papers
illconsidered | September 3, 2008Just as an addendum to this post, I wanted to point out that Real Climate has a discussion of the paper in question[PDF].
The authors include not only Mike Mann, but also Bradley and Hughes, so we have the whole infamous MBH cabal in one place again! Let the mud-slinging begin!
But some useful stuff from RC's post includes noting the substantial increase in the number of proxy data sources:
1209 back to 1800; 460 back to 1600; 59 back to 1000 AD; 36 back to 500 AD and 19 back to 1 BC (all data and code is available here). This is compared with 400 or so in MBH99, of which only 14 went back…
illconsidered | September 2, 2008Mann et al. has a new paper out that again reconfirms that the MWP was not as pronounced or as high a warming period as today's climate changes are bringing.
This is no longer surprising and is in close agreement with all other NH reconstructions that have been done, and all global reconstructions as well.
What is different about this one is that the reliance on tree-rings, and therefore the uncertainties and difficulties they impose, has been removed by using alternative sources of proxy data including marine and lake sediment cores, ice cores, and coral cores.
The authors write:
Our…
illconsidered | August 1, 2008Via Prometheus I read this article from the AFP that describes some new findings about land mass in the river delta that is Bandladesh. Apparently it is growing and has been for the last 32 years at about 20 km^2/year.
Roger points out, no doubt correctly, that the climate septics will make great hay with this, as supposedly another IPCC prediction turns sour.
But will they be correct?
Regardless of the extent of the Bangladeshi delta, obviously the only thing that will determine if it is submerged or not in future sea level rise scenarios will be its altitude. 640 square km of new land is…
illconsidered | July 24, 2008A new study from University of Southern California was just released, appearing in PNAS Early Edition the week of July 21, showing that run-off from the Amazon River powers a large carbon sink in the tropical North Atlantic ocean. New Scientist talks about it here.
According to the press realease, which I will quote at the end of the post, this overturns the previously held view that this area of the ocean was a net emmitter of carbon.
The river delivers iron and phosphorous to small organizims called diazotrophs which then fix nitrogen and carbon from the air and ultimately sink it to the…
illconsidered | October 1, 2007"Carbon dioxide did not end the last ice age" is the headline for science news outlets all over the place. But this is hardly a new finding. It is however a grabable sound bite for the usual denialist blogs out there who, predictably, are running with it.
The study's author, Lowell Stott, provides a very unfortunate quote that can only serve the anti-science forces of darkness: "You can no longer argue that CO2 alone caused the end of the ice ages"
Yes, it is true that it is not a defensible position that CO2 alone caused the end of the ice ages, but...who ever said it did? So, another…
sb admin | September 20, 2007Ok, so this is not my first blog post ever, but it is my first post as a member of Science Blogs. Unlike Groucho Marx, who did not wish to join any club which would accept him as a member, I am very excited to be here and very flattered by that invitation.
So some breif introductory messages...
To fellow Sciblings, I would like to say hello and I look forward to getting to know you as people and writers. I am already a fan of Tim Lambert at Deltoid, William Connolley at Stoat and Chris Mooney of The Intersection and I have come across many excellent articles from others here, so I am eager…