William M. Connolley
stoat
Posts by this author
May 11, 2006
The grauniad has an article in the IT section about "A cracking alternative to cement". They claim that cement is 10% of anthro CO2 (or 5-10% lower down; although that includes asphalt, which for some reason counts as cement based. Odd) is from cement. That didn't fit with my memories.
So I dig out…
May 8, 2006
Yes, the CCSP report is now out (thanks het for the link), and it looks like the story has a happy ending after all: there is no longer a discrepancy in the rate of global average temperature increase for the surface compared with higher levels in the atmosphere. This discrepancy had previously…
May 7, 2006
I needed a new pair of trousers (shorts, actually) at short notice. My wife bought me a pair at Tesco's (sort of like Wal-Mart, if you're not from the UK). Looked very nice, cost £4. At that price, I joked, its cheaper to throw them away rather than wash them.
And indeed it might be best. After 1…
May 4, 2006
The Grauniad echoes Nature (subs req, but since the Grauniad appears to have copied Nature fairly thoroughly you're not losing much) in saying that the US govt has leaked (do they use that phrase? well I shall) the IPCC AR4 second draft. This is of course naughty of them.
To test that they actually…
May 4, 2006
This is about "Model projections of the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation for the 21st century assessed by observations" by A. Schmittner, M. Latif, and B. Schneider (here if you have a GRL subscription). Its interesting for two reasons: another data point on the "will the THC shutdown" (no…
May 4, 2006
The last UK census included "Jedi" amongst the various religions, and came out quite highly. So its appropriate to note that today must be Jedi day - May the fourth be with you, ho ho (thanks Phil). Its also a beautiful day here.
May 2, 2006
An alert antipodean reader points out... http://www.climatescience.org.nz/ (no, I'm not going to link them, why inc their hit count. In fact they are so pointless I won't bother demolishing their junk, but I will poke fun at them for a bit). They make the traditional septic claims of being experts…
May 1, 2006
If JA can blog about Azaleas, I don't see why I shouldn't mention narrowboating. So we chugged up the Cam (/Ouse) to Ely to visit the cathedral again, it repays multiple visits. Happily the choir were practicing, and then they had a choral service, with unbelievers like us allowed to listen.
And…
May 1, 2006
RC had a recent post about some errors in von S's Science '04 article. Now Salon.com has an article on it too, being nice to us. Jolly good.
The main point made is a statistical one - read RC for that. A second one is the error in the initialisation procedure for von S's model run (not sufficiently…
April 29, 2006
Yes, only in Japan... See James Annan.
Somewhat more seriously, John Fleck praises Benny Peiser (don't worry folks, its not for his climate-type opinions, which remain junk, but for finding some interesting papers on impacts).
And over at RealClimate, even more seriously, the long-awaiting post…
April 25, 2006
An astute (?) reader points me towards Even greener than he thinks by Melanie Phillips. Apart from starting off with a few good points (why is it "green" to fly by private jet to the Arctic for a photo-op) we are down to the usual tedium (the Hockey stick *isn't* fatally flawed; GW isn't based on…
April 24, 2006
Sigh. I really shouldn't fall for this stuff. But its so desperate, its worth pointing out. Ref is http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,192544,00.html (I'll avoid linking it in the hope you don't upgrade their hit count). Milloy sez he is debunking two key myths of climate alarmism, including that…
April 19, 2006
It constantly amazes me how completely cr*p the climate septics are. I dont mean the skeptics - e.g. Lindzen, who is a better met man than me, though he has gone a bit emeritus recently - I mean flacks like Milloy. If you want to be skeptical of GW, then the only real point at issue is "will be be…
April 19, 2006
Tim Lambert notes that Science advocates blogging (and since they mention RC and scienceblogs, who can disagree?). They also mention James A; he raises the interesting point about blogs being tolerated rather than encouraged. Certainly I get no work-credit at all for this (not that I was expecting…
April 17, 2006
Thats from the Grauniad. Its was on the BBC 10 o'clock news. It was Scientist issues grim warning on global warming in the Times. But why? Thats what I was wondering, as I watched the news (just for once on TV; from my mothers house, on hols for Easter. Very nice too but no wireless connection…
April 13, 2006
The EU has an emissions trading regime (must find out about this sometime), and apparently prices are up... EU CO2 Emission Prices Hit New Record High says Planetark. Higher gas/oil prices makes burning coal more economical, which is more CO2 intensive, so quota prices rise. And its been dry so…
April 11, 2006
Before the main post, here is Daniels joke of the day: what do you call a fly with no wings? Answer...
...a walk!
Anyway, on the BBC 10 o'clock news a brief throwaway comment: the Iranians have made some enriched uranium, "with the help of god" (thats not an exact quote, but it was something like…
April 6, 2006
To start off, an image from the commercial district. Sorry I couldn't centre myself properly.
Zorita (and von S): ECHO-G-II fits NCAR quite well (ECHO-I has higher T during MWP-ish; no mention of HadCM3) and he explicitly notes the hockey stick shape. HadCM3 comes in a bit later, and if you look…
April 5, 2006
A view of the cathedral, which looms up over the streets on my way to the U-bahn.
Start off with a pile of global radiation / global dimming / global brightening, and indeed moisture trends (the best dataset for soil moisture comes from the FSU cos they cared about their wheat fields). A model…
April 5, 2006
A few pics, just in case you think that Vienna is all beauteous; here I choose about the least attractive angle to see the Austria Centre from. . And a maybe irridescent cloud. Not sure. And Richard Alley, from his medal talk. And a slightly nicer view of the conf centre (can you spot it?) from the…
April 4, 2006
Tuesday morning has at least 4 sessions I could have been interested in. Leave EPICA for later and start off (cos I happen to pass the room) with Latif on MOC; which to me provides more evidence not to worry about it. Thence into the climate sensitivity session, which is packed.
Matt Collins talks…
April 3, 2006
The NYT profiles Gavin Schmidt: Dr. Schmidt's demeanor melds the subtle elegance of an Oxford-educated Englishman (which he is) with the savvy of a street-smart New Yorker... ah how true (though there is more of the blood-lust of the NY lawyer in his question style at conferences). Thanks to PT for…
April 2, 2006
Testing testing... is the EGU wireless network working? Yes. Good. Unlike the mike of the current speaker :-(
Anyway, following a late (1 a.m.; flight delay, then the Ryanair coach took the backroads to avoid the motorway tolls; then dumped us on the outskirts of vienna) arrival at my hotel, and an…
April 1, 2006
I was too boring to have an April fools post - sorry. What would it have been? Probably something like "BAS bureaucracy discovers sanity; throws out childcare and H+S policy" but thats rather a bitter joke. Anyway, I liked PZ born again.
March 30, 2006
Its not often I get a paper into Science (although admittedly I'm last author) so I'll mention it here: Significant Warming of the Antarctic
Winter Troposphere J. Turner, T. A. Lachlan-Cope, S. Colwell, G. J. Marshall, W. M. Connolley, 31 march 2006, v311. The paper is mostly observational, I did a…
March 30, 2006
Via Chris Mooney, I find Bush talking nonsense on GW again at a press conference. Chris Mooney thinks Bush is rubbish, but actually cuts the Bush quote off to early. Bush sez:
We -- first of all, there is -- the globe is warming. The fundamental debate: Is it manmade or natural. Put that aside. It…
March 29, 2006
I stole my headline from RP Jr, who links to the Nature article. RP Jr modestly makes no comment; RP Sr is so modest as to not even mention it (though he is puffing the distinctly dodgy Scarfetta and West paper).
So its up to me to comment, who else? Its a very soft article, nice and gentle. Most (…
March 28, 2006
Need a hint? Its Bowie.
OK then, if you didn't get it, the answer is "Time". Bowie meant the abstract concept; this post is about the magazine, whose current cover is a polar bear wondering which floe to jump to next, with the headline Global Warming: Be Worried. Be Very Worried. Whilst I agree…
March 28, 2006
Said the headline in this mornings Grauniad. And by the evening it had become Labour fails on climate change on the Grauniad blog; though the spin was Beckett unveils new measures to cut CO2 or Climate change programme unveiled. And similar from the BBC.
How to read this? Labour clung stubbornly to…
March 26, 2006
Over at an ID blog (I promise I don't read it regularly folks, blame RPM for pointing it out... looking closer I see the text there is somewhat wrong, this is probably the official version but its much the same) there is the text of "The Need for Heretics: Freeman Dyson, Institute for Advanced…