October 13, 2007
The Sound Of Settled Science
In 2002, Malcolm Hughes sampled bristlecones at Sheep Mountain and nothing has been reported or archived from this study. In 2003, Lonnie Thompson sampled ice cores at Bona-Churchill and we’ve heard nothing about it. One might guess that 20th century dO18 levels were not high as, at the nearby site of Mount Logan, 20th century dO18 levels were lower than earlier levels, attributed to regional changes in circulation rather than temperature.I’ve obviously been very critical of what appears to be opportunistic reporting of results. With my experience in mining speculations, I fully understand how much temptation that there is to delay reporting of “bad” results in the hope that later drill holes in the program will salvage things. But you don’t have any choice in the matter - you’re obliged to report the results. Plus investors are smart enough to now that delayed results are virtually never good results.
Right now I have no idea what the sampling will show - maybe it will show a tremendous response by the bristlecones in the past 20 years - perhaps due to CO2, nitrate or phosphate fertilization, perhaps due to temperature increases. Maybe they won’t go up and we’ll hear more about the divergence problem. I don’t expect these particular measurements to settle anything. But jeez, doncha think that someone would have tried to find out?
Early results from the dendro lab in Guelph are now up. Here's a teaser.
30A ring widths from 1124 to 2007.
Posted by Kate at October 13, 2007 7:35 AMTrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/6075
"Malcolm Hughes sampled bristlecones at Sheep Mountain and nothing has been reported or archived from this study"
hmmmm.... tapping into the sacred ancient "whispering pines" for mystic guidance in the future.
Seems almost too "Gaia" to take seriously. :)
Posted by: WL Mackenzie Redux at October 13, 2007 10:13 AMThe data is interesting. However, I would like to focus on the mining analogy in Kate's comments. First let me state up front that smalldeadanimals.com is one of my favourite blogs and I think Kate provides a tremendous service for all her readers.
Speaking as someone who is heavily associated and invested in the mining industry. I would agree that in the past there were some unscupulous types who fail to report negative news. However, most mining executives took and take their responsibilities for disclosure seriously.
Unlike academia or, apparently, the MSM there is a legal requirement for full disclosure. The mining industry currently faces shortages of human and technical resources and environmental restrictions and regulations cause a lengthened process in permitting. Sometimes delayed results are simply delayed results.
Thank you.
Posted by: Earl the Pearl at October 13, 2007 11:29 AM
Those comments are from the article Earl, not Kate. And a terrific article it is.
Posted by: ward at October 13, 2007 12:27 PMrecord ice pack growth recorded this year in Antarctica. Probably caused by global warming?
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2007/10/antarctica-ice-cap-growth-reaches.html
Posted by: Boss429 at October 13, 2007 12:39 PMWow! I saw this on the Climate Audit site and I was going to tip you to it, and you had beat me to it by about 10 hours. Hat's off to you Kate!. Do you ever sleep?
On this topic though, everyone should read the comments. A lot of good discussion going on about process and proper procedure. Just like science should be.
Posted by: bobzorunkle at October 13, 2007 4:22 PMDo you see from the graph: Obviously post the "little ice age" tree rings are inversely proportional to CO2, while prior to the little ice age, they were not correlated at all; and during the little ice age, they were little.
This confirms the nobel global warming ice age award goes to dendrology
Posted by: Wimpy Canadian at October 13, 2007 5:39 PMBTW climateaudit.org should be followed by everyone, it really is leading edge.
Posted by: Wimpy Canadian at October 13, 2007 5:51 PMThanks, Kate, for posting this. I ended up spending several hours at his site (now bookmarked). I especially liked his 2005 paper refuting the hockey stick.
Posted by: MikeM at October 13, 2007 7:13 PMI have never understood how we can be SO sure about what bristlecone tree rings mean. What happened to tea leaves? The advantage of tea leaves is that the results are probably as accurate, and you get a nice cup of tea.
Posted by: RicardoVerde at October 14, 2007 1:06 AMApparently the word dendrochronology is too big a word for both SDA deniers and McIntyre.
dendro+->chronology
If he didn't hump up there with large amounts of equipment and a team, he didn't do it right. There is more to it than simply running up there and drilling a little hole in a tree.
Orwhen they blabber about a teenie weenie rise in tempetures and it means certian doomsday who are they kidding with this poppycock?
Posted by: spurwing plover at October 16, 2007 12:24 AMI should point out that my wife's great-uncle largely invented the technique of dendrochronology, so that makes me kind of famous.
Posted by: Anonymous at October 16, 2007 2:47 PM