RealClimate
Climate science commentary by actual climate scientists...
 |
Climate change methadone?
August 20, 2008
Geoengineering is increasingly being discussed (not so sotto voce any more) in many forums. The current wave of interest has been piqued by Paul Crutzen's 2005 editorial and a number of workshops (commentary) and high profile advocacy. But most of the discussion has occurred in almost total ignorance of the consequences of embarking on such [...]
Are geologists different?
August 19, 2008
The International Geological Congress (IGC) is sometimes referred to as the geologists' equivalent of the Olympic Games and is an extremely large gathering of geologists from all over the world, taking place at 4-year intervals. This time, the IGC took place in Lillestrøm, a small place just outside Oslo, Norway (August 6-14). The congress was [...]
Hypothesis testing and long range memory
August 10, 2008
What is the actual hypothesis you are testing when you compare a model to an observation? It is not a simple as 'is the model any good' - though many casual readers might assume so. Instead, it is a test of a whole set of assumptions that went into building the model, the forces driving [...]
Comprehensive climate glossary
August 9, 2008
Recently we received a request for setting up a glossary-only search mechanism, or perhaps one web page with a long list of glossary entries with hot links to full explanations. The glossary that we already have is a good start, but we are all busy and it's hard to find the time for extending [...]
Bridging the divides
August 2, 2008
We often discuss the issues that arise in doing interdisciplinary work in climate science, and Liz Moyer and I have a commentary on that just out in Nature Reports Climate Change. Normally I don't mention these kinds of pieces on the blog, but in this case the editors commissioned a nice cartoon (from Mark Roberts) [...]
Journalistic whiplash
July 30, 2008
Andy Revkin has a good article in the Science Times today on the problem of journalistic whiplash in climate change (also discussed here). This phenomena occurs with the more uncertain parts of a science that are being actively researched and where the full story is only slowly coming together. In such cases, new papers often [...]
Once more unto the bray
July 24, 2008
We are a little late to the party, but it is worth adding a few words now that our favourite amateur contrarian is at it again. As many already know, the Forum on Physics and Society (an un-peer-reviewed newsletter published by the otherwise quite sensible American Physical Society), rather surprisingly published a new paper by [...]
Aerosols, Chemistry and Climate
July 12, 2008
Everyone can probably agree that the climate system is complex. Not only do the vagaries of weather patterns and ocean currents make it hard to see climate changes, but the variability in what are often termed the Earth System components complicates the picture enormously. These components - specifically aerosols (particulates in the air - dust, [...]
Weekend round-up
July 12, 2008
A few interesting pieces from around the web relevant to some previous postings: The latest satellite imagery from the Wilkins Ice Sheet (discussed recently) is not looking good. And most curiously the collapse is happening in winter. The Weather Channel "Forecast Earth" team make a valiant attempt to explain the problems and promise for [...]
All-paper salutes to the environment
July 11, 2008
The Onion last week had a great (recycled) spoof on the various 'green' special issues being published but, not to be outdone, the contributors to RealClimate have also been busy producing paper products about the environment. Surprisingly perhaps, as well as having day jobs and writing for this blog, collectively we have written a number of [...]
