Producer Paul Manson and I, along with cameraman Callan Griffiths and soundman Ben Adam, were sent here on assignment to report on climate change and the Arctic for an upcoming broadcast. The primary news peg — and one reason for our visit — is that for only the second time in recorded history the Northwest Passage is ice free, effectively clearing this shortcut between Europe and Asia.
This marks their third week stranded by bad weather.
The four major agencies tracking Earth’s temperature, including NASA’s Goddard Institute, report that the Earth cooled 0.7 degree Celsius in 2007, the fastest decline in the age of instrumentation, putting us back to where the Earth was in 1930.
Step 1) Begin with collected temperature data of the highest quality.
Step 2) Adjust.
Lead story on the CBC National tonight!
We have news from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC). They say: The melt is over. And we’ve added 9.4% ice coverage from this time last year. Though it appears NSIDC is attempting to downplay this in their web page announcement today, one can safely say that despite irrational predictions seen earlier this year, we didn’t reach an “ice free north pole” nor a new record low for sea ice extent.
Oh, wait….
But do be sure to send the item to every warmist-mongering journo you can think of, just to twist the ice pick a little.
What would we do without experts?
Study: If we painted every rooftop in 100 major cities white, it would offset the entire planet’s carbon dioxide emissions for one year.
The Stephen Hawkings of the world say no worries but there’s this theory
that their proton-smashing will create mini-black holes that will swallow the Earth.
The only good news in that case is, they’ll start with France.
Update – A successful test of the Hadron Collider.
Foundation: Each wind turbine foundation consists of a concrete octagonal footing 47 ft. in diameter and 7 ft. deep.
Footprint: 47 ft. in diameter, spaced 1 – 2,000 feet apart.
Concrete: 294 cubic yards – 439 tons per foundation.
“The purpose of this scientific paper, therefore, is to bring to mind a particular activity that had previously been assumed virtuous but under the unerring eye of science has proved to be pernicious. That activity is exercise.“
“I am spending my days paddling in ice-cold water with a frozen, painful backside, trying to bring to the attention of the world and its leaders the necessity of stopping the world heating up.”
May a polar bear put them out of their misery.
h/t
From the comments – “Come on, if the Sun affected the Earth temperature it would be hotter in the day time than at night. Oh, wait…”
Two thirds into 2008, climate experts make a confident prediction;
“We can expect with high probability this year will be cooler than the previous five years,” said Omar Baddour, responsible for climate data and monitoring at the WMO.
Stop the presses.
h/t Fred M.
There was a man and a hockey stick…
The story is a remarkable indictment of the corruption and cyncism that is rife among climate scientists, and I’m going to try to tell it in layman’s language so that the average blog reader can understand it. As far as I know it’s the first time the whole story has been set out in a single posting. It’s a long tale – and the longest posting I think I’ve ever written and piecing it together from the individual [Climate Audit] postings has been a long, hard but fascinating struggle. You may want to get a long drink before starting, and those who suffer from heart disorders may wish to take their beta blockers first.
h/t to “Shippedout”
What would we do without experts?
A census by the Wildlife Conservation Society raised the estimate for gorillas in the Congo jungle from between 50,000 and 100,000 to around 200,000…
Grant-dependent gorilla counters are concerned!
While the news was well received, scientists gathered at the 22nd International Primatological Society Congress in Edinburgh warned against celebrating too soon.
Indeed – at the current rate of non-extinction, the big apes may soon be competing with the undwindling polar bear population for habitat.
The logbooks kept by every naval ship, ranging from Nelson’s Victory and Cook’s Endeavour down to the humblest frigate, are emerging as one of the world’s best sources for long-term weather data. The discovery has been made by a group of British academics and Met Office scientists who are seeking new ways to plot historic changes in climate.
“This is a treasure trove,” said Dr Sam Willis, a maritime historian and author who is affiliated with Exeter University’s Centre for Maritime Historical Studies.
“Ships’ officers recorded air pressure, wind strength, air and sea temperature and other weather conditions. From those records scientists can build a detailed picture of past weather and climate.”
A preliminary study of 6,000 logbooks has produced results that raise questions about climate change theories. One paper, published by Dr Dennis Wheeler, a Sunderland University geographer, in the journal The Holocene, details a surge in the frequency of summer storms over Britain in the 1680s and 1690s.
Many scientists believe storms are a consequence of global warming, but these were the coldest decades of the so-called Little Ice Age that hit Europe from about 1600 to 1850.
Wheeler and his colleagues have since won European Union funding to extend this research to 1750. This shows that during the 1730s, Europe underwent a period of rapid warming similar to that recorded recently — and which must have had natural origins.
Flashback: June 27: CTV – “For the first time in modern history, the North Pole may be iceless this summer….”
Due diligence, climate science style…
Climate Scientists at the National Climate Data Center noticed an anomaly in the temperature record of the Durham, New Hampshire temperature station (USHCN # 272174). When compared to the local Climate Reference Network station, scientists observed that during the summer, Durham was over 1 degree warmer. During the winter, it was slightly cooler.
The climate scientist was baffled. After viewing the station metadata and discovering no documented station changes, he quickly assumed that the equipment at Durham was faulty. That’s where this part of the story ends.
One of the ironies of climate science is that perhaps the most prominent opponent of satellite measurement of global temperature is James Hansen, head of … wait for it … the Goddard Institute for Space Studies at NASA! As odd as it may seem, while we have updated our technology for measuring atmospheric components like CO2, and have switched from surface measurement to satellites to monitor sea ice, Hansen and his crew at the space agency are fighting a rearguard action to defend surface temperature measurement against the intrusion of space technology.
