A Few Things Ill Considered

Moving along….

Posted by coby on December 15, 2010
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Okay, we really need a topic change around here and I have about 40,000 (or is it 40??) tabs open in Firefox waiting to spark a conversation. Some are months old news now, somewhat more than stale. That gives you all an indication of the gap between my intentions and my performance these days….I have an hour before my travels back to Czech Republic begin, and I will be out of contact for a couple of days, I think the time is now.

So, lets just do a bit of a topic dump and see what catches on.

India is building a wall along its border with Bangledesh. I wonder how people who consider the prospect of slowly retreating from a rising sea level no big deal file that kind of factoid?

John Cook continues to provide great resources.

This summer, Russia delivered a tanker of natural gas to asia via the North West Passage.

Fool Me Once came out with another excellent video presentation.

The WMO had an interesting essay putting the recent extreme weather events in Russia and Pakistan in context. I don’t think the Pakistani flooding was even over at that time.

NASA GISS put up a page in July describing the anomalies. There is a graph of the moving 12 month mean which shows we hit new records several months in a row and if we were not arbitraily defining a year as Jan-Dec there would perhaps be a bit less of the “no warming for 15 years” crap. More on that from the Wonk Room and NOAA.

Back to last summer’s records, Jeff Masters and Weather Underground had many interesting things to say. See this as well especially the graphic placing recent Russian heat waves against the probability distribution you would get if things were normal (they aren’t).

Things Break had an interesting visualization of the strange balance CNN chose to present when covering a new study laying out 11 indicators of a warming world.

Despite the aforementioned “no warming for 15 years” meme, NOAA tells us the last decade was the warmest on record.

Check out a very meaty climate assessment, again from NOAA.

Here is an amazing photo of a shocking fish kill event that at the time some suspected was related to the BP oil spill. Does anyone know more about that?

And look at that! My tabs are down to the the handful I always have open! That should be enough for everyone to chew over for the next few days, play nice while I’m gone and remeber 3 links in one comment land you in moderation.

Cheers.

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Comments

  1. #1 Lou Grinzo
    December 16, 2010

    Thanks for highlighting that wall India is building and lining with armed guards. I’m convinced a lot of people in the US, for example, have zero clue about how messy things will get in that part of the world when the many, many millions of people living downstream of the Himalayan glaciers have not enough fresh water, and some, like tens of millions in Bangladesh, are also squeezed by rising sea levels. As Heidi Cullen points out, Bangladesh has roughly half the population of the US in an area the size of the state of Iowa, and a lot of that land is flat and barely above sea level.

  2. #2 Knightly
    December 16, 2010

    The fish kill is interesting and I don’t mean to diminish the impact of the oil spill on our marine life in the slightest as I know we are completely ignoring it now that we can’t see it anymore. That said, I think it’s definitely worth noting that the fish kill is not an unusual thing and what is unusual is that it’s multi-species.

  3. #3 crakar24
    December 16, 2010

    Lou or Coby,

    can either of you please explain how the building of a security wall to keep undesirables out of India (or maybe keep them in) has anything to do with AGW? How can we go from this to glaciers melting in the same breath?

  4. #4 crakar24
    December 16, 2010

    Atomflot icebreakers are nuclear powered ice breakers, interesting how the NTH WST passage is “open” only if you are following an ice breaker.

  5. #5 crakar24
    December 16, 2010

    The WMO forgot a few “signs” we here in Australia despite the drought and wildfires were looking at a record crop harvest this year due to very good winter rains. Unfortunately the winter rains have extended into spring and now summer, this unusual rain coupled with a locust plague (getting ready for the frogs now) has caused massive crop damage.

    And we mustnt forgot the coldest start to december for 100 years in Europe is also a “sign” of AGW.

    There is 3 posts that should help you to move along Coby.

    Cheers

  6. #6 wagdog
    December 17, 2010

    can either of you please explain how the building of a security wall to keep undesirables out of India (or maybe keep them in) has anything to do with AGW?

    Simple. Climate change is expected to instigate mass migrations that could threaten stability of world governments. Even the US Pentagon recognises this as a threat to national security.

  7. #7 mandas
    December 20, 2010

    Thanks coby!!!!

    We really need something to change the subject. I haven’t anything to say at the moment – its too early in the morning here and I have to take a sick dog to the vet. But I will have a good look and say something – anything – shortly to try and shift the focus. This is just a ‘bump’ to put this thread on the ‘recent comments’ list.

    I know that sometimes we are accused – rightfully probably – of discussing inanities on occasion. But Dick is the king of stupidity (I guess that makes him King Dick). I checked out some of his posts at other sites, and it appears to be his normal modus operandi to totally and completely dominate a whole site until the moderator gets sick of him and either bans him or at least restricts his posts. I’m not suggesting that – that’s entirely up to you (its your site after all).

    But seriously, I am convinced the guy has a severe case of OCD. Or maybe hes just deluded about his own level of competence and knowledge. He certainly knows a hell of a lot less about statistics than he thinks he does, and to keep on and on and on and on and on and on………. about a handful of sites in one tiny corner of the world as if it means something. And to use a meaningless data point as if it is also meaningful – well, it says a lot about the necessity of some level of scientific education if you wish to embark on a discussion of science.

    Oh well – that’s my piece for now. I promise to come up with something worth discussing shortly. Maybe I will write an op-ed piece on experimental design and the importance of selecting the right data and the right data treatment if you want to try and test a hypothesis. It would appear that that sort of basic science knowledge is sadly lacking.