring drought and then torrential rains and floods, coastal mudslides in California become routine, and maple trees of the North die out as dengue fever and mosquito borne encephalitis move in. In December delegates from 167 nations will go to Kyoto to write a binding treaty among nations to fight against carbon dioxide emissions and save the planet. There are serious implications for humanity if actions to curb global warming come too slowly.
52. 1997, THE MYTHS ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING
    (Chicago Tribune, climate denier?) The Union of Concerned Scientists, President Clinton, and VP Gore have repeatedly stated that “the threat of global warming is real and it is already here”. Yet, the IPCC has admitted that none of their computer models of climate has been validated by the record. Man made emissions of carbon dioxide are so small compared to natural emissions that they could not possibly cause climate change.
53. 1997, NATIONS DIVIDED ON HOW MUCH TO CUT EMISSIONS AND BY WHEN
    A global warming summit of 150 nations opened in Kyoto Monday. Its agenda is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that are causing potentially catastrophic increase of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere. The summit is dogged by contentious economic, political, and scientific questions. “People are still very cautious about acting on climate change because they count the economic costs but not the benefits”.
54. 1997, WRANGLING CONTINUES OVER GLOBAL WARMING TREATY
    (CNN) Climate delegates in Kyoto are working overtime to forge a treaty to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Greenhouse gas emission reduction targets of 6%-8% below 1990 levels by 2008 have been set for 34 industrialized nations. None has been set for developing countries. Contentious issues remain. They include the twin American proposals to allow the industrialized nations to achieve their reduction target by buying carbon credits and offsets from developing countries; and the imposition of binding emission cuts on four non-industrialized countries, namely, China, India, Brazil, and Mexico to prevent these emerging economies from gaining from unfair competition. U.S. ratification is not likely without these provisions.
55. 1997, SCIENTISTS WARN KYOTO DELEGATES
    “Without reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, scientists warn that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could double in the next century, warming the atmosphere and triggering an environmental chain reaction that could raise sea levels, change ocean currents and intensify damage from storms, droughts and the spread of tropical diseases” (CNN).
56. 1998, WEATHER TREND IS PROOF OF GLOBAL WARMING
    Last year was the hottest year on record and this decade has already produced 9 of the 11 hottest years of the century. The data show that man made greenhouse gases are causing a potentially disastrous warming of the earth. These data should help Pres. Clinton as he seeks Senate approval for the Kyoto Treaty. That there is a human component in the rising temperature is becoming clearer with each year’s measurements and the likelihood that the rising temperature is a natural phenomenon is becoming increasingly remote. For the last three years the data have pointed in the direction of man made global warming.
57. 1998, U.S. SIGNS INTERNATIONAL GLOBAL WARMING TREATY
    Delegates in Kyoto hammered out a treaty that sets 2000 as the deadline for creating a a global mechanism to police emissions reductions of greenhouse gases that cause global warming and to hold failing nations accountable. The treaty allows industrialized nations to meet emission reduction targets by trading emission credits or funding clean air projects in poor nations. In the USA there is stiff opposition from Senate opponents who demand similar emission reduction by developing countries.
58. 1998, IT’S OUR MOVE ON GLOBAL WARMING
    The debate on global warming started with the scientific question about whether the problem was real and evolved into an economic and political debate between developed and developing countries on who should act to reduce emissions. At the global warming conference in Buenos Aires this weekend the USA signed on to the Kyoto Accord but there is stiff opposition to ratification in the Senate without an equal commitment by developing nations.
59. 1998, NEW DATA SHARPEN GLOBAL WARMING DEBATE
    Satellite measurements of temperatures of the lower troposphere show a cooling trend from 1979 to 1995 contradicting the warming trend in ground based temperatures. However, this discrepancy can be offset by revising the satellite measurements with the “falling satellite effect”. As the satellite slows and drops the instrument perceives the same temperature as cooler. The amount of this revision is in dispute. It could be insignificant or it could be enough to make the apparent cooling trend into a warming trend again. NASA scientist James Hansen says that the perceived cooling is just an artifact of the falling satellite phenomenon and not real but John Christy of the University of Alabama Huntsville says that the corrected satellite data do not show warming.
60. 1998, WORLD DEBATES GLOBAL WARMING
    Climate scientists in the Hadley Center on Climate Change have issued a report on global warming timed to coincide with the meeting in Buenos Aires where delegates from 180 nations are meeting to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The findings of the report based on a computer model for the case with no emission reductions are as follows: 1998 will be UK’s hottest year since 1106, “the warmest year of the millennium”; sometime between 2041 and 2070 we will see a sharp rise in sick, hungry, and thirsty people; by 2048 the world’s forests will become so degraded that they will change from net CO2 sinks to net CO2 producers further accelerating global warming; human greenhouse gas emissions have contributed substantially to global warming over the past half century; the climate model is validated by its ability to reconstruct the last 150 years of climate conditions; the 1997-1998 ElNino is the most extreme on record; in the next 100 years global temperatures will rise by 6C – the most extreme in the last 10,000 years. The Amazon forest will die out and rot releasing carbon dioxide. Tropical grasslands will be transformed into deserts. For the first half of the 21st century, vegetation will absorb CO2 at a rate of about 2-3 GtC per year while human emissions of CO2 are about 7GtC a year. From 2050 onwards, vegetation dying under the impact of climate change will itself add about 2GtC a year to greenhouse emissions, further intensifying global warming. Global warming will accelerat due to “positive feedback” – a way by which the global warming we have caused will itself cause further global warming. More than 170 million people will suffer from water shortage. Crop yields will increase in areas like Canada and Europe, but nearer the equator they will shrink. Some 18% more of Africa’s people will be at risk of hunger simply because of climate change. Sea levels will rise by 21 cm inundating 20 million people. Malaria infection will increase, and spread to areas where it is not currently seen. The overwhelming consensus of scientific opinion is that climate change is real, and that we are playing the chief part in causing it. The report confirms previous findings of the panel of scientists at the IPCC, “the world’s most authoritative group of climatologists”.
61. 1998, GORE CLAIMS NEW DATA PROVE GLOBAL WARMING IS TAKING PLACE. The first half of 1998 was the warmest six months ever recorded on earth. The month of July, 1998 will also set a record. A heat wave in the Southwest has caused dozens of deaths with the hottest weather to hit the state since 1980. Tuesday was the 9th straight day that the temperature there has broken 100F. The heat wave is accompanied by drought that will drain $4.6 billion from the Texas economy in the next few months. Oklahoma had 6 deaths and Louisiana 20 deaths from the heat wave. According to NOAA data the near surface temperature for June 1998 over both land and water were at an all time high. There is no time in data history that we have seen this sequence of record setting for six consecutive months. It is compelling evidence that global temperatures are on a long term warming track. These are evidence of long term warming of the planet by man’s greenhouse gas emissions. How much more proof do we need that global warming is real? Congress must not block efforts by the White House to reduce heat trapping greenhouse gases.
62. 1999, STUDY SHOWS ARCTIC ICE SHRINKING BECAUSE OF GLOBAL WARMING. Sea ice in the Arctic Basin is shrinking by 14000 square miles per year “probably” because of global warming caused by human activity according to a new international study that used 46 years of data and sophisticated computer simulation models to tackle the specific question of whether the loss of Arctic ice is a natural variation or caused by global warming. The computer model says that the probability that these changes were caused by natural variation is 1% but when global warming was added to the model the ice melt was a perfect fit. Therefore the ice melt is caused by human activities that emit greenhouse gases.
63. 1999, SURPRISE THEORY BEHIND BIG ANTARCTIC THAW
    An article in the Journal Science says that the melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is a natural event not related to global warming contrary to claims by climate scientists. The WAIS is indeed melting quite rapidly receding at the rate of 400 feet per year but it has been doing so for thousands of years long before human activity and greenhouse gas emissions, having receded 800 miles since the last ice age. If the process continues unchecked it will melt completely in another 7000 years.Therefore it seems unlikely that the event is linked to human activity or that the time frame of a collapse of the ice shelf could fall within 100 years.
64. 1999, WARM ARCTIC MAY ENHANCE GLOBAL WARMING. A sophisticated computer simulation model shows that increasing the temperature or snowfall on the Arctic tundra can triple its CO2 emissions from the soil of the tundra. The Arctic contains 1/3 of the earth’s soil stored carbon dioxide. The computer model shows a positive feedback look that can cause global warming to snowball because warming in itself can increase carbon dioxide in the air and accelerate the rate of warming. It is a frightening scenario that could cause global warming catastrophe to occur sooner than previously thought.
65. Note: This period is marked by 1.The Kyoto Protocol and the warm-up meetings in Geneva and Bonn, 2.Differences between the USA and Europe in Kyoto, 3.The differences between land based and satellite based temperature measurements, 4.A sharp rise in scientific rhetoric to rally policy makers to their cause in Kyoto, 5.The bitter northern winter of 1995-1996 and its explanation in terms of global warming. 6. The 1998 climate conference in Buenos Aires, 7.The Clinton administration’s apparent endorsement of the global warming agenda,
66. 2000, CORAL REEFS HIT HARD BY GLOBAL WARMING
    Rapidly warming seas caused by global warming has turned coral reefs into endangered ecosystems. According to coral reef scientists meeting in Bali, 25% of the world’s coral reefs are already gone. Without urgent and immediate CO2 emission reductions coral reefs will be completely gone from the planet in 30 to 50 years.
67. 2000, SATELLITE TEMPERATURES SHOW UPPER ATMOSPHERE COOLING
    According to John Christy, satellite data show temperature of the upper atmosphere has been cooling by 0.3C per year since 1979. Climate scientists point out that warming of the surface and cooling of the upper atmosphere are not necessarily inconsistent if you take into account things like the Mt Pinatubo volcanic eruption and ozone depletion. It is possible for the upper atmosphere to cool while the earth’s surface is warming because volcanic debris in the stratosphere occludes sunlight and ozone depletion lowers the amount of heat being absorbed in the upper atmosphere.
68. 2000, GLOBAL WARMING IS THE RESULT OF HUMAN ACTIVITY
    According to an IPCC panel of scientists, human activities that release greenhouse gases like CO2 into the atmosphere are at least partially responsible for global warming because greenhouse gases trap heat reflected from the surface of the earth. The consequent global warming will raise surface temperature by between 1C and 3.5C by the year 2100. The warming will cause melting ice and thermal expansion of the oceans and raise sea levels by between one and three feet and flood coastal areas. There will be an increase in the intensity and frequency of extreme weather such as storms,droughts, and floods. Tropical diseases will spread into a pandemic. Plants and animals that fail to adapt to these changes will die off in waves of extinctions and loss of biodiversity.
69. 2000, CHINA TO BECOME NEW GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSION LEADER
    The Kyoto Protocol will cause the economies of industrialized nations to suffer and give developing countries an unfair advantage in global trade. China, with a booming, coal-based economy, is projected to zoom past the United States in greenhouse emissions by 2025.
70. 2000, GLOBAL WARMING IS UNDOUBTEDLY REAL
    A blue-ribbon panel of climate scientists from the National Academy of Sciences has issued a report saying that “global warming is undoubtedly real” and it is under way with dire consequences to follow. Global temperatures have risen more sharply in the last 20 years than at any time this century. The contradictory evidence from satellite data showing cooling of the upper atmosphere are irrelevant. There is no mention in the report of a link between global warming and human activity.
71. 2000, CLIMATE TALKS COLLAPSE
    The UN climate meeting in the Hague has collapsed in disarray over disagreements between the EU and the USA on how to curb greenhouse gas emissions. At issue is the use of “sinks” in the emission accounting with the USA saying that it should be able to use existing forests and agriculture as carbon sinks. Nations have been arguing over contentious positions on how they can do as little as possible to technically reach Kyoto targets. Under the Kyoto Protocol,worldwide emissions of heat-trapping gases must decline to 5.2 percent below 1990 levels by 2012.
72. 2001, GLOBAL WARMING NOW UNSTOPPABLE
    A 500-member IPCC led by Sir John Houghton issued the most authoritative report on global warming so far. It contains the following alarming findings: so much CO2 has already been injected into the air that global warming is “already unstoppable”; the world is warming at an accelerating rate; tens of millions of people around the world will be driven from their homes in the coming decades to become climate change refugees; governments must take urgent action to reduce carbon dioxide emissions; climate change is now so rapid that it is not possible for us to adapt to these changes; human ecosystems and biodiversity will all be affected and it will affect the world economy; the temperature rise in the next 100 years will be between 1.4C and 5.8C, significantly higher than previously thought; “there is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming observed over the past 50 years is attributable to human activities; human influences will continue to change atmospheric composition throughout the 21st century; global warming will persist for many centuries by virtue of the CO2 we have already put into the air; change caused by humans is far greater than the changes due to nature; global warming is caused by carbon dioxide trapping heat.
73. 2001, GLOBAL WARMING REPORT CREATES PRESIDENTIAL HEADACHE
    (Time) A study of global warming by the National Academy of Sciences ordered by President Bush has concluded, to the President’s chagrin, that, despite the uncertainties about global warming, it is real and that it is not natural but caused by human activities that produce greenhouse gases. The Bush team was surprised and “shocked” by the report which went counter to their stance on global warming which saw the issue as a left wing conspiracy to take control of energy policy. The report comes just in time for a trip by the President to Europe where leaders are furious with the US for not joining the Kyoto Protocol. Having rejected Kyoto out of hand W, now having to cede some ground to the Europeans, admitted that global warming was a problem.
74. 2001, GLOBAL WARMING ON MARS 
    Researchers say that Mars, too, may be a victim of global warming. The planet’s solid carbon-dioxide polar caps seem to have receded over the past Martian year (687 days). The more they evaporate, the more the atmosphere warms.
75. 2001, GLOBAL WARMING MAY TRIGGER ABRUPT CLIMATE CHANGE
    A report by the National Research Council (USA) says that global warming may trigger climate changes so abrupt that ecosystems will not be able to adapt. Look for local or short term cooling, floods, droughts, and other unexpected changes. A growing CO2 concentration in the atmosphere due to the use of fossil fuels is to blame. Some regional climates have changed by as much as 10C in 10 years. Antarctica’s largest glaciers are rapidly thinning, and in the last 10 years have lost up to 150 feet of thickness in some places, enough to raise global sea levels by 0.4 mm. Global warming is a real problem and it is getting worse.
76. 2001, IPCC REPORT
    Carbon dioxide from unhindered burning of fossil fuels will raise earth’s temperature 5.8C by 2100. The work of the panel over the last 10 years has now effectively ended the debate about man made global warming It is time for governments to get serious about reducing emissions.No country can afford to ignore the coming transformation of its natural and human environment. The poor and vulnerable are at greatest risk.
77. 2002, JAPAN RATIFIES KYOTO PROTOCOL
    Japan, the 4th largest CO2 emitter in the world ratified the Kyoto Protocol to reduce emissions and urged other industrialized nations to follow suit.
78. 2002, ICE SHELF COLLAPSE A WARNING
    A piece of ice the size of Rhode island broke off the Larsen ice shelf in Antarctica and within a month it dissipated sending a huge flotsam of ice into the sea. At about the same time an iceberg the size of Delawarebroke off the Thwaites Glacier. A few months ago parts of the Ross ice shelf had broken off in a similar way. These events serve as a dramatic reminders that global warming is real and its effects are potentially catastrophic and underscores the urgent need for a binding international agreement to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
79. 2002, HUMANS CAUSE GLOBAL WARMING, U.S. ADMITS
    In major U-turn by the USA, the EPA has acknowledged for the first time that greenhouse gas emissions from human activity cause global warming but stopped short of endorsing the Kyoto Protocol as all 15 EU nations have done choosing instead to follow a voluntary emission reduction program of its own design. The EPA report is contrary to the position of the White House. President Bush distanced himself from the report saying that it was “put out by the bureaucracy” and that the report itself had caveats with respect to the uncertainties inherent in global warming science.
80. 2002, U.S. EPA REPORT ON GLOBAL WARMING
    The 2002 EPA report endorses the global warming theory that underlies the Kyoto Protocol saying that “Greenhouse gases are accumulating in the Earth’s atmosphere as a result of human activities, causing global mean surface air temperatures and subsurface ocean temperatures to rise”. Other excerpts: US greenhouse gas emissions will rise 43% from 2000 to 2020; a few ecosystems, such as alpine meadows in the Rocky Mountains and some barrier islands, are likely to disappear
    entirely; changes observed over the last several decades are likely due to human activities. It concludes that global warming is a threat and that it can be mitigated by reducing carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels.
81. 2003, SOOT WORSE FOR GLOBAL WARMING THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT
    Soot that lands on snow has caused ¼ of the warming since 1880 because dirty snow traps more solar heat than pristine snow and induces a strong warming effect, according to a new computer model by James Hansen of NASA. It explains why sea ice and glaciers are melting faster than they should. Reducing soot emissions is an effective tool to curb global warming. It is easier to cut soot emissions than it is to cut CO2 emissions but we still need to reduce CO2 emissions in order to stabilize the atmosphere.
82. 2003, GLOBAL WARMING TO AFFECT SKI AREAS
    (UNEP report) Global warming will melt snow at lower altitudes forcing ski areas to move higher and higher up the mountain. Downhill skiing could disappear altogether in some resorts. A retreating snow line will cut off base villages from their ski runs by 2030. Climate change is happening now and we can measure it. Traditional low altitude ski resorts of Europe will have to either shut down or suffer higher costs of snow making. Global warming will push the altitude for ski resorts from 4265 feet to 4900-6000 feet. In Switzerland,several low-lying resorts are already having problems getting bank loans. Austria’s snow line is set to rise by 656 to 984 feet in the next 30-50 years leaving many ski resorts behind. Banks are now less willing to lend money to ski resorts. Temperatures are set to rise by 2C to 6C by 2100 unless dramatic action is taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to the IPCC, a body of 2000 scientists.
83. 2004, GRIM SIGNS OF GLOBAL WARMING
    Global warming has unleashed massive ecological changes that are already under way. These changes are ushering in a grim future including massive species extinctions, an elevation of sea levels by 3 feet, wholesale changes to the Arctic, and disruptions to the earth’s life support system. These changes should serve as a wake up call to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
84. 2004, PEW CENTER REPORT
    Observed impacts of global climate change in the US. Global warming is plain to see if you look at how it has affected wildlife. Half of the 150 species studied showed these effects. Global warming is changing life in your own back yard. Many species are going extinct in the southern edge of their range and doing better in the northern edge. Edith’s checkerspot butterfly is in sharp decline near the Mexico-California border where it has become too warm and dry, but their numbers are rising in British Columbia. The red fox is heading north and can now be found in the Arctic. In Florida and the Gulf coast people are seeing many many new species coming up from Mexico and the Caribbean. A previous worldwide study of 1500 species showed that this effect is global.
85. 2004, ARCTIC CLIMATE IMPACT ASSESSMENT
    An unprecedented 4-year study of the Arctic shows that polar bears, walruses, and some seals are becoming extinct. Arctic summer sea ice may disappear entirely. Combined with a rapidly melting Greenland ice sheet, it will raise the sea level 3 feet by 2100 inundating lowlands from Florida to Bangladesh. Average winter temperatures in Alaska and the rest of the Arctic are projected to rise an additional 7 to 13 degrees over the next 100 years because of increasing emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities. The area is warming twice as fast as anywhere else because of global air circulation patterns and natural feedback loops, such as less ice reflecting sunlight, leading to increased warming at ground level and more ice melt. Native peoples’ ways of life are threatened. Animal migration patterns have changed, and the thin sea ice and thawing tundra make it too dangerous for humans to hunt and travel.
86. 2004, US STATES SUE OVER GLOBAL WARMING
    Eight states and the City of New York have sued five electric power public utilities for failing to cut greenhouse gas emissions and for causing global warming. They are demanding emission reductions of 3% per year for 10 years. Currently carbon dioxide is not recognized as a pollutant by the Clean Air Act and the federal govt is therefore accused of abdicating its responsibility in the matter.
87. 2004, GLOBAL WARMING TO MELT GREENLAND ICE SHEET
    A meltdown of the massive ice sheet, which is more than 3km-thick would raise sea levels by an average seven meters, threatening countries such as Bangladesh, certain islands in the Pacific and some parts of Florida. Greenland’s huge ice sheet could melt within the next thousand years if emissions of carbon dioxide (CO
    2) and global warming are not reduced.
88. 2004, RAPID ARCTIC WARMING BRINGS SEA LEVEL RISE
    The Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) report says: increasing greenhouse gases from human activities is causing the Arctic to warm twice as fast as the rest of the planet; in Alaska, western Canada, and eastern Russia winter temperatures have risen by 2C to 4C in the last 50 years; the Arctic will warm by 4C to 7C by 2100. A portion of Greenland’s ice sheet will melt; global sea levels will rise; global warming will intensify. Greenland contains enough melting ice to raise sea levels by 7 meters; Bangkok, Manila, Dhaka, Florida, Louisiana, and New Jersey are at risk of inundation; thawing permafrost and rising seas threaten Arctic coastal regions; climate change will accelerate and bring about profound ecological and social changes; the Arctic is experiencing the most rapid and severe climate change on earth and it’s going to get a lot worse; Arctic summer sea ice will decline by 50% to 100%; polar bears will be driven towards extinction; this report is an urgent SOS for the Arctic; forest fires and insect infestations will increase in frequency and intensity; changing vegetation and rising sea levels will shrink the tundra to its lowest level in 21000 years; vanishing breeding areas for birds and grazing areas for animals will cause extinctions of many species; “if we limit emission of heat trapping carbon dioxide we can still help protect the Arctic and slow global warming”.
89. 2004 GLOBAL WARMING THE MOVIE
    Hollywood released a movie called “The day after tomorrow”, a dramatization of the horrors of global warming complete with superstorms, and a “climate shift”. There is death and destruction on a global scale Hollywood style. It is promoted by the global warming camp as “a teachable moment” and derided by skeptics as goofy. It helps to dramatically increase public support for global warming issues and for reduction of carbon dioxide emissions.
90. 2004 GLOBAL WARMING WILL LEAVE ARCTIC ICE FREE
    The Arctic ice cap is shrinking at an unprecedented rate and will be gone by 2070. It has shrunk by 15%to 20% in the last 30 years. This process will accelerate with the Arctic warming twice as fast as the rest of the world due to a buildup of heat trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.The findings support the broad scientific consensus that global warming is caused mainly by rising atmospheric greenhouse gases as a result of emissions from cars, factories and power plants.
91. 2005: HURRICANE KATRINA WAS CAUSED BY OUR USE OF FOSSIL FUELS
    A high level of interest in tropical cyclones derives from an unusually active hurricane season in 2004 when more than 14 tropical cyclones formed in the North Atlantic basin. Four of these storms intensified to Category 4 or greater and made landfall in the USA causing considerable damage. The even more dramatic 2005 season followed in its heels with more than thirty depressions. Four of them intensified to Category 5 and three made landfall. The most intense was Hurricane Wilma but the most spectacular was Hurricane Katrina which made landfall in Florida and again in Louisiana. Its devastation was facilitated by a breach in a levee system that was unrelated to AGW but its dramatic consequences made it an icon of the possible extreme weather impacts of fossil fuel caused global warming. Climate scientists stepped up quickly and said that Katrina was confirmed as a climate change even by climate models. More info: [LINK]
92. 2005: METHANE BOMB IN THE PEAT BOGS OF SIBERIA
    Man-made global warming is melting the vast peat bogs of Siberia. The melt will release enough methane and carbon dioxide to bring about climate change Armageddon by virtue of a positive feedback and its non-linear process gone berserk. This scare is repeated in 2007 saying that global warming is causing the Alaska coast to melt. More info: [LINK]
93. 2006: CORAL DOOMED TO EXTINCTION BY GLOBAL WARMING
    Climate scientists see all coral bleaching as anomalous and unnatural and therefore symptoms of human caused global warming, as if they had never seen coral bleaching before. In 2006, they issued an alarm that “it was already too late for the coral” because we have put too much CO2 into the atmosphere and the warming and acidification of the oceans thus caused will kill off all the world’s coral. More info: [LINK]
94. 2007: A PLAN TO SAVE BANGKOK FROM GLOBAL WARMING’S SEA LEVEL RISE
    It has been more than a year now that scientists and climate experts sought a budget of 100 billion baht to build a sea wall 80 kilometers long from the mouth of the Ta Chin river to the Bang Pakong river to protect the city of Bangkok from being inundated by the sea that was projected to rise by 20 cm per year due to man-made global warming. More info: [LINK]
95. 2007: WE PASSED THE CLIMATE CHANGE TIPPING POINT AND ARE DOOMED
    Ahead of the Bali meeting in 2007, climate scientists flooded the media with press releases that were increasingly alarmist in their pitch to save the planet from fossil fuels, so much so that they got carried away and announced that it was too late to save the planet for we had passed the tipping point because the damage done by the carbon dioxide already in the air had put into motion irreversible non-linear changes that would lead us to climate doom whether or not we cut emissions. Soon thereafter, having realized their folly, they quickly reversed themselves just in time for Bali by saying that there was still time to save the planet after all. More info: [LINK]
96. 2007: OUR USE OF FOSSIL FUELS IS CAUSING GREENLAND TO MELT
    A comparison of Landsat photos taken on 8/11/1985 and 9/5/2002 shows that global warming caused by our use of fossil fuels is melting the massive Greenland ice sheet and exposing the rocky peninsula beneath the ice previously covered by ice. More info: [LINK]
97. 2007: HIMALAYAN GLACIER MELT WILL DEVASTATE BILLIONS IN ASIA
    The rate of retreat of the retreating Gangotri glacier in the Himalayan mountains has accelerated from 19 meters/yr in 1971 to 34 meters/yr in 2001. Extrapolated of the observed acceleration forward shows that global warming devastation due to carbon dioxide was only a decade away for people who depend on the Ganges and other rivers with headwaters in the Himalayas. More info: [LINK]
98. 2007-2010: CLIMATE CHANGE DRYING UP ANDES ICE AND WATER SUPPLIES 
    Global warming caused by our use of fossil fuels has devastated the Andes Mountains in South America where they are losing their ice and water supplies. We must help these poor people by reducing fossil fuel emissions and thereby curbing global warming and climate change. More info: [LINK]
99. 2007: THE ARCTIC IS SCREAMING
    Climate science declares that the low sea ice extent in the Arctic is the leading indicator of climate change. We are told that the Arctic “is screaming”, that Arctic sea ice extent is the “canary in the coal mine”, and that Polar Bears and other creatures in the Arctic are dying off and facing imminent extinction. Scientists say that the melting sea ice has set up a positive feedback system that would cause the summer melts in subsequent years to be greater and greater until the Arctic becomes ice free in the summer of 2012. We must take action immediately to cut carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels. [LINK]
100. 2007: THE ICE FREE ARCTIC CLAIMS GAIN MOMENTUM
     The unusual summer melt of Arctic sea ice in 2007 has encouraged climate science to warn the world that global warming will cause a steep decline in the amount of ice left in subsequent summer melts until the Arctic becomes ice free in summer and that could happen as soon as 2080 or maybe 2060 or it could even be 2030. This time table got shorter and shorter until, without a “scientific” explanation, the ice free year was brought up to 2013. In the meantime, the data showed that in 2008 and 2009 the summer melt did not progressively increase as predicted but did just the opposite by making a comeback in 2008 that got even stronger in 2009. More info:  [LINK]
101. 2007: ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT BY HUMANS IS A WAR AGAINST NATURE
     In the Bali climate meeting scientists declare economic development is a bad thing because hurricanes, cyclones, snowstorms, and floods are killing people as a result of the war on nature waged by humanity in pursuit of economic development. More info: [LINK]
102. 2007: DEVELOPMENT BANKS TRICK POOR COUNTRIES INTO CLIMATE ACTION
     In the UNFCCC and Kyoto Protocol climate action plan, only the rich industrialized Annex-1 and Annex-2 countries have emissions reduction and other climate action obligations. Poor developing countries, classified as non-Annex, have no climate action obligation but in fact are allowed to increase their emissions to achieve economic development and property alleviation. Yet development agencies like the UNDP and development banks, particularly the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, whose stated mission is to help developing countries to develop are using their leverage with the poor instead to trick them into climate action by refusing development assistance for projects that violate the climate action and emission reduction standards of rich countries. These actions are illegal and criminal. More info: [LINK]
103. 2007: CLIMATE CHANGE DROUGHT IN THE ANDES MOUNTAINS
     A semi-arid region subject to droughts and supplied by melt water from evanescent glaciers that have come and gone in cycles for thousands of years is selected by climate scientists to show that fossil fuel emissions cause drought. More info: [LINK]
104. 2007: CLIMATE CHANGE REACHES A TIPPING POINT
     Since 1998, and most recently in 2007, we have been told on a fairly regular basis that climate change caused by our use of fossil fuels has reached the “tipping point”. When asked to define the term they said that it is not a point of no return and that a definition would be forthcoming; but that there is no doubt that we have reached the tipping point in 2007. More info: [LINK]
105. 2007: REPORT BY THE CIVIL SOCIETY COALITION ON CLIMATE CHANGE
     The Civil Society Coalition on Climate Change has published a report showing that the mortality rate from extreme weather events in the period 1990-2006 is almost half of that for the prior 90 years of the 20th century and that this mortality rate is not rising but has been falling steadily since 1920. Climate scientists say that this report is not credible because its authors are in the pay of oil companies. More info: [LINK]
106. 2007: THE EXTINCTION OF ADELIE PENGUINS AND LOSS OF BIODIVERSITY
     The penguins are flightless and not well dispersed and therefore at risk of extinction but that extinction, if it happens, will lead to a new species and even greater biodiversity. This is how nature works. Nature does not need environmentalists, much less UN bureaucrats, to micromanage these processes nor is such micromanagement possible. More info: [LINK]
107. 2007: CLIMATE ACTION EVEN IF THERE ARE ERRORS IN THE CLIMATE MODEL
     Climate scientists say that errors in their climate model do not detract from the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions because the reduction can only do good and can do no harm. They also warn us that contrarians that say otherwise are paid agents of the fossil fuel industry and not real scientists. More info: [LINK]
108. 2007: SCIENTISTS SAY THAT SEA LEVELS WILL RISE BY 7 METERS IN 100 YEARS
     Climate scientists say that at the current rate of increase in the use of fossil fuels, the sea level would rise by 7 meters in 100 years and devastate low-lying countries like Bangladesh. When these estimates were challenged and their internal inconsistencies exposed, the IPCC quietly revised the 100-year forecast downward 100-fold from 7 meters to 7 centimeters on their website but the news media alarm about 7 meters continued unabated with “thousands of years” quietly inserted in place of “100 years. More info: [LINK]
109. 2007: THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT INFERNO OF VENUS IS EARTH’S FATE 
     Climate scientists say that Venus represents earth’s fate if we don’t reduce greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels. It is yet another desperate attempt to scare us into going along with their war against fossil fuels. More info: [LINK]
110. 2007: INDONESIA: FLOODS, DROUGHTS, LANDSLIDES, AND SEA LEVEL RISE
     Scientists say that an effect of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels is that droughts, floods, landslides, and rising sea levels are becoming commonplace in Indonesia. More info: [LINK]
111. 2007: CLIMATE CHANGE DEVASTATION IN BANGLADESH BY CYCLONE SIDR
     Tropical cyclones over the Bay of Bengal that make landfall in Bangladesh with the severity of Cyclone Sidr or greater are common. The mother of them all was the cyclone of 1970. It killed 550,000 people and the devastation eventually led to the birth of the country we know as Bangladesh. It is not possible to represent these events as evidence that CO2 from rich countries is devastating poor countries. More info: [LINK]
112. 2007: INUNDATION, DROUGHT, AND HURRICANES
     The Kiribati and Tuvalu islands are atolls and atolls often sink by subduction. Bangladesh is a delta where its natural dynamics contain sand spit formation and erosion. The Darfur area is semi-arid and prone to droughts. The North Atlantic Basin is an active tropical cyclone area known for occasional severe storms.
     The entire case presented by climate science against greenhouse gases in terms of such fearmongering rests on forecasts that are so far in the future that they can’t be proven wrong. More info: [LINK]
113. 2007/2008: THAILAND TEMP LOWER THAN 15C IS A THING OF THE PAST
     The Thailand meteorology department having subscribed headlong into the climate science activism against fossil fuels declared in 2007 that temperatures lower than 15C in Thailand was a thing of the past because of global warming caused by our use of fossil fuels (Rise in average temperatures seen, Bangkok Post, November 3, 2007). The very next year cruel nature gave these scientists temperatures well below the 15C mark. More info: [LINK]
114. 2007/2009: THE MAKING AND RECANTING CYCLE OF TIPPING POINTS
     There is an optimum level of fear at which climate research funding is maximized. The idea that global warming is past the “tipping point” or a point of no return is well beyond that optimum. No research funding for mitigation of global warming will be forthcoming if mitigation is not possible. Yet it is used when traditional fearmongering fails to get the desired attention and then quickly recanted to seek funds for climate action. More info: [LINK]
115. 2007/2009: POLAR BEARS WILL BE DRIVEN TO EXTINCTION 
     Climate scientists say that the Arctic is on its way to becoming ice free in summer and that therefore the polar bear should be declared an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act and we must act quickly and decisively to cut emissions and turn the climate temperature knob down to where the Polar Bear can survive. More info: [LINK]
116. 2007/2009: CLIMATE ACTION SUMMITS HELD TO SCHEDULE THE NEXT ONE
     Tens of thousands of climate scientists flew in from around the world to gather in Bali in 2007 and Poznan in 2008 and they are going to do it again in Copenhagen in 2009, and yet, these thousands of brilliant minds have yet to come up with practical plan of action for mankind to mitigate climate change that is allegedly being caused by human. The elusive nature of this agreement likely derives from a mis-specified and flawed problem statement for mankind neither causes climate change nor has any leverage over nature to mitigate climate change. More info: [LINK]
117. 2008: CLIMATE CHANGE TO CAUSE NARGIS-LIKE STORM SURGE IN THAILAND 
     In May 2008 Cyclone Nargis, with unremarkable maximum wind speeds of 100 mph, struck Myanmar and caused a freak storm surge that went up the Irrawaddy River and killed 140,000 people. Climate science was quick to claim Nargis as an impact climate change and reason to fear fossil fuels. This assessment created widespread panic in the region with Myanmar, Thailand, Bangladesh, and India all forecasting and fearing Nargis-like storm surges. In Thailand, the meteorology department had Samut Prakarn area residents in fear for years with repeated forecasts of destruction by Nargis-like storm surges. They never came and those scary forecasts have stopped coming. More info: [LINK]
118. 2008: POSITIVE FEEDBACK: ARCTIC SEA ICE IN A DOWNWARD SPIRAL
     Our use of fossil fuels is devastating the Arctic where the volume of sea ice “fell to its lowest recorded level to date” this year and that reduced ice coverage is causing a non-linear acceleration in the loss of polar ice because there is less ice to reflect sunlight. More info: [LINK]
119. 2008: THE IPCC IS THE WORLD’S MOST RESPECTED SCIENTIFIC AGENCY
     The Bangkok Post declares that the IPCC is the world’s most respected scientific agency and pushes for the success of the Poznan climate talks. More info: [LINK]
120. 2008: THE POZNAN CLIMATE MEETING IS MEDIA FEEDING FRENZY
     More than 10,000 delegates are attending a meeting in Poland of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) from December 1 to the 12th. There has been a flurry of scary press releases saying that human activity is causing the earth to become warmer and that global warming will soon be out of control and that there will be devastating consequences to our use of fossil fuels, all of them based on hypothetical statements that state that if event X occurs then a devastation Y is likely to follow. More info: [LINK]
121. 2008: GLACIERS IN ANTARCTICA FLOWING FASTER TO THE SEA
     Mt. Erebus along with most of the mountains in Antarctica are volcanic mountains and it is now known with certainty that volcanic activity under the ice there is causing great amounts of ice to melt and to cause glaciers to flow faster. The attempt by climate scientists to represent these events as climate change phenomena is inconsistent with this reality. More info: [LINK]
122. 2008: THE ARCTIC WILL BE ICE FREE IN SUMMER IN 2008, 2013, 2030, OR 2100
     The unusually low summer sea ice extent in the Arctic in 2007
     The IPCC has taken note and has revised its projection of an ice free Arctic first from 2008 to 2013 and then again from 2013 to 2030. The way things are going it may be revised again to the year 2100. More info: [LINK]
123. 2008: IMMINENT COLLAPSE OF PETERMANN GLACIER IN GREENLAND 
     Climate scientists looking through satellite pictures found a crack in the Petermann glacier in Greenland and concluded that it could speed up sea level rise because huge chunks of ice the size of Manhattan were hemorrhaging off. Yet, scientists who has been travelling to Greenland for years to study glaciers say that the crack in the glacier is normal and not different from other cracks seen in the 1990s. More info: [LINK]
124. 2008: MUST REDUCE CARBON FOOTPRINT WITH RENEWABLE ENERGY 
     Promoting the carbon footprint as the overarching environmental issue does more harm than good because it trivializes more important pollution issues and also because some measures taken to reduce the carbon footprint create more environmental problems than they solve. For example, the use of fertilizer to grow renewable energy crops causes an extreme form of water pollution by nitrogen compounds called eutrophication. Environmentalism has gone awry. It’s broke and it need to be fixed: More info: [LINK]
125. 2008: AN ALARMING WARMING TREND IS FOUND IN MOHONK NY
     Temperature data taken very diligently at Mohonk, NY since 1896 show a temperature increase of 16 Centigrade degrees over 112 years, equivalent to 0.14285 Centigrade degrees per year However, an examination of the Mohonk station shows a warming trend of 0.0133C/year, not 0.1428C/year. Over the same period, on average, the temperature at Rochester, NY increased 0.0056 degrees/year, at Albany, NY it decreased 0.00167 degrees/year, and at Maryland, NY it decreased 0.0074 degrees/year. Clearly it is not possible to use data from a single weather station to draw conclusions about temperature trends even in just the state of New York, much less the entire world. More info: [LINK]
126. 2008: THAILAND GRIPPED BY FEAR OF NARGIS STYLE STORM SURGE 
     There has been much speculation in the Thai media recently as to the surge effects on the low-lying coastal mudflats of Samut Prakarn should a storm like Cyclone Nargis form in the Gulf of Thailand due to climate change and rising seas caused by fossil fuel emissions. More info: [LINK]
127. 2008: HURRICANE KATRINA IS THE HARBINGER OF WORSE YET TO COME
     The IPCC claimed that it had the scientific evidence to prove that our use of fossil fuels caused Hurricane Katrina to forecast with a great certainty that there was more to come in the 2006 hurricane season but the 2006 hurricane season turned out to be milder than normal. The IPCC blamed the dissipation of El Nino for the mild hurricane season in 2006 and issued a new warning that 2007 will be the hottest year on record and will bring a killer hurricane season worse than 2005 but the 2007 forecast also failed. The IPCC’s dream hurricane season has finally arrived in 2008 unannounced and unexpected with strong hurricanes Gustav and Hanna expected to be followed by Ike and a dozen others before the season is through. More info: [LINK]
128. 2008: GLOBAL WARMING IS THE CAUSE OF ALL ICE MELT EVENTS
     When there was a greater focus on Antarctica climate scientists said that global warming was melting the West Antarctic Ice Shelf; but the melting was found to be localized and with an active volcano underneath the melting and the attention of “melt forecast” climate science shifted to Arctic sea ice after the an extensive summer melt was observed in September 2007. More info: [LINK]
129. 2008: THAILAND PARALYZED BY FEAR OF CLIMATE CHANGE STORM SURGE 
     Climate scientists say that fossil fueled global warming causes extreme weather and then waits for weather events such as Cyclone Nargis that can be called extreme, claims that it was caused by global warming, and the forecasts more of the same in that area. In the very sad case of Thailand, the deadly storm surge of Cyclone Nargis was forecast to become normal for this region and a specific forecast was made that a cyclone would form in the Gulf of Thailand and that it would cause a storm surge that would devastate the province of Samut Prakarn. No such cyclone occurred but the economic and emotional distress caused by these forecasts were probably equally damaging. More info: [LINK]
130. 2008: THAILAND HOT SEASON WILL BE SOONER & HOTTER 
     Climate science predicted that in 2008 man-made climate change would cause the hot season in Thailand to arrive earlier than usual and to be so much hotter that parts of the country would experience heavy rains and floods while other parts will be hit by a severe drought (A hot summer expected to arrive early this year, Bangkok Post, February 3, 2008). None of this occurred. Tt was a normal year weather-wise. More info: [LINK]
131. 2008: BOOK: THE GREAT WARMING, BY BRIAN FAGAN
     The book “The Great Warming” by Brian Fagan says that the climate is not at the mercy of man but that man is at the mercy of the climate. It is natural for climate to change. All we can hope to do is to adapt to the changes when they occur. More info: [LINK]
132. 2008: THE HUMAN COST OF ECO EXTREMISM
     Environmental extremism is not benign but rather poses a serious risk to us all that in the long run is more dangerous than terrorism. Malaria, dengue, and other mosquito borne diseases, that had been all but eradicated by DDT, have been able to make a come-back because of a ban on DDT in the hysterical aftermath of the book “Silent Spring”. The lifting of the ban by the WHO in 2006 is a tacit admission that the worldwide ban on DDT was a mistake that had cost humanity millions of lives. More info: [LINK]
133. 2008: BANGKOK IS BEING INUNDATED BY SEA LEVEL RISE 
     The city of Bangkok is sinking due to subsidence. This is a real problem and its real causes must be addressed for a solution. It is cruel opportunism for climate scientists to use this tragedy to sell their man-made global warming agenda. More info: [LINK]
134. 2008: ASIA HIT HARD BY CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS
     Climate scientists say that man-made global warming has caused a rise in the sea level and an increase in the frequency and intensity of natural disasters in Asia. They cite the recent cyclone in Burma, a typhoon in the Philippines, and the earthquake in China. It is implied that these events could hav e been avoided or moderated had we not used fossil fuels. More info: [LINK]
135. 2008: CLIMATE SCIENCE VERSUS THE G8 MEETING OF 2008 (G8=G7+RUSSIA)
     Climate activists at the G* meeting wanted the G8 to make a “commitment” to a specified greenhouse gas reduction by 2020. They were denied. Then they asked the G8 to “seriously consider” a reduction by 2020. They were denied. So finally they wanted the G8 to issue a statement of a “shared vision” for climate change for 2020. They were denied. Finally, they begged for and received a “shared vision” statement for 2050. More info: [LINK]
136. 2008: SEA LEVEL RISE INUNDATES ATOLL AND CREATES CLIMATE REFUGEES
     Climate scientists say that man-made global warming has caused a rise in the sea level sufficient to inundate an atoll in Kiribati, a chain of 33 such islands, and created climate refugees. More info: [LINK]
137. 2008: THE POLAR BEAR IS THREATENED BY OUR USE OF FOSSIL FUELS
     The survival of the polar bear is threatened because man made global warming is melting ice in the Arctic. It is true that the Arctic sea ice extent was down in negative territory in September 2007. This event emboldened global warming scaremongers to declare it a climate change disaster caused by greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels and to issue a series of scenarios about environmental holocaust yet to come. More info: [LINK]
138. 2008: ADELIE PENGUINS IN ANTARCTICA ARE THREATENED 
     Climate scientists have determined that Adelie penguins in Antarctica are threatened because climate change is melting Antarctic glaciers although it is not clear whether the melting is caused by volcanic activity underneath the ice. More info: [LINK]
139. 2008: THE FIRE BELOW: VOLCANIC ACTIVITY MELTING ICE IN ANTARCTICA
     A volcano under the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, that last erupted 2000 years ago, is now active and responsible for melting ice and for retreating glaciers in that part of the continent (The fire below, Bangkok Post, April 28, 2008). Yet, climate scientists claim that these changes are man-made and that they are caused by carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels as predicted by their computer model of the earth’s climate. More info: [LINK]
140. 2008: ABOUT THE PHRASE “CARBON FOOTPRINT” AND THE WORD “COULD” 
     Regardless of the fact that none of our extreme weather predictions have come true and that 2007 was not the hottest year on record, and that Antarctica is not melting like we said, please consider for a moment the devastating tragedy that could befall us if the earth did warm by an extreme amount although we can’t support that by the actual but boring data. More info: [LINK]
141. 2008: THE PHRASE OCEAN ACIDIFICATION ENTERS THE CLIMATE LEXICON
     Climate scientists say that carbon dioxide from human activity involving the use of fossil fuels is absorbed into the ocean where it forms carbonic acid and causes environmental devastation by killing shellfish and coral. More info: [LINK]
142. 2008: GLOBAL WARMING WILL DEVASTATE CROP YIELDS & CAUSE FAMINES
     Global warming scientists used a computer climate model to determine that by the year 2030 yields of critical crops will fall sufficiently in southern Africa and in South Asia to cause famine. The good news is that this catastrophe can be avoided by giving up fossil fuels and using renewable energy. More info: [LINK]
143. 2008: GLOBAL WARMING IS KILLING OFF THE ADELIE PENGUINS 
     The population of Adelie Penguins in the northern reaches of the Peninsula has declined in recent decades but this decline has been more than offset by robust growth in other areas of Antarctica and other species of penguins are thriving in the Peninsula. The mix of penguin species in Antarctica has never been stable and has undergone dramatic changes over millennia. More info: [LINK]
144. 2008: CLIMATE CHANGE IS CAUSING MASS EXTINCTIONS OF SPECIES
     Climate change is causing mass extinctions of species and is expected to devastate the biodiversity of the although in prior epochs of climate change the data in the fossil record show that climate change causes not a net reduction in the number of species but an explosion in the number of species. More info: [LINK]
145. 2008: THE IPCC AR4 REPORT SELLS FEARS THAT HAVE BEEN PROVEN FALSE
     The summer melt of the Arctic ice is not unprecedented, extreme weather events have not become more frequent or more severe, and atolls in the South Pacific are not sinking under rising sea levels. The IPCC’s claim that Hurricane Katrina was caused by man-made global warming has been thoroughly discredited and their forecasts for more severe hurricane seasons in 2006 and 2007 have been proven wrong. They are merchants of fear and their method is the dissemination of convenient lies. More info: [LINK]
146. 2009: CATASTROPHIC WARMING OVER THE WHOLE OF ANTARCTICA
     Temperature data 1957-2008 show that the whole of Antarctica including Western Antarctica, the Antarctic Peninsula, and Eastern Antarctica, is warming due to CO2 emissions from fossil fuels. More info: [LINK]
147. 2009: SOUTHEAST ASIA HIT WITH SEA LEVEL RISE 
     It is reported that “Southeast Asia is facing problems from rising sea levels that bring more frequent flooding in coastal zones and river basins” (Thai firms not ready for climate change, Bangkok Post, January 22, 2009). It is noteworthy that none of these flooding events has been reported in the media. More info: [LINK]
148. 2009: SEA LEVEL RISE CAUSING COASTAL EROSION IN PHUKET, THAILAND
     It is reported that an increase in coastal erosion observed this year in Phuket, Thailand, is due to rising sea levels caused by man-made global warming. Phuket is on the Andaman side of the isthmus of Thailand. Nearby is the Koh-Tapao sea level measuring station monitored by the University of Hawaii sea level database. The time series of these data from 1996 to 2008 do not show any trend. More info: [LINK]
149. 2009: OUR USE OF FOSSIL FUELS IS CAUSING GREENLAND GLACIERS TO MELT
     Man-made global warming is causing Greenland’s glaciers to melt at an alarming rate. By the year 2100 all the ice there will have melted causing a calamitous rise in the sea level that will inundate Bangladesh, the Maldives, Bangkok, New Orleans, and atolls in the Pacific. More info: [LINK]
150. 2009: CLIMATE CHANGE WILL DRIVE SKI SLOPES TO HIGHER ELEVATIONS
     In 25 to 50 years global warming will have a measurable impact on ski slopes by melting snow at lower altitudes and forcing skiers to move uphill. Climate scientists appear to be more comfortable with forecasts with a time horizon long enough so that they cannot be proven wrong in their lifetime. More info: [LINK]
151. 2009: THE TUATARA REPTILE IS THREATENED BY CLIMATE CHANGE
     The tuatara reptile is one of a many species identified by climate scientists as being threatened by global warming caused by our use of fossil fuels. It is part of an overall theory that climate change threatens biodiversity because it will reduce the number of species by causing some of them to become extinct. More info: [LINK]
152. 2009: CLIMATE ACTION, CARBON CREDITS, & THE CARBON TRADING SCHEME
     The carbon trading scheme allows rich countries to buy carbon credits from poor countries in a contract that prevents the poor country from pursuing development projects that would increase CO2 emissions or decrease CO2 removal by photosynthesis. The international carbon trading scheme allows rich countries to trade these contracts among themselves. More info: [LINK]
153. 2009: STATEMENT BY WILLIAM HAPPER, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY.
     The current warming period began about 1800 at the end of the little ice age, long before there was an appreciable increase of CO2. There have been similar and even larger warmings several times in the 10,000 years since the end of the last ice age. These earlier warmings clearly had nothing to do with the combustion of fossil fuels. More Info: [LINK]
154. 2009: CLIMATE CHANGE WILL TURN EUROPE INTO A DESERT BY 2040
     James Lovelock, of Gaia fame who rose to prominence as a guru of environmentalism in the 1960s, says that by the year 2040 carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels will turn Europe into a desert and that by the year 2100 the entire planet will be dead. More info: [LINK]
155. 2009: MELTING OF ANTARCTICA MORE SEVERE THAN PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT
     Climate scientists say that the melting of Antarctica is more severe than “previously thought” because the melt is not limited to the Antarctic Peninsula but extends to West Antarctica as well. More info: [LINK]
156. 2009: MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, AND CLIMATE CHANGE
     Australian authorities are urging married people not to divorce because living separate lives would increase their carbon footprint and exacerbate global warming. More info: [LINK]
157. 2009: CIRCULAR REASONING IN CLIMATE SCIENCE
     Hypothesis must be tested by a different set of data than that used to develop them, for otherwise one falls prey to circular reasoning. The climate model of the IPCC contains this very fundamental scientific flaw because there is only one history. The historical climate data that are used to develop the model and its empirical parameters are the same data that are used to validate the model. More info: [LINK]
158. 2009: COLLAPSE OF THE WEST ANTARCTIC ICE SHELF
     New data show that the West Antarctic ice shelf collapses every 40,000 years or so and that this cyclical process has been regular feature of this ice shelf for millions of years (Antarctica ice collapses were regular, Bangkok Post, March 19, 2009). These melting episodes can raise the sea level by as much as 5 meters but the process takes a thousand years or more. More info: [LINK]
159. 2009: SEA LEVEL RISE DUE TO GLOBAL WARMING IS FLOODING BANGKOK
     Bangkok is sinking at about 2 or 3 cm per year and this phenomenon is blamed for the increasing severity of floods that occur when a rain swollen Chao Phraya River coincides with unusually high tides. These flooding incidents cannot be related to global warming or sea level rise. More info: [LINK]
160. 2009: PALM OIL BIODIESEL BOOM IN ASIA: ENVIRONMENTAL CATASTROPHE
     A new biofuels plant in Singapore is to make bio-diesel from palm oil and sell the product to Europeans at around $900 per ton at a time when real diesel is available at $600 per ton. The reason for targeting the European market is that there is a greater likelihood of finding a high degree of gullible environmentalism that might motivate consumers there to pay more for diesel if they get can a warm and fuzzy feeling of having done something good for the environment. The reality of course is dramatically different here in Asia where the rapid growth in palm oil plantations has been called an environmental disaster. More info: [LINK]
161. 2009: LCGM = LOW CARBON GROWTH MODEL
     Non-Annex developing countries like Thailand have no emission reduction obligation under the Kyoto Protocol and UNFCC Convention but ever since ceding that rational advantage to the poor countries, they have been working overtime to find a way around it using acronyms for each scheme as a way of making it seem important. The 2009 version of this effort is the “low carbon growth model” (LCGM). The bottom line is that developing countries must reduce emissions to save the earth from climate change catastrophe. More info: [LINK]
162. 2009: THE WILKINS ICE SHELF IS COLLAPSING
     Climate scientists say that the Wilkins Ice Shelf collapse is caused by warming of the Antarctic Peninsula due to man-made “global climate change”. More info: [LINK]
163. 2009: WE ARE APPROACHING THE ABYSS OF CLIMATE CHANGE
     Between 2005 and 2007 the UN repeatedly declares that we have passed the tipping point and that it is “already too late to late. The planet is doomed. But in 2009, Ban Ki Moon contradicts his staff and describes the effect of carbon dioxide emissions on climate as “our foot is stuck on the accelerator and we are heading towards an abyss”. That we are not at the abyss yet and there is till time to act. More info: [LINK]
164. 2009: SEVERE DROUGHT IN SOUTHEAST AUSTRALIA
     Southeast Australia is a semi-arid drought prone area with a history of severe droughts during which its primary river system can go bone dry. The current drought there is part of this weather pattern. More info: [LINK]
165. 2009: SEVERE DROUGHT IN NORTHERN CHINA
     Our use of fossil fuels has, through global warming, caused a prolonged drought and severe aridity in northern China and the appropriate response for us is to take climate action and cut emissions. More info: [LINK]
166. 2009: SEA LEVEL RISE OF SEVERAL METERS BY 2100
     After sustained criticism from skeptics, climate scientists have revised their forecast for the rise in sea levels by the year 2100 from 5 meters to 38 cm. In releasing the rather innocuous new figure the scientists had to try extra hard to maintain the fear level saying that the lower figure does not mean we are safe and that things could turn out to be much worse. More info: [LINK]
167. 2009: SETTLED SCIENCE CANNOT BE PROVEN WRONG
     Rapid advance of a glacier in Argentina that was supposed to retreat is explained by climate scientists as an anomaly. “We are not sure why this happens. But not all glaciers respond equally to climate change” In other words, they don’t take data to test the hypothesis because their hypothesis is correct by definition. They take data to test the data. If the data support their theory the data are deemed to be good. Otherwise the data are deemed spurious and additional theories are needed to explain how these observations could occur in the age of global warming. In this kind of science, the man-made global warming hypothesis cannot be proven wrong by the data. More info: [LINK]
168. 2009: IMPACTS ON RICH COUNTRIES REVEALED AHEAD OF COPENHAGEN
     Climate scientists say that the excessive emphasis on the impact of global warming on poor countries was a mistake and that they need to find new ways to bring the horror of global warming home to the citizens of the rich countries in order to ensure the passage of the post Kyoto AGW mitigation measures they will present in Copenhagen. More info: [LINK]
169. 2009: CLIMATE SCIENTISTS STUDY INTENSITY OF CRASHING WAVES
     Climate scientists were sure they could prove that global warming is increasing the frequency and severity of extreme weather but with nothing but Katrina to go on, they have turned to studying crashing hoping to scare us with increasing wave intensity as evidence of extreme weather. More info: [LINK]
170. 2009: CLIMATE CHAOS IN THE AMAZON BASIN 
     In 2005 the Amazon Basin was suffering from drought conditions and this year it was deluged under a devastating flood. The rapid succession of drought and flood is described by climate science as “climate chaos”. They have determined that it was caused by global warming driven by fossil fuel emissions. More info: [LINK]
171. 2009: GLOBAL WARMING CAUSES MALARIA EPIDEMICS
     The effort by epidemiologists to pin a malaria outbreak on global warming is quite possibly not unbiased scientific inquiry but rather an effort to fudge the data and the methodology until the findings meet the expectations and the utility of the global warming community and thereby facilitate further funding. More info: [LINK]
172. 2009: CATASTROPHIC ICE MELT NEEDS TREATY AT COPENHAGEN
     Carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels have caused the following alarming changes to our planet: (1) ice covering the Arctic Ocean shrank in 2007 to its smallest since satellite records began, (2) In Antarctica, a section of the Wilkins Ice Shelf has broken up in recent days, (3) glaciers in the Himalayan mountains are shrinking and threatening to disrupt water supplies to hundreds of millions of people, (4) melting permafrost in Siberia will release large quantities of methane into the atmosphere and hasten global warming, and (5) if all of the land based ice in Antarctica melted it would raise the sea level by 80 meters. More info: [LINK]
173. 2009: THE ADB SELLING “ECONOMICS OF CLIMATE CHANGE” 
     The Asian Development Bank issues a report on “the economics of climate change in Southeast Asia” – patterned after its mother report, “The economics of climate change” by Nicholas Stern and funded by the British. It tries to trick SE Asian non-Annex countries with no UNFCCC climate action obligation to take climate action with the fear of consequences if they don’t. More info: [LINK]
174. 2009: GLOBAL WARMING = REGIONAL WARMING IN SE ASIA
     Although climate science presents climate change as a global issue with global emissions changing global language, the ADB tries to trick SE Asian non-Annex countries into climate action with a report that implies that climate change in SE Asia is responsive to emissions from SE Asia and if no action is taken climate change will lead to decreasing rainfall and millions will suffer from water shortages”; “Rice production will decline threatening food security”; “Forests will turn into scrub land”; “Floods, droughts, cyclones, and other extreme weather events will become common”; “Deaths from cardiovascular and respiratory disease, malaria, and dengue fever will increase”; “Sea levels will rise by 70 cm or more inundating entire islands and low lying areas”; and the biggest lie of all, “All of these dangers may be mitigated by reducing CO2 emissions from fossil fuels”. More info: [LINK]
175. 2009: CLIMATE CHANGE WILL KILL OFF THE WORLD’S CORAL REEFS
     Our carbon dioxide emissions are wreaking havoc on the world’s coral reefs according to climate scientists. Sadly, the obsession with carbon dioxide has done more harm to the environment and to coral reefs than good by belittling and hiding real pollution issues. More info: [LINK]
176. 2009: CLIMATE SCIENTISTS INVENT THE PHRASE “RAPID SEA LEVEL RISE”
     Climate scientists say that climate action has become urgent because of the possibility of rapid sea level rise. We are urged to reduce “greenhouse gas emissions” from fossil fuels because in prior interglacial periods the sea level had risen by as much as 3 meters in 100 years and so we should expect it do so again in the interglacial period in which we now live. More info: [LINK]
177. 2009: BANGLADESH BEING INUNDATED BY RAPID SEA LEVEL RISE
     The oft repeated claim that Bangladesh is being inundated by rising sea levels caused by man-made climate change ignores the relevant data that the total land mass of the country is not decreasing. In fact, the total land mass of Bangladesh is increasing just as it always has by virtue of silt deposition. More info: [LINK]
178. 2009: THE WORD “ABYSS” IS USED TO SELL FEAR OF CLIMATE CHANGE
     Ban Ki Moon says that we are approaching the abyss and if Copenhagen fails we will soon find ourselves at the abyss – and suddenly everything that any UN bureaucrat says about climate change contains the word abyss. A new climate buzzword has thus been invented to hype the Copenhagen climate summit which incidentally failed miserably just as the rest of them have, all funded by taxpayers. More info: [LINK]
179. 2009: COPENHAGEN IS OUR LAST CHANCE. IF WE FAIL, THE PLANET IS TOAST
     Ban Ki-Moon says that he went to the Arctic Ocean and was horrified to see the remains of a glacier that just a few years ago was a majestic mass of ice and that had just collapsed – not slowly melted – just collapsed. He thereby became convinced that the only resolution for the “climate crisis” is a binding emission reduction agreement at the Copenhagen meeting in December 2009: More info: [LINK]
180. 2009: ITALY WILL USE ITS VETO POWER TO BLOCK COPENHAGEN
     Citing the high cost of the EU carbon emission reduction plan ill timed to coincide with a long and painful global recession, Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi announced that Italy will not comply and moreover that he intends to use Italy’s veto power to block the measure. More info: [LINK]
181. 2009: SUMMER ARCTIC SEA ICE EXTENT IN 2009 THE 3RD LOWEST ON RECORD
     The second lowest was 2008 and the first lowest was 2007. This is not a trend that shows that things are getting worse. It shows that things are getting better and yet it is being sold and being bought as evidence that things are getting worse due to rising fossil fuel emissions. More info: [LINK]
182. 2009: USE OF FOSSIL FUELS CAUSING GREENLAND’S GLACIERS TO MELT
     In 2005 two glaciers in Greenland were found to be moving faster than they were in 2001. Scientists concluded from these data that the difference observed was a a long term trend of glacial melt in Greenland and that carbon dioxide was the cause of this trend. The assumed trend was then extrapolated forward and we were told that carbon dioxide would cause the land based ice mass of Greenland to be discharged to the sea and raise the sea level by six meters. They said that the only way out of the devastation was to drastically reduce carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels. However, in 2009, just before a meeting in Copenhagen where these deep cuts in emissions were to be negotiated, it was found that the glaciers had returned to their normal rate of discharge. More info: [LINK]
183. 2009: HOW TO FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE BY RATIONING ENERGY
     The Institute for Public Policy Research in the UK proposes to fight climate change by rationing energy. The program would include gasoline, natural gas, heating oil, electricity, diesel, and even airline tickets and holidays. Each person or household will be issued ration cards for a prescribed amount of energy each month and when the that amount has been consumed, excess consumption will be possible only by purchasing carbon credits. More info: [LINK]
184. 2009: GLOBAL WARMING IS MELTING HIMALAYAN GLACIERS
     It is claimed that carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels are causing Himalayan glaciers to melt and thereby to threaten devastation but the available data do not support this conclusion. More info: [LINK]
     2009: CHINA’S GROWTH COULD OVERWHELM THE PLANET’S RESOURCES
     The old Club of Rome argument that “we can’t all live like white people because that would overwhelm the planet” is now made with climate change as the rationale. More info: [LINK]
185. 2009: CLEAN DEVELOPMENT MECHANSIM + THE CARBON OFFSET SCHEME
     The CDM (clean development mechanism) and the carbon offset scheme offers the rich industrialized West to fight climate change simply by buying carbon offsets from poor countries, in effect, paying poor to stay poor so that the rich can stay rich by buying the right to their continued use of fossil fuels. More info: [LINK]
186. 2009: THREATENED POLAR BEARS “STARE AT THE MELTING POINT”
     Global warming caused by our use of fossil fuels is driving polar bears to extinction and threatening the livelihood of the people of Nunavut. More info: [LINK]
187. 2009: FOSSIL FUELED SEA LEVEL RISE IS INUNDATING SHANGHAI, CHINA
     Climate scientists say that sea level rise due to man-made global warming is causing Shanghai to be inundated with sea water. The truth is that the inundation problem in Shanghai was first noted and measured by geologists back in 1921 when atmospheric carbon dioxide was below 300 ppm. The problem is attributed to subsidence caused by the removal of ground water and the weight of the buildings in the downtown area of the city. The subsidence continues to this day and it is estimated that Shanghai is sinking at an annual rate of about one cm per year. More info: [LINK]
188. 2009: BANGLADESH HIT WITH CYCLONES AND CLIMATE REFUGEES
     Bangladeshis displaced by Cyclone Sidr in 2007 are “climate refugees” because they have been rendered homeless by a climate change event that was caused by carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels and it suggests that cyclones like Sidr will continue to ravage this poverty stricken nation unless we forge a plan in Copenhagen and do away with fossil fuels. More info: [LINK]
189. 2009: THE ARCTIC WILL BE ICE FREE IN SUMMER BY 2029
     An alarm is raised that the extreme summer melt of Arctic sea ice in 2007 was caused by humans using fossil fuels and it portends that in 20 years human caused global warming will leave the Arctic Ocean ice-free in the summer raising sea levels and harming wildlife. More info: [LINK]
190. 2009: SEA LEVEL RISE SINKING SOUTH PACIFIC ATOLLS 
     Our use of fossil fuels causes global warming. Global warming causes sea level rise. Sea level rise causes South Pacific atolls to become inundated. The inundation of these islands creates climate refugees. More info: [LINK]
191. 2009: VOLCANOES & CLIMATE CHANGE: POSITIVE FEEDBACK
     A positive feedback loop from hell that could cause explosive climate change is described in terms of volcanic activity and climate change with each pushing the other forward. More info: [LINK]
192. 2009: WARMING OCEANS MELT GREENLAND GLACIERS
     Some glaciers on north and northeast Greenland terminate in fiords with long glacier tongues that extend into the sea. It is found that the warming of the oceans caused by our use of fossil fuels is melting these icy tongues and raising the specter of devastation by sea level rise. More info: [LINK]
193. 2009: THE ARCTIC WILL BE ICE FREE IN SUMMER BY THE YEAR 2012
     Climate scientists continue to extrapolate the extreme summer melt of Arctic sea ice in 2007 to claim that the summer melt of 2007 was a climate change event and that it implies that the Arctic will be ice free in the summer from 2012 onwards. This is a devastating effect on the planet and our use of fossil fuels is to blame. More info: [LINK]
194. 2009: OUR USE OF FOSSIL FUELS IS MELTING ICE ON KILIMANJARO
     This old Gore hypothesis is endorsed by climate science but it turns out, the loss of ice interpreted here was due to aridity and not warming; the process is sublimation not melting; and it started at least as early as 1912 when atmospheric CO2 was below 300 ppm. Furthermore, the ice appears to have stabilized and the various projections of its demise by 2016, 2020, or 2030 have all been withdrawn. More info: [LINK]
195. 2009: TYPHOON KETSANA WAS A WARNING FROM NATURE
     Typhoon Ketsana devastated the Philippines in 2009 and it was a high profile news item so naturally it was adopted by the United Nations climate meeting in Bangkok to sell their war against fossil fuels. More info: [LINK]
196. 2009: SEA LEVEL RISE IS INUNDATING SAMUT PRAKAN, THAILAND
     Carbon dioxide emissions causing encroachment by sea water in the Bangkok Groundwater Area, that includes Samut Prakan, say climate scientists although it is known to be a well known effect of land subsidence caused by ground water extraction that is unrelated to carbon dioxide emissions, global warming, or climate change. More info: [LINK]
197. 2009: GLOBAL WARMING IS MELTING THE HIMALAYAN GLACIERS
     Himalayan ice is rapidly vanishing because of human caused global warming and will be gone by 2035. The great rivers of Asia that are originate there will shrivel and die and cease to provide water to a quarter of humanity. More info: [LINK]
198. 2009: THE RICH COUNTRY POOR COUNTRY PUZZLE IN CLIMATE ACTION
     There are too many people in poor countries. They can’t all live like white people because that would overload the planet with too much carbon dioxide. So please keep the status quo and we will take care of you with billions of Euros of aid should global warming’s devastation strike. More info: [LINK]
199. 2009: THE SUMMER SEA ICE EXTENT IN THE ARCTIC WILL BE GONE
     Summer melt of Arctic ice was the third most extensive on record in 2009, second 2008, and the most extensive in 2007. These data show that warming due to our carbon dioxide emissions are causing summer Arctic ice to gradually diminish until it will be gone altogether. More info: [LINK]
200. 2009: FAILURE AT COPENHAGEN WILL DRIVE SPECIES TO EXTINCTION.
     It would be a sad chapter in human history if we commit economic suicide Jim Jones style in the vain and Quixotic belief that we are in control of the planet’s climate. The human race with all its knowledge and technology, is insignificant on a planetary scale. On what basis do we expect to be able to stabilize nature? We appear to be in the grip of some kind of mass insanity. More info: [LINK]
201. 2009: SOUTH ASIA IS TOAST: MONSOON CHAOS WILL CAUSE CROP FAILURE
     In 2007, 2008, and 2009 climate science issued the dire warning that global warming caused by our fossil fuel emissions is weakening and destabilizing the annual South Asian monsoon weather pattern. Monsoons in South Asia will be weakened and delayed. The results will be devastating and will include drought, crop failure, and widespread hunger. These dire forecasts were finally withdrawn in 2010 when they were proven false. [LINK]
202. 2009: WARMEST EUROPEAN WINTER ON RECORD IN 2000 IS THE PROOF
     In the unusually cold winter of the year 2009, climate science declared it as an anomaly and a case of natural variability but the unusually warm winter of 2000 was not interpreted as natural variability nor as an anomaly but as absolute proof of the theory of global warming by way of fossil fuel emissions: More info: [LINK]
203. 2009: WHEAT CROP FAILURE IN CHINA CAUSED BY CLIMATE CHANGE
     The article pretends to describe wheat production in all of China but cites only the failure of a new venture to grow wheat in semi-desert Gansu Province with where one finds large desert areas and where the only economic activity had been mining and attributes that failure to climate change. It is true that the experimental wheat farms had rough years in the beginning but by 2017 the experiment had borne fruit with about 3000 hectares under cultivation. Wheat production is booming in the main wheat producing provinces of Heilongjiang, Henan, and Hebei. The implication of the article that wheat production in China has been adversely affected by fossil fueled global warming is inconsistent with the data. More info: [LINK]
204. 2009: FAILURE AT COPENHAGEN PITS POOR COUNTRIES AGAINST RICH.
     The Copenhagen climate summit was advertised by the UN and by climate scientists as a “do or die” watershed event for climate action to save the planet. Its spectacular failure and the continued existence of the planet threw the movement into a chaotic war between rich and poor with the poor developing countries accusing the rich industrialized countries of having been the perpetrators of climate change and demanding compensation. More info: [LINK]
205. 2009: DESTRUCTION ON A GLOBAL SCALE WITH SUPERSTORMS
     In 2005 climate science had latched on to Hurricane Katrina as the harbinger of killer hurricane super storms created by fossil fueled global warming but after no further cyclone activity in the North Atlantic Basin in the next three years, they were rewarded with Cyclone Nargis in the Indian Basin. Though not unusually strong, Nargis did create a freak storm surge in rising tides that swept up the Irrawaddy River in Burma and claimed a horrific death toll. Nargis thus became the biggest news story in Asia. Climate scientists quickly changed their focus from the North Atlantic Basin to the Indian Basin and claimed Cyclone Nargis as a creation of climate change caused by fossil fuel emissions and as the harbinger of “destruction on a global scale” by human caused global warming. More info: [LINK]
206. 2009: DESTRUCTION ON A GLOBAL SCALE WITH SEA LEVEL RISE
     Bangladesh is a low lying delta where the Ganges, the Brahmaputra, and other Indian rivers drain. Over the last few decades an explosive growth of shrimp farming along the coast and construction of irrigation dams upstream in India has caused coastal salinity to move further upstream causing considerable harm to agriculture. This tragedy is now claimed by climate science as an impact of fossil fueled global warming by way of rising seas. Yet, if rising seas were the cause of the salinity problem, the land area of Bangladesh would be shrinking – but it is growing. More info: [LINK]
207. 2009: RAPID ECONOMIC GROWTH IN SE ASIA WILL CAUSE EXTREME WEATHER IN SE ASIA
     Global warming theory is strictly in global terms and yet it is often interpreted in regional terms as in the case where climate science has found that typhoons in Vietnam are caused by SE Asian emissions. More info: [LINK]
208. 2009: THE MEKONG IS TOAST
     The Mekong River is drying up because there is not enough snow in the Himalayas. This tragic situation was created with fossil fuel emissions that cause global warming and climate change. It can be solved by cutting fossil fuel emissions and restoring the Himalayas to their former pristine and unchanging condition. [LINK]
209. 2009: CLIMATE CHANGE COULD DEVASTATE AGRICULTURE IN CHINA
     Climate science has determined that IF climate change causes sufficiently extreme weather and IF they devastate agriculture in China, THEN the impact on the economic and social development of China would be incalculable”. The fear of global warming is now being delivered as pure hypothetical statements using the words “if” and “could”. More info: [LINK]
210. 2009: ONE HUNDRED ICEBERGS BREAK OFF FROM ANTARCTICA 
     Human caused global warming is causing havoc in Antarctica with potentially incalculable results. Over one hundred icebergs broke off and a huge flotilla of them are floating up to New Zealand. More info: [LINK]
211. 2009: ANTARCTICA TO LOSING BILLIONS OF TONS OF ICE
     Our carbon dioxide emissions are causing the East Antarctic ice shelf to lose 57 billion tonnes of ice per year and that if CO2 emissions are not reduced this process could raise sea levels by 5 meters. More info: [LINK]
212. 2009: BIOFUEL BOOM IN SE ASIA TO SAVE THE PLANET FROM FOSSIL FUELS
     The recent rapid growth in palm oil plantations in SE Asia is not for the cooking oil market but for the renewable biofuels market. This market was created by climate scientists in their urgent call for a rapid increase in biofuels to replace fossil fuels as a way of mitigating global warming and saving the planet. The same climate scientists are now complaining that their medicine is worse than the disease, that their solution to global warming causes global warming, and that their single minded obsession with carbon dioxide compromises real environmental issues. More info: [LINK]
213. 2009: GLOBAL WARMING KILLING OFF THE CARIBOU IN THE YUKON
     In 1989 there were 178000 Porcupine caribou in the Yukon and “their number now is estimated to be 100,000” because global warming is killing off the caribou. Global warming causes freezing rain in the calving season and that makes it hard for calving caribou to feed. But if we don’t cherry pick the start of the study period as 1989 and look at all the available data we find that the population rose steadily from 100000 in 1972 to 178000 in 1989 and then decreased steadily down to 120000 in 2005. These data suggest, and caribou biologists agree, that caribou populations go through a 30 to 40-year cycle of growth and decay. This population dynamic cannot be related to global warming or carbon dioxide. More info: [LINK]
214. 2009: GUANGDONG CHINA HIT WITH DROUGHT AND WATER SHORTAGE
     Drought and a drinking water shortage in Guangdong are the result of global warming due to too much carbon dioxide in the air put there by our use of fossil fuels. However, China’s very extensive historical weather record in the Fang Zhi shows that cycles of drought and flood have been characteristic of this region for 2500 years long before atmospheric carbon dioxide rose above 300 ppm. Guangdong’s growing drinking water crisis is due to rapid industrialization and population growth with large numbers of migrant workers flooding into the region. More info: [LINK]
215. 2010: ICELAND IS TOAST: CLIMATE CHANGE CAUSING VOLCANIC ERUPTION
     Fossil fuel emissions cause global warming, global warming in turn causes glaciers in Iceland to melt, and melting glaciers lighten the weight of the ice cap on volcanoes and thereby trigger eruptions (Ice cap thaw may awaken Icelandic volcanoes, April 17, 2010). That it was geothermal activity that caused the melting of the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier is not mentioned. Instead climate science tells us that the we must cut fossil fuel emissions to save Iceland from climate change hell. [LINK] [LINK]
216. 2010: CARBON NEUTRAL BHUTAN IS A CLIMATE CHANGE POSTER CHILD
     Bhutan is a tiny country. Its main features are poverty, illiteracy, and poor medical and infrastructure services. Bhutan is carbon negative, not carbon neutral as claimed by climate science. To achieve carbon neutrality, Bhutan must increase fossil fuel consumption many fold. [LINK]
217. 2010: GREEN ECONOMY WILL SAVE THE PLANET
     Climate science has determined that the earth is “overheated, under-resourced, and out of time”. Fortunately, although we are out of time, there is still time to save the planet. We can do that by moving to a Green Economy that would require that we stop using fossil fuels and change to renewable energy. [LINK]
218. 2010: RISING SEA LEVEL SINKS COASTAL ISLAND IN BANGLADESH
     Climate science says that fossil fueled global warming is causing ice to melt and sea levels to rise and that the destruction that this process can cause is already evident in that the ocean has taken back an island from Bangladesh. (Note: New Moore Island, Talpatti in local lingo, is one of many evanescent islands that come and go on the coast of this delta nation but in the net land is gained not lost). More info here [LINK]
219. 2010: THE CLIMATEGATE SCANDAL AND COPENHAGEN
     It appears that climate change will be harder to sell than previously thought. Hurricane Katrina, sinking tropical islands, climate refugees, and melting glaciers in the Himalayas have been oversold and they are no longer effective. The credibility of climate scientists has been eroded by the Climategate email scandal and also by the revelation of data anomalies. More info: [LINK]
220. 2010: FLAWED CLIMATE ACTION PLAN OF KYOTO/UNFCCC 
     The UNFCCC emission reduction plan is confounded with a complicated classification of nations and their responsibilities and such bureaucratic double-speak as “Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities” (CBDRRC); and it is further corrupted by the built-in weakness of the carbon credit plan. These weaknesses have turned the UN emission reduction plan into a giant money game in which rich countries can pay developing countries to not develop and a great enthusiasm among countries classified as “vulnerable” to tout their vulnerability and demand money. More info: [LINK] Also this: [LINK]
221. 2010: CLIMATE CHANGE IS KILLING OFF POLAR BEARS AND THE WALRUSES
     Global warming is melting ice in the Arctic and devastating the ecosystem that nurtures the habitats of the Polar Bear and the Walrus. Urgent climate action is needed to save these great creatures of the North. More info: [LINK]
222. 2010: NATURAL VARIABILITY CAN TEMPORARILY OVERCOME AGW
     Climate scientists say the extreme weather is caused by man-made climate change if they can come up with a rationale to explain that effect. In cases where they can’t come up with a rationale the weather effect is explained as a case where natural variability had temporarily overcome human caused global warming. More info: [LINK]
223. 2010: PERTURBATION OF THE CARBON CYCLE BY EXTERNAL CARBON
     Since Callendar 1938 and right up to Hansen 1981 and IPCC 2007 the human-caused global warming argument has been that the use of hydrocarbon fuels by humans since the industrial revolution injects new external carbon into the carbon cycle that is not part of the current account of the carbon cycle and therefore it is a perturbation of nature’s current account of the carbon cycle. This means that all human caused CO2 emissions are not at issue – only those from fossil fuels are the AGW issue because fossil fuels are external to the carbon cycle and their use injects new carbon into the carbon cycle. So for example, human respiration is not human caused CO2 emissions because that CO2 belongs to the current account of the carbon cycle. Somewhere along the way the climate scientists lost track of this aspect of their own theory and have begun to identify even natural non-fossil fuel elements of the current account of the carbon cycle as causes of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide. More info:  [LINK]
224. 2019: THAT IRREVERSIBLE changes in Earth’s climate systems are underway means we are in a state of planetary emergency, leading climate scientists warn. A cascade of tipping points could amount to a global tipping point, where multiple earth systems march past the point of no return, they say. That possibility is “an existential threat to civilization,” write Tim Lenton and colleagues in this week’s Nature. Such a collapse of Earth’s systems could lead to “hothouse earth” conditions with a global temperature rise of 9 degrees F (5 degrees C), sea levels rising 20 to 30 feet, the complete loss of the world’s coral reefs and the Amazon forest, and with large parts of the planet uninhabitable. A global emergency response is required to limit warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius), they warn. “The stability and resilience of our planet is in peril,” they say: [LINK TO SOURCE]
225. 2020: Global Warming Already Baked In Will Blow Past Climate Goals, a New Study Says. The amount of baked-in global warming, from carbon pollution already in the air, is enough to blow past international agreed upon goals to limit climate change, a new study finds. But it’s not game over because, while that amount of warming may be inevitable, it can be delayed for centuries if the world quickly stops emitting extra greenhouse gases from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, the study’s authors say. For decades, scientists have talked about so-called “committed warming” or the increase in future temperature based on past carbon dioxide emissions that stay in the atmosphere for well over a century. It’s like the distance a speeding car travels after the brakes are applied. [LINK TO SOURCE]

FIGURE 1: DATA FOR GMSL AND EMISSIONS

FIGURE 2: CORRELATION: 30-YEAR SLR & 30YR EMISSIONS: 1880-2013

FIGURE 3: CORRELATION: 35-YEAR SLR & 35YR EMISSIONS: 1880-2013

FIGURE 4: CORRELATION: 40-YEAR SLR & 40YR EMISSIONS: 1880-2013

FIGURE 5: CORRELATION: 45-YEAR SLR & 45YR EMISSIONS: 1880-2013

FIGURE 6: CORRELATION: 50-YEAR SLR & 50YR EMISSIONS: 1880-2013

FIGURE 7: CORRELATION: SUMMARY OF RESULTS

FIGURE 8: TEST OF THE CLARK HYPOTHESIS: Clark, Peter “Sea-level commitment as a gauge for climate policy.” Nature Climate Change 8.8 (2018) [LINK] 

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1. Climate science tells us that the fossil fuel emissions of the industrial economy have caused an artificial global warming measured as a rising temperature trend “since pre-industrial times” that is not explained by usual interglacial dynamics. It is further claimed that this artificial warming of the industrial economy is responsible for the observed rise in global mean sea level (GMSL) since pre-industrial times. The importance of the relationship between global warming and sea level rise is that if fossil fuel emissions are not drastically reduced or eliminated, the artificial sea level rise caused by fossil fuel emissions of the industrial economy will have catastrophic consequences particularly in low lying coastal areas such as Florida and Bangladesh as well as in low lying islands and atolls in the Indian and Pacific oceans labeled as “vulnerable” by climate science. The important conclusion to be drawn from these relationships is that reducing fossil fuel emissions will moderate the rate of sea level rise as measured by the GMSL (SLR) and thereby prevent the catastrophic consequences projected for “vulnerable” places like Florida, Bangladesh, and the Maldive and Pacific islands.
2. It has been proposed that acceleration in SLR provides evidence of the human cause of SLR. Yet, sea level rise and acceleration in sea level rise are seen in prior interglacial events in the pre-industrial era as in the Eemian  [LINK] and the Younger Dryas [LINK] .  It should be obvious that SLR is constant only if a surface temperature above 0ºC is constant. In a warming period where the temperature is rising, the rate of sea level must also rise. Thus, since rising surface temperature is normal in interglacials, acceleration in SLR without human cause, is also normal in interglacials as evident in prior interglacial events where no human cause by way of fossil fuel emissions could have existed [LINK] [LINK] . Human cause of sea level rise by way of fossil fuel emissions must therefore be established by other means that involves the rate of fossil fuel emissions.
3. Here we propose that a testable implication of the proposed relationships that imply human cause of sea level rise is that if reducing emissions is expected to slow the rate of SLR, there ought to be a correlation, net of shared trends, between emissions and the rate of SLR at an appropriate time scale at which this causation can occur. This post is an empirical test of this hypothesis with the GMSL reconstruction provided by CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organization) [LINK] . These data are available as annual means for the sample period 1880 to 2013. The time scale for the causal relationship is not well defined. The emissions to warming time scale is estimated to be a decade by Ricke and Caldeira 2014 but the relationship between warming and ice melt is usually cited as multidecadal. The Nerem (2018) paper that claimed to show human cause in terms of acceleration in sea level rise used a 25-year study period of 1993-2018 and we use that as a reference to conclude that the time scale  for the slow process of converting emissions to sea level rise should be at least 25 years or perhaps longer. of In view of these considerations, five different time scales in the range of 30 years to 50 years are studied for the relationship between emissions and the rate of SLR. They are 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50 years.
4. A prior study carried out on the same basis by Peter Clark of Oregon State University found a strong correlation between emissions and sea level rise and concluded that emissions cause sea level (by way of warming) and that therefore, reducing emissions should reduce the rate of sea level rise. This study is discussed in a related post [LINK] where it is shown that the correlation between cumulative values used in the Clark study (and depicted graphically in Figure 8 above) is spurious. This is because the time series of cumulative values of another time series contains neither time scale nor degrees of freedom. This study extends the Clark study by inserting finite time scales so that the correlation can be tested for statistical significance.
5. The GMSL and emissions data used in the study are depicted graphically in Figure 1 above. The rate of SLR is computed as the linear regression coefficient of GMSL against time in years over time spans corresponding with the five time scales used, viz: 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50 years. These SLR rates are then compared with the total fossil fuel emissions in gigatons of carbon equivalent (GTC) in the duration of the time scale. We then study the correlation between emissions and the rate of SLR at each of the five time scales.
6. The correlation between the rate of SLR and the rate of emissions at time scales of 30, 35, 40, 45, and 50 years are depicted graphically in Figure 2, Figure 3, Figure 4, Figure 5, and Figure 6 respectively. The left panel of these figures show the correlation in the source data that includes the contribution of shared long term trends to correlation. The right panel shows the correlation between the detrended series in which the contribution of shared long term trends is removed and only the responsiveness at the time scale of interest remains. The necessity of this procedure is explained in a related post [LINK] . What we see in these charts is that though significant correlations are seen in the source data no correlation is apparent in the detrended data.
7. The observed correlations are tabulated in Figure 7 and the source data and detrended correlations are compared in a chart below the tabulation. These results show that the observed correlation in the source data derive from shared upward trends of the two time series. The zero to negative correlations in the detrended series imply that there is no evidence that the rate of sea level rise is responsive to the rate of fossil fuel emissions. This result is inconsistent with the proposition that climate action in the form of reducing fossil fuel emissions will moderate the rate of sea level rise.
8. CONCLUSION: Detrended correlation analysis of the relationship between the rate of fossil fuel emissions and the rate of sea level rise observed in the global mean sea level reconstruction 1880-2013 provided by the CSIRO does not show the responsiveness of the rate of SLR to the rate of emissions needed to support the climate action proposition that reductions in fossil fuel emissions will moderate the rate of sea level rise. 
9. The proposition by climate science that sea level rise can be attenuated with the prescribed climate action of reducing fossil fuel emissions  (Figure 9), is not supported by the data. 

THE CLIMATE MY FRIEND IS CHANGING

How many roads must a man walk down

Before he can see the climate change

How many seas must a white dove sail

Before the sea levels rise

Yes, and how many times must the airliners fly

Before they’re forever banned

The climate, my friend, is changing with the wind

The climate is changing with the wind

Yes, and how many years can deniers exist

Before they come back to sanity

Yes, and how many years must the science exist

Before they let consensus be

Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head

And pretend that he just doesn’t see

The climate, my friend, is changing with the wind

The climate is changing with the wind

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[LIST OF POSTS ON THIS SITE]

CLIMATE CHANGE IN AUSTRALIA AS SEEN IN DAILY STATION DATA

A month by month trend analysis of more than 100 years of daily maximum (TMAX) and daily minimum (TMIN) temperatures from three weather stations in Australia is presented. The results show warming trends in TMIN for all twelve calendar months at all three stations with observed warming rates ranging from 0.4 to 2.3 degrees Celsius per century. The TMAX data show a combination of warming trends, cooling trends, and no trends with significant differences among stations and among the calendar months so that no coherent conclusion can be drawn with respect to the long term trend in TMAX. Temperature trends in a moving 30-year window indicate that long term linear OLS trends in temperature are the residual product of violent multi-decadal cycles of warming and cooling at rates that are an order of magnitude greater. Detrended correlation analysis failed to establish a relationship between emissions and warming. The strong evidence of warming found in the TMIN data is confounded by its absence in TMAX as no theoretical basis exists for fossil fuel emissions to cause warming in TMIN and not in TMAX.

RELATED POST ON STATION DATA:  [LINK]

1. ACRONYMS: C=degrees Celsius, OLS=ordinary least squares, WMO=World Meteorological Organization, AGW=anthropogenic global warming, TMIN=nighttime daily minimum temperature, TMAX=daytime daily maximum temperature, STDEV=standard deviation,
2. SUMMARY: Over a hundred years of daily minimum (TMIN) and daily maximum (TMAX) temperature measurements at three weather stations in Australia (90015, 26026, & 30045) taken by the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) are studied separately on a month by month basis for long term trends. The procedure is designed to maintain data integrity in terms of the diurnal and seasonal cycles that involve temperature changes orders of magnitude greater than long term trends. The results for TMAX are inconclusive with one station showing cooling and the other two showing mixed results with warming trends for some months and no evidence of trends for other months. We conclude that the TMAX data do not provide convincing evidence of long term warming trends. Dramatically different results are found for TMIN. All three stations show strong and statistically significant warming trends in TMIN. However, detrended correlation analysis could not relate these warming trends to fossil fuel emissions. These results are anomalous. No theoretical framework exists for anthropogenic global warming acting through the greenhouse effect of atmospheric CO2 by way of fossil fuel emissions to cause warming in nighttime temperatures without affecting the maximum daytime temperature. It is proposed that anomalies of this kind may be used in conjunction with other factors in the evaluation of the integrity of the instrumental record of surface temperature.
3. DETAILS BELOW:
4. Most of the variance in temperature is contained in the diurnal cycle, the seasonal cycle, in multi-decadal trend cycles within the full span of the data, and in random variability. A very small portion, usually in the order of 5% or less, can be attributed to long term trends (Munshi J. , 2015). For example, in Cape Otway, Australia, located at latitude of -38.86, the diurnal range is ≈7C on average and the range in the seasonal cycle is ≈8C on average. Also trends in a 30-year moving window show multi-decadal trends in the range of -8C to +8C per century. By comparison, the conventional aggregated long term OLS analysis of daily minimum temperatures shows full span linear OLS warming rates 1865-2016 of less than≈1C per century, a rather insignificant number in comparison. For instance, the annual seasonal cycle of ≈8C is equivalent to more than 800 years of long term OLS trend in the full span of the data. Yet, Information about diurnal and seasonal cycles is lost when the data are aggregated prior to trend analysis. To maintain data integrity we propose a procedure in which trend analysis is carried out separately for extreme daytime and nighttime temperatures (daily maximum and daily minimum) and for each calendar month as a way of preserving the integrity of variable diurnal and seasonal cycles throughout the sample period. The procedure yields 24 different trend values. These trends are then understood and interpreted in their context and combined as necessary and as appropriate to answer specific research questions.
5. A linear OLS trend line across the full span of the time series yields an estimate of the overall trend across the entire sample period but assumes linearity. Long term non-linearity in the data can be detected by drawing a quadratic or cubic curve across the full span and comparing R-squared values. Non-linearity is inferred if the value of R-squared for the non-linear OLS curve is much higher than that of the linear OLS line. Conversely, the linearity assumption is supported if the difference is not significant or a higher value of R-squared is seen in the linear OLS line. Greater insight into the nonlinear trend cycles within the full span of the data is achieved by constructing what may be termed a “trend profile”. It is designed to discover multi-decadal trend cycles that are known to occur in long temperature series (Parker, 2007). A generational (30-year) moving window is used for this purpose. The significance of the 30-year time span derives from the WMO position that climate is 30 years of weather. It moves through the data series one year at a time computing generational trends. A plot of generational trends against time reveals the multi-decadal cycles if they exist in the data. Greater information about non-linearity in the data is gained.
6. An important consideration in the study of temperature trends in the context of AGW is whether these trends may be related to the rate of fossil fuel emissions. Empirical evidence in support of the AGW hypothesis that fossil fuel emissions cause a measurable warming trend in surface temperature has been presented as a correlation between cumulative emissions and cumulative warming in various global and regional homogenized temperature series as well as in station data (Allen, 2009) (IPCC, 2000) (Matthews, 2009) (Gillett, 2013) (Zickfeld, 2009) (Solomon, 2009) (Davis, 2010) (Meinshausen, 2009) (Karoly, 2006) (IPCC, 2007). However, it is shown in a related post that correlations between cumulative emissions and cumulative warming are spurious because a time series of cumulative values of observations in another time series contains neither time scale nor degrees of freedom [LINK] . This finding implies that only correlations at finite time scales between emissions and warming can serve as empirical evidence for AGW. Katherine Ricke and Ken Caldeira had proposed that the optimal time scale is a decade based on the response characteristics of warming to emissions in the CMIP5 climate model (Ricke, 2014). However, it was not possible to replicate this result outside of climate models and it appears that longer time scales yield better correlations. For example, correlations at a generational time scale (30 years) are higher than those at a decadal time scale. As well, a generation (30 years) time scale is recognized by the WMO as the appropriate time scale in the study of climate (WMO, 2016) (Ackerman, 2006). The generational time scale within a moving 30-year span is therefore used in this work. (A comparison of time scales is presented in a related post on this site [LINK] .
7. Daily maximum (TMAX) and daily minimum (TMIN) temperatures are provided by the Government of Australia Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) for a large number of weather stations located throughout Australia (BOM, 2017). Five of these weather stations are listed below. They were selected for the study based on data availability of data for more than a century. Large gaps of a decade or more without data were found in the Boulia Airport and Hobart datasets and these stations were removed from the study. In the remaining three stations, all data from incomplete calendar years at the beginning and end of the time series were removed. The remaining sample period for full calendar years are 1865-2016 for Station-90015, 1885-2016 for Station-26026, and 1893-2016 for Station-30045. For each station the daily maximum temperature and daily minimum temperature are reported for each day of the year. Data are missing for 3% to 5% of the days. Missing data were replaced with the most recent data available – typically separated by one to four days. The error introduced by this procedure is assumed to be negligible. Measuring station details are shown in the table below for the five stations considered in the study. Three of these stations contained a sufficient span of data with low missing data counts and the data from these stations were selected for study. The three selected stations are: 90015-Cape-Otway, 26026-Robe, and 30045-Richmond. TMIN and TMAX and the twelve calendar months are studied separately as different phenomena of nature and not combined. This procedure requires twenty four separate sets of trend analysis for each weather station. The procedure maintains the integrity of both the diurnal cycle and the seasonal cycle. 
8. DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS ALL THREE STATIONS 
9. TREND ANALYSIS FOR 90015 CAPE OTWAY: TMAX AND TMIN
10. TREND ANALYSIS FOR 26026 ROBE: TMAX AND TMIN 
11. TREND ANALYSIS FOR 30045 RICHMOND: TMAX AND TMIN 
12. SUMMARY OF RESULTS: TMAX AND TMIN: ALL THREE STATIONS 

CONCLUSION

Over a hundred years of daily minimum (TMIN) and daily maximum (TMAX) temperature measurements at three weather stations in Australia (90015, 26026, & 30045) taken by the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) are studied separately on a month by month basis for long term trends. The procedure is designed to maintain data integrity in terms of the diurnal and seasonal cycles that involve temperature changes orders of magnitude greater than long term trends. The results for TMAX are inconclusive with one station showing cooling and the other two showing mixed results with warming trends for some months and no evidence of trends for other months. We conclude that the TMAX data do not provide convincing evidence of long term warming trends. Dramatically different results are found for TMIN. All three stations show strong and statistically significant warming trends in TMIN. However, detrended correlation analysis could not relate these warming trends to fossil fuel emissions. These results are anomalous. No theoretical framework exists for anthropogenic global warming acting through the greenhouse effect of atmospheric CO2 by way of fossil fuel emissions to cause warming in nighttime temperatures without affecting the maximum daytime temperature. It is proposed that anomalies of this kind may be used in conjunction with other factors in the evaluation of the integrity of the instrumental record of surface temperature.

[SOURCE DOCUMENT DOWNLOAD LINK]

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37. Munshi, J. (2016). The Spuriousness of Correlations between Cumulative Values. SSRN Electronic Journal , http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2725743.
38. Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. (2016). Trends in global CO2 emissions. Retrieved 2017, from European Commission Joint Research Centre: http://edgar.jrc.ec.europa.eu/news_docs/jrc-2016-trends-in-global-co2-emissions-2016-report-103425.pdf
39. Parker, D. (2007). Decadal to multidecadal variability and the climate change background. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres , 112.D18 (2007).
40. Parker, D. (2005). Uncertainties in central England temperature 1878–2003 and some improvements to the maximum and minimum series. International Journal of Climatology , 25.9 (2005): 1173-1188.
41. Plaut, G. (1995). Interannual and interdecadal variability in 335 years of central England temperatures. Science , 268.5211 (1995): 710.
42. Podobnik, B. (2008). Detrended cross-correlation analysis: a new method for analyzing two nonstationary time series. Physical review letters , 100.8 (2008): 084102.
43. Revelle, R. (1957). Carbon dioxide exchange between atmosphere and ocean and the question of an increase of atmospheric CO2 during the past decades. Tellus , 9.1 (1957): 18-27.
44. Ricke, K. (2014). Maximum warming occurs about one decade after a carbon dioxide emission. Environmental Research Letters , 9.12 (2014): 124002.
45. Siegfried, T. (2010). Odds Are, It’s Wrong. Retrieved 2016, from Science News: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/odds-are-its-wrong
46. Solomon, S. (2009). Irreversible climate change due to carbon dioxide emissions. Proceedings of the national academy of sciences , (2009): pnas-0812721106.
47. The Conversation. (2016). Fossil fuel emissions have stalled. Retrieved 2017, from The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/fossil-fuel-emissions-have-stalled-global-carbon-budget-2016-68568
48. Trenberth, K. (2013). An apparent hiatus in global warming? Earth’s Future , 1.1 (2013): 19-32.
49. Trenberth, K. (2014). Seasonal aspects of the recent pause in surface warming. Nature Climate Change , 4.10 (2014): 911-916.
50. Tung, K. (2013). Using data to attribute episodes of warming and cooling in instrumental records. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 110.6 (2013): 2058-2063.
51. WMO. (2016). WMO. Retrieved 2017, from Climate: https://public.wmo.int/en/our-mandate/climate
52. Zickfeld, K. (2009). Setting cumulative emissions targets to reduce the risk of dangerous climate change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 106.38 (2009): 16129-16134.

[LIST OF POSTS ON THIS SITE]

FIGURE 1: STUIVER & QUAY TREE RING DATA

FIGURE 2: FOSSIL FUEL EMISSIONS

FIGURE 3: WELLINGTON DATA: BOMB SPIKE AND ITS DECAY

FIGURE 4: POST WELLINGTON 14C DATA

FIGURE 5: COMPARISON OF EXPONENTIAL DECAY

FIGURE 6: SUMMARY OF DECAY CURVE COMPARISON

[LIST OF POSTS ON THIS SITE]

1. The theory of Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) and climate change holds that the warming seen in this interglacial period since Pre-Industrial Times that got us out of the Little Ice Age (LIA) is caused by fossil fuel emissions from the Industrial Economy and that it is warming at such a dangerous rate that its effects may destroy human civilization and that this assessment implies that we must take urgent climate action in the form of sharp reductions in, or the complete elimination of, the use of fossil fuels.
2. The relationship between fossil fuel emissions and global warming is presented as a two-step process. First, emissions cause atmospheric CO2 to rise and second, the higher level of CO2 concentration of the atmosphere causes surface temperature to rise in accordance with a proposed greenhouse gas (GHG) effect of CO2. A test of the first relationship, that between emissions and atmospheric composition is presented in a related post [LINK] where it is shown that no evidence for this relationship is found in the data for emissions and atmospheric CO2 concentration.
3. However, an additional argument for the assumed causal relationship between fossil fuel emissions and amospheric CO2 concentration is presented by climate science in terms of the observed dilution of the carbon-14 (hereafter 14C) isotope fraction of carbon in atmospheric CO2. It is claimed that this dilution proves that fossil fuel emissions accumulate in the atmosphere because fossil fuel carbon is known to contain low or no 14C having been dead and underground for millions of years. This post is a test of the 14C dilution hypothesis. The full text of the source document may be found here [LINK]
4. Carbon-14 forms naturally in the atmosphere by the action of cosmic rays on nitrogen but it is radioactive and so, once formed, 14C decays exponentially with a half-life of about 5,700 years. Radioactive decay is balanced by new cosmogenic synthesis and at equilibrium roughly one part per trillion of atmospheric carbon dioxide is made with radiocarbon. All carbon life-forms contain the prevailing equilibrium ratio of atmospheric 14C as long as they are alive and their bodily carbon is being replenished. When they die, however, the radiocarbon fraction in their body begins an exponential decay. The relevance of these relationships in climate science derives from the idea that fossil fuels are dead remains of living things that has been dead for millions of years and that therefore all their 14C has decayed leaving them 14C-free. It is thus postulated that the release of fossil fuel emissions into the atmosphere reduces the radiocarbon portion of atmospheric carbon dioxide and that therefore the degree of such radiocarbon dilution serves as a measure of the contribution of fossil fuel emissions to the observed increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide (Stuiver, 1981) (Suess, 1953) (Revelle, 1957) (Tans, 1979).
5. The Stuiver and Quay paper (Stuiver, 1981) presents carbon-14 measurements in tree rings of two Douglas Firs in the Pacific Northwest that grew from 1815 to 1975. The now famous graphic representation of these data taken from their paper is shown in Figure 1 above. The figure shows a fairly steady 14C ratio from 1820 to 1900 with perhaps a gradual decline of about 5% and then a steep decline of about 20% from 1900 to 1950 in sync with the generally agreed separation of pre-industrial times from the post industrial fossil fueled economy which is thought to have taken off sometime between 1850 and 1900.
6. These data are generally accepted as empirical evidence that the observed increase in atmospheric CO2 since pre-industrial times is derived from fossil fuel emissions (IPCC, 2007) (IPCC, 2014) by way of the dilution of atmospheric 14C with pure 12C carbon from fossil fuels. The value of these pre-bomb data is that almost immediately following the end of their sample period in 1950, atmospheric tests of nuclear weapons sharply increased the 14C ratio in atmospheric carbon dioxide and following the cessation of such tests after the nuclear test ban treaty the 14C ratio began a natural exponential decay thereby confounding the pure fossil fuel dilution effect.
7. The Stuiver and Quay tree ring data imply that from 1900 to 1950, fossil fuel emissions, being free of radiocarbon, caused the radiocarbon portion of atmospheric CO2 to decline by 20%. Fossil fuel emissions during this period are shown in Figure 2. A total of 50 gigatons of carbon (GTC) or about 180 gigatons of CO2 were released into the atmosphere during this period. At the same time atmospheric CO2 concentration rose 15.6 ppm or 5.38% from 296 ppm to 311 ppm. The increase of 15.6 ppm is equivalent to 33 GTC or 120 gigatons of CO2. Even if all of the emissions had gone into increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration, the dilution of 14C could not have been more than 8%. The dilution of 20% claimed by Stuiver and Quay is an impossibility in this context.
8. These results imply that the Stuiver and Quay data do not have a simple interpretation in terms of dilution of atmospheric CO2 with fossil fuel emissions and therefore do not provide evidence that rising atmospheric CO2 concentration can be explained in terms of fossil fuel emissions.
9. The sudden rise in atmospheric 14C due to nuclear bomb testing (the so called “bomb spike”) and its eventual decay after the nuclear test ban treaty are shown in  Figure 3. These data from 1955 to 1993 are available from the Wellington, New Zealand measuring station and they  show a rapid increase in the 14C fraction of atmospheric CO2 during nuclear testing and exponential decay after the nuclear test ban treaty . The bomb intervention confounds the fossil fuel effect in the decay data in the post bomb period. However, there is an important difference in the behavior of the decay and dilution effects because the decay of bomb 14C is exponential while the dilution by fossil fuel 12C is linear. The rate of exponential decay of bomb 14C slows with time and rate of the linear fossil fuel intervention increases with time as the rate of fossil fuel emissions rises. We therefore postulate that the linear effect of fossil fuel emissions will change the computed exponential decay equation in later periods when compared with earlier periods as fossil fuel emissions rise.
10. Accordingly we set up a an empirical test by comparing the equation of exponential decay in the Wellington data with later measurements from various stations around the world shown in Figure 4. The post bomb spike portion of the Wellington data (Figure 3) runs from 1965 to 1993. The data show a close agreement with the exponential decay model. We can now test whether the later data for brief periods up to and including the year 2007 (Figure 4) can be explained as an extension of the same exponential decay curve. We do that by appending the data for each of the seven stations to the Wellington curve. The exponential decay curve parameters are displayed in Figure 5 and summarized in Figure 6. No significant change is found in the model parameters (Figure 6) upon appending the later brief datasets (Figure 5).
11. CONCLUSION: The data do not provide convincing evidence that the recent datasets are not simply extensions of the Wellington curve and therefore we find no evidence that the decline in radiocarbon in atmospheric CO2 contain properties inserted by fossil fuel dilution and not explained by the natural exponential decay of bomb 14C. Yet another consideration is that it is not possible for carbon isotopic ratios to identify fossil fuel emissions as the source of the rise in atmospheric CO2 because isotopic ratios are unable to distinguish between fossil carbon and geological carbon. 

REFERENCES: Climate Change

1. Anderson, K. (2011). Beyond ‘dangerous’ climate change: emission scenarios for a new world. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 369.1934 (2011): 20-44.
2. Arora, V. (2011). Carbon emission limits required to satisfy future representative concentration pathways of greenhouse gases. Geophysical Research Letters, 38.5.
3. Botzen, W. (2008). Cumulative CO2 emissions: shifting international responsibilities for climate debt. Climate Policy, 8.6, 569-576.
4. Box, G. (1994). Time series analysis: forecasting and control. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
5. Brovkin, V. (2004). Role of land cover changes for atmospheric CO2 increase and climate change during the last 150 years. Global Change Biology, 10.8 (2004): 1253-1266.
6. Callendar, G. (1938). The Artificial Production of Carbon Dioxide and Its Influence on Climate. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 64: 223-40.
7. Canadell, J. (2007). Contributions to accelerating atmospheric CO2 growth from economic activity, carbon intensity, and efficiency of natural sinks. Proceedings of the national academy of sciences, 18866-18870.
8. Draper&Smith. (1998). Applied Regression Analysis. Wiley.
9. Gleisner, H. (2011). Latitudinal Binning and Area-Weighted Averaging. GRAS SAF Report 10: Danish Meteorological Institute.
10. Graven, H. (2016). Scripps CO2 Program. La Jolla, CA: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California.
11. Guilderson, T. (2016). Accelerator Mass Spectrometry . Livermore, CA: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories.
12. Hansen, J. (1981). Impact of Increasing Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide. Science, 213: 957-66.
13. Hansen, J. (2016). Ice melt, sea level rise and superstorms:. Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 3761–3812, 2016.
14. Holm, S. (1979). A simple sequentially rejective multiple test procedure. Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, 6:2:65-70.
15. IPCC. (2007). AR4 WG1 Chapter 7: Couplings between changes in the climate system and biogeochemistry. Geneva: IPCC.
16. IPCC. (2014). Climate Change 2013 The Physical Science Basis. Geneva: IPCC/UNEP.
17. Joos, F. (1998). Long‐term variability of the terrestrial and oceanic carbon sinks and the budgets of the carbon isotopes 13C and 14C. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 277-295.
18. Keeling, C. (2005). Atmospheric CO2 and 13CO2 exchange with the terrestrial biosphere and oceans from 1978 to 2000: observations and carbon cycle implications. In J. Ehleringer, History of atmospheric CO2 and its effects on plants, animals, and ecosystems (pp. 83-113). NY: Springer Verlag.
19. Kheshgi, H. (2005). Emissions and atmospheric CO2 stabilization: Long-term limits and paths. In Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change (pp. 10.2 213-220).
20. Lacis, A. (2010). Principal Control Knob Governing Earth’s Temperature. Science, 330.
21. Levin, I. (2000). Radiocarbon – a unique tracer of global carbon cycle dynamics. Radiocarbon, v42, #1, pp69-80.
22. Levin-Hesshaimer. (2000). Radiocarbon – a unique tracer of global carbon cycle dynamics. Radiocarbon, V43 #1, 69-80.
23. Marland-Andres. (2016). Regional and National Fossil-Fuel CO2 Emissions. Oak Ridge, TN: Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
24. Matthews, H. (2009). The proportionality of global warming to cumulative carbon emissions. Nature, 459.7248 (2009): 829-832.
25. Mearns, E. (2014). What’s up with the bomb model. Retrieved 2016, from euanmeanrs.com: http://euanmearns.com/whats-up-with-the-bomb-model/
26. Meinshausen, M. (2009). Greenhouse-gas emission targets for limiting global warming to 2 C. Nature, 458.7242 (2009): 1158-1162.
27. Munshi, J. (2015). Responsiveness of Atmospheric CO2 to Anthropogenic Emissions. Retrieved 2016, from ssrn.com: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2642639
28. Munshi, J. (2015). Uncertainty in Radiocarbon Dating. Retrieved 2016, from ssrn.com: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2572966
29. Munshi, J. (2016). C14paperArchve. Retrieved 2016, from Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByzA6UNa41ZfTFNDRlViMVZMNHM
30. Munshi, J. (2016). The Spuriousness of Correlations between Cumulative Values. Retrieved 2016, from ssrn.com: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2725743
31. NASA-GISS. (2016). Global Mean CO2 Mixing Ratios. Retrieved 2016, from GISS.NASA.GOV: http://data.giss.nasa.gov/modelforce/ghgases/Fig1A.ext.txt
32. NOAA/CMDL. (2008). NWR. Retrieved 2016, from cmdl.noaa.gov: ftp://ftp.cmdl.noaa.gov/ccg.
33. NOAA/ESRL. (2010). The Data: What 14C Tells Us. Retrieved 2016, from Stable and Radiocarbon Isotopes of Carbon Dioxide: http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/outreach/isotopes/c14tellsus.html
34. Reimer, P. (2013). IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon calibration curves. Radiocarbon, 1869-1887.
35. Renfrew, C. (1974). Problems of the radiocarbon calendar and its calibration. Archaeometry, 16: 5-18.
36. Revelle, R. (1957). Carbon dioxide exchange between atmosphere and ocean and the question of an increase of atmospheric CO2 during the past decades. Tellus, 9: 18.
37. ScrippsCO2. (2016). Atmospheric CO2 data. Retrieved 2016, from scrippsco2: http://scrippsco2.ucsd.edu/data/atmospheric_co2
38. Shumway, R. (2011). Time series analysis. Springer. . Springer.
39. Solomon, S. e.-0. (2009). Irreversible climate change due to carbon dioxide emissions. Proceedings of the national academy of sciences, 0812721106.
40. Stuiver, M. (1981). Atmospheric 14C changes resulting from fossil fuel CO2 release and cosmic ray flux variability. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 53: 349-362.
41. Suess, H. (1953). Natural Radiocarbon and the rate of exchange of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and the sea. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences.
42. Szidat, S. (2006). Contributions of fossil fuel, biomass‐burning, and biogenic emissions to carbonaceous aerosols in Zurich as traced by 14C. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 111.D7.
43. Tans, P. (1979). Natural atmospheric 14C variation and the Suess effect. Nature, 280: 826-827.
44. Turnbull, J. (2006). Comparison of 14CO2, CO, and SF6 as tracers for recently added fossil fuel CO2 in the atmosphere and implications for biological CO2 exchange. Geophysical research letters, 33.1 (2006).
45. UNEP. (2016). Paris Agreement. Retrieved 2016, from COP121: http://web.unep.org/climatechange/cop21

REFERENCES: REPORTS OF FINDINGS OF 14C IN FOSSILS

These works appear to have a creationist bias in that the research question is loaded with a purpose of finding supporting evidence for the creationist view.

1. Snelling, A. A. “Geological conflict: young radiocarbon date for ancient fossil wood challenges fossil dating.” Creation Ex Nihilo 22.2 (2000): 44-47.  No abstract or source document available online.
2. Giem, Paul. “Carbon-14 content of fossil carbon.” Origins 51 (2001): 6-30.  No abstract available online. Full text download: https://www.grisda.org/assets/public/publications/origins/51006.pdf
3. Baumgardner, John R., et al. “Measurable 14C in fossilized organic materials: confirming the young earth creation-flood model.” Proceedings of the fifth international conference on creationism. Vol. 2. Creation Science Fellowship, Pittsburgh, PA, 2003. Given the short 14C half-life of 5730 years, organic materials purportedly older than 250,000 years, corresponding to 43.6 half-lives, should contain absolutely no detectable 14C. (One gram of modern carbon contains about 6 × 1010 14C atoms, and 43.6 half-lives should reduce that number by a factor
   of 7.3 × 10-14.) An astonishing discovery made over the past 20 years is that, almost without exception, when tested by highly sensitive accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) methods, organic samples from every portion of the Phanerozoic record show detectable amounts of 14C! 14C/C ratios from all but the youngest Phanerozoic samples appear to be clustered in the range 0.1–0.5 pmc (percent modern carbon), regardless of geological “age.” A straightforward conclusion that can be drawn
   from these observations is that all but the very youngest Phanerozoic organic material was buried contemporaneously much less than 250,000 years ago. This is consistent with the biblical account of a global Flood that destroyed most of the air-breathing life on the planet in a single brief cataclysm only a few thousand years ago. Full Text download: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/John_Baumgardner2/publication/237254438_Measurable_14C_in_Fossilized_Organic_Materials_Confirming_the_Young_Earth_Creation-Flood_Model/links/59d2c2ce4585150177f64402/Measurable-14C-in-Fossilized-Organic-Materials-Confirming-the-Young-Earth-Creation-Flood-Model.pdf

[LIST OF POSTS ON THIS SITE]

[LIST OF POSTS ON THIS SITE]

1. Reference: Non-water flushing, Bangkok Post My Home Magazine, April 22, 2010  It has been a long and bitterly cold winter in the Himalayas with record snowfall; and so I was surprised to read in the Bangkok Post that the Mekong River is drying up because “the amount of ice and snow in the Himalayas this winter is less than usual, and much of it melted in January and February” due to global warming (Non-water flushing, Bangkok Post My Home Magazine, April 22, 2010). Has the global warming juggernaut reached such momentum that even actual weather data don’t matter?
2. Bangkok Post, April 19, 2010  Changing wind patterns in the Arctic Oscillation cycle – not temperature – had caused an extensive summer melt of Arctic sea ice in 2007 and a low Arctic ice extent in October of that year. Nevertheless, global warming activists seized on this melt data as the leading indicator of climate change Armageddon with headlines saying that the Arctic “is screaming“, that it is the “canary in the coal mine”, and that polar bears and other creatures in the Arctic are dying off and facing imminent extinction. They said that melting sea ice had set up a positive feedback system that would cause the summer melts in subsequent years to be greater and greater until the Arctic became ice free in the summer of 2012 unless we acted immediately to cut carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels.  Press releases and “research papers” in this vein continue to this day even though the trend in the summer melt extent has been going in exactly the opposite direction and even though Arctic ice has made a complete recovery from its 2007 melt and even though no actual empirical study of animal populations has shown that their numbers are diminishing.  The 2007 ice data have given such momentum to global warming advocacy that even now, in 2010, in the face of overwhelming data to the contrary, we find find two articles in the Bangkok Post still screaming about Arctic creatures endangered by global warming. Clearly, there are still too many scientists out there whose livelihood depends on publishing papers that support the war against carbon dioxide.
3. Reference: Ice cap thaw may awaken Icelandic volcanoes, April 17, 2010  Global warming scientists have come up with the bizarre idea that carbon dioxide causes volcanic eruptions in Iceland. The argument goes that carbon dioxide emissions cause global warming, global warming in turn causes glaciers in Iceland to melt, and melting glaciers lighten the weight of the ice cap on volcanoes and thereby trigger eruptions (Ice cap thaw may awaken Icelandic volcanoes, April 17, 2010).  It is clearly a sinister attempt to ride the media wave created by the volcanic eruption under the Eyjafjallajoekull glacier and to use that fear factor to sell their war against carbon dioxide. The reality is of course very different. Melting glaciers do not cause volcanic eruptions. Volcanic eruptions cause melting glaciers.  We now know that much of the glacier melt that the global warming people tried to pin on carbon dioxide was actually caused by geothermal activity under the ice not just in Iceland but also in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and in Greenland. They have not learned from their prior errors committed while dishonestly overselling the global warming hype and are about to commit VolcanoGate right in the heels of HimalayaGate and dozens of other humiliating retractions.
4. Reference: Forecasters predict good monsoon season, Bangkok Post, April 15, 2010  For about two years now the global warming people have been warning us that our carbon dioxide emissions will weaken and delay the monsoon in South Asia with devastating results that were to include drought, crop failure, and and hunger (Climate change to delay monsoon in South Asia, Bangkok Post, March 20, 2009). Yet, the 2009 monsoon came right on time not at all delayed or weakened and whatever devastation it may have caused came as floods and not as drought (Flash floods from heavy monsoon rains, Bangkok Post, July 21, 2009); and the 2010 monsoon is expected to do the same (Forecasters predict good monsoon season, Bangkok Post, April 15, 2010). Those who make policy decisions based on the long term forecasts of the IPCC that cannot be checked against data may wish to consider that all – every one – of their shorter term forecasts that can be checked against ensuing data have been proven false.
5. Reference: 800 flee eruption, Bangkok Post, April 15, 2010  In the heydays of the global warming movement glacial advances were ignored and glacial retreats exaggerated and ascribed to carbon dioxide emissions. Geothermal effects were not considered even after it became known that the melt data on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet were taken from a region with volcanic activity under the ice (The fire below, Bangkok Post, April 28, 2008). Now that the volcano under the Eyjafjallajokull has erupted and broken through the ice for all to see, can we expect yet another retraction from the IPCC with respect to retreating glaciers in Iceland along the lines of their retraction of the state of impending catastrophe about retreating glaciers in the Himalayas?
6. Reference: Nuclear dead end, Bangkok Post, April 15, 2010  All energy consultants who are Green activists are motivated primarily by their Green agenda and in this instance that agenda happens to be to oppose nuclear power production (Nuclear dead end, Bangkok Post, April 15, 2010). Although their opinions need to be heard and balanced with those of the nuclear power industry, it is necessary for policy makers to remain objective as they weigh these extreme and biased viewpoints.
7. Reference: Kingdom sees big struggle to remain carbon neutral, Bangkok Post, April 14, 2010  Bhutan is currently carbon negative, not carbon neutral (Kingdom sees big struggle to remain carbon neutral, Bangkok Post, April 14, 2010), and a struggle if any, not to remain but to achieve carbon neutrality, would require a massive increase, not a decrease, in energy consumption by this tiny country whose main feature is extreme poverty in isolated valleys among towering and uninhabitable mountains. Although Bhutan is often mentioned in the context of global warming, it’s energy consumption and carbon neutrality are really quite irrelevant when one considers that the USA alone consumes more energy in a few minutes than what Bhutan consumes in a year. Nor is Bhutan a model for other countries to emulate unless things like poverty, illiteracy, and poor medical and infrastructure services are worth emulating.
8. Reference: America will be just fine, Bangkok Post, April 7, 2010  On the one hand, Western pundits warn us about the dangers of an impending “population bomb” brought about by overpopulation. We are told that the planet is being overwhelmed by the sheer number of people on it and will soon be unable to supply us with sufficient food, water, shelter, and energy and so we must do everything we can to control the population growth rate.  On the other hand, we find that the Western nations themselves are scrambling for population growth to the point that the United States is now counting on a vigorous fertility rate to boost its population to 400 million by the year 2050 as a way of gaining economic advantage over nations with more stable populations (America will be just fine, Bangkok Post, April 7, 2010).  We thus find that the same nations that fund anti-fertility programs to limit population growth in Asia and Africa are, at the same time, gloating about their ability to increase fertility and growth rate of their own populations.  These contradictions raise serious questions. Is population growth good or bad? Is the population bomb a global problem or a localized one? To protect the planet from the population bomb should the population growth in some areas be restricted while that in others encouraged?
9. Reference: Droughts, floods sped up Angkor’s demise, Bangkok Post, March 31, 2010  Scientists studying the Angkor ruins in Cambodia have found that the city died in the 15th century from extreme weather events in the form of alternating periods of floods and drought. Climate scientists may wish to take note of these findings so that they may become aware that extreme weather events such as droughts and floods are not unique to a post-industrial world subjected to the carbon footprint of human activity. Thereby they would be spared the extraordinary effort they make to link every instance of extreme weather to carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels.
10. Reference: Green economy could save the planet, Bangkok Post, March 31, 2010  I have good news and bad news for those who believe that the earth is “overheated, under-resourced, and out of time”and that “reducing greenhouse gases” will “save the planet” (Green economy could save the planet, Bangkok Post, March 31, 2010). The bad news is that if the planet were in danger there is nothing we could do about it because humankind does not possess the ways and means to save it. “Reducing greenhouse gases” would not do it. The good news is that the planet is not overheated, under-resourced, or out of time and it does not need saving.

[LIST OF POSTS ON THIS SITE]

[LIST OF POSTS ON THIS SITE]

RELATED POST:  AN EXCLUSIVE RELIANCE ON FOSSIL FUEL EMISSIONS OVERLOOKS NATURAL CARBON FLOWS. [LINK]  

THESE QUOTES ARE FROM CLIMATE SCIENTISTS.

THEY PROVIDE CLEAR EVIDENCE OF CONFIRMATION BIAS IN CLIMATE SCIENCE. 

1. Reporting on climate change means forever being on the hunt for inflection points. Have global emissions peaked? When will the building of coal-fired power plants slow in, say, China? Has Arctic sea ice extent reached a record low?
2. Every time the International Energy Agency (IEA) publishes a fresh report, journalists and analysts dive in to search for such nuggets buried in the data. This week, it released its latest annual “World Energy Investment” report and Carbon Brief’s Josh Gabbatiss rolled up his sleeves and pulled out the key charts for his summary article.
3. Predictably, the Covid-19 crisis has had a dramatic impact on energy investment around the world. This year will see the largest ever fall in both investment and consumer spending on energy, said the IEA. However, the report also reveals various other insights. For example, it shows that, as demand and prices collapse, consumer spending on oil is expected to drop by more than $1tn, prompting a “historic switch” as spending on electricity exceeds oil for the first time.

MORE ABOUT CONFIRMATION BIAS:  [LINK]

A STATEMENT FROM NASA GISS AND JAMES HANSEN ON THE PROBLEM WITH THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

Scientific reticence hinders communication with the public about the dangers of global warming. It is important that policy-makers recognize the potential influence of this phenomenon. Scientific reticence may be a consequence of the scientific method. Success in science depends on objective skepticism. Scientific reticence has its merits. However, in a case such as ice sheet instability and sea level rise, there is a danger of excessive reticence. [LINK TO SOURCE DOCUMENT]

TRANSLATION: ADHERENCE TO UNBIASED OBJECTIVE SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY INTERFERES WITH CLIMATE ACTIVISM. 

SOME DETAILS ON THE CORRUPTION OF CLIMATE SCIENCE BY ADVOCACY AS EXPLAINED BY JAMES HANSEN ABOVE.

1. DATA SELECTION BIAS:  There have been many Quaternary Interglacials in the past that humans had experienced in their caves but the Holocene is the first interglacial experienced by civilized humans because human civilization is a creation of the Holocene. A related post  describes a 10,000-year climate history of the Holocene from a literature review of proxy paleoclimate data [LINK]  where we find that the Holocene interglacial from the end of the Younger Dryas to the present has not been sustained period of warming, ice melt, and sea level rise  but chaotic cycles of about ten alternating periods of glacial retreat warming with sea level rise and glacial advance cooling with sea level decline at millennial and centennial time scales.
2. The current period of warming and glacial retreat can only be understood in this context and not in isolation. The most significant and outrageous violation of the scientific method in the climate science of the fear of warming described as a creation of the industrial economy is that climate science has selected one of the ten Holocene climate cycles to explain in terms of the cause and effect phenomenon.
3. If climate science can explain these Holocene temperature cycles as deterministic cause and effect phenomena, they must explain all of them and not just pick one of them to explain in that way because that kind of empirical research is subject to data selection bias, confirmation bias, and circular reasoning.
4. The climate science of Anthropogenic Global Warming and Climate Change that has selected only the post LIA warming cycle to explain as a cause and effect phenomenon is rejected solely on that basis. Such objections to climate science based on an insistence on the scientific method cannot be described as science denial as eloquently clarified by James Hansen in the quote above. 
5. Unbiased and objective scientific inquiry is not possible if the scientist has an advocacy agenda related to the research question in terms of activism needs. In climate science the hidden hand of activism favors findings that support activism against fossil fuels.
6. In climate science, the researcher’s activism needs can be served with an excessive reliance on climate models. This is because climate models are pre-programmed with a well connected causation sequence from CO2 emissions to rising atmospheric CO2 concentration to warming driven by way of climate sensitivity.
7. In climate models thus constructed by climate scientists, empirical tests of theory will always support the theory because climate models are an expression of theory. Objective scientific inquiry requires that empirical tests of theory must be independent of theory. In climate science, the use of climate models corrupts this fundamental principle of empirical tests.
8. Once objective scientific inquiry is corrupted in this way, the role of observational data is to verify the models and not to challenge the models. This attitude in climate research leads to research methodologies in which assumptions about the data that verify the climate models also verify the correctness of the data. By the same token, data that are inconsistent with the climate models are suspected of having been compromised in some way, perhaps by data collection methods or perhaps cherry-picked by climate deniers, or rendered irrelevant in other ways. Such methodologies often lead to the use of circular reasoning that is then defended with the shifting the burden of proof fallacy.
9. For example, in the case of the conclusion by climate scientists that the observed increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration is caused by fossil fuel emissions, natural flows in the carbon cycle that are an order of magnitude larger than fossil fuel emissions and that cannot be directly measured are inferred with the implicit assumption that the increase in atmospheric CO2 comes from fossil fuel emissions. The flow balance can then be carried out and it does of course show that the increase in atmospheric CO2 derives from fossil fuel emissions  [LINK] . The same is true in the ocean acidification issue. The arguments thus constructed by climate scientists are so convincing to themselves that when challenged they respond with the shifting the burden of proof fallacy which implies that if the critic does not have an alternative explanation for the phenomenon, the one proposed must be correct. These two examples  – that of emissions to atmospheric CO2 [LINK] and emissions to ocean acidification  [LINK] are presented in some detail in related posts on this site.
10. Another variety of circular reasoning is the so called Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy in which the data to be used to test the theory are changed until a dataset is found or a time span within a time series is found in which the theory is supported by the data. The theory is then tested with those chosen constraints and declared to be empirically verified. A famous example is the claim by a well known MIT climatologist that fossil fuel emissions are causing Atlantic Hurricanes to become “more destructive” [LINK]  . Yet another example is the claim by climate scientists  that the proof of GHG forcing of surface temperature is found if the time span to be tested is limited to a period in which they have been able to find the pattern they were looking for  [LINK]  [LINK] .
11. Circular reasoning derived form data selection bias takes another form in climate science where the data used to construct a hypothesis are then used to test that hypothesis. For example, we find in this related post [LINK]  that the hypothesis that climate change is changing the spatial pattern of tropical  cyclones is derived from the historical data and then tested with the same data – yet another form of the Texas Sharpshooter fallacy.
12. Activism needs of researchers also corrupt how the statistical property of variance is viewed and interpreted. In statistics and also in information theory, high variance implies low information content. In other words, the higher the variance the less we know. In this context high variance is undesirable because it degrades the information we can derive from the data. However, high variance also yields large confidence intervals and where either end of this confidence interval is extreme enough to support the activism needs of climate researchers, high variance is interpreted not as absence of information but as information about a danger of how extreme it could be. This interpretation in conjunction with the precautionary principle leads to a perverse interpretation of uncertainty such that uncertainty becomes transformed into certainty of extreme values.
13. In a related post on uncertainty  [WHAT DOES UNCERTAINTY MEAN]  we show that a perverse and biased interpretation of uncertainty in climate science leads to the understantind of variance only in terms of a confidence interval and only in terms of the end of the confidence interval that contains the greater fear of climate change. To quote, “BRIEFLY, UNCERTAINTY DOES NOT MEAN OH! LOOK HOW HIGH IT COULD BE. IT MEANS WE DON’T REALLY KNOW. THE LESS WE KNOW THE HIGHER IT COULD BE AND IN PERFECT IGNORANCE IT COULD BE AS HIGH AS INFINITY BECAUSE THE ANSWER IS NOT CONSTRAINED BY INFORMATION“.
14. This kind of interpretation of uncertainty leads to the climate science position that the less they know the greater the risk of harm by climate change [LINK]  . This principle is pervasive in climate science such that it follows that the the truth of AGW climate change theory and it’s catastrophic impacts and consequences is the null hypothesis and it can be rejected only if convincing evidence can be provided by climate deniers against it.
15. This methodology is claimed to be science. However, it works exactly the other way around in science where the null hypothesis is the absence of the effects predicted by theory and it is necessary for empirical tests to provide convincing evidence against it so that the null can be rejected. It is only then that we can accept the alternate hypothesis that the proposed catastrophic AGW climate change theory is correct.
16. An uncertainty problem that has been difficult and contentious for climate science is that of climate sensitivity (ECS), a proposed relationship between the logarithm of atmospheric CO2 concentration and surface temperature that sits at the foundation of AGW theory. A large range of values for the ECS parameter is reported in the observational data as shown in a related post [LINK] . Such a large range of observed values means that both high warming at low CO2 & low warming at high CO2 are seen in the data. The high variance implies that the ECS is not a useful concept but in climate science the high end of the range is presented as an alarming condition that should be taken into account in terms of the precautionary principle. The ECS uncertainty issue is a high profile example of a parameter which contains little useful information because of uncertainty but is treated as certainty of high values.
17. Perhaps the clearest evidence of fear based activism in climate science is the oft repeated pattern in which first a “tipping point” is declared. The declaration is quickly followed by its retraction with the statement that “there is still time” if we act quickly and decisively to limit or eliminate our use of fossil fuels. Some examples of these tipping point declarations are cited in a related post [LINK] . The pattern likely derives from a failure of climate science, at a given level of fear, to convince consumers that they should not be using fossil fuels. That requires a gradual escalation of the level of fear such that at some point the fear level is escalated to the tipping point . Soon after the declaration of the tipping point fear, however, climate science realizes that it has been overdone since it is now impossible for them to use the fear for activism against fossil fuels. “Tipping point” implies that no corrective action can be taken. Thus, soon thereafter, the “but there is still time”  statement is issued. This statement is nonsensical because it is inconsistent with the very concept of tipping point. Yet this “tipping point – there is still time” cycle has been played out a number of times  [LINK] . A specific example of the tipping point cycle is the case of sea ice extent in the Arctic that has been used as a high profile fear factor since at least the 1990s as shown in a related post [LINK] with climate scientists closely tracking year to year changes in the September minimum Arctic sea ice extent and raising an alarm of impending doom when a low sea ice extent is observed. The most intense of these tipping point alarms was raised in 2007 when it was declared that “The Arctic is Screaming” [LINK] . These alarms were raised with the assumption that the observed changes in Arctic sea ice extent were caused by fossil fuel emissions by way of global warming and could be moderated by reducing or eliminating the use of fossil fuels. However, no empirical evidence has ever been presented to establish that relationship possibly because none exists (as shown in a related post [LINK] ).
18. Much of the distance between rational and objective scientific inquiry and research guided by activism needs derives from the noble cause fallacy in which no matter how perverse the methods, they can be justified as long as they serve a noble purpose and as long as the researcher’s goals are noble. That the cause of climate activism is noble is firmly established by their stated goal of saving the planet. It implies that to be critical of climate science is to be opposed to saving the planet and therefore in some way endangering the planet, the biota, and all things natural and organic. In this way, the noble cause fallacy is also useful in vilifying and discrediting critics and skeptics with holocaust language as “climate change deniers” with the implication that they stand in the way of the good scientists who are trying to save the planet.
19. These are the foundations needed to support fear based activism in which we have been taught to fear warming of surface temperatures, melting ice sheets and glaciers, rising sea level, warming of oceans, the possibility that warming will bring new weather patterns that may be more extreme, that there may be heat waves, droughts, and floods, that these changes will affect the biota and that not all species will fare well. Yet all of these changes are normal in interglacials. The net information content of these changes is that we are in fact in an interglacial period although not a particularly severe one when compared with prior interglacial events [LINK] [LINK] . In other words a well constructed propaganda machine was employed to get humanity to fear the brief warm and balmy interglacials the earth gets in between 100,000-year glaciations in the Quaternary ice age; and to imagine that the planet needs to be saved from the effects of the interglacial and that we humans can and must save the planet from the ill effects of this interglacial period.
20. The following quote from Professor Stephen Schneider, Stanford University climatologist and IPCC lead author is relevant to the activism issue. He is quoted as saying that “We need to get some broad based support to capture the public’s imagination. So we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements, and make little mention of any doubt. Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest” [SOURCE] .
21. It should be mentioned that the theory of global warming “since pre-industrial times” driven by fossil fuel emissions from the industrial economy was first forwarded by Guy Callendar in 1938 (discussed in a related post [LINK] ) at a time when temperatures were rising but that paper along with the fear of warming driven by “the industrial economy” was shelved when soon thereafter the world went into the 1940s-1970s cooling period (discussed in a related post [LINK] ).
22. The defining paper on climate change during this cooling period was authored by Professor Stephen Schneider where he argued that since fossil fuel emissions contain not just CO2 but aerosols, the warming effect of CO2 must be computed net of the cooling effect of stratospheric aerosols. He wrote that since the warming effect of additional CO2 decreases as atmospheric CO2 concentration increases, and since the cooling effect of additional aerosols increases as aerosol concentration increases, at some point the net effect of the industrial economy will be cooling and not warming (citation below). 
23. By 1980, however, the 30-year cooling trend had switched back to warming such that the Schneider 1971 aerosol paper was now shelved and the Callendar 1938 warming paper was dusted off and a new paper extolling the dangers of human caused global warming and climate change in the form of ice sheet melt, sea level rise, extreme weather, heat waves, droughts, and floods by NASA GISS scientist James Hansen gave us the current version of the theory of anthropogenic global warming and climate change. Once the Hansen scenario took hold, Schneider himself set aside his aerosol theory and joined the Hansen movement for climate action against the dangers of global warming.
24. This pattern in which the theory of anthropogenic climate change changes with the weather was played out again after the warming slowed since 1998 into what became known as a “warming hiatus” even as atmospheric CO2 continued its accelerated climb. Climate science struggled to explain it in many different ways with the most significant papers (Trenberth, Karl, etc) explaining the apparent anomaly with an energy balance that transferred the heat that could not be explained into the ocean in terms of ocean heat content. The ocean heat content issue is described in a related post [LINK] as an example of circular reasoning in climate science. These examples show a flexible and malleable theory that survives by simply being flexible so that no matter what the data, the data always supports a theory that climate science needs to support its activism against fossil fuels in an unusual scientific method in which the activism needs drives the science.
25. An entirely different kind of activism in climate science is the use of obvious falsehoods, that one imagines that climatologists know to be falsehoods, to heighten the level of fear and thereby of the urgency of “climate action” in the form of action against the use of fossil fuels. Consider for example, that climate science on the one hand lectures that only long term trends in temperature and not temperature events (events being described as “weather” and not climate) serve as evidence of AGW, particularly so when the temperature events are not high temperature events. On the other hand, when a sufficiently high temperature event occurs, it is widely disseminated in the media as “hottest year on record” or “hottest month on record” and used to ratchet up the fear of climate change. A particularly dishonest example of this practice was the the use of high temperatures in the two strong El Nino years of 1998 and 2016 to promote them as “hottest year on record” as a way of raising the fear of AGW and thereby to push through the “climate action” agenda of eliminating the use of fossil fuels. The NASA website on climate change still carries this alarming message about 1998 and 2016 [LINK] .
26. SEA LEVEL RISE ACCELERATING: The use of sea level rise in climate change activism against fossil fuels takes the form of claiming that sea level rise is accelerating in concert with the assumption that acceleration proves human cause. Since the AGW argument is based on rising temperatures, acceleration in sea level rise is a given. Acceleration in sea level rise is the norm in deglaciation and into interglacials as is evident in the paleo data for the Eemian interglacial described in a related post [LINK] and also in the onset of the Holocene as seen in this related post [LINK]. The use of these dishonest methods to create fear in the public and in government officials as advocacy for the prescribed climate action of eliminating fossil fuels provides the evidence that climate science is a tool for activism against fossil fuels; and that serves to discredit the science of climate science. The sea level rise issue is discussed in two related posts [LINK] [LINK] .
27. The active engagement of top level climate scientists in activism can be seen in the flagrant cooperation with and dependence on climate activism groups such as Carbon Brief and also in their direct involvement in promoting and encouraging anti fossil fuel activism as can be seen in these tweets and retweets by eminent climate scientist Stefan Rahmstorf: (1) We have now thousands of pages of documented evidence and it all points one way, and that’s that Big Oil is the new Big Tobacco. #ExxonKnew. They Have Lied for Decades’: European Parliament to Scrutinise Exxon’s Climate Science Denial. (2) Stefan Rahmstorf @rahmstorf Mar 19 School climate strikes: 1.4 million people took part, say campaigners. Children walked out of schools on Friday in 2,233 cities and towns in 128 countries, with demonstrations held from Australia to India, the UK and the US.. (3) Anders Levermann @ALevermann Mar 19 Will future weather extremes change the economic structure on the planet? If that sounds as exciting to you as it is & you want to do a #PhD @PIK_Climate let us know http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~anders (4) Stefan Rahmstorf @rahmstorf Mar 18 Cyclone Idai death toll in Mozambique ‘could rise above 1,000. (5) Stefan Rahmstorf @rahmstorf Mar 18 Over 25,000 scientists from Austria, Germany and Switzerland have now signed a statement supporting #FridaysForFuture!! @BrigitteKnopf and myself present it here @F4F_Potsdam in Potsdam on Friday. Full statement here: https://www.scientists4future.org/ #ScientistsForFuture @sciforfuture (6) Greta Thunberg @GretaThunberg Mar 17 Over 1,5 million students on school strike 15/3. We proved that it does matter what you do and that no one is too small to make a difference. (7) Stefan Rahmstorf @rahmstorf Mar 16 “Aktivismus” ist einfach nur ein Etikett, das Leute benutzen, denen es am liebsten wäre, Wissenschafter würden den Mund halten. Die Wiener Zeitung hat verschiedene Forscher gefragt, warum sie die Schülerproteste unterstützen. Translated from German by Microsoft”Activism” is simply a Label that People who would most like to, Scientists would keep their Mouths shut. The Wiener Zeitung has asked various Researchers why they support the Student Protests. (8) Stefan Rahmstorf @rahmstorf Mar 16 Ein Radio-Interview zu #ScientistsForFuture – Wissenschaftler stellen sich hinter die Schüler, die für Klimaschutz demonstrieren. Translated from German by Microsoft A radio interview too #ScientistsForFuture-Scientists rally behind The students demonstrating for Climate action. (9) Stefan Rahmstorf @rahmstorf Mar 15 Today is not just #fridaysforfuture but also the 20th anniversary day of the famous “hockey stick curve” by Mike Mann and colleagues. Here’s how this reconstruction of past temperatures stacks up to the latest paleo research, the PAGES2k project. (10) Stefan Rahmstorf @rahmstorf Mar 15 Höchste Zeit für die Regierungen der Welt endlich die Klimakrise entschlossen anzupacken statt nur Ziele zu verkünden! Klima-Demos – von Berlin bis Sydney Translated from German by Microsoft High Time for the governments of the World Finally to tackle the Climate Crisis decisively instead of just announcing Goals! Climate demos-from Berlin to Sydney (11) Stefan Rahmstorf @rahmstorf Mar 15 “The 20 warmest years on record have all come in the past 22 years, essentially the lifetime of today’s children and young adults.” Great collection of images of #schoolstrike4climate #ClimateStrike from around the world! #FridaysForFuture
28. The active engagement of Climate Brief in fear based activism against fossil fuels is seen in these tweets:              https://twitter.com/CarbonBrief/status/1109547370021339136https://twitter.com/CarbonBrief/status/1109493769156603906https://twitter.com/CarbonBrief/status/1109438150659788800https://twitter.com/CarbonBrief/status/1109364446202351616https://twitter.com/CarbonBrief/status/1109335466250305537https://twitter.com/CarbonBrief/status/1109245130597416960https://twitter.com/CarbonBrief/status/1109201864120303617https://twitter.com/CarbonBrief/status/1109184981069430784
29. A new tactic being used (as of 2019) to push climate activism is the use of children as activists claiming that climate action is necessary to ensure that as adults they will inherit a livable world. That these children are being used as stooges by the real activists behind the scene is evident in this text attributed to 16-year-old high school student Greta Thunberg:  “Perhaps the most dangerous misconception about the climate crisis is that we have to LOWER our emissions. Lowering emissions is far from enough. Our emissions have to STOP if we are to stay below 1.5C of warming since pre-industrial times. That rules out most of today’s politics. “Lowering” of emissions is necessary but it is only the beginning that must lead to a complete cessation of emissions within two decades. And then we need to get to negative emissions by removing CO2 from the atmosphere. The fact that we are talking of lowering instead of stopping emissions is the greatest force behind the business as usual scenario. “

[LIST OF POSTS ON THIS SITE]

REFERENCES

1. 1961: Junge, Christian E., and James E. Manson. “Stratospheric aerosol studies.” Journal of Geophysical Research 66.7 (1961): 2163-2182. The stratospheric aerosol layer previously identified by balloon measurements has been studied extensively by means of recovered rod impactor samples obtained during aircraft flights at the 20‐km level from 63°S to 72°N during March–November 1960. From a variety of physical and chemical measurements, which are presented in detail, the conclusion is drawn that this layer is stable, constant in time and space, and composed mainly of sulfate particles. The various questions raised by this result, particularly with respect to collection of micrometeorites, are presented and discussed.</p>
2. 1967: McCormick, Robert A., and John H. Ludwig. “Climate modification by atmospheric aerosols.” Science 156.3780 (1967): 1358-1359. Theoretical considerations and empirical evidence indicate that atmospheric turbidity, a function of aerosol loading, is an important factor in the heat balance of the earth-atmosphere system. Turbidity increase over the past few decades may be primarily responsible for the decrease in worldwide air temperatures since the 1940’s.
3. 1971: Rasool, S. Ichtiaque, and Stephen H. Schneider. “Atmospheric carbon dioxide and aerosols: Effects of large increases on global climate.” Science 173.3992 (1971): 138-141. Effects on the global temperature of large increases in carbon dioxide and aerosol densities in the atmosphere of Earth have been computed. It is found that, although the addition of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere does increase the surface temperature, the rate of temperature increase diminishes with increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. For aerosols, however, the net effect of increase in density is to reduce the surface temperature of Earth. Because of the exponential dependence of the backscattering, the rate of temperature decrease is augmented with increasing aerosol content. An increase by only a factor of 4 in global aerosol background concentration may be sufficient to reduce the surface temperature by as much as 3.5 ° K. If sustained over a period of several years, such a temperature decrease over the whole globe is believed to be sufficient to trigger an ice age.
4. 1971: Mitchell Jr, J. Murray. “The effect of atmospheric aerosols on climate with special reference to temperature near the earth’s surface.” Journal of Applied Meteorology 10.4 (1971): 703-714. A generalized model of the effect of an optically thin atmospheric aerosol on the terrestrial heat budget is proposed, and applied to the problem of estimating the impact of the aerosol on temperatures near the earth’s surface. The distinction between warming and cooling near the surface attributable to the aerosol is found on the basis of this model to depend on whether the ratio of absorption a to backscatter b of incoming solar radiation by the aerosol is greater or less than the critical ratio            (a/b)_O = C(1−A)(1−Ak)/[D(1+A)−C(1−A)], where A is the surface albedo, C the fraction of sensible to total (sensible plus latent) solar heating of the surface, D the fraction of aerosol that is in convective contact with the surface, and k a multiple of b that measures the relative aerosol backscattering efficiency with respect to solar radiation reflected upward from the surface.A distinction is drawn between a stratospheric aerosol (D=0) which generally cools the atmosphere near the surface, and a tropospheric aerosol (D→1) which may either cool or warm the atmosphere near the surface depending on various properties of the aerosol and of the surface itself. Over moist surfaces, such as vegetated areas and oceans, the critical ratio (a/b)_o is of order 0.1. Over drier surfaces, such as deserts and urban areas, (a/b)_o is of order unity. If the actual ratio a/b of most tropospheric aerosols is of order unity, as inferred by previous authors, then the dominant effect of such aerosols is warming except over deserts and urban arms where the effect is somewhat marginal between warming and cooling.Further aerosol climatic effects are found likely to include a slight decrease of cloudiness and precipitation, and an increase of “planetary” albedo above the oceans, although not necessarily above the continents. Suggestions by several previous authors to the effect that the apparent worldwide cooling of climate in recent decades is attributable to large-scale increases of particulate pollution of the atmosphere by human activities are not supported by this analysis.
5. 1972: Schneider, Stephen H. “Cloudiness as a global climatic feedback mechanism: The effects on the radiation balance and surface temperature of variations in cloudiness.” Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 29.8 (1972): 1413-1422. The effect of variation in cloudiness on the climate is considered in terms of 1) a relation between the radiation balance of the earth-atmosphere system and variations in the amount of cloud cover or effective cloud top height, 2) the effect on the surface temperature of variations in cloudiness, and 3) the dynamic coupling or “feedback” effects relating changes in surface temperature to the formation of clouds. The first two points are studied by numerical integration of a simple radiation flux model, and the third point is discussed qualitatively. Global-average radiation balance calculations show that an increase in the amount of low and middle level cloud cover (with cloud top height and cloud albedo fixed) decreases the surface temperature. But, this result for the global-average case does not hold near polar regions, where the albedo of the cloudy areas can he comparable to (or even smaller than) the albedo of the snow-covered cloudless areas, and where, especially in the winter season, the amount of incoming solar radiation at high latitudes is much less than the global-average value of insolation. The exact latitude at which surface cooling changes to surface warming from a given increase in cloud cover amount depends critically upon the local values of the cloud albedo and the albedo of the cloudless areas that are used in the calculation. However, an increase in effective cloud top height (with cloud cover and cloud albedo fixed) increases the surface temperature at all latitudes.
6. 1974: Chýlek, Petr, and James A. Coakley. “Aerosols and climate.” Science 183.4120 (1974): 75-77. To determine the effects of atmospheric aerosols on the radiative heating of the earth-atmosphere system, the radiative transfer equation is solved analytically in the two-stream approximation. It is found that the sign of the heating is independent of optical thickness of an aerosol layer and the amount of heating approaches a finite limit with increasing thickness of a layer. Limitations of the two-stream approximation are discussed.
7. 1976: Cess, Robert D. “Climate change: An appraisal of atmospheric feedback mechanisms employing zonal climatology.” Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 33.10 (1976): 1831-1843. The sensitivity of the earth’s surface temperature to factors which can induce long-term climate change, such as a variation in solar constant, is estimated by employing two readily observable climate changes. One is the latitudinal change in annual mean climate, for which an interpretation of climatological data suggests that cloud amount is not a significant climate feedback mechanism, irrespective of how cloud amount might depend upon surface temperature, since there are compensating changes in both the solar and infrared optical properties of the atmosphere. It is further indicated that all other atmospheric feedback mechanisms, resulting, for example, from temperature-induced changes in water vapor amount, cloud altitude and lapse rate, collectively double the sensitivity of global surface temperature to a change in solar constant. The same conclusion is reached by considering a second type of climate change, that associated with seasonal variations for a given latitude zone. The seasonal interpretation further suggests that cloud amount feedback is unimportant zonally as well as globally. Application of the seasonal data required a correction for what appears to be an important seasonal feedback mechanism. This is attributed to a variability in cloud albedo due to seasonal changes in solar zenith angle. No attempt was made to individually interpret the collective feedback mechanisms which contribute to the doubling in surface temperature sensitivity. It is suggested, however, that the conventional assumption of fixed relative humidity for describing feedback due to water vapor amount might not be as applicable as is generally believed. Climate models which additionally include ice-albedo feedback are discussed within the framework of the present results.
8. 1983: Coakley Jr, James A., Robert D. Cess, and Franz B. Yurevich. “The effect of tropospheric aerosols on the Earth’s radiation budget: A parameterization for climate models.” Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 40.1 (1983): 116-138. Guided by the results of doubling-adding solutions to the equation of radiative transfer, we develop a simple technique for incorporating in climate models the effect of the background tropospheric aerosol on solar radiation. Because the atmosphere is practically nonabsorbing for much of the solar spectrum the effects of the tropospheric aerosol on the reflectivity, transmissivity and absorptivity of the atmosphere are adequately accounted for by the properties of a two-layered system with the atmosphere placed above the aerosol layer. The two-stream and delta-Eddington approximations to the radiative transfer equation then provide reasonably accurate estimates of the changes brought about by the aerosol. Furthermore, results of the doubling-adding calculations lead to a simple parameterization for the distribution of absorption by the aerosol within the atmosphere. Using these simple techniques, we calculate the changes caused by models for the naturally occurring tropospheric aerosol in a zonal mean energy balance climate model. The 2–30°C surface cooling caused by the background aerosol is comparable in magnitude but opposite in sign to the temperature changes brought about by the current atmospheric concentrations of N₂0 and CH₄ and by a doubling of CO₂. The model results also indicate that even though the background aerosol may decrease the planetary albedo at high latitudes, it causes cooling at all latitudes. We also use the simple techniques to calculate the influence of dust on the planetary albedo of a desert. Here we demonstrate that the interaction of the aerosol scattering with the angular dependence of the surface reflectivity strongly influences the planetary albedo.
9. 1987: Charlson, Robert J., et al. “Oceanic phytoplankton, atmospheric sulphur, cloud albedo and climate.” Nature326.6114 (1987): 655. The major source of cloud-condensation nuclei (CCN) over the oceans appears to be dimethylsulphide, which is produced by planktonic algae in sea water and oxidizes in the atmosphere to form a sulphate aerosol Because the reflectance (albedo) of clouds (and thus the Earth’s radiation budget) is sensitive to CCN density, biological regulation of the climate is possible through the effects of temperature and sunlight on phytoplankton population and dimethylsulphide production. To counteract the warming due to doubling of atmospheric CO₂, an approximate doubling of CCN would be needed.
10. 1989: Blanchet, Jean-Pierre. “Toward estimation of climatic effects due to Arctic aerosols.” Atmospheric Environment (1967)23.11 (1989): 2609-2625. During the last decade, the estimation of the climatic implications of principal anthropogenic aerosols (soot and sulphates) has been investigated by observation and modeling efforts at three scales of dimension:(1) the aerosol scale where the optical properties are determined; (2) the kilometer scale where the radiative fluxes and diabatic heating are felt, and finally, (3) the regional and hemispheric scales where the climate questions pertain. This paper reviews the current results on these three scales, with an emphasis on the comparisons between observations and model results.
11. 1990: Hansen, James E., and Andrew A. Lacis. “Sun and dust versus greenhouse gases: An assessment of their relative roles in global climate change.” Nature 346.6286 (1990): 713. Many mechanisms, including variations in solar radiation and atmospheric aerosol concentrations, compete with anthropogenic greenhouse gases as causes of global climate change. Comparisons of available data show that solar variability will not counteract greenhouse warming and that future observations will need to be made to quantify the role of tropospheric aerosols, for example.
12. 1992: Clarke, Antomy D. “Atmospheric nuclei in the remote free-troposphere.” Journal of atmospheric chemistry 14.1-4 (1992): 479-488. During May-June of 1990 an extensive flight series to survey aerosol present in the upper-troposphere was undertaken aboard the NASA DC-8 as part of the CLObal Backscatter Experiment (GLOBE). About 50,000 km were characterized between 8–12 km altitude and between 70°N and 58°S. Aerosol with diameters greater than 3nm were counted and sized with a combination of condensation nuclei counters and optical particle counters. Aerosol number and mass concentrations were separately identified with regard to both refractory and volatile components. Regions of the free-troposphere with the lowest mass concentrations were generally found to have the highest number concentrations and appeared to be effective regions for new particle production. These new particle concentrations appear inversely related to available aerosol surface area and their volatility suggests a sulfuric acid composition. The long lifetime of these new particles aloft can result in their growth to sizes effective as CN and CCN that can be mixed throughout the troposphere.
13. 1992: Charlson, Robert J., et al. “Climate forcing by anthropogenic aerosols.” Science 255.5043 (1992): 423-430. Although long considered to be of marginal importance to global climate change, tropospheric aerosol contributes substantially to radiative forcing, and anthropogenic sulfate aerosol in particular has imposed a major perturbation to this forcing. Both the direct scattering of shortwave solar radiation and the modification of the shortwave reflective properties of clouds by sulfate aerosol particles increase planetary albedo, thereby exerting a cooling influence on the planet. Current climate forcing due to anthropogenic sulfate is estimated to be –1 to –2 watts per square meter, globally averaged. This perturbation is comparable in magnitude to current anthropogenic greenhouse gas forcing but opposite in sign. Thus, the aerosol forcing has likely offset global greenhouse warming to a substantial degree. However, differences in geographical and seasonal distributions of these forcings preclude any simple compensation. Aerosol effects must be taken into account in evaluating anthropogenic influences on past, current, and projected future climate and in formulating policy regarding controls on emission of greenhouse gases and sulfur dioxide. Resolution of such policy issues requires integrated research on the magnitude and geographical distribution of aerosol climate forcing and on the controlling chemical and physical processes.
14. 1993: Kiehl, J. T., and B. P. Briegleb. “The relative roles of sulfate aerosols and greenhouse gases in climate forcing.” Science260.5106 (1993): 311-314. Calculations of the effects of both natural and anthropogenic tropospheric sulfate aerosols indicate that the aerosol climate forcing is sufficiently large in a number of regions of the Northern Hemisphere to reduce significantly the positive forcing from increased greenhouse gases. Summer sulfate aerosol forcing in the Northern Hemisphere completely offsets the greenhouse forcing over the eastern United States and central Europe. Anthropogenic sulfate aerosols contribute a globally averaged annual forcing of –0.3 watt per square meter as compared with +2.1 watts per square meter for greenhouse gases. Sources of the difference in magnitude with the previous estimate of Charlson et al. are discussed.
15. 1994: Schneider, Stephen H. “Detecting climatic change signals: are there any” fingerprints“?.” Science 263.5145 (1994): 341-347. Projected changes in the Earth’s climate can be driven from a combined set of forcing factors consisting of regionally heterogeneous anthropogenic and natural aerosols and land use changes, as well as global-scale influences from solar variability and transient increases in human-produced greenhouse gases. Thus, validation of climate model projections that are driven only by increases in greenhouse gases can be inconsistent when one attempts the validation by looking for a regional or time-evolving “fingerprint” of such projected changes in real climatic data. Until climate models are driven by time-evolving, combined, multiple, and heterogeneous forcing factors, the best global climatic change “fingerprint” will probably remain a many-decades average of hemispheric-scale to global-scale trends in surface air temperatures. Century-long global warming (or cooling) trends of 0.5°C appear to have occurred infrequently over the past several thousand years—perhaps only once or twice a millennium, as proxy records suggest. This implies an 80 to 90 percent heuristic likelihood that the 20th-century 0.5 ± 0.2°C warming trend is not a wholly natural climatic fluctuation.
16. 1995: Pilinis, Christodoulos, Spyros N. Pandis, and John H. Seinfeld. “Sensitivity of direct climate forcing by atmospheric aerosols to aerosol size and composition.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 100.D9 (1995): 18739-18754. We evaluate, using a box model, the sensitivity of direct climate forcing by atmospheric aerosols for a “global mean” aerosol that consists of fine and coarse modes to aerosol composition, aerosol size distribution, relative humidity (RH), aerosol mixing state (internal versus external mixture), deliquescence/crystallization hysteresis, and solar zenith angle. We also examine the dependence of aerosol upscatter fraction on aerosol size, solar zenith angle, and wavelength and the dependence of single scatter albedo on wavelength and aerosol composition. The single most important parameter in determining direct aerosol forcing is relative humidity, and the most important process is the increase of the aerosol mass as a result of water uptake. An increase of the relative humidity from 40 to 80% is estimated for the global mean aerosol considered to result in an increase of the radiative forcing by a factor of 2.1. Forcing is relatively insensitive to the fine mode diameter increase due to hygroscopic growth, as long as this mode remains inside the efficient scattering size region. The hysteresis/deliquescence region introduces additional uncertainty but, in general, errors less than 20% result by the use of the average of the two curves to predict forcing. For fine aerosol mode mean diameters in the 0.2–0.5 μm range direct aerosol forcing is relatively insensitive (errors less than 20%) to variations of the mean diameter. Estimation of the coarse mode diameter within a factor of 2 is generally sufficient for the estimation of the total aerosol radiative forcing within 20%. Moreover, the coarse mode, which represents the nonanthropogenic fraction of the aerosol, is estimated to contribute less than 10% of the total radiative forcing for all RHs of interest. Aerosol chemical composition is important to direct radiative forcing as it determines (1) water uptake with RH, and (2) optical properties. The effect of absorption by aerosol components on forcing is found to be significant even for single scatter albedo values of ω=0.93–0.97. The absorbing aerosol component reduces the aerosol forcing from that in its absence by roughly 30% at 60% RH and 20% at 90% RH. The mixing state of the aerosol (internal versus external) for the particular aerosol considered here is found to be of secondary importance. While sulfate mass scattering efficiency (m² (g SO₄²⁻)⁻¹) and the normalized sulfate forcing (W (g SO₄²⁻)⁻¹) increase strongly with RH, total mass scattering efficiency (m² g⁻¹) and normalized forcing (W g⁻¹) are relatively insensitive to RH, wherein the mass of all species, including water, are accounted for. Following S. Nemesure et al. (Direct shortwave forcing of climate by anthropogenic sulfate aerosol: sensitivity to particle size, composition, and relative humidity, submitted to Journal of Geophysical Research, 1995), we find that aerosol feeing achieves a maximum at a particular solar zenith angle, reflecting a balance between increasing upscatter fraction with increasing solar zenith angle and decreasing solar flux (from Rayleigh scattering) with increasing solar zenith angle.
17. 1996: Wiedensohler, Alfred, et al. “Occurrence of an ultrafine particle mode less than 20 nm in diameter in the marine boundary layer during Arctic summer and autumn.” Tellus B 48.2 (1996): 213-222. The International Arctic Ocean Expedition 1991 (IAOE‐91) provided a platform to study the occurrence and size distributions of ultrafine particles in the marine boundary layer (MBL) during Arctic summer and autumn. Measurements of both aerosol physics, and gas/particulate chemistry were taken aboard the Swedish icebreaker Oden. Three separate submicron aerosol modes were found: an ultrafine mode (D_p < 20 nm), the Aitken mode (20 < D_p < 100 nm), and the accumulation mode (D_p > 100 nm). We evaluated correlations between ultrafine particle number concentrations and mean diameter with the entire measured physical, chemical, and meteorological data set. Multivariate statistical methods were then used to make these comparisons. A principal component (PC) analysis indicated that the observed variation in the data could be explained by the influence from several types of air masses. These were characterised by contributions from the open sea or sources from the surrounding continents and islands. A partial least square (PLS) regression of the ultrafine particle concentration was also used. These results implied that the ultrafine particles were produced above or in upper layers of the MBL and mixed downwards. There were also indications that the open sea acted as a source of the precursors for ultrafine particle production. No anti‐correlation was found between the ultrafine and accumulation particle number concentrations, thus indicating that the sources were in separate air masses.
18. 1995: Andreae, Meinrat O. “Climatic effects of changing atmospheric aerosol levels.” World survey of climatology 16 (1995): 347-398. 
19. 1997: Raes, Frank, et al. “Observations of aerosols in the free troposphere and marine boundary layer of the subtropical Northeast Atlantic: Discussion of processes determining their size distribution.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 102.D17 (1997): 21315-21328. During July 1994, submicron aerosol size distributions were measured at two sites on Tenerife, Canary Islands. One station was located in the free troposphere (FT), the other in the marine boundary layer (MBL). Transport toward these two sites was strongly decoupled: the FT was first affected by dust and sulfate‐laden air masses advecting from North Africa and later by clean air masses originating over the North Atlantic, whereas the MBL was always subject to the northeasterly trade wind circulation. In the FT the submicron aerosol distribution was predominantly monomodal with a geometric mean diameter of 120 nm and 55 nm during dusty and clean conditions, respectively. The relatively small diameter during the clean conditions indicates that the aerosol originated in the upper troposphere rather than over continental areas or in the lower stratosphere. During dusty conditions the physical and chemical properties of the submicron aerosol suggest that it has an anthropogenic origin over southern Europe and that it remains largely externally mixed with the supermicron mineral dust particles during its transport over North Africa to Tenerife. Apart from synoptic variations, a strong diurnal variation in the aerosol size distribution is observed at the FT site, characterized by a strong daytime mode of ultrafine particles. This is interpreted as being the result of photoinduced nucleation in the upslope winds, which are perturbed by anthropogenic and biogenic emissions on the island. No evidence was found for nucleation occurring in the undisturbed FT. The MBL site was not strongly affected by European pollution during the period of the measurements. The MBL aerosol size distribution was bimodal, but the relative concentration of Aitken and accumulation mode varied strongly. The accumulation mode can be related to cloud processing of the Aitken mode but also to pollution aerosol which was advected within the MBL or entrained from the FT. No bursts of nucleation were observed within the MBL.
20. 1997: Andreae, Meinrat O., and Paul J. Crutzen. “Atmospheric aerosols: Biogeochemical sources and role in atmospheric chemistry.” Science 276.5315 (1997): 1052-1058. Atmospheric aerosols play important roles in climate and atmospheric chemistry: They scatter sunlight, provide condensation nuclei for cloud droplets, and participate in heterogeneous chemical reactions. Two important aerosol species, sulfate and organic particles, have large natural biogenic sources that depend in a highly complex fashion on environmental and ecological parameters and therefore are prone to influence by global change. Reactions in and on sea-salt aerosol particles may have a strong influence on oxidation processes in the marine boundary layer through the production of halogen radicals, and reactions on mineral aerosols may significantly affect the cycles of nitrogen, sulfur, and atmospheric oxidants.
21. 1997: Hansen, J., Mki Sato, and R. Ruedy. “Radiative forcing and climate response.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 102.D6 (1997): 6831-6864. We examine the sensitivity of a climate model to a wide range of radiative forcings, including changes of solar irradiance, atmospheric CO₂, O₃, CFCs, clouds, aerosols, surface albedo, and a “ghost” forcing introduced at arbitrary heights, latitudes, longitudes, seasons, and times of day. We show that, in general, the climate response, specifically the global mean temperature change, is sensitive to the altitude, latitude, and nature of the forcing; that is, the response to a given forcing can vary by 50% or more depending upon characteristics of the forcing other than its magnitude measured in watts per square meter. The consistency of the response among different forcings is higher, within 20% or better, for most of the globally distributed forcings suspected of influencing global mean temperature in the past century, but exceptions occur for certain changes of ozone or absorbing aerosols, for which the climate response is less well behaved. In all cases the physical basis for the variations of the response can be understood. The principal mechanisms involve alterations of lapse rate and decrease (increase) of large‐scale cloud cover in layers that are preferentially heated (cooled). Although the magnitude of these effects must be model‐dependent, the existence and sense of the mechanisms appear to be reasonable. Overall, we reaffirm the value of the radiative forcing concept for predicting climate response and for comparative studies of different forcings; indeed, the present results can help improve the accuracy of such analyses and define error estimates. Our results also emphasize the need for measurements having the specificity and precision needed to define poorly known forcings such as absorbing aerosols and ozone change. Available data on aerosol single scatter albedo imply that anthropogenic aerosols cause less cooling than has commonly been assumed. However, negative forcing due to the net ozone change since 1979 appears to have counterbalanced 30–50% of the positive forcing due to the increase of well‐mixed greenhouse gases in the same period. As the net ozone change includes halogen‐driven ozone depletion with negative radiative forcing and a tropospheric ozone increase with positive radiative forcing, it is possible that the halogen‐driven ozone depletion has counterbalanced more than half of the radiative forcing due to well‐mixed greenhouse gases since 1979.
22. 2000: Robock, Alan. “Volcanic eruptions and climate.” Reviews of Geophysics 38.2 (2000): 191-219. Volcanic eruptions are an important natural cause of climate change on many timescales. A new capability to predict the climatic response to a large tropical eruption for the succeeding 2 years will prove valuable to society. In addition, to detect and attribute anthropogenic influences on climate, including effects of greenhouse gases, aerosols, and ozone‐depleting chemicals, it is crucial to quantify the natural fluctuations so as to separate them from anthropogenic fluctuations in the climate record. Studying the responses of climate to volcanic eruptions also helps us to better understand important radiative and dynamical processes that respond in the climate system to both natural and anthropogenic forcings. Furthermore, modeling the effects of volcanic eruptions helps us to improve climate models that are needed to study anthropogenic effects. Large volcanic eruptions inject sulfur gases into the stratosphere, which convert to sulfate aerosols with an e‐folding residence time of about 1 year. Large ash particles fall out much quicker. The radiative and chemical effects of this aerosol cloud produce responses in the climate system. By scattering some solar radiation back to space, the aerosols cool the surface, but by absorbing both solar and terrestrial radiation, the aerosol layer heats the stratosphere. For a tropical eruption this heating is larger in the tropics than in the high latitudes, producing an enhanced pole‐to‐equator temperature gradient, especially in winter. In the Northern Hemisphere winter this enhanced gradient produces a stronger polar vortex, and this stronger jet stream produces a characteristic stationary wave pattern of tropospheric circulation, resulting in winter warming of Northern Hemisphere continents. This indirect advective effect on temperature is stronger than the radiative cooling effect that dominates at lower latitudes and in the summer. The volcanic aerosols also serve as surfaces for heterogeneous chemical reactions that destroy stratospheric ozone, which lowers ultraviolet absorption and reduces the radiative heating in the lower stratosphere, but the net effect is still heating. Because this chemical effect depends on the presence of anthropogenic chlorine, it has only become important in recent decades. For a few days after an eruption the amplitude of the diurnal cycle of surface air temperature is reduced under the cloud. On a much longer timescale, volcanic effects played a large role in interdecadal climate change of the Little Ice Age. There is no perfect index of past volcanism, but more ice cores from Greenland and Antarctica will improve the record. There is no evidence that volcanic eruptions produce El Niño events, but the climatic effects of El Niño and volcanic eruptions must be separated to understand the climatic response to each.
23. 2001: Jacobson, Mark Z. “Strong radiative heating due to the mixing state of black carbon in atmospheric aerosols.” Nature409.6821 (2001): 695. Aerosols affect the Earth’s temperature and climate by altering the radiative properties of the atmosphere. A large positive component of this radiative forcing from aerosols is due to black carbon—soot—that is released from the burning of fossil fuel and biomass, and, to a lesser extent, natural fires, but the exact forcing is affected by how black carbon is mixed with other aerosol constituents. From studies of aerosol radiative forcing, it is known that black carbon can exist in one of several possible mixing states; distinct from other aerosol particles (externally mixed^{1,2,3,4,5,6,7}) or incorporated within them (internally mixed^1,3,7), or a black-carbon core could be surrounded by a well mixed shell⁷. But so far it has been assumed that aerosols exist predominantly as an external mixture. Here I simulate the evolution of the chemical composition of aerosols, finding that the mixing state and direct forcing of the black-carbon component approach those of an internal mixture, largely due to coagulation and growth of aerosol particles. This finding implies a higher positive forcing from black carbon than previously thought, suggesting that the warming effect from black carbon may nearly balance the net cooling effect of other anthropogenic aerosol constituents. The magnitude of the direct radiative forcing from black carbon itself exceeds that due to CH₄, suggesting that black carbon may be the second most important component of global warming after CO₂in terms of direct forcing.
24. 2002: Kaufman, Yoram J., Didier Tanré, and Olivier Boucher. “A satellite view of aerosols in the climate system.” Nature419.6903 (2002): 215. Anthropogenic aerosols are intricately linked to the climate system and to the hydrologic cycle. The net effect of aerosols is to cool the climate system by reflecting sunlight. Depending on their composition, aerosols can also absorb sunlight in the atmosphere, further cooling the surface but warming the atmosphere in the process. These effects of aerosols on the temperature profile, along with the role of aerosols as cloud condensation nuclei, impact the hydrologic cycle, through changes in cloud cover, cloud properties and precipitation. Unravelling these feedbacks is particularly difficult because aerosols take a multitude of shapes and forms, ranging from desert dust to urban pollution, and because aerosol concentrations vary strongly over time and space. To accurately study aerosol distribution and composition therefore requires continuous observations from satellites, networks of ground-based instruments and dedicated field experiments. Increases in aerosol concentration and changes in their composition, driven by industrializationand an expanding population, may adversely affect the Earth’s climate and water supply.
25. 2002: Menon, Surabi, et al. “Climate effects of black carbon aerosols in China and India.” Science 297.5590 (2002): 2250-2253. In recent decades, there has been a tendency toward increased summer floods in south China, increased drought in north China, and moderate cooling in China and India while most of the world has been warming. We used a global climate model to investigate possible aerosol contributions to these trends. We found precipitation and temperature changes in the model that were comparable to those observed if the aerosols included a large proportion of absorbing black carbon (“soot”), similar to observed amounts. Absorbing aerosols heat the air, alter regional atmospheric stability and vertical motions, and affect the large-scale circulation and hydrologic cycle with significant regional climate effects.
26. 2005: Andreae, Meinrat O., Chris D. Jones, and Peter M. Cox. “Strong present-day aerosol cooling implies a hot future.” Nature 435.7046 (2005): 1187. Atmospheric aerosols counteract the warming effects of anthropogenic greenhouse gases by an uncertain, but potentially large, amount. This in turn leads to large uncertainties in the sensitivity of climate to human perturbations, and therefore also in carbon cycle feedbacks and projections of climate change. In the future, aerosol cooling is expected to decline relative to greenhouse gas forcing, because of the aerosols’ much shorter lifetime and the pursuit of a cleaner atmosphere. Strong aerosol cooling in the past and present would then imply that future global warming may proceed at or even above the upper extreme of the range projected by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
27. 2005: Pöschl, Ulrich. “Atmospheric aerosols: composition, transformation, climate and health effects.” Angewandte Chemie International Edition 44.46 (2005): 7520-7540. Aerosols are of central importance for atmospheric chemistry and physics, the biosphere, climate, and public health. The airborne solid and liquid particles in the nanometer to micrometer size range influence the energy balance of the Earth, the hydrological cycle, atmospheric circulation, and the abundance of greenhouse and reactive trace gases. Moreover, they play important roles in the reproduction of biological organisms and can cause or enhance diseases. The primary parameters that determine the environmental and health effects of aerosol particles are their concentration, size, structure, and chemical composition. These parameters, however, are spatially and temporally highly variable. The quantification and identification of biological particles and carbonaceous components of fine particulate matter in the air (organic compounds and black or elemental carbon, respectively) represent demanding analytical challenges. This Review outlines the current state of knowledge, major open questions, and research perspectives on the properties and interactions of atmospheric aerosols and their effects on climate and human health.
28. 2005: Jickells, T. D., et al. “Global iron connections between desert dust, ocean biogeochemistry, and climate.” science 308.5718 (2005): 67-71. The environmental conditions of Earth, including the climate, are determined by physical, chemical, biological, and human interactions that transform and transport materials and energy. This is the “Earth system”: a highly complex entity characterized by multiple nonlinear responses and thresholds, with linkages between disparate components. One important part of this system is the iron cycle, in which iron-containing soil dust is transported from land through the atmosphere to the oceans, affecting ocean biogeochemistry and hence having feedback effects on climate and dust production. Here we review the key components of this cycle, identifying critical uncertainties and priorities for future research.
29. 2005: Lohmann, Ulrike, and Johann Feichter. “Global indirect aerosol effects: a review.” Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics5.3 (2005): 715-737.  Aerosols affect the climate system by changing cloud characteristics in many ways. They act as cloud condensation and ice nuclei, they may inhibit freezing and they could have an influence on the hydrological cycle. While the cloud albedo enhancement (Twomey effect) of warm clouds received most attention so far and traditionally is the only indirect aerosol forcing considered in transient climate simulations, here we discuss the multitude of effects. Different approaches how the climatic implications of these aerosol effects can be estimated globally as well as improvements that are needed in global climate models in order to better represent indirect aerosol effects are discussed in this paper.
30. 2009: Ramanathan, Veerabhadran, and Yan Feng. “Air pollution, greenhouse gases and climate change: Global and regional perspectives.” Atmospheric environment 43.1 (2009): 37-50. Greenhouse gases (GHGs) warm the surface and the atmosphere with significant implications for rainfall, retreat of glaciers and sea ice, sea level, among other factors. About 30 years ago, it was recognized that the increase in tropospheric ozone from air pollution (NO_x, CO and others) is an important greenhouse forcing term. In addition, the recognition of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) on stratospheric ozone and its climate effects linked chemistry and climate strongly. What is less recognized, however, is a comparably major global problem dealing with air pollution. Until about ten years ago, air pollution was thought to be just an urban or a local problem. But new data have revealed that air pollution is transported across continents and ocean basins due to fast long-range transport, resulting in trans-oceanic and trans-continental plumes of atmospheric brown clouds (ABCs) containing sub micron size particles, i.e., aerosols. ABCs intercept sunlight by absorbing as well as reflecting it, both of which lead to a large surface dimming. The dimming effect is enhanced further because aerosols may nucleate more cloud droplets, which makes the clouds reflect more solar radiation. The dimming has a surface cooling effect and decreases evaporation of moisture from the surface, thus slows down the hydrological cycle. On the other hand, absorption of solar radiation by black carbon and some organics increase atmospheric heating and tend to amplify greenhouse warming of the atmosphere. ABCs are concentrated in regional and mega-city hot spots. Long-range transport from these hot spots causes widespread plumes over the adjacent oceans. Such a pattern of regionally concentrated surface dimming and atmospheric solar heating, accompanied by widespread dimming over the oceans, gives rise to large regional effects. Only during the last decade, we have begun to comprehend the surprisingly large regional impacts. In S. Asia and N. Africa, the large north-south gradient in the ABC dimming has altered both the north-south gradients in sea surface temperatures and land–ocean contrast in surface temperatures, which in turn slow down the monsoon circulation and decrease rainfall over the continents. On the other hand, heating by black carbon warms the atmosphere at elevated levels from 2 to 6 km, where most tropical glaciers are located, thus strengthening the effect of GHGs on retreat of snow packs and glaciers in the Hindu Kush-Himalaya-Tibetan glaciers. Globally, the surface cooling effect of ABCs may have masked as much 47% of the global warming by greenhouse gases, with an uncertainty range of 20–80%. This presents a dilemma since efforts to curb air pollution may unmask the ABC cooling effect and enhance the surface warming. Thus efforts to reduce GHGs and air pollution should be done under one common framework. The uncertainties in our understanding of the ABC effects are large, but we are discovering new ways in which human activities are changing the climate and the environment.
31. 2009: Jimenez, Jose L., et al. “Evolution of organic aerosols in the atmosphere.” science 326.5959 (2009): 1525-1529. Organic aerosol (OA) particles affect climate forcing and human health, but their sources and evolution remain poorly characterized. We present a unifying model framework describing the atmospheric evolution of OA that is constrained by high–time-resolution measurements of its composition, volatility, and oxidation state. OA and OA precursor gases evolve by becoming increasingly oxidized, less volatile, and more hygroscopic, leading to the formation of oxygenated organic aerosol (OOA), with concentrations comparable to those of sulfate aerosol throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Our model framework captures the dynamic aging behavior observed in both the atmosphere and laboratory: It can serve as a basis for improving parameterizations in regional and global models.
32. 2017: Stanley, S. (2017), Satellite data reveal effects of aerosols in Earth’s atmosphere, Eos, 98,https://doi.org/10.1029/2017EO069945. Published on 24 March 2017.  Earth’s atmosphere is dusted with tiny particles known as aerosols, which include windblown ash, sea salt, pollution, and other natural and human-produced materials. Aerosols can absorb or scatter sunlight, affecting how much light reflects back into space or stays trapped in the atmosphere. Despite aerosols’ known impact on Earth’s temperature, major uncertainties plague current estimates of their overall effects, which in turn limit the certainty of climate change models. In an effort to reduce this uncertainty, Lacagnina et al. have combined new satellite data, providing, for the first time, data on aerosols’ ability to absorb or reflect light globally, through model simulations In this new study, the team focused on the direct effects of aerosols on shortwave radiation in 2006. These effects depended on the particles’ vertical location with respect to clouds, the reflective properties of the underlying land or water, and the optical properties of the aerosol particles themselves, including how much light they are prone to scatter or absorb.The researchers used instruments aboard the French Polarization and Anisotropy of Reflectances for Atmospheric Science coupled with Observations from a Lidar (PARASOL) satellite and NASA’s Aura spacecraft to measure aerosol optical properties around the world. Data from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite instrument provided measurements of cloud characteristics and land reflectance, and an aerosol climate model known as ECHAM5-HAM2 helped fill in any gaps in the observations. Using these data, calculations of the global average radiative effect for 2006 revealed an overall cooling effect due to aerosols. At regional scales, however, different mixtures of aerosols led to widely varying effects. For example, the cooling effects of aerosols were larger in the Northern Hemisphere because of higher pollution emissions and infiltration by desert dust. Overall, the heat transfer measurements in this study were consistent with past measurements using other methods. The authors call for additional studies that also integrate data from multiple sources and for improved global measurements of aerosol absorption to better understand and predict the future effects of aerosols on climate change.
33. 2017: Lacagnina, Carlo, Otto P. Hasekamp, and Omar Torres. “Direct radiative effect of aerosols based on PARASOL and OMI satellite observations.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 122.4 (2017): 2366-2388. Accurate portrayal of the aerosol characteristics is crucial to determine aerosol contribution to the Earth’s radiation budget. We employ novel satellite retrievals to make a new measurement‐based estimate of the shortwave direct radiative effect of aerosols (DREA), both over land and ocean. Global satellite measurements of aerosol optical depth, single‐scattering albedo (SSA), and phase function from PARASOL (Polarization and Anisotropy of Reflectances for Atmospheric Sciences coupled with Observations from a Lidar) are used in synergy with OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) SSA. Aerosol information is combined with land‐surface bidirectional reflectance distribution function and cloud characteristics from MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) satellite products. Eventual gaps in observations are filled with the state‐of‐the‐art global aerosol model ECHAM5‐HAM2. It is found that our estimate of DREA is largely insensitive to model choice. Radiative transfer calculations show that DREA at top‐of‐atmosphere is −4.6 ± 1.5 W/m² for cloud‐free and −2.1 ± 0.7 W/m² for all‐sky conditions, during year 2006. These fluxes are consistent with, albeit generally less negative over ocean than, former assessments. Unlike previous studies, our estimate is constrained by retrievals of global coverage SSA, which may justify different DREA values. Remarkable consistency is found in comparison with DREA based on CERES (Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System) and MODIS observations.
34. 2018: Ralph Kahn, NASA, Aerosol Remote Sensing and Modeling, 2018. [FULL TEXT] The global scope of aerosol environmental influences makes satellite remote sensing a key tool for the study of these particles. Desert dust storms, wildfire smoke and volcanic ash plumes, and urban pollution palls on hot, cloud-free summer days are among the most dramatic manifestations of aerosol particles visible in satellite imagery [LINK] .  Our group includes the core aerosol science team for the NASA Earth Observing System’s MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)instruments, and the aerosol scientist for the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR).The MODIS Dark Target, Deep Blue, and MAIAC aerosol algorithms are developed and maintained here, along with the MISR Research Aerosol Retrieval algorithm. We also contribute to the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) the Sea-viewing Wide Field-of-view Sensor (SeaWiFS) and the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership’s Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (SNPP-VIIRS) aerosol retrieval algorithms. We perform validation studies on all these satellite aerosol products using ground-based remote-sensing aerosol measurements, such as those provided by the global Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) of Sun- and sky-scanning photometers and the Micro-Pulse Lidar Network (MPLNet). And through the Goddard Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure (GIOVANNI), we have participated in the development of web-based tools to collocate multiple satellite and AERONET products and to analyze them statistically. In addition, we have developed and maintain a state-of-the-art, ground-based mobile facility for measuring the physical and chemical properties of aerosol and clouds, along with the ambient radiation fields (SMART-COMMIT-ACHIEVE), and the Cloud Absorption Radiometer (CAR) deployed in an aircraft nosecone, that can obtain radiance measurements over the entire sphere in 14 spectral bands. The aerosol applications which we lead, and to which we contribute, range from the fundamental radiative transfer used in satellite aerosol retrieval algorithms, to detailed studies of wildfire smoke and volcanic ash plumes, aerosol pollution events and long-term exposure, as well as large-scale aerosol transports, global energy balance assessments, and climate change studies.
35. 2018: Herndon, J. Marvin. “Air Pollution, Not Greenhouse Gases: The Principal Cause of Global Warming.” 2018: Time series of global surface temperature presentations often exhibit a bump coincident with World War II (WW2) as did one such image on the front page of the January 19, 2017 New York Times. Intrigued by the front-page New York Times graph, Bernie Gottschalk of Harvard University applied sophisticated curve-fitting techniques and demonstrated that the bump, which shows a global burst in Earth temperature during WW2, is a robust feature showing up in eight independent NOAA databases, four land and four oceans. The broader activities of WW2, especially those capable of altering Earth’s delicate energy balance by particulate aerosols can be generalized to post-WW2 global warming. Increases in aerosolized particulates over time is principally responsible for the concomitant global warming increases. Proxies for global particulate pollution – increasing global coal and crude oil production, as well as aviation fuel consumption – rise in strikingly parallel fashion to the rise in global temperature as shown in the accompanying figure. The World War II wartime particulate-pollution had the same global-warming consequence as the subsequent ever-increasing global aerosol particulate-pollution from (1) increases in aircraft and vehicular traffic, and the industrialization of China and India with their smoke stacks spewing out smoke and coal fly ash, as well as from recently documented studies that show (2) coal fly ash [is being] covertly jet-sprayed into the region where clouds form on a near-daily, near-global basis. It is further noted that the integrity of [IPCC] models and assessments is compromised, because of their failure to take into account the aerosolized pollution particulates that have been intentionally and covertly sprayed into the atmosphere for decades in the region where clouds form. Instead of cooling Earth, as many scientists still believed it would, covert military geoengineering activity increases global warming.
    [FULL TEXT]
36. 1964: Ångström, Anders. “The parameters of atmospheric turbidity.” Tellus 16.1 (1964): 64-75. The methods for evaluating the atmospheric turbidity parameters, introduced by the present author in 1929–30, are subjected to a critical examination. A method first suggested by M. Herovanu (1959) is here simplified and expanded, and used for deriving the named parameters in adherence to a procedure described by the present author in a previous paper in this journal (1961). The procedure is applied to the pyrheliometric observations at Potsdam in 1932–36, published by Hoelper (1939) A comparison between the frequency distribution of the coefficient of wave‐length dependence α at the high level station Davos and the low level station Potsdam gives results which are discussed in detail. In all the figures of the present paper, where the turbidity coefficients occur, they are multiplied by 10³.
37. 1967: McCormick, Robert A., and John H. Ludwig. “Climate modification by atmospheric aerosols.” Science 156.3780 (1967): 1358-1359. Theoretical considerations and empirical evidence indicate that atmospheric turbidity, a function of aerosol loading, is an important factor in the heat balance of the earth-atmosphere system. Turbidity increase over the past few decades may be primarily responsible for the decrease in worldwide air temperatures since the 1940′s.
38. 1969: Flowers, E. C., R. A. McCormick, and K. R. Kurfis. “Atmospheric turbidity over the United States, 1961–1966.” Journal of Applied Meteorology 8.6 (1969): 955-962. Five years of turbidity measurements from a network of stations in the United States are analyzed. Measurements are made with the Volz sunphotometer; the instrument, its calibration, and its use are described. The relationship of these measurements to those of Linke and Ångström is briefly discussed. Analysis of the data indicates the following: 1) an annual mean pattern of low turbidity (near 0.05) over the western plains and Rocky Mountains and high turbidity (near 0.14) in the east; 2) observed minimum turbidity near 0.02; 3) an annual cycle of low turbidity in winter and high in summer; 4) lowest turbidity in continental polar air masses and highest in maritime tropical; and 5) no noticeable lowering of turbidity following precipitation.
39. 1972: Lovelock, James E. “Atmospheric turbidity and CCl3F concentrations in rural southern England and southern Ireland.” Atmospheric Environment (1967) 6.12 (1972): 917-925. The seasonal changes in atmospheric turbidity in rural Southern England and Southern Ireland have been observed and are compared with wind direction and with the concentration of CCl₃F a material whose origins are unequivocally anthropogenic. The observations suggest that the dense summertime aerosol is probably an end product of the atmospheric photochemistry of air pollutants and that Continental Europe is the principal source.
40. 1979: Carlson, Toby N. “Atmospheric turbidity in Saharan dust outbreaks as determined by analyses of satellite brightness data.” Monthly Weather Review 107.3 (1979): 322-335. Using VHRR brightness data obtained from the NOAA 3 satellite, isopleths of aerosol Optical depth for Saharan dust have been drawn for seven days during summer 1974 over a portion of the eastern equatorial North Atlantic. The large-scale patterns reveal an elongated dust plume which emerges from a narrow region along the African coast. Thereafter, the plume moves westward and spreads laterally though maintaining rather discrete boundaries associated with sharp gradients of turbidity, especially along the southern border. Exceptionally large values of optical depth (>2.0) are found near the centers of some dust outbreaks but these high values contribute Little to the total dust loading, which, in typical episodes, are estimated to represent a loss of topsoil from Africa of ∼8 million metric tons of material in a period of 4–5 days. There appeared to be no direct intrusion of the dust plume into the ITCZ or north of 25°N in that region. Outbreaks of dust appear often to be in the rear of a well-developed easterly wave disturbance and inverted V-shaped cloud pattern. This paper demonstrates the feasibility of using satellite brightness data to quantitatively map dust outbreaks.
41. 1981: Peterson, James T., et al. “Atmospheric turbidity over central North Carolina.” Journal of Applied Meteorology 20.3 (1981): 229-241. Some 8500 observations of atmospheric turbidity, taken at Raleigh, North Carolina from July 1969 to July 1975 are analyzed for within-day and day-to-day variations and their dependence on meteorological parameters. The annual average turbidity of 0.147 (0.336 aerosol optical thickness) is near the highest non-urban turbidity in the United States. A distinct diurnal turbidity cycle was evident with a maximum in early afternoon. Annually, highest turbidity and day-to-day variation occurred during summer with lowest values and variation during winter. Daily averages revealed an asymmetric annual cycle, with a minimum on 1 January and a maximum on 1 August. Turbidity showed a slight inverse dependence on surface wind speed. Aside from winter, highest turbidities occurred with southeast surface winds. Turbidity was directly proportional to both humidity and dew point. Correlations between turbidity and local visibility were best for visibilities <7 mi. Air mass trajectories arriving at Raleigh were used to study the dependence of turbidity on synoptic air mass. Air masses with a southern origin had greatest turbidities. Turbidity of an air mass significantly increased as the residence time of that air mass over the continental United States increased, with the most rapid changes during summer. A combination of Raleigh (1969–present) and Greensboro, North Carolina (1965–76) records showed a distinct summer increase through 1976, but no change during winter. A linear regression of annual averages for the complete record gave an 18% per decade turbidity increase.
42. 1982: Shaw, Glenn E. “Atmospheric turbidity in the polar regions.” Journal of Applied meteorology 21.8 (1982): 1080-1088. Analysis is presented of 800 measurements of atmospheric monochromatic aerosol optical depth made poleward of ∼65° latitude. The atmosphere of the southern polar region appears to be uncontaminated but is charged with a background aerosol having a mean size of 0.1 μm radius, an almost constant mixing ratio throughout the troposphere, a sea level optical depth (λ = 500 nm) of ∼0.025 and an inferred columnar mass loading of 4-15 × 10⁻⁷ g cm⁻².At around the time of spring equinox the northern polar region (all longitudes) is invaded with Arctic Haze, an aerosol showing a strong anthropogenic chemical fingerprint. The optical depth anomaly introduced by this man-caused haze is τ₀ ≈ 0.110 and the associated columnar mass loading is ∼1.5 × 10⁻⁶ g cm⁻². Turbidity measured seven decades ago at the solar observatory at Uppsala (60°N), suggests that Arctic optical depth has been rising at a rate of dτ/dt ≈ 0.01 ± 0.005 per decade.
43. 1994: Jacovides, C. P., et al. “Atmospheric turbidity parameters in the highly polluted site of Athens basin.” Renewable Energy4.5 (1994): 465-470. Data on atmospheric turbidity coefficients, i.e. Linke factor T_L and Angstrom coefficient β, calculated from measurements of broad-band filter at Athens Observatory (NOA), are reported. A linear model fitted to β vs T_L for Athens is similar to the models reported for Avignon (France) and Dhahran (Saudi Arabia). The variation in the monthly average values of β and T_L is of similar trend to that of Avignon and Dhahran. However, Athens has shown higher values of atmospheric turbidity coefficients than Avignon and similar turbidity levels to Dhahran. Finally, the long-term variation of the monthly mean values of the mid-day turbidity parameters and the broad-band direct and diffuse irradiances under cloudless skies are evaluated for the same period. The turbidity trends in conjunction with the trends of solar radiation components reflect the rapid urbanization and industrialization of the Athens basin.
44. 1994: Gueymard, Christian. “Analysis of monthly average atmospheric precipitable water and turbidity in Canada and northern United States.” Solar Energy 53.1 (1994): 57-71. Atmospheric turbidity and precipitable water data are necessary as inputs to solar radiation or daylight availability models, and to daylighting simulation programs. A new model is presented to obtain precipitable water from long-term averages of temperature and humidity. Precipitable water data derived from this model are tabulated for some Canadian and northern U.S. sites. A discussion on the available turbidity data is presented. An analysis of the datasets from the WMO turbidity network is detailed. The effect of volcanic eruptions is discussed, as well as the possible comparisons with indirect determinations of turbidity from radiation data. A tabulation of the monthly average turbidity coefficients for ten Canadian stations and seven northern U.S. stations of the WMO network is presented.
45. 1961: Budyko, Mikhail Ivanovich. “The heat balance of the earth’s surface.” Soviet Geography 2.4 (1961): 3-13. The article discusses the present state of knowledge of the basic components of the heat balance of the earth’s surface (radiation balance, loss of heat to evaporation, turbulent heat exchange) and the distribution of these components in time and space. Soviet research is concerned with applying heat-balance data to the study of physical-geographical processes (hydrologic regime, plant and soil cover), to the study of integrated geographic problems (geographic zonality) and practical problems (weather and hydrologic forecasting, the use of solar energy for productive purposes, and the use of heat-balance data for planning reclamation projects and other nature-transforming measures
46. 1969: Budyko, Mikhail I. “The effect of solar radiation variations on the climate of the earth.” tellus 21.5 (1969): 611-619. It follows from the analysis of observation data that the secular variation of the mean temperature of the Earth can be explained by the variation of short-wave radiation, arriving at the surface of the Earth. In connection with this, the influence of long-term changes of radiation, caused by variations of atmospheric transparency on the thermal regime is being studied. Taking into account the influence of changes of planetary albedo of the Earth under the development of glaciations on the thermal regime, it is found that comparatively small variations of atmospheric transparency could be sufficient for the development of quaternary glaciations.  [FULL TEXT]
47. 1978: Angell, J. K., and J. Korshover. “Global temperature variation, surface-100 mb: An update into 1977.” Monthly Weather Review 106.6 (1978): 755-770. Based on a network of 63 well-spaced radiosonde stations around the world, the global temperature within the surface to 100 mb layer was lower in 1976 than in any year since commencement of the record in 1958, and the 1976 surface temperature equated the global record for the lowest temperature set in 1964; but even so the trend in global temperature since 1965 has been small compared to the 0.5°C decrease during 1960–65. Between 1958 and 1976 the surface to 100 mb temperature in north extratropics decreased by about 1°C, with the decrease twice as great in winter as in summer, and in 1976 this region was 0.2°C lower than in any previous year of record. During the northern winter of 1976–77, both temperate zones were very cold but the polar and tropical zones were quite warm, so that in the hemispheric or global average the season was not anomalous. In the Eastern Hemisphere of the northern extratropics there has been considerable surface warming during the past decade (although a cooling aloft), and this may explain the Soviet concern with warming related to carbon dioxide emissions. There has been a slight overall increase in temperature in the tropics since 1965, mostly in the Western Hemisphere, on which have been superimposed large and significant temperature variations of about a three-year period. These variations, probably related to the Southern Oscillation (and recently not so pronounced), extend in obvious fashion also into north extratropics, and should be taken into account for diagnoses and prognoses in northern latitudes. The rate of increase of carbon dioxide at Mauna Loa and the South Pole is augmented in the warm phase of the tropical oscillation, presumably because of a relation between atmospheric and oceanic temperature. There is evidence for a consistent quasi-biennial variation in temperature at all latitudes, with the temperature approximately 0.1°C higher than average about six months prior to the quasi-biennial west wind maximum at 50 mb in the tropics. The spatial and temporal variability in temperature have tended to increase over the period of record, in accord with the increase in meridional temperature gradient in both hemispheres and the indicated increase in lapse rate in the Northern Hemisphere.  [FULL TEXT]
48. 1981: Asakura, T., and S. Ikeda. “Recent climatic change and unusual weather in the northern hemisphere.” GeoJournal 5.2 (1981): 113-116. Occurrence frequency of unusual weather caused by anomalous synoptic patterns has its peaks in the middle latitude regions and the subtropical regions. Height anomaly patterns at the 500 mb level for the last three decades show the expansion of negative area in the northern hemisphere, resulting in increase of variability in space and time.
49. 1984: Suckling, Philip W. “TRENDS IN MONTHLY TEMPERATURE DEPARTURES FOR THE CONTINGUOUS UNITED STATES, 1940-1983.” Physical Geography 5.2 (1984): 150-163. A temperature departure index is calculated for each month of the year for 10 regions within the contiguous United States utilizing a total of 193 sites for the 44-year period 1940 to 1983. Five-year moving averages of the index values are plotted on graphs for each region by month in an attempt to detect trends toward an increase or decrease in the occurrence of well above or well below normal monthly temperatures in recent years. Considerable regional differences are found with respect to the size and temporal trend of monthly temperature departures. For example, the Northwest and Southwest regions are often exceptions to the average national trend supporting the concept of considerable east-west differences in temperature variation patterns. Only April, June and December show increases in temperature departure index values in the most recent years for a majority of regions while the summer months of July and August do not exhibit a clear national trend. For a majority of months (January, February, March, May, September, October, November), there has been a decrease in the occurrence of unusually above or below normal monthly temperatures for most regions during the late 1970s/early 1980s.
50. 1984: Suckling, Philip W. “Temperature variability in Georgia in recent years.” Southeastern Geographer 24.1 (1984): 30-41. Southeastern Geographer Vol. 24, No. 1, May 1984,  In recent years several examples of temperature extremes have occurred in Georgia and across the southeast. These include extreme cold in the winter of 1976—77, above normal summer temperatures in 1980 and 1981, and the exceptionally warm Christmas season of 1982. Do these occurrences indicate that temperature variability has increased? Some writers have suggested that there has been an increase in climatic variability in recent years. The following are some relevant quotes: “droughts, floods, heat waves and cold spells unprecedented in living memory “; “record low temperatures reported with increasing frequency in many parts of the United States”; and “the range of short-term variations has widened since the middle of the century.” (J) Studies have addressed the issue of whether the climatic trend is towards cooling or warming. (2) Although the issue of climatic trends of cooling versus warming is important, it is the frequency of extremes (i.e., climatic variability) that may be of more significance to man and his activities, especially in agriculture. (3) In the past, it has been suggested that overall climatic cooling should cause increased temperature variability. However, a study by Van Loon and Williams indicated this concept to be wrong. (4) Previous studies on temperature variability have supported the contention that in recent years an increase in the frequency of extremes has occurred. Asakura and Ikeda concluded that an increase in temperature extremes for the northern hemisphere has occurred in the last two decades compared to the mid-twentieth century . (5) Similarly, Jones, Wigley and Kelly found increased year-toyear variability during the 1970s in a study of northern hemisphere temperature variations over the last century. (6) By contrast, Ratcliffe, Weiler and Collison in a study covering parts of Britain found no trend toward increased climatic variability in the last century. (7) In an assessment of interannual temperature variability for the United States * The technical assistance of Jeon Lee is gratefully acknowledged. Dr. Suckling is Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Georgia in Athens, GA 30602. Vol. XXIV, No. 1 31 since 1896, Chico and Sellers found a decrease in variability for the 1930s to the 1970s. (S) Boer and Higuchi found no evidence to support the contention that the climate has generally become more variable in the northern hemisphere for the last 25 years although, in a later article, they did find evidence suggesting increased summertime temperature variability. (9) Hoyt has shown that the popular opinion that more weather “records” have been set in recent years in the United States is mistaken. If anything, less “records” are being established than statistically expected. (JO) Regional differences in climatic change and variability are to be expected. (JJ) Using a limited number of sites, the study by Van Loon and Williams found decreasing temperature variability for U.S. locations in the midwest and northeast but increasing variability in the south and west. (J2) It is the purpose of the present study to assess temperature variability for the southern state of Georgia. Has there been an increase in the occurrence of unusually above or below normal monthly temperatures in recent years? METHODOLOGY. Mean monthly temperatures for the period 19401982 for seven sites in Georgia plus the nearby locations ofChattanooga, TN, Tallahassee, FL, and Jacksonville, FL, were used for study (Fig. 1). The three non-Georgia stations were included to provide surrogate data for the far northern and southern regions ofthe state in the absence ofappropriate in-state sites. Monthly average temperature and standard deviation values for the 43-year period are given in Table 1. It is notable that winter months have much more temperature variability than summer months as indicated by consistently higher standard deviation values at all sites. In order to assess interannual changes in temperature variability, it is therefore appropriate to conduct the analysis on a month by month basis.
51. 1987: Suckling, Philip W. “A climate departure index for the study of climatic variability.” Physical Geography 8.2 (1987): 179-188. Three versions of a Climate Departure Index (CDI) are presented for studying how “normal” or “unusual” a particular year or event is compared to the long-term average for the region under consideration. Comparisons of a Simple CDI, Absolute Value CDI and Least-Squares CDI are made through the use of hypothetical examples and two case studies involving seasonal snowfall variations in northern New England and last spring-freeze date variations in the southeastern United States. Results clearly show that the Simple CDI is the inferior formulation owing to a compensation problem whereby above and below average sites within a region for a particular year cancel each other when computing the index value. Little difference in identifying extreme years was found between use of the Absolute Value CDI and Least-Squares CDI in the case studies examined. Nevertheless, a hypothetical example suggests that the least-squares approach for closeness of fit is the more appropriate method, thus making the Least-Squares CDI the preferred version.
52. 1992: Read, J. F., and W. J. Gould. “Cooling and freshening of the subpolar North Atlantic Ocean since the 1960s.” Nature360.6399 (1992): 55. LITTLE is known of the interdecadal variability in the thermohaline circulation of the world’s oceans, yet such knowledge is essential as a background to studies of the effects of natural and anthropogenic climate change. The subpolar North Atlantic is an area of extensive water mass modification by heat loss to the atmosphere. Lying as it does at the northern limit of the global thermohaline “conveyor belt”¹², changes in this region may ultimately have global consequences. Here we report that in August 1991 the waters between Greenland and the United Kingdom were on average 0.08 °C and 0.15 °C colder than in 1962 and 1981, respectively, and slightly less saline than in 1962. The cause appears to be renewed formation of intermediate water in the Labrador Sea from cooler and fresher source waters, and the spreading of this water mass from the west. Variations in the source characteristics of Labrador Sea Water can be traced across the North Atlantic, with a circulation time of 18–19 years between the Labrador Sea and Rockall Trough. More recently formed Labrador Sea Water, with even lower temperature and salinity, should cool and freshen the North Atlantic still further as it circulates around the ocean in the coming decade.
53. 2000: Andronova, Natalia G., and Michael E. Schlesinger. “Causes of global temperature changes during the 19th and 20th centuries.” Geophysical Research Letters 27.14 (2000): 2137-2140. During the past two decades there has been considerable discussion about the relative contribution of different factors to the temperature changes observed now over the past 142 years. Among these factors are the “external’ factors of human (anthropogenic) activity, volcanoes and putative variations in the irradiance of the sun, and the “internal” factor of natural variability. Here, by using a simple climate/ocean model to simulate the observed temperature changes for different state‐of‐the‐art radiative‐forcing models, we present strong evidence that while the anthropogenic effect has steadily increased in size during the entire 20th century such that it presently is the dominant external forcing of the climate system, there is a residual factor at work within the climate system, whether a natural oscillation or something else as yet unknown. This has an important implication for our expectation of future temperature changes.
54. 2008: Peterson, Thomas C., William M. Connolley, and John Fleck. “The myth of the 1970s global cooling scientific consensus.” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 89.9 (2008): 1325-1338. Climate science as we know it today did not exist in the 1960s and 1970s. The integrated enterprise embodied in the Nobel Prize winning work of the IPCC existed then as separate threads of research pursued by isolated groups of scientists. Atmospheric chemists and modelers grappled with the measurement of changes in carbon dioxide and atmospheric gases, and the changes in climate that might result. Meanwhile, geologists and paleoclimate researchers tried to understand when Earth slipped into and out of ice ages, and why. An enduring popular myth suggests that in the 1970s the climate science community was predicting “global cooling” and an “imminent” ice age, an observation frequently used by those who would undermine what climate scientists say today about the prospect of global warming. A review of the literature suggests that, on the contrary, greenhouse warming even then dominated scientists’ thinking as being one of the most important forces shaping Earth’s climate on human time scales. More importantly than showing the falsehood of the myth, this review describes how scientists of the time built the foundation on which the cohesive enterprise of modern climate science now rests. NOAA/National Climatic Data Center, Asheville
55. 2014: Hodson, Daniel LR, Jon I. Robson, and Rowan T. Sutton. “An anatomy of the cooling of the North Atlantic Ocean in the 1960s and 1970s.” Journal of Climate 27.21 (2014): 8229-8243. In the 1960s and early 1970s, sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic Ocean cooled rapidly. There is still considerable uncertainty about the causes of this event, although various mechanisms have been proposed. In this observational study, it is demonstrated that the cooling proceeded in several distinct stages. Cool anomalies initially appeared in the mid-1960s in the Nordic Seas and Gulf Stream extension, before spreading to cover most of the subpolar gyre. Subsequently, cool anomalies spread into the tropical North Atlantic before retreating, in the late 1970s, back to the subpolar gyre. There is strong evidence that changes in atmospheric circulation, linked to a southward shift of the Atlantic ITCZ, played an important role in the event, particularly in the period 1972–76. Theories for the cooling event must account for its distinctive space–time evolution. The authors’ analysis suggests that the most likely drivers were 1) the “Great Salinity Anomaly” of the late 1960s; 2) an earlier warming of the subpolar North Atlantic, which may have led to a slowdown in the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation; and 3) an increase in anthropogenic sulfur dioxide emissions. Determining the relative importance of these factors is a key area for future work.
56. 1963: Möller, Fritz. “On the influence of changes in the CO2 concentration in air on the radiation balance of the earth’s surface and on the climate.” Journal of Geophysical Research68.13 (1963): 3877-3886. The numerical value of a temperature change under the influence of a CO₂ change as calculated by Plass is valid only for a dry atmosphere. Overlapping of the absorption bands of CO₂ and H₂O in the range around 15 μ essentially diminishes the temperature changes. New calculations give ΔT = + 1.5° when the CO₂ content increases from 300 to 600 ppm. Cloudiness diminishes the radiation effects but not the temperature changes because under cloudy skies larger temperature changes are needed in order to compensate for an equal change in the downward long‐wave radiation. The increase in the water vapor content of the atmosphere with rising temperature causes a self‐amplification effect which results in almost arbitrary temperature changes, e.g. for constant relative humidity ΔT = +10° in the above mentioned case. It is shown, however, that the changed radiation conditions are not necessarily compensated for by a temperature change. The effect of an increase in CO₂ from 300 to 330 ppm can be compensated for completely by a change in the water vapor content of 3 per cent or by a change in the cloudiness of 1 per cent of its value without the occurrence of temperature changes at all. Thus the theory that climatic variations are effected by variations in the CO₂ content becomes very questionable.
57. 1964: Manabe, Syukuro, and Robert F. Strickler. “Thermal equilibrium of the atmosphere with a convective adjustment.” Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 21.4 (1964): 361-385. The states of thermal equilibrium (incorporating an adjustment of super-adiabatic stratification) as well as that of pure radiative equilibrium of the atmosphere are computed as the asymptotic steady state approached in an initial value problem. Recent measurements of absorptivities obtained for a wide range of pressure are used, and the scheme of computation is sufficiently general to include the effect of several layers of clouds. The atmosphere in thermal equilibrium has an isothermal lower stratosphere and an inversion in the upper stratosphere which are features observed in middle latitudes. The role of various gaseous absorbers (i.e., water vapor, carbon dioxide, and ozone), as well as the role of the clouds, is investigated by computing thermal equilibrium with and without one or two of these elements. The existence of ozone has very little effect on the equilibrium temperature of the earth’s surface but a very important effect on the temperature throughout the stratosphere; the absorption of solar radiation by ozone in the upper and middle stratosphere, in addition to maintaining the warm temperature in that region, appears also to be necessary for the maintenance of the isothermal layer or slight inversion just above the tropopause. The thermal equilibrium state in the absence of solar insulation is computed by setting the temperature of the earth’s surface at the observed polar value. In this case, the stratospheric temperature decreases monotonically with increasing altitude, whereas the corresponding state of pure radiative equilibrium has an inversion just above the level of the tropopause. A series of thermal equilibriums is computed for the distributions of absorbers typical of different latitudes. According to these results, the latitudinal variation of the distributions of ozone and water vapor may be partly responsible for the latitudinal variation of the thickness of the isothermal part of the stratosphere. Finally, the state of local radiative equilibrium of the stratosphere overlying a troposphere with the observed distribution of temperature is computed for each season and latitude. In the upper stratosphere of the winter hemisphere, a large latitudinal temperature gradient appears at the latitude of the polar-night jet stream, while in the upper statosphere of the summer hemisphere, the equilibrium temperature varies little with latitude. These features are consistent with the observed atmosphere. However, the computations predict an extremely cold polar night temperature in the upper stratosphere and a latitudinal decrease (toward the cold pole) of equilibrium temperature in the middle or lower stratosphere for winter and fall. This disagrees with observation, and suggests that explicit introduction of the dynamics of large scale motion is necessary.
58. 1967: Manabe, Syukuro, and Richard T. Wetherald. “Thermal equilibrium of the atmosphere with a given distribution of relative humidity.” Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 24.3 (1967): 241-259. [ECS=2]
59. 1969: Budyko, Mikhail I. “The effect of solar radiation variations on the climate of the earth.” tellus 21.5 (1969): 611-619. It follows from the analysis of observation data that the secular variation of the mean temperature of the Earth can be explained by the variation of short-wave radiation, arriving at the surface of the Earth. In connection with this, the influence of long-term changes of radiation, caused by variations of atmospheric transparency on the thermal regime is being studied. Taking into account the influence of changes of planetary albedo of the Earth under the development of glaciations on the thermal regime, it is found that comparatively small variations of atmospheric transparency could be sufficient for the development of quaternary glaciations.
60. 1969: Sellers, William D. “A global climatic model based on the energy balance of the earth-atmosphere system.” Journal of Applied Meteorology 8.3 (1969): 392-400. A relatively simple numerical model of the energy balance of the earth-atmosphere is set up and applied. The dependent variable is the average annual sea level temperature in 10° latitude belts. This is expressed basically as a function of the solar constant, the planetary albedo, the transparency of the atmosphere to infrared radiation, and the turbulent exchange coefficients for the atmosphere and the oceans. The major conclusions of the analysis are that removing the arctic ice cap would increase annual average polar temperatures by no more than 7C, that a decrease of the solar constant by 2–5% might be sufficient to initiate another ice age, and that man’s increasing industrial activities may eventually lead to a global climate much warmer than today.
61. 1971: Rasool, S. Ichtiaque, and Stephen H. Schneider. “Atmospheric carbon dioxide and aerosols: Effects of large increases on global climate.” Science 173.3992 (1971): 138-141. Effects on the global temperature of large increases in carbon dioxide and aerosol densities in the atmosphere of Earth have been computed. It is found that, although the addition of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere does increase the surface temperature, the rate of temperature increase diminishes with increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. For aerosols, however, the net effect of increase in density is to reduce the surface temperature of Earth. Because of the exponential dependence of the backscattering, the rate of temperature decrease is augmented with increasing aerosol content. An increase by only a factor of 4 in global aerosol background concentration may be sufficient to reduce the surface temperature by as much as 3.5 ° K. If sustained over a period of several years, such a temperature decrease over the whole globe is believed to be sufficient to trigger an ice age.
62. 1975: Manabe, Syukuro, and Richard T. Wetherald. “The effects of doubling the CO2 concentration on the climate of a general circulation model.” Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 32.1 (1975): 3-15. An attempt is made to estimate the temperature changes resulting from doubling the present CO2 concentration by the use of a simplified three-dimensional general circulation model. This model contains the following simplifications: a limited computational domain, an idealized topography, no beat transport by ocean currents, and fixed cloudiness. Despite these limitations, the results from this computation yield some indication of how the increase of CO2 concentration may affect the distribution of temperature in the atmosphere. It is shown that the CO2 increase raises the temperature of the model troposphere, whereas it lowers that of the model stratosphere. The tropospheric warming is somewhat larger than that expected from a radiative-convective equilibrium model. In particular, the increase of surface temperature in higher latitudes is magnified due to the recession of the snow boundary and the thermal stability of the lower troposphere which limits convective beating to the lowest layer. It is also shown that the doubling of carbon dioxide significantly increases the intensity of the hydrologic cycle of the model. 
63. 1976: Cess, Robert D. “Climate change: An appraisal of atmospheric feedback mechanisms employing zonal climatology.” Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 33.10 (1976): 1831-1843. The sensitivity of the earth’s surface temperature to factors which can induce long-term climate change, such as a variation in solar constant, is estimated by employing two readily observable climate changes. One is the latitudinal change in annual mean climate, for which an interpretation of climatological data suggests that cloud amount is not a significant climate feedback mechanism, irrespective of how cloud amount might depend upon surface temperature, since there are compensating changes in both the solar and infrared optical properties of the atmosphere. It is further indicated that all other atmospheric feedback mechanisms, resulting, for example, from temperature-induced changes in water vapor amount, cloud altitude and lapse rate, collectively double the sensitivity of global surface temperature to a change in solar constant. The same conclusion is reached by considering a second type of climate change, that associated with seasonal variations for a given latitude zone. The seasonal interpretation further suggests that cloud amount feedback is unimportant zonally as well as globally. Application of the seasonal data required a correction for what appears to be an important seasonal feedback mechanism. This is attributed to a variability in cloud albedo due to seasonal changes in solar zenith angle. No attempt was made to individually interpret the collective feedback mechanisms which contribute to the doubling in surface temperature sensitivity. It is suggested, however, that the conventional assumption of fixed relative humidity for describing feedback due to water vapor amount might not be as applicable as is generally believed. Climate models which additionally include ice-albedo feedback are discussed within the framework of the present results.
64. 1978: Ramanathan, V., and J. A. Coakley. “Climate modeling through radiative‐convective models.” Reviews of geophysics16.4 (1978): 465-489. We present a review of the radiative‐convective models that have been used in studies pertaining to the earth’s climate. After familiarizing the reader with the theoretical background, modeling methodology, and techniques for solving the radiative transfer equation the review focuses on the published model studies concerning global climate and global climate change. Radiative‐convective models compute the globally and seasonally averaged surface and atmospheric temperatures. The computed temperatures are in good agreement with the observed temperatures. The models include the important climatic feedback mechanism between surface temperature and H₂O amount in the atmosphere. The principal weakness of the current models is their inability to simulate the feedback mechanism between surface temperature and cloud cover. It is shown that the value of the critical lapse rate adopted in radiative‐convective models for convective adjustment is significantly larger than the observed globally averaged tropospheric lapse rate. The review also summarizes radiative‐convective model results for the sensitivity of surface temperature to perturbations in (1) the concentrations of the major and minor optically active trace constituents, (2) aerosols, and (3) cloud amount. A simple analytical model is presented to demonstrate how the surface temperature in a radiative‐convective model responds to perturbations.
65. 1985: Wigley, Thomas ML, and Michael E. Schlesinger. “Analytical solution for the effect of increasing CO2 on global mean temperature.” Nature 315.6021 (1985): 649. Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is expected to cause substantial changes in climate. Recent model studies suggest that the equilibrium warming for a CO2 doubling (Δ T2×) is about 3–4°C. Observational data show that the globe has warmed by about 0.5°C over the past 100 years. Are these two results compatible? To answer this question due account must be taken of oceanic thermal inertia effects, which can significantly slow the response of the climate system to external forcing. The main controlling parameters are the effective diffusivity of the ocean below the upper mixed layer (κ) and the climate sensitivity (defined by Δ T2×). Previous analyses of this problem have considered only limited ranges of these parameters. Here we present a more general analysis of two cases, forcing by a step function change in CO2 concentration and by a steady CO2 increase. The former case may be characterized by a response time which we show is strongly dependent on both κ and Δ T2×. In the latter case the damped response means that, at any given time, the climate system may be quite far removed from its equilibrium with the prevailing CO2 level. In earlier work this equilibrium has been expressed as a lag time, but we show this to be misleading because of the sensitivity of the lag to the history of past CO2 variations. Since both the lag and the degree of disequilibrium are strongly dependent on κ and Δ T2×, and because of uncertainties in the pre-industrial CO2 level, the observed global warming over the past 100 years can be shown to be compatible with a wide range of CO2-doubling temperature changes.
66. 1991: Lawlor, D. W., and R. A. C. Mitchell. “The effects of increasing CO2 on crop photosynthesis and productivity: a review of field studies.” Plant, Cell & Environment 14.8 (1991): 807-818. Only a small proportion of elevated CO₂ studies on crops have taken place in the field. They generally confirm results obtained in controlled environments: CO₂increases photosynthesis, dry matter production and yield, substantially in C₃ species, but less in C₄, it decreases stomatal conductance and transpiration in C₃ and C₄ species and greatly improves water‐use efficiency in all plants. The increased productivity of crops with CO₂ enrichment is also related to the greater leaf area produced. Stimulation of yield is due more to an increase in the number of yield‐forming structures than in their size. There is little evidence of a consistent effect of CO₂ on partitioning of dry matter between organs or on their chemical composition, except for tubers. Work has concentrated on a few crops (largely soybean) and more is needed on crops for which there are few data (e.g. rice). Field studies on the effects of elevated CO₂ in combination with temperature, water and nutrition are essential; they should be related to the development and improvement of mechanistic crop models, and designed to test their predictions.
67. 2009: Danabasoglu, Gokhan, and Peter R. Gent. “Equilibrium climate sensitivity: Is it accurate to use a slab ocean model?.” Journal of Climate 22.9 (2009): 2494-2499. The equilibrium climate sensitivity of a climate model is usually defined as the globally averaged equilibrium surface temperature response to a doubling of carbon dioxide. This is virtually always estimated in a version with a slab model for the upper ocean. The question is whether this estimate is accurate for the full climate model version, which includes a full-depth ocean component. This question has been answered for the low-resolution version of the Community Climate System Model, version 3 (CCSM3). The answer is that the equilibrium climate sensitivity using the full-depth ocean model is 0.14°C higher than that using the slab ocean model, which is a small increase. In addition, these sensitivity estimates have a standard deviation of nearly 0.1°C because of interannual variability. These results indicate that the standard practice of using a slab ocean model does give a good estimate of the equilibrium climate sensitivity of the full CCSM3. Another question addressed is whether the effective climate sensitivity is an accurate estimate of the equilibrium climate sensitivity. Again the answer is yes, provided that at least 150 yr of data from the doubled carbon dioxide run are used.
68. 2010: Connell, Sean D., and Bayden D. Russell. “The direct effects of increasing CO2 and temperature on non-calcifying organisms: increasing the potential for phase shifts in kelp forests.” Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences (2010): rspb20092069. Predictions about the ecological consequences of oceanic uptake of CO₂ have been preoccupied with the effects of ocean acidification on calcifying organisms, particularly those critical to the formation of habitats (e.g. coral reefs) or their maintenance (e.g. grazing echinoderms). This focus overlooks the direct effects of CO₂ on non-calcareous taxa, particularly those that play critical roles in ecosystem shifts. We used two experiments to investigate whether increased CO₂ could exacerbate kelp loss by facilitating non-calcareous algae that, we hypothesized, (i) inhibit the recovery of kelp forests on an urbanized coast, and (ii) form more extensive covers and greater biomass under moderate future CO₂ and associated temperature increases. Our experimental removal of turfs from a phase-shifted system (i.e. kelp- to turf-dominated) revealed that the number of kelp recruits increased, thereby indicating that turfs can inhibit kelp recruitment. Future CO₂ and temperature interacted synergistically to have a positive effect on the abundance of algal turfs, whereby they had twice the biomass and occupied over four times more available space than under current conditions. We suggest that the current preoccupation with the negative effects of ocean acidification on marine calcifiers overlooks potentially profound effects of increasing CO₂and temperature on non-calcifying organisms.
69. 2011: Schmittner, Andreas, et al. “Climate sensitivity estimated from temperature reconstructions of the Last Glacial Maximum.” Science 334.6061 (2011): 1385-1388. Assessing the impact of future anthropogenic carbon emissions is currently impeded by uncertainties in our knowledge of equilibrium climate sensitivity to atmospheric carbon dioxide doubling. Previous studies suggest 3 kelvin (K) as the best estimate, 2 to 4.5 K as the 66% probability range, and nonzero probabilities for much higher values, the latter implying a small chance of high-impact climate changes that would be difficult to avoid. Here, combining extensive sea and land surface temperature reconstructions from the Last Glacial Maximum with climate model simulations, we estimate a lower median (2.3 K) and reduced uncertainty (1.7 to 2.6 K as the 66% probability range, which can be widened using alternate assumptions or data subsets). Assuming that paleoclimatic constraints apply to the future, as predicted by our model, these results imply a lower probability of imminent extreme climatic change than previously thought.
70. 2012: Fasullo, John T., and Kevin E. Trenberth. “A less cloudy future: The role of subtropical subsidence in climate sensitivity.” science 338.6108 (2012): 792-794. An observable constraint on climate sensitivity, based on variations in mid-tropospheric relative humidity (RH) and their impact on clouds, is proposed. We show that the tropics and subtropics are linked by teleconnections that induce seasonal RH variations that relate strongly to albedo (via clouds), and that this covariability is mimicked in a warming climate. A present-day analog for future trends is thus identified whereby the intensity of subtropical dry zones in models associated with the boreal monsoon is strongly linked to projected cloud trends, reflected solar radiation, and model sensitivity. Many models, particularly those with low climate sensitivity, fail to adequately resolve these teleconnections and hence are identifiably biased. Improving model fidelity in matching observed variations provides a viable path forward for better predicting future climate.
71. 2012: Andrews, Timothy, et al. “Forcing, feedbacks and climate sensitivity in CMIP5 coupled atmosphere‐ocean climate models.” Geophysical Research Letters 39.9 (2012). We quantify forcing and feedbacks across available CMIP5 coupled atmosphere‐ocean general circulation models (AOGCMs) by analysing simulations forced by an abrupt quadrupling of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration. This is the first application of the linear forcing‐feedback regression analysis of Gregory et al. (2004) to an ensemble of AOGCMs. The range of equilibrium climate sensitivity is 2.1–4.7 K. Differences in cloud feedbacks continue to be important contributors to this range. Some models show small deviations from a linear dependence of top‐of‐atmosphere radiative fluxes on global surface temperature change. We show that this phenomenon largely arises from shortwave cloud radiative effects over the ocean and is consistent with independent estimates of forcing using fixed sea‐surface temperature methods. We suggest that future research should focus more on understanding transient climate change, including any time‐scale dependence of the forcing and/or feedback, rather than on the equilibrium response to large instantaneous forcing.
72. 2012: Bitz, Cecilia M., et al. “Climate sensitivity of the community climate system model, version 4.” Journal of Climate 25.9 (2012): 3053-3070.Equilibrium climate sensitivity of the Community Climate System Model, version 4 (CCSM4) is 3.20°C for 1° horizontal resolution in each component. This is about a half degree Celsius higher than in the previous version (CCSM3). The transient climate sensitivity of CCSM4 at 1° resolution is 1.72°C, which is about 0.2°C higher than in CCSM3. These higher climate sensitivities in CCSM4 cannot be explained by the change to a preindustrial baseline climate. This study uses the radiative kernel technique to show that, from CCSM3 to CCSM4, the global mean lapse-rate feedback declines in magnitude and the shortwave cloud feedback increases. These two warming effects are partially canceled by cooling because of slight decreases in the global mean water vapor feedback and longwave cloud feedback from CCSM3 to CCSM4. A new formulation of the mixed layer, slab-ocean model in CCSM4 attempts to reproduce the SST and sea ice climatology from an integration with a full-depth ocean, and it is integrated with a dynamic sea ice model. These new features allow an isolation of the influence of ocean dynamical changes on the climate response when comparing integrations with the slab ocean and full-depth ocean. The transient climate response of the full-depth ocean version is 0.54 of the equilibrium climate sensitivity when estimated with the new slab-ocean model version for both CCSM3 and CCSM4. The authors argue the ratio is the same in both versions because they have about the same zonal mean pattern of change in ocean surface heat flux, which broadly resembles the zonal mean pattern of net feedback strength.
73. 2012: Rogelj, Joeri, Malte Meinshausen, and Reto Knutti. “Global warming under old and new scenarios using IPCC climate sensitivity range estimates.” Nature climate change 2.4 (2012): 248. Climate projections for the fourth assessment report¹ (AR4) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) were based on scenarios from the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios² (SRES) and simulations of the third phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project³ (CMIP3). Since then, a new set of four scenarios (the representative concentration pathways or RCPs) was designed⁴. Climate projections in the IPCC fifth assessment report (AR5) will be based on the fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project⁵ (CMIP5), which incorporates the latest versions of climate models and focuses on RCPs. This implies that by AR5 both models and scenarios will have changed, making a comparison with earlier literature challenging. To facilitate this comparison, we provide probabilistic climate projections of both SRES scenarios and RCPs in a single consistent framework. These estimates are based on a model set-up that probabilistically takes into account the overall consensus understanding of climate sensitivity uncertainty, synthesizes the understanding of climate system and carbon-cycle behaviour, and is at the same time constrained by the observed historical warming.
74. 2014: Sherwood, Steven C., Sandrine Bony, and Jean-Louis Dufresne. “Spread in model climate sensitivity traced to atmospheric convective mixing.” Nature 505.7481 (2014): 37. Equilibrium climate sensitivity refers to the ultimate change in global mean temperature in response to a change in external forcing. Despite decades of research attempting to narrow uncertainties, equilibrium climate sensitivity estimates from climate models still span roughly 1.5 to 5 degrees Celsius for a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, precluding accurate projections of future climate. The spread arises largely from differences in the feedback from low clouds, for reasons not yet understood. Here we show that differences in the simulated strength of convective mixing between the lower and middle tropical troposphere explain about half of the variance in climate sensitivity estimated by 43 climate models. The apparent mechanism is that such mixing dehydrates the low-cloud layer at a rate that increases as the climate warms, and this rate of increase depends on the initial mixing strength, linking the mixing to cloud feedback. The mixing inferred from observations appears to be sufficiently strong to imply a climate sensitivity of more than 3 degrees for a doubling of carbon dioxide. This is significantly higher than the currently accepted lower bound of 1.5 degrees, thereby constraining model projections towards relatively severe future warming.
75. 2015: Mauritsen, Thorsten, and Bjorn Stevens. “Missing iris effect as a possible cause of muted hydrological change and high climate sensitivity in models.” Nature Geoscience 8.5 (2015): 346. Equilibrium climate sensitivity to a doubling of CO₂ falls between 2.0 and 4.6 K in current climate models, and they suggest a weak increase in global mean precipitation. Inferences from the observational record, however, place climate sensitivity near the lower end of this range and indicate that models underestimate some of the changes in the hydrological cycle. These discrepancies raise the possibility that important feedbacks are missing from the models. A controversial hypothesis suggests that the dry and clear regions of the tropical atmosphere expand in a warming climate and thereby allow more infrared radiation to escape to space. This so-called iris effect could constitute a negative feedback that is not included in climate models. We find that inclusion of such an effect in a climate model moves the simulated responses of both temperature and the hydrological cycle to rising atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations closer to observations. Alternative suggestions for shortcomings of models — such as aerosol cooling, volcanic eruptions or insufficient ocean heat uptake — may explain a slow observed transient warming relative to models, but not the observed enhancement of the hydrological cycle. We propose that, if precipitating convective clouds are more likely to cluster into larger clouds as temperatures rise, this process could constitute a plausible physical mechanism for an iris effect.
76. 2015: Schimel, David, Britton B. Stephens, and Joshua B. Fisher. “Effect of increasing CO2 on the terrestrial carbon cycle.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112.2 (2015): 436-441. Feedbacks from terrestrial ecosystems to atmospheric CO₂ concentrations contribute the second-largest uncertainty to projections of future climate. These feedbacks, acting over huge regions and long periods of time, are extraordinarily difficult to observe and quantify directly. We evaluated in situ, atmospheric, and simulation estimates of the effect of CO₂ on carbon storage, subject to mass balance constraints. Multiple lines of evidence suggest significant tropical uptake for CO₂, approximately balancing net deforestation and confirming a substantial negative global feedback to atmospheric CO₂ and climate. This reconciles two approaches that have previously produced contradictory results. We provide a consistent explanation of the impacts of CO₂ on terrestrial carbon across the 12 orders of magnitude between plant stomata and the global carbon cycle.
77. 2016: Tan, Ivy, Trude Storelvmo, and Mark D. Zelinka. “Observational constraints on mixed-phase clouds imply higher climate sensitivity.” Science 352.6282 (2016): 224-227. How much global average temperature eventually will rise depends on the Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity (ECS), which relates atmospheric CO₂ concentration to atmospheric temperature. For decades, ECS has been estimated to be between 2.0° and 4.6°C, with much of that uncertainty owing to the difficulty of establishing the effects of clouds on Earth’s energy budget. Tan et al. used satellite observations to constrain the radiative impact of mixed phase clouds. They conclude that ECS could be between 5.0° and 5.3°C—higher than suggested by most global climate models.
78. 2018: Watanabe, Masahiro, et al. “Low clouds link equilibrium climate sensitivity to hydrological sensitivity.” Nature Climate Change (2018): 1. Equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS) and hydrological sensitivity describe the global mean surface temperature and precipitation responses to a doubling of atmospheric CO₂. Despite their connection via the Earth’s energy budget, the physical linkage between these two metrics remains controversial. Here, using a global climate model with a perturbed mean hydrological cycle, we show that ECS and hydrological sensitivity per unit warming are anti-correlated owing to the low-cloud response to surface warming. When the amount of low clouds decreases, ECS is enhanced through reductions in the reflection of shortwave radiation. In contrast, hydrological sensitivity is suppressed through weakening of atmospheric longwave cooling, necessitating weakened condensational heating by precipitation. These compensating cloud effects are also robustly found in a multi-model ensemble, and further constrained using satellite observations. Our estimates, combined with an existing constraint to clear-sky shortwave absorption, suggest that hydrological sensitivity could be lower by 30% than raw estimates from global climate models.
79. 2010: Moss, Richard H., et al. “The next generation of scenarios for climate change research and assessment.” Nature 463.7282 (2010): 747. Advances in the science and observation of climate change are providing a clearer understanding of the inherent variability of Earth’s climate system and its likely response to human and natural influences. The implications of climate change for the environment and society will depend not only on the response of the Earth system to changes in radiative forcings, but also on how humankind responds through changes in technology, economies, lifestyle and policy. Extensive uncertainties exist in future forcings of and responses to climate change, necessitating the use of scenarios of the future to explore the potential consequences of different response options. To date, such scenarios have not adequately examined crucial possibilities, such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, and have relied on research processes that slowed the exchange of information among physical, biological and social scientists. Here we describe a new process for creating plausible scenarios to investigate some of the most challenging and important questions about climate change confronting the global community.
80. 2011: Meinshausen, Malte, et al. “The RCP greenhouse gas concentrations and their extensions from 1765 to 2300.” Climatic change 109.1-2 (2011): 213. We present the greenhouse gas concentrations for the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) and their extensions beyond 2100, the Extended Concentration Pathways (ECPs). These projections include all major anthropogenic greenhouse gases and are a result of a multi-year effort to produce new scenarios for climate change research. We combine a suite of atmospheric concentration observations and emissions estimates for greenhouse gases (GHGs) through the historical period (1750–2005) with harmonized emissions projected by four different Integrated Assessment Models for 2005–2100. As concentrations are somewhat dependent on the future climate itself (due to climate feedbacks in the carbon and other gas cycles), we emulate median response characteristics of models assessed in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report using the reduced-complexity carbon cycle climate model MAGICC6. Projected ‘best-estimate’ global-mean surface temperature increases (using inter alia a climate sensitivity of 3°C) range from 1.5°C by 2100 for the lowest of the four RCPs, called both RCP3-PD and RCP2.6, to 4.5°C for the highest one, RCP8.5, relative to pre-industrial levels. Beyond 2100, we present the ECPs that are simple extensions of the RCPs, based on the assumption of either smoothly stabilizing concentrations or constant emissions: For example, the lower RCP2.6 pathway represents a strong mitigation scenario and is extended by assuming constant emissions after 2100 (including net negative CO₂ emissions), leading to CO₂ concentrations returning to 360 ppm by 2300. We also present the GHG concentrations for one supplementary extension, which illustrates the stringent emissions implications of attempting to go back to ECP4.5 concentration levels by 2250 after emissions during the 21^st century followed the higher RCP6 scenario. Corresponding radiative forcing values are presented for the RCP and ECPs
81. 2012: Taylor, Karl E., Ronald J. Stouffer, and Gerald A. Meehl. “An overview of CMIP5 and the experiment design.” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 93.4 (2012): 485-498. The fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) will produce a state-of-the- art multimodel dataset designed to advance our knowledge of climate variability and climate change. Researchers worldwide are analyzing the model output and will produce results likely to underlie the forthcoming Fifth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Unprecedented in scale and attracting interest from all major climate modeling groups, CMIP5 includes “long term” simulations of twentieth-century climate and projections for the twenty-first century and beyond. Conventional atmosphere–ocean global climate models and Earth system models of intermediate complexity are for the first time being joined by more recently developed Earth system models under an experiment design that allows both types of models to be compared to observations on an equal footing. Besides the longterm experiments, CMIP5 calls for an entirely new suite of “near term” simulations focusing on recent decades and the future to year 2035. These “decadal predictions” are initialized based on observations and will be used to explore the predictability of climate and to assess the forecast system’s predictive skill. The CMIP5 experiment design also allows for participation of stand-alone atmospheric models and includes a variety of idealized experiments that will improve understanding of the range of model responses found in the more complex and realistic simulations. An exceptionally comprehensive set of model output is being collected and made freely available to researchers through an integrated but distributed data archive. For researchers unfamiliar with climate models, the limitations of the models and experiment design are described.
82. 2012: Meehl, Gerald A., et al. “Climate system response to external forcings and climate change projections in CCSM4.” Journal of Climate 25.11 (2012): 3661-3683. Results are presented from experiments performed with the Community Climate System Model, version 4 (CCSM4) for the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5). These include multiple ensemble members of twentieth-century climate with anthropogenic and natural forcings as well as single-forcing runs, sensitivity experiments with sulfate aerosol forcing, twenty-first-century representative concentration pathway (RCP) mitigation scenarios, and extensions for those scenarios beyond 2100–2300. Equilibrium climate sensitivity of CCSM4 is 3.20°C, and the transient climate response is 1.73°C. Global surface temperatures averaged for the last 20 years of the twenty-first century compared to the 1986–2005 reference period for six-member ensembles from CCSM4 are +0.85°, +1.64°, +2.09°, and +3.53°C for RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6.0, and RCP8.5, respectively. The ocean meridional overturning circulation (MOC) in the Atlantic, which weakens during the twentieth century in the model, nearly recovers to early twentieth-century values in RCP2.6, partially recovers in RCP4.5 and RCP6, and does not recover by 2100 in RCP8.5. Heat wave intensity is projected to increase almost everywhere in CCSM4 in a future warmer climate, with the magnitude of the increase proportional to the forcing. Precipitation intensity is also projected to increase, with dry days increasing in most subtropical areas. For future climate, there is almost no summer sea ice left in the Arctic in the high RCP8.5 scenario by 2100, but in the low RCP2.6 scenario there is substantial sea ice remaining in summer at the end of the century.
83. 2012: Taylor, Karl E., Ronald J. Stouffer, and Gerald A. Meehl. “An overview of CMIP5 and the experiment design.” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 93.4 (2012): 485-498. The fifth phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5) will produce a state-of-the- art multimodel dataset designed to advance our knowledge of climate variability and climate change. Researchers worldwide are analyzing the model output and will produce results likely to underlie the forthcoming Fifth Assessment Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Unprecedented in scale and attracting interest from all major climate modeling groups, CMIP5 includes “long term” simulations of twentieth-century climate and projections for the twenty-first century and beyond. Conventional atmosphere–ocean global climate models and Earth system models of intermediate complexity are for the first time being joined by more recently developed Earth system models under an experiment design that allows both types of models to be compared to observations on an equal footing. Besides the longterm experiments, CMIP5 calls for an entirely new suite of “near term” simulations focusing on recent decades and the future to year 2035. These “decadal predictions” are initialized based on observations and will be used to explore the predictability of climate and to assess the forecast system’s predictive skill. The CMIP5 experiment design also allows for participation of stand-alone atmospheric models and includes a variety of idealized experiments that will improve understanding of the range of model responses found in the more complex and realistic simulations. An exceptionally comprehensive set of model output is being collected and made freely available to researchers through an integrated but distributed data archive. For researchers unfamiliar with climate models, the limitations of the models and experiment design are described.
84. 2013: Zou, Liwei, and Tianjun Zhou. “Near future (2016-40) summer precipitation changes over China as projected by a regional climate model (RCM) under the RCP8. 5 emissions scenario: Comparison between RCM downscaling and the driving GCM.” Advances in Atmospheric Sciences 30.3 (2013): 806-818. Multi-decadal high resolution simulations over the CORDEX East Asia domain were performed with the regional climate model RegCM3 nested within the Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System model, Grid-point Version 2 (FGOALS-g2). Two sets of simulations were conducted at the resolution of 50 km, one for present day (1980–2005) and another for near-future climate (2015–40) under the Representative Concentration Pathways 8.5 (RCP8.5) scenario. Results show that RegCM3 adds value with respect to FGOALS-g2 in simulating the spatial patterns of summer total and extreme precipitation over China for present day climate. The major deficiency is that RegCM3 underestimates both total and extreme precipitation over the Yangtze River valley. The potential changes in total and extreme precipitation over China in summer under the RCP8.5 scenario were analyzed. Both RegCM3 and FGOALS-g2 results show that total and extreme precipitation tend to increase over northeastern China and the Tibetan Plateau, but tend to decrease over southeastern China. In both RegCM3 and FGOALS-g2, the change in extreme precipitation is weaker than that for total precipitation.RegCM3 projects much stronger amplitude of total and extreme precipitation changes and provides more regional-scale features than FGOALS-g2. A large uncertainty is found over the Yangtze River valley, where RegCM3 and FGOALS-g2 project opposite signs in terms of precipitation changes. The projected change of vertically integrated water vapor flux convergence generally follows the changes in total and extreme precipitation in both RegCM3 and FGOALS-g2, while the amplitude of change is stronger in RegCM3. Results suggest that the spatial pattern of projected precipitation changes may be more affected by the changes in water vapor flux convergence, rather than moisture content itself.
85. 2013: Forster, Piers M., et al. “Evaluating adjusted forcing and model spread for historical and future scenarios in the CMIP5 generation of climate models.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 118.3 (2013): 1139-1150. We utilize energy budget diagnostics from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) to evaluate the models’ climate forcing since preindustrial times employing an established regression technique. The climate forcing evaluated this way, termed the adjusted forcing (AF), includes a rapid adjustment term associated with cloud changes and other tropospheric and land‐surface changes. We estimate a 2010 total anthropogenic and natural AF from CMIP5 models of 1.9 ± 0.9 W m⁻² (5–95% range). The projected AF of the Representative Concentration Pathway simulations are lower than their expected radiative forcing (RF) in 2095 but agree well with efficacy weighted forcings from integrated assessment models. The smaller AF, compared to RF, is likely due to cloud adjustment. Multimodel time series of temperature change and AF from 1850 to 2100 have large intermodel spreads throughout the period. The intermodel spread of temperature change is principally driven by forcing differences in the present day and climate feedback differences in 2095, although forcing differences are still important for model spread at 2095. We find no significant relationship between the equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS) of a model and its 2003 AF, in contrast to that found in older models where higher ECS models generally had less forcing. Given the large present‐day model spread, there is no indication of any tendency by modelling groups to adjust their aerosol forcing in order to produce observed trends. Instead, some CMIP5 models have a relatively large positive forcing and overestimate the observed temperature change.
86. 2014: Friedlingstein, Pierre, et al. “Uncertainties in CMIP5 climate projections due to carbon cycle feedbacks.” Journal of Climate27.2 (2014): 511-526. In the context of phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project, most climate simulations use prescribed atmospheric CO₂ concentration and therefore do not interactively include the effect of carbon cycle feedbacks. However, the representative concentration pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5) scenario has additionally been run by earth system models with prescribed CO₂ emissions. This paper analyzes the climate projections of 11 earth system models (ESMs) that performed both emission-driven and concentration-driven RCP8.5 simulations. When forced by RCP8.5 CO₂ emissions, models simulate a large spread in atmospheric CO₂; the simulated 2100 concentrations range between 795 and 1145 ppm. Seven out of the 11 ESMs simulate a larger CO₂ (on average by 44 ppm, 985 ± 97 ppm by 2100) and hence higher radiative forcing (by 0.25 W m⁻²) when driven by CO₂ emissions than for the concentration-driven scenarios (941 ppm). However, most of these models already overestimate the present-day CO₂, with the present-day biases reasonably well correlated with future atmospheric concentrations’ departure from the prescribed concentration. The uncertainty in CO₂ projections is mainly attributable to uncertainties in the response of the land carbon cycle. As a result of simulated higher CO₂ concentrations than in the concentration-driven simulations, temperature projections are generally higher when ESMs are driven with CO₂ emissions. Global surface temperature change by 2100 (relative to present day) increased by 3.9° ± 0.9°C for the emission-driven simulations compared to 3.7° ± 0.7°C in the concentration-driven simulations. Although the lower ends are comparable in both sets of simulations, the highest climate projections are significantly warmer in the emission-driven simulations because of stronger carbon cycle feedbacks.
87. 2015: Kay, J. E., et al. “The Community Earth System Model (CESM) large ensemble project: A community resource for studying climate change in the presence of internal climate variability.” Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 96.8 (2015): 1333-1349. While internal climate variability is known to affect climate projections, its influence is often underappreciated and confused with model error. Why? In general, modeling centers contribute a small number of realizations to international climate model assessments [e.g., phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5)]. As a result, model error and internal climate variability are difficult, and at times impossible, to disentangle. In response, the Community Earth System Model (CESM) community designed the CESM Large Ensemble (CESM-LE) with the explicit goal of enabling assessment of climate change in the presence of internal climate variability. All CESM-LE simulations use a single CMIP5 model (CESM with the Community Atmosphere Model, version 5). The core simulations replay the twenty to twenty-first century (1920–2100) 30 times under historical and representative concentration pathway 8.5 external forcing with small initial condition differences. Two companion 1000+-yr-long preindustrial control simulations (fully coupled, prognostic atmosphere and land only) allow assessment of internal climate variability in the absence of climate change. Comprehensive outputs, including many daily fields, are available as single-variable time series on the Earth System Grid for anyone to use. Early results demonstrate the substantial influence of internal climate variability on twentieth- to twenty-first-century climate trajectories. Global warming hiatus decades occur, similar to those recently observed. Internal climate variability alone can produce projection spread comparable to that in CMIP5. Scientists and stakeholders can use CESM-LE outputs to help interpret the observational record, to understand projection spread and to plan for a range of possible futures influenced by both internal climate variability and forced climate change.
88. 2015: Feldman, Daniel R., et al. “Observational determination of surface radiative forcing by CO 2 from 2000 to 2010.” Nature519.7543 (2015): 339. The climatic impact of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases is usually quantified in terms of radiative forcing¹, calculated as the difference between estimates of the Earth’s radiation field from pre-industrial and present-day concentrations of these gases. Radiative transfer models calculate that the increase in CO₂ since 1750 corresponds to a global annual-mean radiative forcing at the tropopause of 1.82 ± 0.19 W m⁻²(ref. 2). However, despite widespread scientific discussion and modelling of the climate impacts of well-mixed greenhouse gases, there is little direct observational evidence of the radiative impact of increasing atmospheric CO₂. Here we present observationally based evidence of clear-sky CO₂ surface radiative forcing that is directly attributable to the increase, between 2000 and 2010, of 22 parts per million atmospheric CO₂. The time series of this forcing at the two locations—the Southern Great Plains and the North Slope of Alaska—are derived from Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer spectra³together with ancillary measurements and thoroughly corroborated radiative transfer calculations⁴. The time series both show statistically significant trends of 0.2 W m⁻² per decade (with respective uncertainties of ±0.06 W m⁻² per decade and ±0.07 W m⁻² per decade) and have seasonal ranges of 0.1–0.2 W m⁻². This is approximately ten per cent of the trend in downwelling longwave radiation^5,6,7. These results confirm theoretical predictions of the atmospheric greenhouse effect due to anthropogenic emissions, and provide empirical evidence of how rising CO₂ levels, mediated by temporal variations due to photosynthesis and respiration, are affecting the surface energy balance.
89. 1959: Rossby, C. G. “The atmosphere and the sea in motion.” Current problems in meteorology (1959): 9-50.  n  [THE WORKS OF CARL GUSTAV ROSSBY]
90. 1980: White, Warren, et al. “The thermocline response to transient atmospheric forcing in the interior midlatitude North PAcific 1976–1978.” Journal of Physical Oceanography 10.3 (1980): 372-384. The Ekman pumping mechanism for altering the depth of the main thermocline in response to wind stress curl is tested in the central midlatitude North Pacific. According to this mechanism, the depth of the main thermocline should decrease under cyclonic wind stress curl and increase under anticyclonic wind stress curl. For the two years 1976–78, temperature measurements from an XBT measurement program between North America and Japan have allowed the monthly thermal structure to be measured over an area 30–50°N, 130–170°W, accompanied with synoptic estimates of wind stress curl. Working with anomalous estimates that deviate from the normal seasonal cycle, the month-to-month secular change in the depth of the main thermocline during the nine months of each year from February to October is found to have responded to the anomalous wind stress curl according to what was expected from the Ekman pumping mechanism. The expected and observed secular changes in the thermocline depth for these times of the year were correlated with each other at the 1% significance level in the latitudinal band from 35–45°N (except in the near field of the Subarctic Front) along 160°W. However, during the other part of each year (November, December and January), when synoptic storm forcing was at its peak, the depth of the main thermocline did not respond to the wind stress curl in the manner expected. Rather, the depth of the main thermocline tended to respond in the opposite fashion. This suggests that other mechanisms associated with autumn/winter forcing may have been important.
91. 1994: Trenberth, Kevin E., and James W. Hurrell. “Decadal atmosphere-ocean variations in the Pacific.” Climate Dynamics 9.6 (1994): 303-319. Considerable evidence has emerged of a substantial decade-long change in the north Pacific atmosphere and ocean lasting from about 1976 to 1988. Observed significant changes in the atmospheric circulation throughout the troposphere revealed a deeper and eastward shifted Aleutian low pressure system in the winter half year which advected warmer and moister air along the west coast of North America and into Alaska and colder air over the north Pacific. Consequently, there were increases in temperatures and sea surface temperatures (SSTs) along the west coast of North America and Alaska but decreases in SSTs over the central north Pacific, as well as changes in coastal rainfall and streamflow, and decreases in sea ice in the Bering Sea. Associated changes occurred in the surface wind stress, and, by inference, in the Sverdrup transport in the north Pacific Ocean. Changes in the monthly mean flow were accompanied by a southward shift in the storm tracks and associated synoptic eddy activity and in the surface ocean sensible and latent heat fluxes. In addition to the changes in the physical environment, the deeper Aleutian low increased the nutrient supply as seen through increases in total chlorophyll in the water column, phytoplankton and zooplankton. These changes, along with the altered ocean currents and temperatures, changed the migration patterns and increased the stock of many fish species. A north Pacific (NP) index is defined to measure the decadal variations, and the temporal variability of the index is explored on daily, annual, interannual and decadal time scales. The dominant atmosphere-ocean relation in the north Pacific is one where atmospheric changes lead SSTs by one to two months. However, strong ties are revealed with events in the tropical Pacific, with changes in tropical Pacific SSTs leading SSTs in the north Pacific by three months. Changes in the storm tracks in the north Pacific help to reinforce and maintain the anomalous circulation in the upper troposphere. A hypothesis is put forward outlining the tropical and extratropical realtionships which stresses the role of tropical forcing but with important feed-backs in the extratropics that serve to emphasize the decadal relative to interannual time scales. The Pacific decadal timescale variations are linked to recent changes in the frequency and intensity of El Niño versus La Nina events but whether climate change associated with “global warming” is a factor is an open question.
92. 1996: Deser, Clara, Michael A. Alexander, and Michael S. Timlin. “Upper-ocean thermal variations in the North Pacific during 1970–1991.” Journal of Climate 9.8 (1996): 1840-1855. A newly available, extensive compilation of upper-ocean temperature profiles was used to study the vertical structure of thermal anomalies between the surface and 400-m depth in the North Pacific during 1970–1991. A prominent decade-long perturbation in climate occurred during this time period: surface waters cooled by ∼1°C in the central and western North Pacific and warmed by about the same amount along the west coast of North America from late 1976 to 1988. Comparison with data from COADS suggests that the relatively sparse sampling of the subsurface data is adequate for describing the climate anomaly.The vertical structure of seasonal thermal anomalies in the central North Pacific shows a series of cold pulses beginning in the fall of 1976 and continuing until late 1988 that appear to originate at the surface and descend with time into the main thermocline to at least 400-m depth. Individual cold events descend rapidly (∼100 m yr−1), superimposed upon a slower cooling (∼15 m yr−1). The interdecadal climate change, while evident at the surface, is most prominent below ∼150 m where interannual variations are small. Unlike the central North Pacific, the temperature changes along the west coast of North America appear to be confined to approximately the upper 200–250 m. The structure of the interdecadal thermal variations in the eastern and central North Pacific appears to be consistent with the dynamics of the ventilated thermocline. In the western North Pacific, strong cooling is observed along the axis of the Kuroshio Current Extension below ∼200 m depth during the 1980s. Changes in mixed layer depth accompany the SST variations, but their spatial distribution is not identical to the pattern of SST change. In particular, the decade-long cool period in the central North Pacific was accompanied by a ∼20 m deepening of the mixed layer in winter, but no significant changes in mixed layer depth were found along the west coast of North America. It is suggested that other factors such as stratification beneath the mixed layer and synoptic wind forcing may play a role in determining the distribution of mixed layer depth anomalies.
93. 1997: Deser, C., M. A. Alexander, and M. S. Timlin. “Upper-Ocean thermal variations in the North Pacific during 1970-1991.” Oceanographic Literature Review 4.44 (1997): 308-309. The vertical structure of seasonal thermal anomalies in the central North Pacific shows a series of cold pulses beginning in the fall of 1976 and continuing until late 1988 that appear to originate at the surface and descend with time into the main thermocline to at least 400-m depth. Individual cold events descend rapidly, superimposed upon a slower cooling. The interdecadal climate change, while evident at the surface, is most prominent below ≃ 150 m. The temperature changes along the west coast of North America appear to be confined to approximately the upper 200-250 m. In the western North Pacific, strong cooling is observed along the axis of the Kuroshio Current Extension below ∼ 200 m depth during the 1980s. Changes in mixed layer depth accompany the SST variations.
94. 1997: White, Warren B., et al. “Response of global upper ocean temperature to changing solar irradiance.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 102.C2 (1997): 3255-3266.  By focusing on time sequences of basin‐average and global‐average upper ocean temperature (i.e., from 40°S to 60°N) we find temperatures responding to changing solar irradiance in three separate frequency bands with periods of >100 years, 18–25 years, and 9–13 years. Moreover, we find them in two different data sets, that is, surface marine weather observations from 1990 to 1991 and bathythermograph (BT) upper ocean temperature profiles from 1955 to 1994. Band‐passing basin‐average temperature records find each frequency component in phase across the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans, yielding global‐average records with maximum amplitudes of 0.04°±0.01°K and 0.07°±0.01°K on decadal and interdecadal scales, respectively. These achieve maximum correlation with solar irradiance records (i.e., with maximum amplitude 0.5 W m⁻² at the top of the atmosphere) at phase lags ranging from 30° to 50°. From the BT data set, solar signals in global‐average temperature penetrate to 80–160 m, confined to the upper layer above the main pycnocline. Operating a global‐average heat budget for the upper ocean yields sea surface temperature responses of 0.01°–0.03°K and 0.02°–0.05°K on decadal and interdecadal scales, respectively, from the 0.1 W m⁻² penetration of solar irradiance to the sea surface. Since this is of the same order as that observed (i.e., 0.04°–0.07°K), we can infer that anomalous heat from changing solar irradiance is stored in the upper layer of the ocean.
95. 1998: White, Warren B., and Daniel R. Cayan. “Quasi‐periodicity and global symmetries in interdecadal upper ocean temperature variability.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans103.C10 (1998): 21335-21354. Recent studies find interannual (i.e., 3 to 7 year), decadal (i.e., 9 to 13 year), and interdecadal (i.e., 18 to 23 year) periodicities, and a trend dominating global sea surface temperature (SST) and sea level pressure (SLP) variability over the past hundred years, with the interdecadal signal dominating sub‐El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) frequencies. We isolate interdecadal frequencies in SST and SLP records by band passing with a window admitting 15 to 30 year periods. From 1900 to 1989, the rms of interdecadal‐filtered SST and SLP anomalies is largest in the extratropics and eastern boundaries. First‐mode empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) explain about half the interdecadal variance in both variables, with the tropical warm phase peaking near 1900, 1920, 1940, 1960, and 1980. From 1955 to 1994, EOF spatial patterns of interdecadal SST, SLP, and 400m temperature (T400) anomalies reveals global reflection symmetries about the equator and global translation symmetries between ocean basins, with tropical and eastern ocean SSTs warmer (cooler) than normal, covarying with stronger (weaker) extratropical westerly winds, cooler (warmer) SSTs in western‐central subarctic and subantarctic frontal zones (SAFZs), stronger (weaker) subtropic and subarctic gyre circulations in North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, and warmer (cooler) basin and global average SSTs of 0.1°C or so. Evolution of interdecadal variability from the tropical warm phase to the tropical cool phase is propagative, also characterized by reflection and translation symmetries. During the tropical warm phase, cool SST anomalies along western‐central SAFZs are advected slowly eastward to the eastern boundaries and subsequently advected poleward and equatorward by the mean gyre circulation, the latter conducting extratropical SST anomalies into the tropics. A delayed action oscillation model is constructed that yields the quasiperiodicity of interdecadal variability in a manner consistent with these global symmetries in both pattern and evolution.
96. 2000: Stevenson, Robert E. “Yes, the ocean has warmed; no, it’s not global warming’.” 21ST CENTURY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 13.2 (2000): 60-65. Contrary to recent press reports that the oceans hold the still-undetected global atmospheric warming predicted by climate models, ocean warming occurs in 100-year cycles, independent of both radiative and human influences. [FULL TEXT] 
97. 2000: Levitus, Sydney, et al. “Warming of the world ocean.” Science287.5461 (2000): 2225-2229. We quantify the interannual-to-decadal variability of the heat content (mean temperature) of the world ocean from the surface through 3000-meter depth for the period 1948 to 1998. The heat content of the world ocean increased by ∼2 × 10²³ joules between the mid-1950s and mid-1990s, representing a volume mean warming of 0.06°C. This corresponds to a warming rate of 0.3 watt per meter squared (per unit area of Earth’s surface). Substantial changes in heat content occurred in the 300- to 1000-meter layers of each ocean and in depths greater than 1000 meters of the North Atlantic. The global volume mean temperature increase for the 0- to 300-meter layer was 0.31°C, corresponding to an increase in heat content for this layer of ∼10²³ joules between the mid-1950s and mid-1990s. The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans have undergone a net warming since the 1950s and the Indian Ocean has warmed since the mid-1960s, although the warming is not monotonic.
98. 2001: Levitus, Sydney, et al. “Anthropogenic warming of Earth’s climate system.” Science 292.5515 (2001): 267-270. We compared the temporal variability of the heat content of the world ocean, of the global atmosphere, and of components of Earth’s cryosphere during the latter half of the 20th century. Each component has increased its heat content (the atmosphere and the ocean) or exhibited melting (the cryosphere). The estimated increase of observed global ocean heat content (over the depth range from 0 to 3000 meters) between the 1950s and 1990s is at least one order of magnitude larger than the increase in heat content of any other component. Simulation results using an atmosphere-ocean general circulation model that includes estimates of the radiative effects of observed temporal variations in greenhouse gases, sulfate aerosols, solar irradiance, and volcanic aerosols over the past century agree with our observation-based estimate of the increase in ocean heat content. The results we present suggest that the observed increase in ocean heat content may largely be due to the increase of anthropogenic gases in Earth’s atmosphere.
99. 2003: McPhaden, Michael J. “Tropical Pacific Ocean heat content variations and ENSO persistence barriers.” Geophysical research letters9 (2003).Data from the tropical Pacific Ocean for the period 1980–2002 are used to examine the persistence of sea surface temperature (SST) and upper ocean heat content variations in relation to El Niño and the Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The present study demonstrates that, unlike for SST, there is no spring persistence barrier when considering upper ocean heat content. Conversely, there is a persistence barrier for heat content in boreal winter related to a seasonal reduction in variance. These results are consistent with ENSO forecast model studies indicating that accurate initialization of upper ocean heat content often reduces the prominence of the spring prediction barrier for SST. They also suggest that initialization of upper ocean heat content variations may lead to seasonally varying enhancements of forecast skill, with the most pronounced enhancements for forecasts starting early and late in the development of ENSO events.2004: 
100. 2004: Gregory, J. M., et al. “Simulated and observed decadal variability in ocean heat content.” Geophysical Research Letters15 (2004). Previous analyses by Levitus et al.[2000] (“Levitus”) of ocean temperature data have shown that ocean heat content has increased over the last fifty years with substantial temporal variability superimposed. The HadCM3 coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation model (AOGCM) simulates the Levitus trend if both natural and anthropogenic forcings are included. In the relatively well‐observed northern hemisphere upper ocean, HadCM3 has similar temporal variability to Levitus but, like other AOGCMs, it has generally less variability than Levitus for the world ocean. We analyse the causes of this discrepancy, which could result from deficiencies in either the model or the observational dataset. A substantial contribution to the Levitus variability comes from a strong maximum around 500 m depth, absent in HadCM3. We demonstrate a possibly large sensitivity to the method of filling in the observational dataset outside the well‐observed region, and advocate caution in using it to assess AOGCM heat content changes.
101. 2004: Willis, Josh K., Dean Roemmich, and Bruce Cornuelle. “Interannual variability in upper ocean heat content, temperature, and thermosteric expansion on global scales.” Journal of Geophysical Research: OceansC12 (2004). Satellite altimetric height was combined with approximately 1,000,000 in situ temperature profiles to produce global estimates of upper ocean heat content, temperature, and thermosteric sea level variability on interannual timescales. Maps of these quantities from mid‐1993 through mid‐2003 were calculated using the technique developed byWillis et al. [2003]. The time series of globally averaged heat content contains a small amount of interannual variability and implies an oceanic warming rate of 0.86 ± 0.12 watts per square meter of ocean (0.29 ± 0.04 pW) from 1993 to 2003 for the upper 750 m of the water column. As a result of the warming, thermosteric sea level rose at a rate of 1.6 ± 0.3 mm/yr over the same time period. Maps of yearly heat content anomaly show patterns of warming commensurate with ENSO variability in the tropics, but also show that a large part of the trend in global, oceanic heat content is caused by regional warming at midlatitudes in the Southern Hemisphere. In addition to quantifying interannual variability on a global scale, this work illustrates the importance of maintaining continuously updated monitoring systems that provide global coverage of the world’s oceans. Ongoing projects, such as the Jason/TOPEX series of satellite altimeters and the Argo float program, provide a critical foundation for characterizing variability on regional, basin, and global scales and quantifying the oceans’ role as part of the climate system.
102. 2004: Antonov, John I., Sydney Levitus, and Timothy P. Boyer. “Climatological annual cycle of ocean heat content.” Geophysical Research Letters 31.4 (2004). Ocean heat content is a major component of earth’s energy budget. This paper presents estimates of the climatological annual cycle of upper (0–250 m layer) ocean heat content based on World Ocean Atlas 2001. The land‐ocean ratio is responsible for the geographical distribution of the annual cycle of ocean heat content. Globally, the amplitude of annual harmonic of upper ocean heat content is 3.7 × 10²² J for the World Ocean, 10.2 × 10²²J for the Southern Hemisphere, and 6.5 × 10²²J for the Northern Hemisphere.  [FULL TEXT]
103. 2005: Levitus, Sydney, J. Antonov, and T. Boyer. “Warming of the world ocean, 1955–2003.” Geophysical Research Letters 32.2 (2005). We present new estimates of the variability of ocean heat content based on: a) additional data that extends the record to more recent years; b) additional historical data for earlier years. During 1955–1998 world ocean heat content (0–3000 m) increased 14.5 × 1022 J corresponding to a mean temperature increase of 0.037°C at a rate of 0.20 Wm−2 (per unit area of Earth’s total surface area). Based on the physical properties and mass of the world ocean as compared to other components of Earth’s climate system, Rossby [1959] suggested that ocean heat content may be the dominant component of the variability of Earth’s heat balance. Recent work [Levitus et al., 2000, 2001] has confirmed Rossby’s suggestion. Warming of the world ocean due to increasing atmospheric greenhouse gases was first identified in a report by Revelle et al. [1965]. The delay of atmospheric warming by increasing greenhouse gases due to initial heating of the world ocean was suggested by the National Research Council [NRC, 1979]. Here we present new yearly estimates for the 1955–2003 period for the upper 300 m and 700 m layers and pentadal (5‐year) estimates for the 1955–1959 through 1994–1998 period for the upper 3000 m of the world ocean.[3] The heat content estimates we present are based on an additional 1.7 million (S. Levitus et al., Building ocean profile‐plankton databases for climate and ecosystem research, submitted to Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 2004) temperature profiles that have become available as part of the World Ocean Database 2001 [Conkright et al., 2002]. Also, we have processed approximately 310,000 additional temperature profiles since the release of WOD01 and include these in our analyses. Heat content computations are similar to those described by Levitus and Antonov [1997]. Here we use 1957–1990 as the reference period for our estimates.  [FULL TEXT]
104. 2005: Church, John A., Neil J. White, and Julie M. Arblaster. “Significant decadal-scale impact of volcanic eruptions on sea level and ocean heat content.” Nature7064 (2005): 74.  Ocean thermal expansion contributes significantly to sea-level variability and rise¹. However, observed decadal variability in ocean heat content^2,3and sea level⁴ has not been reproduced well in climate models⁵. Aerosols injected into the stratosphere during volcanic eruptions scatter incoming solar radiation, and cause a rapid cooling of the atmosphere^6,7 and a reduction in rainfall^6,8,9, as well as other changes in the climate system⁷. Here we use observations of ocean heat content^2,3 and a set of climate simulations to show that large volcanic eruptions result in rapid reductions in ocean heat content and global mean sea level. For the Mt Pinatubo eruption, we estimate a reduction in ocean heat content of about 3 × 10²² J and a global sea-level fall of about 5 mm. Over the three years following such an eruption, we estimate a decrease in evaporation of up to 0.1 mm d^-1, comparable to observed changes in mean land precipitation^6,8,9. The recovery of sea level following the Mt Pinatubo eruption in 1991 explains about half of the difference between the long-term rate of sea-level rise⁴ of 1.8 mm yr^-1 (for 1950–2000), and the higher rate estimated for the more recent period where satellite altimeter data are available (1993–2000)⁴
105. 2009: Levitus, Sydney, et al. “Global ocean heat content 1955–2008 in light of recently revealed instrumentation problems.” Geophysical Research Letters7 (2009).We provide estimates of the warming of the world ocean for 1955–2008 based on historical data not previously available, additional modern data, correcting for instrumental biases of bathythermograph data, and correcting or excluding some Argo float data. The strong interdecadal variability of global ocean heat content reported previously by us is reduced in magnitude but the linear trend in ocean heat content remain similar to our earlier estimate.
106. 2009: Ishii, Masayoshi, and Masahide Kimoto. “Reevaluation of historical ocean heat content variations with time-varying XBT and MBT depth bias corrections.” Journal of Oceanography3 (2009): 287-299. As reported in former studies, temperature observations obtained by expendable bathythermographs (XBTs) and mechanical bathythermographs (MBTs) appear to have positive biases as much as they affect major climate signals. These biases have not been fully taken into account in previous ocean temperature analyses, which have been widely used to detect global warming signals in the oceans. This report proposes a methodology for directly eliminating the biases from the XBT and MBT observations. In the case of XBT observation, assuming that the positive temperature biases mainly originate from greater depths given by conventional XBT fall-rate equations than the truth, a depth bias equation is constructed by fitting depth differences between XBT data and more accurate oceanographic observations to a linear equation of elapsed time. Such depth bias equations are introduced separately for each year and for each probe type. Uncertainty in the gradient of the linear equation is evaluated using a non-parametric test. The typical depth bias is +10 m at 700 m depth on average, which is probably caused by various indeterminable sources of error in the XBT observations as well as a lack of representativeness in the fall-rate equations adopted so far. Depth biases in MBT are fitted to quadratic equations of depth in a similar manner to the XBT method. Correcting the historical XBT and MBT depth biases by these equations allows a historical ocean temperature analysis to be conducted. In comparison with the previous temperature analysis, large differences are found in the present analysis as follows: the duration of large ocean heat content in the 1970s shortens dramatically, and recent ocean cooling becomes insignificant. The result is also in better agreement with tide gauge observations.
107. 2011: Johnson, Gregory C., et al. “Ocean heat content.”  Am. Meteorol. Soc92 (2011): S81-S84. Three different upper ocean estimates (0–700 m) of globally integrated in situ OHCA (Fig. OHCA3) reveal a large increase in global integrals of that quantity since 1993. While levels appear to be increasing more slowly since around 2003 or 2004 than over the previous decade, the mass and thermal expansion terms of the global sea level budget agree with observed sea level rise rates over the latter time period (Section ****). The highest values for each global OHCA estimate are for 2011, although uncertainties only permit statistically significant trends to be estimated over about ten years or longer (Lyman, 2011). Interannual details of the time series differ for a variety of reasons including differences in climatology, treatment of the seasonal cycle, mapping methods, instrument bias corrections, quality control, and other factors (Lyman et al. 2010). Some of these factors are not taken into account in some of the displayed uncertainties, so while the error bars shown do not always overlap among the three estimates, they are not necessarily statistically different from each other. However, all three curves agree on a significant decadal warming of the upper ocean since 1993, accounting for a large portion of the global energy imbalance over this time period (Church et al. 2011).
108. 2012: Levitus, Sydney, et al. “World ocean heat content and thermosteric sea level change (0–2000 m), 1955–2010.” Geophysical Research Letters10 (2012). We provide updated estimates of the change of ocean heat content and the thermosteric component of sea level change of the 0–700 and 0–2000 m layers of the World Ocean for 1955–2010. Our estimates are based on historical data not previously available, additional modern data, and bathythermograph data corrected for instrumental biases. We have also used Argo data corrected by the Argo DAC if available and used uncorrected Argo data if no corrections were available at the time we downloaded the Argo data. The heat content of the World Ocean for the 0–2000 m layer increased by 24.0 ± 1.9 × 10²²J (±2S.E.) corresponding to a rate of 0.39 W m⁻² (per unit area of the World Ocean) and a volume mean warming of 0.09°C. This warming corresponds to a rate of 0.27 W m⁻² per unit area of earth’s surface. The heat content of the World Ocean for the 0–700 m layer increased by 16.7 ± 1.6 × 10²² J corresponding to a rate of 0.27 W m⁻²(per unit area of the World Ocean) and a volume mean warming of 0.18°C. The World Ocean accounts for approximately 93% of the warming of the earth system that has occurred since 1955. The 700–2000 m ocean layer accounted for approximately one‐third of the warming of the 0–2000 m layer of the World Ocean. The thermosteric component of sea level trend was 0.54 ± .05 mm yr⁻¹ for the 0–2000 m layer and 0.41 ± .04 mm yr⁻¹ for the 0–700 m layer of the World Ocean for 1955–2010.
109. 2013: Trenberth, Kevin E., and John T. Fasullo. “An apparent hiatus in global warming?.” Earth’s Future 1.1 (2013): 19-32. Global warming first became evident beyond the bounds of natural variability in the 1970s, but increases in global mean surface temperatures have stalled in the 2000s. Increases in atmospheric greenhouse gases, notably carbon dioxide, create an energy imbalance at the top‐of‐atmosphere (TOA) even as the planet warms to adjust to this imbalance, which is estimated to be 0.5–1 W m⁻² over the 2000s. Annual global fluctuations in TOA energy of up to 0.2 W m⁻² occur from natural variations in clouds, aerosols, and changes in the Sun. At times of major volcanic eruptions the effects can be much larger. Yet global mean surface temperatures fluctuate much more than these can account for. An energy imbalance is manifested not just as surface atmospheric or ground warming but also as melting sea and land ice, and heating of the oceans. More than 90% of the heat goes into the oceans and, with melting land ice, causes sea level to rise. For the past decade, more than 30% of the heat has apparently penetrated below 700 m depth that is traceable to changes in surface winds mainly over the Pacific in association with a switch to a negative phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) in 1999. Surface warming was much more in evidence during the 1976–1998 positive phase of the PDO, suggesting that natural decadal variability modulates the rate of change of global surface temperatures while sea‐level rise is more relentless. Global warming has not stopped; it is merely manifested in different ways. [FULL TEXT]
110. 2013: Kosaka, Yu, and Shang-Ping Xie. “Recent global-warming hiatus tied to equatorial Pacific surface cooling.” Nature501.7467 (2013): 403. Despite the continued increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, the annual-mean global temperature has not risen in the twenty-first century^1,2, challenging the prevailing view that anthropogenic forcing causes climate warming. Various mechanisms have been proposed for this hiatus in global warming^3,4,5,6, but their relative importance has not been quantified, hampering observational estimates of climate sensitivity. Here we show that accounting for recent cooling in the eastern equatorial Pacific reconciles climate simulations and observations. We present a novel method of uncovering mechanisms for global temperature change by prescribing, in addition to radiative forcing, the observed history of sea surface temperature over the central to eastern tropical Pacific in a climate model. Although the surface temperature prescription is limited to only 8.2% of the global surface, our model reproduces the annual-mean global temperature remarkably well with correlation coefficient r = 0.97 for 1970–2012 (which includes the current hiatus and a period of accelerated global warming). Moreover, our simulation captures major seasonal and regional characteristics of the hiatus, including the intensified Walker circulation, the winter cooling in northwestern North America and the prolonged drought in the southern USA. Our results show that the current hiatus is part of natural climate variability, tied specifically to a La-Niña-like decadal cooling. Although similar decadal hiatus events may occur in the future, the multi-decadal warming trend is very likely to continue with greenhouse gas increase.
111. 2013: Balmaseda, Magdalena A., Kevin E. Trenberth, and Erland Källén. “Distinctive climate signals in reanalysis of global ocean heat content.” Geophysical Research Letters9 (2013): 1754-1759. The elusive nature of the post‐2004 upper ocean warming has exposed uncertainties in the ocean’s role in the Earth’s energy budget and transient climate sensitivity. Here we present the time evolution of the global ocean heat content for 1958 through 2009 from a new observation‐based reanalysis of the ocean. Volcanic eruptions and El Niño events are identified as sharp cooling events punctuating a long‐term ocean warming trend, while heating continues during the recent upper‐ocean‐warming hiatus, but the heat is absorbed in the deeper ocean. In the last decade, about 30% of the warming has occurred below 700 m, contributing significantly to an acceleration of the warming trend. The warming below 700 m remains even when the Argo observing system is withdrawn although the trends are reduced. Sensitivity experiments illustrate that surface wind variability is largely responsible for the changing ocean heat vertical distribution.
112. 2014: Lin, I‐I., Iam‐Fei Pun, and Chun‐Chi Lien. ““Category‐6” supertyphoon Haiyan in global warming hiatus: Contribution from subsurface ocean warming.” Geophysical Research Letters 41.23 (2014): 8547-8553. With the extra‐ordinary intensity of 170 kts,supertyphoon Haiyan devastated the Philippines in November 2013. This intensity is among the highest ever observed for tropical cyclones (TCs) globally, 35 kts well above the threshold (135kts) of the existing highest category of 5. Though there is speculation to associate global warming with such intensity, existing research indicate that we have been in a warming hiatus period, with the hiatus attributed to the La Niña‐like multi‐decadal phenomenon. It is thus intriguing to understand why Haiyan can occur during hiatus. It is suggested that as the western Pacific manifestation of the La Niña‐like phenomenon is to pile up warm subsurface water to the west, the western North Pacific experienced evident subsurface warming and created a very favorable ocean pre‐condition for Haiyan. Together with its fast traveling speed, the air‐sea flux supply was 158% as compared to normal for intensification.
113. 2014: Watanabe, Masahiro, et al. “Contribution of natural decadal variability to global warming acceleration and hiatus.” Nature Climate Change 4.10 (2014): 893. Reasons for the apparent pause in the rise of global-mean surface air temperature (SAT) after the turn of the century has been a mystery, undermining confidence in climate projections^1,2,3. Recent climate model simulations indicate this warming hiatus originated from eastern equatorial Pacific cooling⁴ associated with strengthening of trade winds⁵. Using a climate model that overrides tropical wind stress anomalies with observations for 1958–2012, we show that decadal-mean anomalies of global SAT referenced to the period 1961–1990 are changed by 0.11, 0.13 and −0.11 °C in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, respectively, without variation in human-induced radiative forcing. They account for about 47%, 38% and 27% of the respective temperature change. The dominant wind stress variability consistent with this warming/cooling represents the deceleration/acceleration of the Pacific trade winds, which can be robustly reproduced by atmospheric model simulations forced by observed sea surface temperature excluding anthropogenic warming components. Results indicate that inherent decadal climate variability contributes considerably to the observed global-mean SAT time series, but that its influence on decadal-mean SAT has gradually decreased relative to the rising anthropogenic warming signal.
114. 2014: Chen, Xianyao, and Ka-Kit Tung. “Varying planetary heat sink led to global-warming slowdown and acceleration.” Science345.6199 (2014): 897-903. Global warming seems to have paused over the past 15 years while the deep ocean takes the heat instead. The thermal capacity of the oceans far exceeds that of the atmosphere, so the oceans can store up to 90% of the heat buildup caused by increased concentrations of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. Chen and Tung used observational data to trace the pathways of recent ocean heating. They conclude that the deep Atlantic and Southern Oceans, but not the Pacific, have absorbed the excess heat that would otherwise have fueled continued warming. [FULL TEXT]
115. 2014: Meehl, Gerald A., Haiyan Teng, and Julie M. Arblaster. “Climate model simulations of the observed early-2000s hiatus of global warming.” Nature Climate Change 4.10 (2014): 898. The slowdown in the rate of global warming in the early 2000s is not evident in the multi-model ensemble average of traditional climate change projection simulations¹. However, a number of individual ensemble members from that set of models successfully simulate the early-2000s hiatus when naturally-occurring climate variability involving the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation (IPO) coincided, by chance, with the observed negative phase of the IPO that contributed to the early-2000s hiatus. If the recent methodology of initialized decadal climate prediction could have been applied in the mid-1990s using the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 multi-models, both the negative phase of the IPO in the early 2000s as well as the hiatus could have been simulated, with the multi-model average performing better than most of the individual models. The loss of predictive skill for six initial years before the mid-1990s points to the need for consistent hindcast skill to establish reliability of an operational decadal climate prediction system.
116. 2014: Nuccitelli, Dana, et al. “Comment on” Cosmic-ray-driven reaction and greenhouse effect of halogenated molecules: Culprits for atmospheric ozone depletion and global climate change”.” International Journal of Modern Physics B 28.13 (2014): 1482003. Lu (2013) (L13) argued that solar effects and anthropogenic halogenated gases can explain most of the observed warming of global mean surface air temperatures since 1850, with virtually no contribution from atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations. Here we show that this conclusion is based on assumptions about the saturation of the CO₂-induced greenhouse effect that have been experimentally falsified. L13 also confuses equilibrium and transient response, and relies on data sources that have been superseeded due to known inaccuracies. Furthermore, the statistical approach of sequential linear regression artificially shifts variance onto the first predictor. L13’s artificial choice of regression order and neglect of other relevant data is the fundamental cause of the incorrect main conclusion. Consideration of more modern data and a more parsimonious multiple regression model leads to contradiction with L13’s statistical results. Finally, the correlation arguments in L13 are falsified by considering either the more appropriate metric of global heat accumulation, or data on longer timescales. [FULL TEXT]
117. 2015: Stenchikov, Georgiy. “The role of volcanic activity in climate and global change.” Climate Change (Second Edition). 2015. 419-447. Explosive volcanic eruptions are magnificent events that in many ways affect the Earth’s natural processes and climate. They cause sporadic perturbations of the planet’s energy balance, activating complex climate feedbacks and providing unique opportunities to better quantify those processes. We know that explosive eruptions cause cooling in the atmosphere for a few years, but we have just recently realized that volcanic signals can be seen in the subsurface ocean for decades. The volcanic forcing of the previous two centuries offsets the ocean heat uptake and diminishes global warming by about 30%. The explosive volcanism of the twenty-first century is unlikely to either cause any significant climate signal or to delay the pace of global warming. The recent interest in dynamic, microphysical, chemical, and climate impacts of volcanic eruptions is also excited by the fact that these impacts provide a natural analogue for climate geoengineering schemes involving deliberate development of an artificial aerosol layer in the lower stratosphere to counteract global warming. In this chapter we aim to discuss these recently discovered volcanic effects and specifically pay attention to how we can learn about the hidden Earth-system mechanisms activated by explosive volcanic eruptions. To demonstrate these effects we use our own model results when possible along with available observations, as well as review closely related recent publications.
118. 2015: Karl, Thomas R., et al. “Possible artifacts of data biases in the recent global surface warming hiatus.” Science (2015): aaa5632. Much study has been devoted to the possible causes of an apparent decrease in the upward trend of global surface temperatures since 1998, a phenomenon that has been dubbed the global warming “hiatus.” Here we present an updated global surface temperature analysis that reveals that global trends are higher than reported by the IPCC, especially in recent decades, and that the central estimate for the rate of warming during the first 15 years of the 21st century is at least as great as the last half of the 20th century. These results do not support the notion of a “slowdown” in the increase of global surface temperature. [FULL TEXT]
119. 2015: Goodwin, Philip, Richard G. Williams, and Andy Ridgwell. “Sensitivity of climate to cumulative carbon emissions due to compensation of ocean heat and carbon uptake.” Nature Geoscience 8.1 (2015): 29. Climate model experiments reveal that transient global warming is nearly proportional to cumulative carbon emissions on multi-decadal to centennial timescales^1,2,3,4,5. However, it is not quantitatively understood how this near-linear dependence between warming and cumulative carbon emissions arises in transient climate simulations^6,7. Here, we present a theoretically derived equation of the dependence of global warming on cumulative carbon emissions over time. For an atmosphere–ocean system, our analysis identifies a surface warming response to cumulative carbon emissions of 1.5 ± 0.7 K for every 1,000 Pg of carbon emitted. This surface warming response is reduced by typically 10–20% by the end of the century and beyond. The climate response remains nearly constant on multi-decadal to centennial timescales as a result of partially opposing effects of oceanic uptake of heat and carbon⁸. The resulting warming then becomes proportional to cumulative carbon emissions after many centuries, as noted earlier⁹. When we incorporate estimates of terrestrial carbon uptake¹⁰, the surface warming response is reduced to 1.1 ± 0.5 K for every 1,000 Pg of carbon emitted, but this modification is unlikely to significantly affect how the climate response changes over time. We suggest that our theoretical framework may be used to diagnose the global warming response in climate models and mechanistically understand the differences between their projections.
120. 2017: Medhaug, Iselin, et al. “Reconciling controversies about the ‘global warming hiatus’.” Nature 545.7652 (2017): 41. Between about 1998 and 2012, a time that coincided with political negotiations for preventing climate change, the surface of Earth seemed hardly to warm. This phenomenon, often termed the ‘global warming hiatus’, caused doubt in the public mind about how well anthropogenic climate change and natural variability are understood. Here we show that apparently contradictory conclusions stem from different definitions of ‘hiatus’ and from different datasets. A combination of changes in forcing, uptake of heat by the oceans, natural variability and incomplete observational coverage reconciles models and data. Combined with stronger recent warming trends in newer datasets, we are now more confident than ever that human influence is dominant in long-term warming.
121. 2018: Lewis, Nicholas, and Judith Curry. “The impact of recent forcing and ocean heat uptake data on estimates of climate sensitivity.” Journal of Climate 2018 (2018). Energy budget estimates of equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS) and transient climate response (TCR) are derived based on the best estimates and uncertainty ranges for forcing provided in the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5). Recent revisions to greenhouse gas forcing and post-1990 ozone and aerosol forcing estimates are incorporated and the forcing data extended from 2011 to 2016. Reflecting recent evidence against strong aerosol forcing, its AR5 uncertainty lower bound is increased slightly. Using an 1869–82 base period and a 2007–16 final period, which are well matched for volcanic activity and influence from internal variability, medians are derived for ECS of 1.50 K (5%–95% range: 1.05–2.45 K) and for TCR of 1.20 K (5%–95% range: 0.9–1.7 K). These estimates both have much lower upper bounds than those from a predecessor study using AR5 data ending in 2011. Using infilled, globally complete temperature data give slightly higher estimates: a median of 1.66 K for ECS (5%–95% range: 1.15–2.7 K) and 1.33 K for TCR (5%–95% range: 1.0–1.9 K). These ECS estimates reflect climate feedbacks over the historical period, assumed to be time invariant. Allowing for possible time-varying climate feedbacks increases the median ECS estimate to 1.76 K (5%–95% range: 1.2–3.1 K), using infilled temperature data. Possible biases from non–unit forcing efficacy, temperature estimation issues, and variability in sea surface temperature change patterns are examined and found to be minor when using globally complete temperature data. These results imply that high ECS and TCR values derived from a majority of CMIP5 climate models are inconsistent with observed warming during the historical period.
122. 1968: Weyl, Peter K. “The role of the oceans in climatic change: A theory of the ice ages.” Causes of climatic change. American Meteorological Society, Boston, MA, 1968. 37-62. Changes in the surface salinity distribution in the World Ocean, by changing the extent of sea ice in the North Atlantic and Antarctic, can lead to climatic change. By reducing the water vapor flux across Central America, the salinity of the North Atlantic is reduced. If this change persists over a sufficient length of time, a glacial climate could be initiated. An examination of the “Little Ice Age” tends to confirm this hypothesis. A return to an interglacial climate may be the result of overextension of glaciers followed by stagnation of the bottom water. Stagnation is terminated by geothermal heating at the ocean floor, followed by vertical mixing of the warmed, saltier water into the subarctic gyre of the North Atlantic. This, in turn, results in a reduction of sea ice and in climatic warming.
123. 1978: Bickle, M. J. “Heat loss from the Earth: a constraint on Archaean tectonics from the relation between geothermal gradients and the rate of plate production.” Earth and Planetary Science Letters 40.3 (1978): 301-315. The models suggested for the oceanic lithosphere which best predict oceanic heat flow and depth profiles are the constant thickness model and a model in which the lithosphere thickens away from the ridge with a heat source at its base. The latter is considered to be more physically realistic. Such a model, constrained by the observed oceanic heat flow and depth profiles and a temperature at the ridge crest of between 1100°C and 1300°C, requires a heat source at the base of the lithosphere of between 0.5 and 0.9 h.f.u., thermal conductivities for the mantle between 0.005 and 0.0095 cal cm⁻¹ °C⁻¹ s⁻¹ and a coefficient of thermal expansion at 840°C between 4.1 × 10⁻⁵ and 5.1 × 10⁻⁵°C⁻¹. Plate creation and subduction are calculated to dissipate about 45% of the total earth heat loss for this model. The efficiency of this mechanism of heat loss is shown to be strongly dependent on the magnitude of the basal heat source. A relation is derived for total earth heat loss as a function of the rate of plate creation and the amount of heat transported to the base of plates. The estimated heat transport to the base of the oceanic lithosphere is similar to estimates of mantle heat flow into the base of the continental lithosphere. If this relation existed in the past and if metamorphic conditions in late Archaean high-grade terrains can be used to provide a maximum constraint on equilibrium Archaean continental thermal gradients, heat flow into the base of the lithosphere in the late Archaean must have been less than about 1.2–1.5 h.f.u. The relation between earth heat loss, the rate of plate creation and the rate of heat transport to the base of the lithosphere suggests that a significant proportion of the heat loss in the Archaean must have taken place by the processes of plate creation and subduction. The Archaean plate processes may have involved much more rapid production of plates only slightly thinner than at present.
124. 1980: Sclater, JjG, C. Jaupart, and D_ Galson. “The heat flow through oceanic and continental crust and the heat loss of the Earth.” Reviews of Geophysics 18.1 (1980): 269-311. The principal objective of this paper is to present a simple and self‐consistent review of the basic physical processes controlling heat loss from the earth. To accomplish this objective, we give a short summary of the oceanic and continental data and compare and contrast the respective mechanisms of heat loss. In the oceans we concentrate on the effect of hydrothermal circulation, and on the continents we consider in some detail a model relating surface heat flow to varying depth scales for the distribution of potassium, thorium, and uranium. From this comparison we conclude that the range in possible geotherms at depths below 100 to 150 km under continents and oceans overlaps and that the thermal structure beneath an old stable continent is indistinguishable from that beneath an ocean were it at equilibrium. Oceans and continents are part of the same thermal system. Both have an upper rigid mechanical layer where heat loss is by conduction and a lower thermal boundary layer where convection is dominant. The simple conductive definition of the plate thickness is an oversimplification. The observed distribution of area versus age in the ocean allows us to investigate the dominant mechanism of heat loss which is plate creation. This distribution and an understanding of the heat flow through oceans and continents can be used to calculate the heat loss of the earth. This heat loss is 10¹³ cal/s (4.2 × 10¹³W) of which more than 60% results from the creation of oceanic plate. The relation between area and age of the oceans is coupled to the ridge and subducting slab forces that contribute to the driving mechanism for plate motions. These forces are self‐regulating and maintain the rate of plate generation required to achieve a balance between heat loss and heat generation.
125. 1981: Sclater, John G., Barry Parsons, and Claude Jaupart. “Oceans and continents: similarities and differences in the mechanisms of heat loss.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth86.B12 (1981): 11535-11552. The principal objective of this paper is to present a simple and self‐consistent review of the basic physical processes controlling heat loss from the earth. To accomplish this objective, we give a short summary of the oceanic and continental data and compare and contrast the respective mechanisms of heat loss. In the oceans we concentrate on the effect of hydrothermal circulation, and on the continents we consider in some detail a model relating surface heat flow to varying depth scales for the distribution of potassium, thorium, and uranium. From this comparison we conclude that the range in possible geotherms at depths below 100 to 150 km under continents and oceans overlaps and that the thermal structure beneath an old stable continent is indistinguishable from that beneath an ocean were it at equilibrium. Oceans and continents are part of the same thermal system. Both have an upper rigid mechanical layer where heat loss is by conduction and a lower thermal boundary layer where convection is dominant. The simple conductive definition of the plate thickness is an oversimplification. The observed distribution of area versus age in the ocean allows us to investigate the dominant mechanism of heat loss which is plate creation. This distribution and an understanding of the heat flow through oceans and continents can be used to calculate the heat loss of the earth. This heat loss is 10¹³ cal/s (4.2 × 10¹³W) of which more than 60% results from the creation of oceanic plate. The relation between area and age of the oceans is coupled to the ridge and subducting slab forces that contribute to the driving mechanism for plate motions. These forces are self‐regulating and maintain the rate of plate generation required to achieve a balance between heat loss and heat generation.  [FULL TEXT]
126. 1984: Abbott, Dallas Helen, and S. E. Hoffman. “Archaean plate tectonics revisited 1. Heat flow, spreading rate, and the age of subducting oceanic lithosphere and their effects on the origin and evolution of continents.” Tectonics 3.4 (1984): 429-448. A simple model which relates the rate of seafloor creation and the age of the oceanic lithosphere at subduction to the rate of continental accretion can successfully explain the apparent differences between Archaean and Phanerozoic terrains in terms of plate tectonics. The model has been derived using the following parameters: (1) the spreading rate at mid‐ocean ridges; (2) the age of the oceanic lithosphere at the time of subduction; (3) the area‐age distribution of the seafloor; (4) the continental surface area as a fraction of the total surface area of the earth; and (5) the erosion rate of continents as a function of continental surface area and the total number of continental masses. Observations in Phanerozoic terranes suggest that there are profound differences in the nature and volume of subduction zone igneous activity depending upon the age of the oceanic lithosphere being subducted and the nature of the overriding plate (that is, either continental or oceanic). The subduction of young oceanic lithosphere (less than 50 m.y. old) which is thermally buoyant appears to result in a reduced volume of igneous activity. Most of the igneous activity caused by subduction of young oceanic lithosphere is either siliceous plutonism or bimodal tholeiitic‐rhyolitic volcanism. When very young lithosphere is being subducted (<30 m.y. old), volcanism appears to cease. The subduction of old oceanic lithosphere (>50 m.y. old) appears to result in greater volumes of igneous activity, including the eruption of andesitic magmas. Thus andesites could only begin to be abundant in the rock record when older oceanic lithosphere began to be subducted. Our model predicts that as the earth aged and as heat flow from the interior of the earth diminished, the proportion of old oceanic lithosphere being subducted increased, fundamentally changing the nature of subduction zone igneous activity and the rate of continental accretion. If the subduction of old oceanic lithosphere results in an 8–10 times greater volume of subduction zone magmatism, our model predicts or explains all of the following observed features of earth history: (1) Archaean terranes appear to record two periods of rapid continental accretion, between 3.8 and 3.5 b.y. ago and between 3.1 and 2.6 b.y. ago; (2) there are very few differences and many marked similarities between rocks from Archaean terranes and equivalent rocks from Phanerozoic terranes; (3) the total continental area appears to have remained essentially constant for the past 2 b.y. (4) Archaean andesites are comparatively rare, and the relative abundances of mafic and siliceous rocks appear to change during the Archaean and the Proterozoic, with siliceous volcanics becoming proportionately more abundant in the geologic record with time; (5) plutonic tonalites and trondhjemites appear to have been relatively much more abundant during the Archaean. Plate tectonics is thus shown to have evolved over time due to a gradually decreasing rate of creation of oceanic lithosphere, meaning that Archaean tectonics and Phanerozoic tectonics are but two points on an evolutionary continuum.  [FULL TEXT]
127. 1984: Abbott, Dallas Helen, and S. E. Hoffman. “Archaean plate tectonics revisited 1. Heat flow, spreading rate, and the age of subducting oceanic lithosphere and their effects on the origin and evolution of continents.” Tectonics 3.4 (1984): 429-448. A simple model which relates the rate of seafloor creation and the age of the oceanic lithosphere at subduction to the rate of continental accretion can successfully explain the apparent differences between Archaean and Phanerozoic terrains in terms of plate tectonics. The model has been derived using the following parameters: (1) the spreading rate at mid‐ocean ridges; (2) the age of the oceanic lithosphere at the time of subduction; (3) the area‐age distribution of the seafloor; (4) the continental surface area as a fraction of the total surface area of the earth; and (5) the erosion rate of continents as a function of continental surface area and the total number of continental masses. Observations in Phanerozoic terranes suggest that there are profound differences in the nature and volume of subduction zone igneous activity depending upon the age of the oceanic lithosphere being subducted and the nature of the overriding plate (that is, either continental or oceanic). The subduction of young oceanic lithosphere (less than 50 m.y. old) which is thermally buoyant appears to result in a reduced volume of igneous activity. Most of the igneous activity caused by subduction of young oceanic lithosphere is either siliceous plutonism or bimodal tholeiitic‐rhyolitic volcanism. When very young lithosphere is being subducted (<30 m.y. old), volcanism appears to cease. The subduction of old oceanic lithosphere (>50 m.y. old) appears to result in greater volumes of igneous activity, including the eruption of andesitic magmas. Thus andesites could only begin to be abundant in the rock record when older oceanic lithosphere began to be subducted. Our model predicts that as the earth aged and as heat flow from the interior of the earth diminished, the proportion of old oceanic lithosphere being subducted increased, fundamentally changing the nature of subduction zone igneous activity and the rate of continental accretion. If the subduction of old oceanic lithosphere results in an 8–10 times greater volume of subduction zone magmatism, our model predicts or explains all of the following observed features of earth history: (1) Archaean terranes appear to record two periods of rapid continental accretion, between 3.8 and 3.5 b.y. ago and between 3.1 and 2.6 b.y. ago; (2) there are very few differences and many marked similarities between rocks from Archaean terranes and equivalent rocks from Phanerozoic terranes; (3) the total continental area appears to have remained essentially constant for the past 2 b.y. (4) Archaean andesites are comparatively rare, and the relative abundances of mafic and siliceous rocks appear to change during the Archaean and the Proterozoic, with siliceous volcanics becoming proportionately more abundant in the geologic record with time; (5) plutonic tonalites and trondhjemites appear to have been relatively much more abundant during the Archaean. Plate tectonics is thus shown to have evolved over time due to a gradually decreasing rate of creation of oceanic lithosphere, meaning that Archaean tectonics and Phanerozoic tectonics are but two points on an evolutionary continuum.  [FULL TEXT]
128. 1984: Abbott, Dallas H. “Archaean plate tectonics revisited 2. Paleo‐sea level changes, continental area, oceanic heat loss and the area‐age distribution of the ocean basins.” Tectonics 3.7 (1984): 709-722. In a previous paper, we derived plate tectonic models for continental accretion from the early Archaean (3800 m.y. B.P.) until the present. The models are dependent upon the number of continental masses, the seafloor creation rate and the continental surface area. The models can be tested by examining their predictions for three key geological indicators: sea level changes, stable isotopic evolution (e.g., continental surface area), and oceanic heat loss. Models of paleo‐sea level changes produced by the accretion of the continents reproduce the following features of earth history: (1) greater continental emergence (lower sea level) during the Archaean than the Proterozoic; (2) maximum continental emergence about 3000 m.y. B.P.; and (3) maximum continental submergence (high sea level) from 30 to 125 m.y. B.P. The high sea level stand between 380–525 m.y. B.P. is only weakly reproduced, probably due to the simplified nature of the model. Changes in the number of continental masses can result in tectonic erosion or accretion of the continents, with resulting changes in sea level. The two major transgressions in the Phanerozoic, although still requiring some increase in the total terrestrial heat loss, can be sucessfully explained by a combination of increases in continental surface area and in seafloor creation rate. Changes in the total heat loss of the ocean basins predicted by our plate tectonic models closely parallel the changes in terrestrial heat production predicted by Wasserburg et al. (1964). This result is consistent with thermal history models which assume whole mantle convection. The history of changes in continental surface area predicted by our best continental accretion models lies within the ranges of estimated continental surface area derived from independent geochemical models of isotope evolution.  [FULL TEXT]
129. 1984: Gargett, A. E. “Vertical eddy diffusivity in the ocean interior.” Journal of Marine Research 42.2 (1984): 359-393. Vertical turbulent transport of density (mass) in a system of stable stratification ∂p/∂z < 0 (z positive upward) is often modelled by an “eddy” diffusivity K_v ≡ −/(∂p/∂z), normally assumed to be constant. Recent evidence from stratified lakes, fjords and oceans suggests that K_v may be more accurately described as a decreasing function of buoyancy frequency N ≡ (–g(_o)^–1 (∂p/∂z))^1/2. A main purpose of this paper is to review available estimates of K_v from a variety of stratified geophysical systems. Particular emphasis is placed upon the degree to which these estimates are dependent upon underlying models used to derive values for K_v from observable quantities. Most techniques reveal a disagreeable degree of model-dependence, frequently providing only upper bounds to the magnitude of K_v. I have coupled the functional dependence which emerges from the least model-dependent of available techniques with ensemble-averaged values of oceanic turbulent kinetic energy dissipation rate per unit mass ε as a function of N, and show that the resulting parameterization for K_v is consistent with a wide range of present oceanic data. Finally, brief re-examination of a simple vertical advection/diffusion model of thermohaline circulation illustrates possible dynamical significance of a stratification-dependent K_v.
130. 1986: Joyce, Terrence M., Bruce A. Warren, and Lynne D. Talley. “The geothermal heating of the abyssal subarctic Pacific Ocean.” Deep Sea Research Part A. Oceanographic Research Papers 33.8 (1986): 1003-1015. Recent deep CTD-O₂ measurements in the abyssal North Pacific along 175°W, 152°W, and 47°N indicate large-scale changes in the O-S characteristics in the deepest kilometer of the water column. Geothermal heat flux from the abyssal sediments can be invoked as the agent for causing large-scale modification of abyssal temperatures (but not salinities) in the subarctic Pacific Ocean. East-west and north-south thermal age differences of about 100 years are inferred using a spatially uniform geothermal heat flux of 5 x 10^-2 WrmW m^-2.
131. 1988: Warren, Bruce A., and W. Brechner Owens. “Deep currents in the central subarctic Pacific Ocean.” Journal of Physical Oceanography 18.4 (1988): 529-551.Sections of closely spaced CTD stations along Longs. 165°W, 175°W and 175°E, in combination with 14-month current records from the central longitude, define two deep, nearly zonal currants, with speed increasing upward, in the subarctic Pacific. One flows eastward above the Aleutian Rise and Aleutian Trench, and appears to be a concentration of geostrophic flow forced by the bottom topography. The other flows westward along the Aleutian Island Arc, and is the northern-boundary current predicted by deep-circulation theory. Both currents reach to the sea surface, the boundary current being simply the deep part of the Alaskan Stream. The current records were too few to permit better than rough estimates of volume transports but to the extent that they could be combined with thermal-wind calculations they suggest, at 175°W, (1) a transport of 28 × 10⁶ m³ s⁻¹ for the Alaskan Stream, of whch 5 × 10⁶ m³ s⁻¹was found below 1500 m, and (2) a transport of around 20 × 1O⁶ m³ s⁻¹ for the eastward jet, of which some 5 × 10⁶–10 × 10⁶ m³ s⁻¹ was estimated below 1500 m. The deep water in the area surveyed was so nearly homogeneous that salinity, oxygen, and nutrients could generally be calculated from potential temperature within measurement error, these additional properties were therefore of only limited use in tracing the deep flow. However, temperature maps at depths of 2 and 4 km demonstrate continuity of the two deep currents across the 60° of longitude between Japan and the Gulf of Alaska. The eastward jet can be tracked back through the Emperor Seamount chain to the Zenkevich Rise off Japan, while the deep Alaskan Stream can be followed downstream to Long. 180°, where it separates from the boundary and flows due westward to the Emperor Seamount chain, which it rounds to the north, prior to its becoming the southward flowing deep western boundary current of the subarctic Pacific. Other details of the water-property fields are described in the text, and comparisons are made with the deep subpolar boundary flow of the North Atlantic.
132. 1989: Roemmich, Dean, and Tracy McCallister. “Large scale circulation of the North Pacific Ocean.” Progress in Oceanography 22.2 (1989): 171-204. Roemmich, Dean, and Tracy McCallister. “Large scale circulation of the North Pacific Ocean.” Progress in Oceanography 22.2 (1989): 171-204. A least squares inversion procedure is used to estimate the large scale cirulation and transport of the subtropical and subpolar North Pacific Ocean from a modern data set of long hydrographic transects. Initially a deep surface of known motion is specified using information derived from abyssal property distributions, moored current meter observations, and basin scale topographic constraints. A geostrophic solution is obtained which conserves mass while devaiting as little as possible in a least squares sense from the initial field. The sensitivity of the solution is tested with regard to changes in the initial field and to the addition of conservation constraints in layers. It is found that about 10 Sv of abyssal water flows northward across 24°N, principally between the dateline and 160°E, in the deepest part of the Northwest Pacific Basin. The flow turns westward across 152°E and then mostly northward again near the Izu-Ogasawara Ridge and the coast of Japan. It then feeds a strong deep anti-cyclonic recirculation beneath the cyclonic subpolar gyre in the Northwest Pacific Basin. The abyssal waters near the western boundary region are found to have a strong component of flow that is upward and across isopycnal surfaces. Here, the abyssal waters complete an important loop in the global thermohaline circulation, entering as bottom water from the South Pacific and returning southward in a less dense and shallower layer. Deep flow into the Northeast Pacific Basin, and circulation within that basin, appear to be weak, making it remote from the main pathway of deep water renewal.The circulation of the subtropical and subpolar gyres dominates transport in the upper layers. The subtropical gyre appears to penetrate to about 1500–2000 m on both sides of the Izu-Ogasawara Ridge, which blocks deeper flow between the Philippine Basin and the Northwest Pacific Basin. The Kuroshio is estimated to carry about 32 Sv northward in the East China Sea. Farther east, as the thermocline slopes upward toward the eastern boundary, the eastward flow is even shallower. In terms of eddy activity, three regimes are observed at 24°N. Peak-to-rough eddy fluctuations in geostrophically balanced sea level diminish from about 40 cm in the west to about 5 cm in the east. Overall, the western boudary of the ocean is about 25 cm higher than the eastern boundary in the 24°N section. Patterns of heat and freshwater flux determined in the North Pacific are in accord with those from air-sea heat flux estimates and hydrological data although the magnitudes are in some cases different. There is large heat loss in the western ocean amounting to about 9.6 × 10¹⁴ W and modest heat gain elsewhere. Heat transport across 24°N is estimated to be 7.5 × 10¹⁴ W. The subpolar ocean has a large excess of precipitation and runoff over evaporation, about 5.6 × 10⁵ m³s⁻³ north of 35°N, while in the subtropics there is excess evaporation, about 2.7 × 10⁵ m³s⁻¹ between 24°N and 35°N.
133. 1991: Duncan, Robert A., and M. A. Richards. “Hotspots, mantle plumes, flood basalts, and true polar wander.” Reviews of Geophysics 29.1 (1991): 31-50. Persistent, long‐lived, stationary sites of excessive mantle melting are called hotspots. Hotspots leave volcanic trails on lithospheric plates passing across them. The global constellation of fixed hotspots thus forms a convenient frame of reference for plate motions, through the orientations and age distributions of volcanic trails left by these melting anomalies. Hotspots appear to be maintained by whole‐mantle convection, in the form of upward flow through narrow plumes. Evidence suggests that plumes are deflected little by horizontal flow of the upper mantle. Mantle plumes are largely thermal features and arise from a thermal boundary layer, most likely the mantle layer just above the core‐mantle boundary. Experiments and theory show that gravitational instability drives flow, beginning with the formation of diapirs. Such a diapir will grow as it rises, fed by flow through the trailing conduit and entrainment of surrounding mantle. The structure thus develops a large, spherical plume head and a long, narrow tail. On arrival at the base of the lithosphere the plume head flattens and melts by decompression, producing enormous quantities of magma which erupt in a short period. These are flood basalt events that have occurred on continents and in ocean basins and that signal the beginning of major hotspot tracks. The plume‐supported hotspot reference frame is fixed in the steady state convective flow of the mantle and is independent of the core‐generated (axial dipole) paleomagnetic reference frame. Comparison of plate motions measured in the two frames reveals small but systematic differences that indicate whole‐mantle motion relative to the Earth’s spin axis. This is termed true polar wander and has amounted to some 12° since early Tertiary time. The direction and magnitude of true polar wander have varied sporadically through the Mesozoic, probably in response to major changes in plate motions (particularly subduction zone location) that change the planet’s moments of inertia.
134. 1992: Mahoney, J., et al. “Southwestern limits of Indian Ocean Ridge Mantle and the origin of low 206Pb/204Pb mid‐ocean ridge basalt: Isotope systematics of the central Southwest Indian Ridge (17°–50° E).” Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 97.B13 (1992): 19771-19790. Basalts from the Southwest Indian Ridge reflect a gradual, irregular isotopic transition in the MORB (mid‐ocean ridge basalt) source mantle between typical Indian Ocean‐type compositions on the east and Atlantic‐like ones on the west. A probable southwestern limit to the huge Indian Ocean isotopic domain is indicated by incompatible‐element‐depleted MORBs from 17° to 26°E, which possess essentially North Atlantic‐ or Pacific‐type signatures. Superimposed on the regional along‐axis gradient are at least three localized types of isotopically distinct, incompatible‐element‐enriched basalts. One characterizes the ridge between 36° and 39°E, directly north of the proposed Marion hotspot, and appears to be caused by mixing between hotspot and high ∈_Nd, normal MORB mantle; oceanic island products of the hotspot itself exhibit a very restricted range of isotopic values (e.g., ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb = 18.5–18.6) which are more MORB‐like than those of other Indian Ocean islands. Between 39° and 41°E, high Ba/Nb lavas with unusually low ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb (16.87–17.44) and ∈_Nd (−4 to +3) are dominant; these compositions are not only unlike those of the Marion (or any other) hotspot but also are unique among MORBs globally. Incompatible‐elementenriched lavas in the vicinity of the Indomed Fracture Zone (∼46°E) differ isotopically from those at 39°–41°E, 36°–39°E, and both the Marion and Crozet hotspots. Thus, no simple model of ridgeward flow of plume mantle can explain the presence or distribution of all the incompatible‐element‐enriched MORBs on the central Southwest Indian Ridge. The upper mantle at 39°–41°E, in particular, may contain stranded continental lithosphere, thermally eroded from Indo‐Madagascar in the middle Cretaceous. Alternatively, the composition of the; Marion hotspot must be grossly heterogeneous in space and/or time, and one of its intrinsic components must have substantially lower ²⁰⁶Pb/²⁰⁴Pb than yet measured for any hotspot. The origin of the broadly similar but much less extreme isotopic signatures of MORBs throughout most of the Indian Ocean could be related to the initiation of the Marion, Kerguelen, and Crozet hotspots, which together may have formed a more than 4400‐km‐long band of juxtaposed plume heads beneath the nearly stationary lithosphere of prebreakup Gondwana.
135. 1993: Müller, R. Dietmar, Jean-Yves Royer, and Lawrence A. Lawver. “Revised plate motions relative to the hotspots from combined Atlantic and Indian Ocean hotspot tracks.” Geology21.3 (1993): 275-278. We use an updated model for global relative plate motions during the past 130 m.y. together with a compilation of bathymetry and recently published radiometric dates of major hotspot tracks to derive a plate-motion model relative to major hotspots in the Atlantic and Indian oceans. Interactive computer graphics were used to find the best fit of dated hotspot tracks on the Australian, Indian, African, and North and South American plates relative to present-day hotspots assumed fixed in the mantle. One set of rotation parameters can be found that satisfies all data constraints back to chron 34 (84 Ma) and supports little motion between the major hotspots in this hemisphere. For times between 130 and 84 Ma, the plate model is based solely on the trails of the Tristan da Cunha and Great Meteor hotspots. This approach results in a location of the Kerguelen hotspot distinct from and south of the Rajmahal Traps for this time interval. Between 115 and 105 Ma, our model locates the hotspot underneath the southern Kerguelen Plateau, which is compatible with an age estimate of this part of the plateau of 115-95 Ma. Our model suggests that the 85°E ridge between lat 10°N and the Afanasiy Nikitin seamounts may have been formed by a hotspot now located underneath the eastern Conrad rise.
136. 1993: Pollack, Henry N., Suzanne J. Hurter, and Jeffrey R. Johnson. “Heat flow from the Earth’s interior: analysis of the global data set.” Reviews of Geophysics 31.3 (1993): 267-280. We present a new estimate of the Earth’s heat loss based on a new global compilation of heat flow measurements comprising 24,774 observations at 20,201 sites. On a 5° × 5° grid, the observations cover 62% of the Earth’s surface. Empirical estimators, referenced to geological map units and derived from the observations, enable heat flow to be estimated in areas without measurements. Corrections for the effects of hydrothermal circulation in the oceanic crust compensate for the advected heat undetected in measurements of the conductive heat flux. The mean heat flows of continents and oceans are 65 and 101 mW m⁻², respectively, which when areally weighted yield a global mean of 87 mW m⁻² and a global heat loss of 44.2 × 10¹² W, an increase of some 4–8% over earlier estimates. More than half of the Earth’s heat loss comes from Cenozoic oceanic lithosphere. A spherical harmonic analysis of the global heat flow field reveals strong sectoral components and lesser zonal strength. The spectrum principally reflects the geographic distribution of the ocean ridge system. The rate at which the heat flow spectrum loses strength with increasing harmonic degree is similar to the decline in spectral strength exhibited by the Earth’s topography. The spectra of the gravitational and magnetic fields fall off much more steeply, consistent with field sources in the lower mantle and core, respectively. Families of continental and oceanic conductive geotherms indicate the range of temperatures existing in the lithosphere under various surface heat flow conditions. The heat flow field is very well correlated with the seismic shear wave velocity distribution near the top of the upper mantle. [FULL TEXT]
137. 1994: Stein, Carol A., and Seth Stein. “Constraints on hydrothermal heat flux through the oceanic lithosphere from global heat flow.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth 99.B2 (1994): 3081-3095. A significant discrepancy exists between the heat flow measured at the seafloor and the higher values predicted by thermal models of the cooling lithosphere. This discrepancy is generally interpreted as indicating that the upper oceanic crust is cooled significantly by hydrothermal circulation. The magnitude of this heat flow discrepancy is the primary datum used to estimate the volume of hydrothermal flow, and the variation in the discrepancy with lithospheric age is the primary constraint on how the hydrothermal flux is divided between near‐ridge and off‐ridge environments. The resulting estimates are important for investigation of both the thermal structure of the lithosphere and the chemistry of the oceans. We reevaluate the magnitude and age variation of the discrepancy using a global heat flow data set substantially larger than in earlier studies, and the GDH1 (Global Depth and Heat flow) model that better predicts the heat flow. We estimate that of the predicted global oceanic heat flux of 32×10¹² W, 34% (11×10¹² W) occurs by hydrothermal flow. Approximately 30% of the hydrothermal heat flux occurs in crust younger than 1 Ma, so the majority of this flux is off‐ridge. These hydrothermal heat flux estimates are upper bounds, because heat flow measurements require sediment at the site and so are made preferentially at topographic lows, where heat flow may be depressed. Because the water temperature for the near‐ridge flow exceeds that for the off‐ridge flow, the near‐ridge water flow will be even a smaller fraction of the total water flow. As a result, in estimating fluxes from geochemical data, use of the high water temperatures appropriate for the ridge axis may significantly overestimate the heat flux for an assumed water flux or underestimate the water flux for an assumed heat flux. Our data also permit improved estimates of the “sealing” age, defined as the age where the observed heat flow approximately equals that predicted, suggesting that hydrothermal heat transfer has largely ceased. Although earlier studies suggested major differences in sealing ages for different ocean basins, we find that the sealing ages for the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans are similar and consistent with the sealing age for the entire data set, 65±10 Ma. The previous inference of a young (∼20 Ma) sealing age for the Pacific appears to have biased downward several previous estimates of the global hydrothermal flux. The heat flow data also provide indirect evidence for the mechanism by which the hydrothermal heat flux becomes small, which has often been ascribed to isolation of the igneous crust from seawater due to the hydraulic conductivity of the intervening sediment. We find, however, that even the least sedimented sites show the systematic increase of the ratio of observed to predicted heat flow with age, although the more sedimented sites have a younger sealing age. Moreover, the heat flow discrepancy persists at heavily sedimented sites until ∼50 Ma. It thus appears that ∼100–200 m of sediment is neither necessary nor sufficient to stop hydrothermal heat transfer. We therefore conclude that the age of the crust is the primary control on the fraction of heat transported by hydrothermal flow and that sediment thickness has a lesser effect. This inference is consistent with models in which hydrothermal flow decreases with age due to reduced crustal porosity and hence permeability.
138. 1996: Thompson, Luanne, and Gregory C. Johnson. “Abyssal currents generated by diffusion and geothermal heating over rises.” Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers 43.2 (1996): 193-211. A continuously stratified (in both salinity and temperature) diffusive time-dependent one-dimensional f-plane model over a sloping bottom is constructed. The model is used to investigate the role of mixing of density near the bottom on large-scale abyssal flow near mid-ocean rises. For realistic abyssal values, both geothermal heating from the bottom and diffusion can be important to the dynamics of flow over mid-ocean rises. When diffusion dominates, buoyancy is transported toward the bottom and the θ–S (potential temperature-salinity) relation remains nearly linear. When geothermal heating dominates, the θ–Srelation hooks near the bottom and a convectively driven mixed layer forms. Both effects reduce the density and stratification near the bottom. In contrast, bottom-intensified diffusion has the same effect near the bottom but results in an increase of density and stratification some distance above the bottom. If the bottom slopes, a horizontal density gradient results, setting up a geostrophic, bottom-intensified, along-slope flow that can effect mass transport. Evidence of the importance of these processes is found in the abyssal Pacific. Just over the western flank of the East Pacific Rise, a 700–900 m thick layer of low N₂(buoyancy frequency) is warmer, saltier, and lighter than interior water at the same depth. This layer is described with CTD data from recent hydrographic sections at nominal latitudes 15°S and 10°N. If the interior is motionless, this low N² layer transports 4 and 8 × 10⁶ m³ s⁻¹ equatorward above the western flank of the rise at 15°S and 10°N, respectively. This equatorward current, a direct result of diffusion and heating over a sloping sea-floor, has a volume transport comparable to those of the deep western boundary current at these latitudes.
139. 2001: Scott, Jeffery R., Jochem Marotzke, and Alistair Adcroft. “Geothermal heating and its influence on the meridional overturning circulation.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 106.C12 (2001): 31141-31154. The effect of geothermal heating on the meridional overturning circulation is examined using an idealized, coarse‐resolution ocean general circulation model. This heating is parameterized as a spatially uniform heat flux of 50 m W m⁻² through the (flat) ocean floor, in contrast with previous studies that have considered regional circulation changes caused by an isolated hot spot or a series of plumes along the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge. In our model results the equilibrated response is largely advective: a deep perturbation of the meridional overturning cell on the order of several sverdrups is produced, connecting with an upper level circulation at high latitudes, allowing the additional heat to be released to the atmosphere. Rising motion in the perturbation deep cell is concentrated near the equator. The upward penetration of this cell is limited by the thermocline, analogous to the role of the stratosphere in limiting the upward penetration of convective plumes in the atmosphere. The magnitude of the advective response is inversely proportional to the deep stratification; with a weaker background meridional overturning circulation and a less stratified abyss the overturning maximum of the perturbation deep cell is increased. This advective response also cools the low‐latitude thermocline. The qualitative behavior is similar in both a single‐hemisphere and a double‐hemisphere configuration. In summary, the anomalous circulation driven by geothermal fluxes is more substantial than previously thought. We are able to understand the structure and strength of the response in the idealized geometry and further extend these ideas to explain the results of Adcroft et al. [2001], where the impact of geothermal heating was examined using a global configuration. [FULL TEXT]
140. 2001: Adcroft, Alistair, Jeffery R. Scott, and Jochem Marotzke. “Impact of geothermal heating on the global ocean circulation.” Geophysical Research Letters 28.9 (2001): 1735-1738. The response of a global circulation model to a uniform geothermal heat flux of 50 mW m⁻² through the sea floor is examined. If the geothermal heat input were transported upward purely by diffusion, the deep ocean would warm by 1.2°C. However, geothermal heating induces a substantial change in the deep circulation which is larger than previously assumed and subsequently the warming of the deep ocean is only a quarter of that suggested by the diffusive limit. The numerical ocean model responds most strongly in the Indo‐Pacific with an increase in meridional overturning of 1.8 Sv, enhancing the existing overturning by approximately 25%.  [FULL TEXT]
141. 2003: Bai, Wuming, Wenyue Xu, and Robert P. Lowell. “The dynamics of submarine geothermal heat pipes.” Geophysical Research Letters 30.3 (2003). To better understand natural two‐phase hydrothermal systems, we have constructed one‐dimensional heat‐pipe solutions for NaCl‐H₂O fluids and explored the effects of basal heat flux and permeability on their behavior. For seafloor conditions, saline brines form quickly at the base of the heat pipe; and in some cases halite is precipitated. NaCl‐H₂O heat pipes may become liquid or vapor dominated but, in contrast to their pure‐water counterparts, often do not achieve steady state. When steady state solutions do exist, they are characterized either by broad, weak counter‐flow or by vigorous counter‐flow across a thin layer. The latter behavior may be analogous to that occurring in the Salton Sea Geothermal System, California.
142. 2004: Fukasawa, Masao, et al. “Bottom water warming in the North Pacific Ocean.” Nature 427.6977 (2004): 825. Observations of changes in the properties of ocean waters have been restricted to surface¹ or intermediate-depth waters^2,3, because the detection of change in bottom water is extremely difficult owing to the small magnitude of the expected signals. Nevertheless, temporal changes in the properties of such deep waters across an ocean basin are of particular interest, as they can be used to constrain the transport of water at the bottom of the ocean and to detect changes in the global thermohaline circulation. Here we present a comparison of a trans-Pacific survey completed in 1985 (refs 4, 5) and its repetition in 1999 (ref. 6). We find that the deepest waters of the North Pacific Ocean have warmed significantly across the entire width of the ocean basin. Our observations imply that changes in water properties are now detectable in water masses that have long been insulated from heat exchange with the atmosphere.
143. 2005: Oskooi, Behrooz, et al. “The deep geothermal structure of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge deduced from MT data in SW Iceland.” Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors 150.1-3 (2005): 183-195. Iceland is very active tectonically as it is crossed by the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and its associated rift zones and transform faults. The high-temperature geothermal systems are located within the neo-volcanic zone. A detailed comparison of the main features of the resistivity models and well data in exploited geothermal fields has shown that the resistivity structure of Iceland is mainly controlled by alteration mineralogy. In areas where the geothermal circulation and related alteration take place at depths of more than 1.5 km, the investigation depth of the DC and TEM methods is inadequate and the MT method appears to be the most suitable survey method. MT soundings were carried out to determine the deep structure between two neighboring Quaternary geothermal fields: the Hengill volcanic complex and the Brennisteinsfjoll geothermal system, both known as high-temperature systems. MT data were analyzed and modeled using 1D and 2D inversion schemes. Our model of electrical conductivity can be related to secondary mineralization from geothermal fluids. At shallow depths, the resistivity model obtained from the MT data is consistent with the general geoelectrical models of high-temperature geothermal systems in Iceland, as revealed by shallow DC and TEM surveys. The current MT results reveal the presence of an outcropping resistive layer, identified as the typical unaltered porous basalt of the upper crust. This layer is underlain by a highly conductive cap resolved as the smectite–zeolite zone. Below this cap a less conductive zone is identified as the epidote–chlorite zone. A highly conductive material has been recognized in the middle of the profile, at about 5 km depth, and has been interpreted as cooling partial melt representing the main heat source of the geothermal system. This conductor may be connected to the shallow structure through a vertical fault zone located close to the southern edge of the profile
144. 2005: Adkins, Jess F., Andrew P. Ingersoll, and Claudia Pasquero. “Rapid climate change and conditional instability of the glacial deep ocean from the thermobaric effect and geothermal heating.” Quaternary Science Reviews 24.5-6 (2005): 581-594. Previous results from deep-sea pore fluid data demonstrate that the glacial deep ocean was filled with salty, cold water from the South. This salinity stratification of the ocean allows for the possible accumulation of geothermal heat in the deep-sea and could result in a water column with cold fresh water on top of warm salty water and with a corresponding increase in potential energy. For an idealized 4000 dbar two-layer water column, we calculate that there are ∼106 J/m2 (∼0.2 J/kg) of potential energy available when a 0.4 psu salinity contrast is balanced by a ∼2 °C temperature difference. This salt-based storage of heat at depth is analogous to Convectively Available Potential Energy (CAPE) in the atmosphere. The “thermobaric effect” in the seawater equation of state can cause this potential energy to be released catastrophically. Because deep ocean stratification was dominated by salinity at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the glacial climate is more sensitive to charging this “thermobaric capacitor” and can plausibly explain many aspects of the record of rapid climate change. Our mechanism could account for the grouping of Dansgaard/Oeschger events into Bond Cycles and for the different patterns of warming observed in ice cores from separate hemispheres.
145. 2006: Kawano, Takeshi, et al. “Bottom water warming along the pathway of lower circumpolar deep water in the Pacific Ocean.” Geophysical Research Letters 33.23 (2006). The role of the Thermo‐Haline Circulation (THC) in climate is an important aspect of the planetary response to global warming. Model studies suggest that the THC in the Atlantic Ocean is sensitive to anthropogenic climate change [Cubash and Meehl, 2001]. Recently Bryden et al. [2005] reported that the Atlantic meridional circulation had slowed by about 30% between 1957 and 2004, based on five sets of repeated trans‐Atlantic observations along 25°N. The warming trend of the global ocean [Levitus et al., 2000], decreases in the signature of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) in the South Pacific [Johnson et al., 1994], and the warming at mid‐depths in the Southern Ocean [Gille, 2002] could all potentially affect the THC in the Pacific Ocean. [3] Lower Circumpolar Deep Water (LCDW) formed in the Southern Ocean flows along the bottom in the Pacific Ocean as the northward component of the THC. It enters the Pacific east of New Zealand and flows northward to the North Pacific through the Samoan Passage. It upwells in the North Pacific and returns southward as modified North Pacific Deep Water (mNPDW) [Schmitz, 1996]. Repeated trans‐Pacific surveys along 47°N show that the deepest waters of the North Pacific Ocean have warmed significantly owing to a decrease in the volume of the colder portion of modified NADW, which is the upper part of LCDW [Fukasawa et al., 2004], but the relationship between this warming and reported decreases in the NADW signature in the South Pacific Ocean [Johnson et al., 1994; Johnson and Orsi, 1997] is not clear. Here we analyze data collected between 2003 and 2006 by trans‐Pacific surveys along 32°S, 149°E, 24°N, and 30°N. These surveys were designed to revisit the hydrographic stations previously occupied during the World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) and thus improve our understanding of temperature changes in the deep and bottom water of the Pacific Ocean.
146. 2006: Mullarney, Julia C., Ross W. Griffiths, and Graham O. Hughes. “The effects of geothermal heating on the ocean overturning circulation.” Geophysical research letters 33.2 (2006). We examine the response of an overturning circulation, driven by differential thermal forcing along the top horizontal boundary, to a small additional heat flux applied at the bottom horizontal boundary. The system forms a simple thermally‐driven flow that provides insight into the ocean’s meridional overturning circulation. We conclude that the additional destabilising (geothermal) heat flux tends to promote a more vigorous full‐depth overturning having approximately 10% greater volume flux than with no bottom heating. No significant change is observed in the vertical density structure. In contrast, the addition of a stabilising heat flux at the base leads to a shallow, partial‐depth circulation. The key diagnostic for the significance of the geothermal flux appears to be the ratio of the buoyancy flux supplied at the bottom to the residual buoyancy flux driving the downwelling plume through the base of the thermocline.
147. 2006: Björk, Göran, and Peter Winsor. “The deep waters of the Eurasian Basin, Arctic Ocean: Geothermal heat flow, mixing and renewal.” Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers 53.7 (2006): 1253-1271. Hydrographic observations from four separate expeditions to the Eurasian Basin of the Arctic Ocean between 1991 and 2001 show a 300–700 m thick homogenous bottom layer. The layer is characterized by slightly warmer temperature compared to ambient, overlying water masses, with a mean layer thickness of 500±100 m and a temperature surplus of 7.0±2×10⁻³ °C. The layer is present in the deep central parts of the Nansen and Amundsen Basins away from continental slopes and ocean ridges and is spatially coherent across the interior parts of the deep basins. Here we show that the layer is most likely formed by convection induced by geothermal heat supplied from Earth’s interior. Data from 1991 to 1996 indicate that the layer was in a quasi steady state where the geothermal heat supply was balanced by heat exchange with a colder boundary. After 1996 there is evidence of a reformation of the layer in the Amundsen Basin after a water exchange. Simple numerical calculations show that it is possible to generate a layer similar to the one observed in 2001 in 4–5 years, starting from initial profiles with no warm homogeneous bottom layer. Limited hydrographic observations from 2001 indicate that the entire deep-water column in the Amundsen Basin is warmer compared to earlier years. We argue that this is due to a major deep-water renewal that occurred between 1996 and 2001.
148. 2006: Kawano, Takeshi, et al. “Bottom water warming along the pathway of lower circumpolar deep water in the Pacific Ocean.” Geophysical Research Letters 33.23 (2006). Repeat trans‐Pacific hydrographic observations along the pathway of Lower Circumpolar Deep Water (LCDW) reveal that bottom water has warmed by about 0.005 to 0.01°C in recent decades. The warming is probably not from direct heating of LCDW, but is manifest as a decrease of the coldest component of LCDW evident at each hydrographic section. This result is consistent with numerical model results of warming associated with decreased bottom water formation rates around Antarctica.  [FULL TEXT]
149. 2009: Emile-Geay, Julien, and Gurvan Madec. “Geothermal heating, diapycnal mixing and the abyssal circulation.” Ocean Science5.2 (2009): 203-217. The dynamical role of geothermal heating in abyssal circulation is reconsidered using three independent arguments. First, we show that a uniform geothermal heat flux close to the observed average (86.4 mW m−2) supplies as much heat to near-bottom water as a diapycnal mixing rate of ~10−4 m2 s−1 – the canonical value thought to be responsible for the magnitude of the present-day abyssal circulation. This parity raises the possibility that geothermal heating could have a dynamical impact of the same order. Second, we estimate the magnitude of geothermally-induced circulation with the density-binning method (Walin, 1982), applied to the observed thermohaline structure of Levitus (1998). The method also allows to investigate the effect of realistic spatial variations of the flux obtained from heatflow measurements and classical theories of lithospheric cooling. It is found that a uniform heatflow forces a transformation of ~6 Sv at σ4=45.90, which is of the same order as current best estimates of AABW circulation. This transformation can be thought of as the geothermal circulation in the absence of mixing and is very similar for a realistic heatflow, albeit shifted towards slightly lighter density classes. Third, we use a general ocean circulation model in global configuration to perform three sets of experiments: (1) a thermally homogenous abyssal ocean with and without uniform geothermal heating; (2) a more stratified abyssal ocean subject to (i) no geothermal heating, (ii) a constant heat flux of 86.4 mW m−2, (iii) a realistic, spatially varying heat flux of identical global average; (3) experiments (i) and (iii) with enhanced vertical mixing at depth. Geothermal heating and diapycnal mixing are found to interact non-linearly through the density field, with geothermal heating eroding the deep stratification supporting a downward diffusive flux, while diapycnal mixing acts to map near-surface temperature gradients onto the bottom, thereby altering the density structure that supports a geothermal circulation. For strong vertical mixing rates, geothermal heating enhances the AABW cell by about 15% (2.5 Sv) and heats up the last 2000 m by ~0.15°C, reaching a maximum of by 0.3°C in the deep North Pacific. Prescribing a realistic spatial distribution of the heat flux acts to enhance this temperature rise at mid-depth and reduce it at great depth, producing a more modest increase in overturning than in the uniform case. In all cases, however, poleward heat transport increases by ~10% in the Southern Ocean. The three approaches converge to the conclusion that geothermal heating is an important actor of abyssal dynamics, and should no longer be neglected in oceanographic studies.
150. 2009: Hofmann, M., and Morales Maqueda. “Geothermal heat flux and its influence on the oceanic abyssal circulation and radiocarbon distribution.” Geophysical Research Letters 36.3 (2009). Geothermal heating of abyssal waters is rarely regarded as a significant driver of the large‐scale oceanic circulation. Numerical experiments with the Ocean General Circulation Model POTSMOM‐1.0 suggest, however, that the impact of geothermal heat flux on deep ocean circulation is not negligible. Geothermal heating contributes to an overall warming of bottom waters by about 0.4°C, decreasing the stability of the water column and enhancing the formation rates of North Atlantic Deep Water and Antarctic Bottom Water by 1.5 Sv (10%) and 3 Sv (33%), respectively. Increased influx of Antarctic Bottom Water leads to a radiocarbon enrichment of Pacific Ocean waters, increasing Δ¹⁴C values in the deep North Pacific from −269‰ when geothermal heating is ignored in the model, to −242‰ when geothermal heating is included. A stronger and deeper Atlantic meridional overturning cell causes warming of the North Atlantic deep western boundary current by up to 1.5°C.
151. 2010: Masuda, Shuhei, et al. “Simulated rapid warming of abyssal North Pacific waters.” Science (2010): 1188703. Recent observational surveys have shown significant oceanic bottom-water warming. However, the mechanisms causing such warming remain poorly understood and their time scales are uncertain. Here, we report computer simulations that reveal a fast teleconnection between changes in the surface air-sea heat flux off the Adélie Coast of Antarctica and the bottom-water warming in the North Pacific. In contrast to conventional estimates of a multicentennial timescale, this link is established over only four decades through the action of internal waves. Changes in the heat content of the deep ocean are thus far more sensitive to the air-sea thermal interchanges than previously considered. Our findings require a reassessment of the role of the Southern Ocean in determining the impact of atmospheric warming on deep oceanic waters
152. 2015: James Edward Kamis, Deep Ocean Rock Layer Mega-Fluid Flow Systems  [LINK]  Fluid flow of chemically charged seawater through and within very deep ocean rock layers is virtually unknown until recently. It is here proposed that the flow rate, flow amount, and flow duration of these systems is many orders of magnitude greater than previously thought. As a result the affect these systems have on our climate has been dramatically underestimated. It is proposed that Deep Ocean Rock Layer fluid Flow Systems are quite possibly an extremely important factor in influencing earth’s atmospheric climate, earth’s ocean climate, and earth’s ocean biologic communities. The mechanism for these relationships are strong El Nino’s / La Nina’s, altering major ocean currents, locally altering polar ice cap melting, infusing the ocean with needed minerals, affecting ocean fish migration patterns, acting to maintain huge chemosynthetic communities, acting to spread new species, and acting to eliminate weak species. It is possible that these systems will be proved to be unique/ different from land based hydrodynamic systems in many ways, and if proven correct this would be an extremely important new concept. Scientists have assumed that land based fluid flow / hydrologic systems would be a good analogy. It is here contended that this is an incorrect assumption. These deep ocean systems do not act like land based systems. The major difference of deep ocean fluid flow systems is that they likely flow significantly greater amounts of heat and chemically charged fluid than previously realized. Deep ocean hydrothermal vents and cold seeps are here hypothesized be a just a small part of these here-to-for unrecognized and much larger deep ocean fluid flow systems. This is a very different way of perceiving fluid flow through deep ocean basin rock and sediment layers. To date most scientists have thought of deep ocean rock and sediment layers as basically bottom seals that largely did not and do not interact with the overlying ocean. It is here contended that these systems will be some day be proven to be immense, many of them covering huge regions and extending to great depths of many thousands of feet into ocean rock and sediment layers. In essence they will be found to be part of a continuum between the ocean crust, which they are part of, and upper mantle. Some of the perceived important differences between deep ocean fluid flow systems and land hydrologic systems are as follows
153. 2016: James Edward Kamis, How Geological Forces Rock the Earth’s Climate [LINK]  Geological forces influence the planet’s climate in many specific and measurable ways. They melt the base of polar glaciers, abruptly change the course of deep ocean currents, influence the distribution of plankton blooms, infuse our atmosphere with volcanic sulfur rich ash, modify huge sub-ocean biologic communities, and generate all El Niño / La Niñas’ cycles. Given all of this very convincing information, many of today’s supposedly expert scientists still vehemently insist that our climate is completely / exclusively driven by atmospheric forces. This work challenges that orthodoxy. Three new game-changing pieces of geological information have been revealed: the discovery of an extensive field of active seafloor volcanoes and faults in the far western Pacific, iron enrichment of a huge ocean region off the coast of Antarctica, and the timing of western Pacific Ocean earthquakes vs. El Niños. A significant portion of the Earth’s climate is driven by massive fluid flow of super-heated and chemically charged seawater up and out from major fault zones and associated volcanic features. New geological information is changing the way we view long term climate variability. The data covers significant areas of the ocean measured in hundreds of miles laterally and thousands of feet vertically, and lastly the data is clearly related to geological forces and rather than the exclusive domain of the atmosphere.
154. 2017: James Edward Kamis, Global Warming and Plate Climatology Theory [LINK] The Plate Climatology Theory was originally posted on Climate Change Dispatch October 7, 2014. Since that time other information in the form of several relatively new publications has been incorporated into the theory, and as a result key aspects of the theory have been strengthened. Not proven, but strengthened. This new information does prove one thing, that this theory should be given strong consideration by all scientists studying Global Climate. I am in no way attempting to prove the other guys wrong. Rather Plate Climatology is intended to be additive to the excellent work done to date. It may open the way to resolving the “Natural Variation” question currently being debated by Climate Scientists. What could be more natural than geological events influencing Climate? It is expected that this work will act as a catalyst for future research and provide a platform to join what are now several independently researched branches of science; Geology, Climatology, Meteorology, and Biology. The science of Climate is extremely complex and necessitates a multi-disciplinary approach.
155. 2018: James Edward Kamis, The influence of oceanic and continental fault boundaries on climate [LINK] Another giant piece of the climate science puzzle just fell into place, specifically that geological heat flow is now proven to be the primary force responsible for anomalous bottom melting and break-up of many West Antarctica glaciers, and not atmospheric warming. This new insight is the result of a just released National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Antarctica geological research study (see here). Results of this study have forever changed how consensus climate scientists and those advocating the theory of Climate Change / Global Warming, view Antarctica’s anomalous climate and climate related events. In a broader theoretical sense, results of the NASA study challenge the veracity of the most important building block principle of the Climate Change Theory, specifically that emissions of CO2 and carbon by humans is responsible for the vast majority of earth’s anomalous climate phenomena. This article will provide evidence that geological forces associated with major oceanic and continental fault boundaries influence and in some cases completely control a significant portion of earth’s anomalous climate and many of its anomalous climate related events.

Don’t you understand, what I’m trying to say?
Can’t you feel the fears I’m feeling today?
If the carbon budget is crossed, there’s no running away,
There’ll be no one to save when the planet’s in the grave,
Take a look around you, boy, the climate’s bound to scare you, boy,
And you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
Ah, you don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction.
Yeah, my blood’s so mad, feels like coagulatin’,
I’m sittin’ here, just contemplatin’,
I can twist the truth, until it is a scarin’,
The bad bad deniers want to stop climate action
And consensus alone must stop the denyin’,
When the climate system is disintegratin’,
And the sea level rise is just too frustratin’,
And you tell me over and over and over again my friend,
Ah, you don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction.
Think of all the coal there is in Red China!
Then take a look around at Trump’s West Virginia!
Ah, you may leave here, for four days in space,
But when your return, it’s the climate change place,
Our carbon emission is a goddam disgrace,
If you drive your SUV don’t show your face,
Your carbon lifestyle is killing this place,
And you tell me over and over and over and over again my friend,
You don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction.
No, no, you don’t believe we’re on the eve of destruction.

With apologies to Barry McGuire and P.F. Sloan

Press Conference at the Launch of the IPCC Synthesis Report (Tivoli Conference Center, Lumbye Room) (REMARKS, Q&A) (with Mrs. Ban) (Nesirky)