Earth Science
Category archives for Earth Science
Rob Dunbar: Discovering ancient climates in oceans and ice
Posted by Greg Laden on September 15, 2010 This Rob Dunbar is NOT Robin Dunbar the Archaeologist. Rob Dunbar hunts for data on our climate from 12,000 years ago, finding clues inside ancient seabeds and corals and inside ice sheets. His work is vital in setting baselines for fixing our current climate — and in tracking the rise of deadly ocean acidification.
Science as a Contact Sport by Stephen Schneider
Posted by Greg Laden on August 3, 2010 In the 1960s, the whole idea of a “greenhouse effect” was well understood, and assumed to be an important potential factor in climate change. So was glaciation, and the short and medium term future of the Earth’s climate was less clear than compared to now. But the basics were there … C02 was being released…
Why the Wind Blows: A History of Weather
Posted by Greg Laden on August 2, 2010 Why does the wind blow, and why does it blow the way it does?
What was that splash? Oh. Greenland melting.
Posted by Greg Laden on August 2, 2010 See the missing bit? That is a 1.5 kilometer retreat of the so-called “calving front” of the glacier. In truth, this particular sort of even is not that unusual, but what is interesting is that new satellite monitoring capabilities allow researchers to notice these events more or less when they happen, as opposed to during…
1969 Global Warming White House Memo
Posted by Greg Laden on August 1, 2010 Anthropogenic global warming has been suspected for decades, and a simple one paragraph long characterization of the problem 40 years ago was substantially identical to any accurate characterization we might make today. One has to wonder why after 40 years of time we still see headlines telling us that it might, after all, turn out…
Triassic Life on Land: I love this book
Posted by Greg Laden on July 28, 2010 The Triassic is old. This book is new. That is a hard to beat combination.
Framing the Pacific Garbage Patch
Posted by Greg Laden on April 1, 2010 Various environmental organizations have been using imagery of dead baby birds with toothbrushes in their guts and solid floating masses of garbage to describe and raise alarm about what has become known as the North Pacific Central Garbage Patch. Yet, the small but important amount of research that has been done there shows that the…
Keep track of the Earth’s seismic activity
Posted by Greg Laden on February 2, 2010 Seismic Monitor Earthquakes In The Last Week USGS
Out of place oak is 13 thousand years old
Posted by Greg Laden on January 2, 2010 One of the world’s oldest plants turns out to be a 13,000 year-old scrub oak (Quercus palmeri, or Palmer’s Oak) in Southern California. Apparently this tree has survived for so long, despite the fact that it was born in the ice age and there have been numerous climate changes since then, by cloning itself, hiding…
Global Warming Basics ~ 02 ~ Greenhouse Effect, Greenhouse Gas
Posted by Greg Laden on December 23, 2009 Why Greenhouses have nothing to do with the Greenhouse Effect, and more importantly, why CAN’T I microwave toast? A greenhouse is a glass house sealed to keep air in but made of glass allow sunlight in. This sunlight contributes to the heat in the greenhouse by warming the ground or other material in the greenhouse,…
Global Warming Basics ~ 01 ~ Introduction
Posted by Greg Laden on December 21, 2009 Every now and then I get out my old Blog Epic on Global Warming and dust it off. I’m thinking it is time to do it again. This is a seven part series of Global Warming that covers much of the basics. Enjoy. Or get mad at me. Whatever.
James Randi and Global Warming
Posted by Greg Laden on December 16, 2009 Yesterday, James Randi put up a blog post in which he questioned the validity of anthropogenic global warming. He has subsequently made the statement that he probably has more thinking to do about global warming, and he admits that he really knows nothing about it. So Randi’s blog post is, essentially, a non-starter as an…
Storms of my Grandchildren by James Hansen
Posted by Greg Laden on December 5, 2009 Subtitled “The truth about the coming climate catastrophe and our last chance to save humanity,” this might be a book you should read.
Global Warming Email-Gate and the Smoking Gun Evidence for Lies and Distortions
Posted by Greg Laden on December 1, 2009 It has now been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that stuff has been made up and foisted on the American Public.
How Young is the Grand Canyon?
Posted by Greg Laden on October 20, 2009 To answer that question briefly, it is really really old if you mean “how old are the oldest rocks that are exposed by the Grand Canyon,” and it is probably just a few million years old (5 or 6 by some estimates) if you mean “how long did the canyon itself take to form.” An…
We need these climate change ads in the US.
Posted by Greg Laden on October 15, 2009 From James at Island of Doubt.
Global warming and the Minnesota Moose. Part IIa
Posted by Greg Laden on October 4, 2009 This is a continuation of a discussion on the role of Global Warming in the decline of moose populations in Minnesota. It is also a discussion of Global Warming denialism.
Global Warming, The Decline of the Moose, and “Minnesota Nice”
Posted by Greg Laden on September 28, 2009 We have had a cool summer here in Minnesota, and this has brought out the miscreants who for their own reasons do not want to get on board with the simple, well demonstrated scientific fact that global temperatures have risen, that we humans are the primary cause, and that this climate change has negative consequences.
Beck, Hannity: Global Warming Called Off
Posted by Greg Laden on September 26, 2009 What they are referring to is a paper by Mojib Latif in which he notes that the media often misrepresent global warming as a continuous, year by year increase in temperature. The truth, of course, is that annual temperature varies up and down but the baseline for this variation has been going continuously up. Like…
Distribution of Water on the Earth
Posted by Greg Laden on August 4, 2009 This has come up a couple of times recently, so I thought I’d summarize the information here. The distribution of water on Earth in cubic kilometers Salt water: 1,318,062,462 Glaciers: 28,005,430 Groundwater: 12,270,210 Lakes: 106,396 Swamps: 13,452 Rivers: 2,446 Vapor: 13,000 Biological: 1,120 (Biological means like your spit and guts and all the juicy parts…
Scientia pro publica # Seven
Posted by Greg Laden on July 6, 2009 Scientia pro publica is a blog carnival dedicated to bringing together in one place links to the best of science blogging that would be of general interest. The previous edition of this carnival is at Mauka to Makai. You can find out about earlier editions and future editions at the carnival’s web page, here. You…
MSNBC: Time to retire Buchanan (an open letter)
Posted by Greg Laden on July 1, 2009 Dear MSNBC, I know it is appropriate to have a range of opinions among the talking heads representing a news agency, and MSNBC certainly does have a range. Pat Buchanan, regular commentator on two or three MSNBC news shows, probably serves at the most conservative individual in the MSNBC panoply. But he has to go…
NASA researching California fault system
Posted by Greg Laden on June 18, 2009 I just got this massive continental plate sized press release from JPL. Below the fold. – – – – – the fold – – – -
New theory on Earth’s Magnetic Field: Theory interesting, reporting botched
Posted by Greg Laden on June 15, 2009 This is one of those science stories that is on one hand fairly simple, and on the other hand fairly complex, where the interface between simplicity and complexity causes little balls of misunderstanding to come flying out of the mix like pieces of raw pizza dough if the guy making the pizza was the Tasmanian…
Flight 447 and the ITCZ
Posted by Greg Laden on June 9, 2009 I had never felt airsick before, or since. But now I was a nauseated rag doll flopping around in the middle row of a six seater prop plane and I was ready to hurl at any moment. BBC depiction of the path of Flight 447. I find it astonishing that the most important weather related…
New Global Warming Predictions: Bad news and really bad news.
Posted by Greg Laden on May 23, 2009 One item is just published in the Journal of Climate. Simply put, the use of some very sophisticated and probably quite trustworthy models suggests that extratropical cyclones (so this means winter storms and such, mainly) will have a good deal more precipitation in them. In the model … … There is a small reduction in…
Origin Of Life Can’t Be Explained by Science!
Posted by Greg Laden on May 6, 2009 It’s just too much of a leap! But don’t worry, Texas Educators have it under control. I love the way she says Jump, like with two syllables. Good thing the slack jawed yokels are in charge down in Texas. We would not really want Texans to stop being as stoopid as they’all are, they would…
Global Warming: Not a Problem!
Posted by Greg Laden on May 6, 2009 According to Texas Education Expert! She knows because she looked at some web sites!!!!!!!!! Holy Crap!!!!
Extinction of the Old, Evolution of the New: What really happened to the dinosaurs?
Posted by Greg Laden on May 6, 2009 Many years ago, a sudden event occurred that changed everything. Or at least, that is what we think now. But in truth, the event took longer than many today believe, and many of the specific details, the exact order of events, the actual meaning of each detail, are not fully understood. Indeed, in the process…
She’s gonna blow!!!! No doubt that Redoubt will blow any moment/hour/day
Posted by Greg Laden on May 5, 2009 Erik Klemetti has an excellent description of the situation here. Redoubt is WSW of Anchorage, Alaska but is otherwise, I think, pretty isolated. Keep an eye on it here and here, via web cam. Good thing someone is keeping an eye on these volcanoes!
, which is now available for the 
