Climate Science

Matt Ridley, author of "The Rational Optimist" gave the Angus Millar Lecture at the RSA recently, describing himself as a climate "Heretic". His speech is about the best overview of the sceptical position I've seen and judging from the comments at the blogs "at least 97%" of the sceptics would agree with me on this. He has allowed a couple of blogs to post the full text of his speech and it's really worth the read. (Unless of course a person is certain that the other side is composed only of pseudoscience and liars and would rather not face evidence to the contrary) The link is to Anthony Watts site simply because this version has some of the explanatory graphs t…

Just for a minor research paper, so wikipedia isn't good. But I'm looking for things like how the temperature has risen in the last 100 years vs how much the temperature and rises normally, or how the same things happen with CO2, or core samples and their meaning from legitimate scientists. It's kind of a shame how so much information people research isn't public-ally available, like just the research that even local universities or weather stations do. I don't know why, maybe the only way they can is to hire a web designer and that costs too much. Any legitimate links would be appreciated, thanks.

What are best methods to maximize heat retention in design and furnishings for a 8,000 square foot outdoor hotel patio. We'll start with forced air heat under the entire wood framed patio, gas/electric/infrared heaters mounted on walls and ceilings, select metal and stone based furniture and fixtures for heat retention, plus overhead canopies/umbrellas, firepits, etc. What else should we consider (besides sweaters) to keep people warm in an outdoor environment?

Hello, first post here. For anyone who knows anything about the Canadian Oil Sands, this shouldn't come as a surprise. For years now the Oil Sands have earned the moniker "dirty oil", meaning that fossil fuels (read: natural gas) needs to be burned in order to separate the oil from the sand in order for it to be refined into gasoline. This article explains how the increase in natural gas "fracking" has caused the oil sands to be even more harmful to the environment. Anyone concerned about climate change should be interested in how this development could impact the environment: http://envirogy.ca/2011/04/20/3349/

Hello. I'm a writer working on the second draft of my novel, and need to bounce some of the science off people who are more science-minded than I. The basic plot device that I need to develop/debunk in my story is that atmospheric methane is at flammable levels (i.e. just over 5%). To keep this open-ended, what effects do you predict this would have near the planet's surface, and consequently, what consequences would there be for life on the planet? Of course there would be increased temperatures and the like, but I need a more well-rounded view of what would happen so I can measure the plausibility of this plot device. Thanks in advance.

The plant clove need temperature rate about 200 C in a month for induce the flower in one year. Below in 1990 many farmer was suggested with high yield of clove plant with commercial promise from many local company that would received their harvest. The fever of clover cultivation begin flourish in 1990 with 3 years prediction the harvest time would comes. The cultivation area were not consider with the climate regime, the farmer believe the plant need cold temperature, as their planted in highland. After 5 years the clove plant were have no flower. Many farmer sold their clove plantation because no chance for benefit and false with area blocking in clove cultivation, i…

How can you differentiate between dewfall and other forms of precipitation in measurements? How much water is deposited, say per acre or hectare, by dew?

Clearly, sunlght passes through cloud cover, either directly or indirectly by re-radiation from the cloud. How much infrared radiation is filtered out by cloud cover? There is a rider here, in that all radiation, upon absorption by a surface, is transformed into heat. So, the question is transformed into: What fraction of solar radiation is absorbed or reflected by cloud? How is this distributed between visible, UV and infrared radiation? How much is transmitted through cloud and how much is absorbed and re-radiated downwards as light and heat? Some of these questions will be interrelated and overlap. But, it is spring here, so how much of spring warming is…

Hello. The interesting name of a site - www.scienceforums.net, interesting this here is very good. I spent 2 hours searching in the network, until find your forum!

I apologise in advance for the long post, but full explanation is needed. The Clear Climate Code project is a great concept to port the old FORTRAN GISS code into Python and make it more useable. The project has succeeded and only found minor code problems in the GISS code. IOW, it does what it says it does. I have no problem with this. The question to me is "Is what the code does correct?" and "How could it be tested?" One of the functions of the GISS code that I've always been concerned about the extraction of "data" using stations from up to 1200 km away. Frankly it's so counter-intuitive to appear just plain silly. The problem is, of course, that being…

The hottest continent on earth is Africa. It was on this continent, in the country of Libya, a desert nation on the southern shores of the Mediterranean, in which the highest temperatures on earth were recorded. The thermometer hit a record high of 136.4 degrees F. The United States comes in second in the race for high temperatures. Death Valley, California, one time hit a high of 130 degrees F. The United States comes in first, though, so far as changes in temperature go. In Spearfish, South Dakota, the temperature once rose 49 degrees in just two minutes. The record for the coldest cold is not at the North Pole in the Arctic. That honor is held by Antarctica…

It appears as if 2010 is going to be the warmest year since temperature records began 130 years ago. NASA, NOAA and the British Metrology office seem to be predicting this according to this recent article/blog post in the New York Times. http://green.blogs.n...=nytimesscience At this current point in time, it looks as if it's becoming increasingly obvious that anthropogenic climate change is occurring.

At Climate-Debate.com you can read an ongoing interesting thread about UHI (Urban Heat Island) with both sides in the climate debate represented: http://www.climate-debate.com/forum/uah-reveals-urban-heat-d6-e10.php. Frank Lansner is a very active Danish climate skeptic. Bo Vinther is a Danish climate scientist who is not afraid of arguing with the skeptics. I expect some interesting points in the discussion. Also, you find this discussion about the possibility of a new ice age: http://www.climate-debate.com/forum/new-ice-age-d11-e11.php. Maybe you will join the discussion?

Not sure what prevented you from clicking the "start a new topic" button yourself, but here it is Now: back this up.

Can anyone tell me how accurate/inaccurate this is: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3309910462407994295#

what are the effects of tsunami on the society?

It seems that Global Warming is mainly caused by burning fossil fuels. We cannot put oil and coal back under the ground, but may be able to do something similar. The logistics of my suggestion are admittedly horrendous, but using power derived from wind or tides may make it feasible. The general idea is to trap as much carbon as possible by growing trees and then stack them where they will not decay (or at least decay extremely slowly). I suggest stacking them where temperature always remains below freezing point - i.e. near the north or south pole. This would be a huge project involving many countries and spanning many years, but should slowly reduce the amount of car…

I came across a book which states the following about (sea) waves: Waves are the movements in the water body where water particles move up and down. It is important to note that water does not travel with the wave. Can someone please explain me what does the second sentence (in bold) mean? If water doesn't travel with the wave, how does the water move forward? The attached image also shows waves moving the water forward. It's really confusing.... Thanks, Ron waves.bmp

http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100128/full/news.2010.42.html Another article showing that human caused global warming is a myth. But what are the chances this never makes the headlines.

I'm not really well versed in this topic, but one question that occurred to me is why so many people are opposed to the idea of humans causing or contributing to global warming. The closest scenario I can think of is people who deny evolution, but at least their reason is clear: religion. But what is it about global warming that causes people to deny humans' contribution? I can understand why corporations like oil companies would deny it, and their subsequent supporters in Congress maybe, but why do normal, everyday people deny it? It doesn't seem to present an immediate conflict with some other belief system, as evolution does with religion. Thanks.

Hi Everyone Does anyone know how to calulate the CO2e in GtC using a de facto temperature of 3degrees (which i have already worked out)? relative to a specific year. Please help I am so stuck. Its related to the IPCC report. Thanks Sarah

Hi Everyone Is anyone an expert on IPCC info? E.g. calculations Please help Thanks Sarah

Hi, this is my first post concerning a subject that I would like more information on and feedback on my opinions. In the arguments between the deniers and those promoting AGW there is much claimed and counter-claimed regarding variations in local temperatures, melting ice caps etc. These arguments or debates are between professional scientists and no conclusion is ever reached between them. Only new sets of data for either claim or counter claim. It just goes on and on. The lynch pin of the anthropogenic global warming controversy concerns the structure of the CO2 molecule (or indeed other 'greenhouse gases') and its atomic interaction with radiant heat. Now…

- Hello. ... New to the site. Had been searching for "Physics" focused forums, with an attached meteorological element, and found this one. I've been looking into and investigating the "notion" that main "tractive" force *, might have a great deal to do with main and broader cold air mass both movement together with distribution over the earth's surface. — And with this idea, also to discuss with whomever I can find to perhaps, the main elements which this idea calls into question. * http://www.co-ops.nos.noaa.gov/restles3.html (section no. 4. — Of note: There's a minor error, in the text - fairly confusing: "opposes" - within this section's init…

What are the contributing factors that keep atmospheric clouds in a compact state as opposed to diffusing out uniformly which is what I expect gases to do normally? This is a question prompted by my nephew that I couldn't adequately explain. I said they were a bit like steam but he said: "Why doesn't it spread out and disappear then?!" If you can put your responses appropriate to a bright six year old I'll let him read them....his name's William. Thanks.