WSJ: Whatever Happened to Global Warming?

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I know that climate skeptics are extremely concerned about harm to birds (e.g., from wind farms), and for some that is THE issue of why we should not get onto alt energy and we should not accept that AGW is happening. So here is a report of concern to the bird-lovers:

“Climate Change Could Wipe Out Half Of All North American Bird Species”
redorbit.com/news/science/1113230552/american-birds-on-the-brink-due-to-global-warming-091014/
stateofthebirds.org/2014%20SotB_FINAL_low-res.pdf
This alarmism is just too funny

“According to the study, 126 species will lose at least half of their current ranges by 2050, and will have no chance to relocate if global warming continues on its current trajectory.”

So, in English, if the temperature remains flat (~20 yr trend), then nothing is changing but all the birds will be extinct.

Lynn, you never answered me - are you compensated to post on forums?
 
This alarmism is just too funny

“According to the study, 126 species will lose at least half of their current ranges by 2050, and will have no chance to relocate if global warming continues on its current trajectory.”

So, in English, if the temperature remains flat (~20 yr trend), then nothing is changing but all the birds will be extinct.

Lynn, you never answered me - are you compensated to post on forums?
For the past 5 years wind turbines have been going up right & left around here. Now, all of the sudden, that could possibly come to a screeching halt because of the “lesser prairie chicken”. It seems their habitat has been disrupted. All this green energy is killing the prairie chicken and other species of birds are flying into the props. I’m all for alternative energy sources but where does this end? Liberals can’t even agree among themselves on how to proceed with this.
 
“According to the study, 126 species will lose at least half of their current ranges by 2050, and will have no chance to relocate if global warming continues on its current trajectory.”

So, in English, if the temperature remains flat (~20 yr trend), then nothing is changing but all the birds will be extinct.
When projecting to 2050 (36 years from now) it makes sense to consider the trajectory defined by the previous 36 years at least. Right? So why focus only on the previous 18 years? Oh, yea, because it’s the only way you can support your point. That’s called cherry picking.
 
When projecting to 2050 (36 years from now) it makes sense to consider the trajectory defined by the previous 36 years at least. Right? So why focus only on the previous 18 years? Oh, yea, because it’s the only way you can support your point. That’s called cherry picking.
The comment was about the *current *trajectory. We all know the past trajectory was up, but if the last 18 years don’t qualify as current, how does a period going even further into the past meet that criterion?

Ender
 
When projecting to 2050 (36 years from now) it makes sense to consider the trajectory defined by the previous 36 years at least. Right? So why focus only on the previous 18 years? Oh, yea, because it’s the only way you can support your point. That’s called cherry picking.
It’s been stated repeatedly-- whether there’s warming or not depends on your starting point. Why 18 or 36 or 70 or 500 or 1500?

The 18 is only relevant in tems of assessing the validity of the models. They predicted an outcome based on their theory of how CO2 affects climate. So, the theory is wrong- at least in terms of magnitude of the affect- or they failed to account for other influences on the climate accurately. If we can’t account for natural influences and sort out the natural variation causes we can’t determine how much is attributable to greenhouse gases, and in turn how much to the human caused greenhouse gases.

The difference in the models with reality should lead to exploration of the gap without assuming that the AGW theory is correct but looking at the overall system for what has been missed by the science.
 
The MMGW fanboys/girls pretend they have consensus, when in fact scientists have only narrowed the range from between 1-9. Though measurement has it closer to 1, the media stories use the 4-9 scenarios.
Hold on, so we’re now past the CO2 does not cause warming stage and into the climate sensitivity is low stage?

I’d say that’s a huge progress in understanding.
 
From your source:*There seems to be continuing confusion regarding how the deep ocean can warm without an observable temperature increase at the ocean surface.

I’m just pointing out that it is theoretically possible.
*It is theoretically possible there is life on Mars. This is a pretty long way from “this is what happened.”*Now, what if this increase in vertical mixing occurred at the same time as an additional surface heat source, such as IR warming due to increasing greenhouse gases? The result (conceivably) could be deep ocean warming with no surface warming
*There could conceivably be life on the moons of Jupiter as well, but more to the point there has been no atmospheric warming for the last 18 years even as the oceans (are claimed to) have warmed. What is the source that is supposed to have supplied the additional heat to the oceans? It is not the warming of the deep ocean without concurrent warming of the ocean surface that seems implausible, but the warming of the deep ocean without the warming of the atmosphere.

The claims are made both that the oceans have warmed appreciably and that the cause is AGW. There is insufficient data to corroborate the former while the conceivable, theoretical possibility of the latter is trumpeted as fact when about the best that can be said for it is that it does not appear to be a physical impossibility.

Ender
 
How far back to we have accurate global measurement of ocean temperature?
The answer to that question is quite revealing given that charts of ocean temperatures go back to the early 60’s suggesting they actually had valid data back then.
  • Before the ARGO floats were deployed, there were so few temperature and salinity observations at depths below 700 meters that the NODC does not present ocean heat content data during that period for depths of 0-2000 meters on an annual basis. That is, the NODC only presents its annual ocean heat content data for the depths of 0-2000 meters starting in 2005.
wattsupwiththat.com/2013/05/03/ocean-heat-content-0-to-2000-meters-why-arent-northern-hemisphere-oceans-warming-during-the-argo-era/
*Ender
 
Snow jokes, but it’s good people understand that AGW creates a greater risk of greater precipitation events, bec warmer air holds more water vapor. And it’s good they understand that this greater precipitation can come down as deluges AND as snowstorms and blizzards, AND severe, damaging hail storms.

So, if you are in more northerly latitudes, expect more snow fall…brought to you by those who emit GHGs (us humans) :o
 
Snow jokes, but it’s good people understand that AGW creates a greater risk of greater precipitation events, bec warmer air holds more water vapor. And it’s good they understand that this greater precipitation can come down as deluges AND as snowstorms and blizzards, AND severe, damaging hail storms.

So, if you are in more northerly latitudes, expect more snow fall…brought to you by those who emit GHGs (us humans) :o
Hot outside? Global Warming
Cold Outside? Global warming
Too much rain? Global Warming
Drought? Global Warming
Hurricanes? Global Warming
No Hurricanes? Global Warming

Of course in the old days we just called this “weather”
 
The comment was about the *current *trajectory. We all know the past trajectory was up, but if the last 18 years don’t qualify as current, how does a period going even further into the past meet that criterion?

Ender
If periods that are more recent are better representatives of “current trends” then why cite an 18 year period? Why not look at the period starting in 2008? That 6 year period shows faster warming than all the IPCC predictions. The reason, of course, is that 2008 was an unusually cold year, and I picked it to make global warming appear worse than it is.

To investigate whether there is a long-term trend that is due to humans burning carbon underlying the shorter term overlay of random or unrelated causes, it makes sense to examine periods that are as long as possible, staying within the time-frame when humans greatly increased their rate of burning carbon (the industrial revolution). The further back you go within this era, and the longer periods you consider, the less effect there will be from random or unrelated causes. That is why a 36 year look back period is more reliable as an indicator of trends that might persist to 2050 than an 18-year look back period. And let’s face it. The 18-year look back period was chosen specifically because it was the best period for making global warming look untrue.
 
To investigate whether there is a long-term trend that is due to humans burning carbon underlying the shorter term overlay of random or unrelated causes, it makes sense to examine periods that are as long as possible, staying within the time-frame when humans greatly increased their rate of burning carbon (the industrial revolution).
That is probably so, but that was not the point being raised. The comment was not about long-term trends but about current ones, so while it may be reasonable to object to the use of short-term trends it is not reasonable to argue that the short-term trend is other than flat.
The further back you go within this era, and the longer periods you consider, the less effect there will be from random or unrelated causes. That is why a 36 year look back period is more reliable as an indicator of trends that might persist to 2050 than an 18-year look back period. And let’s face it. The 18-year look back period was chosen specifically because it was the best period for making global warming look untrue.
NOAA said in 2009 that a 15 year period without warming would be a significant indicator that existing models were inaccurate. That period was identified by NOAA, not by AGW opponents. Further, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory identified 17 years as the minimum period of time necessary to separate man-made warming from the “noise” of natural temperature fluctuations. Both of those benchmark periods have now been exceeded, making this period of time, short though it may be in terms of climate change, significant.

Dismissing the behavior of the climate for the past 18 years as irrelevant is a denial of the scientific relevance of the work done at both NOAA and LLNL.
In order to separate human-caused global warming from the “noise” of purely natural climate fluctuations, temperature records must be at least 17 years long, according to climate scientists.
llnl.gov/news/newsreleases/2011/Nov/NR-11-11-03.html
Ender
 
That is probably so, but that was not the point being raised. The comment was not about long-term trends but about current ones, so while it may be reasonable to object to the use of short-term trends it is not reasonable to argue that the short-term trend is other than flat.
I could make that case by looking at the shorter-term 6 year period starting in 2008. Since we are no longer concerned with applicability to projections into the future, one short-term current trend is as good as another.
NOAA said in 2009 that a 15 year period without warming would be a significant indicator that existing models were inaccurate.
I have seen that claim many times, but the actual NOAA text that I read did not use those exact words. I think ths may be a case of misinterpretting statements about statistics.
Further, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory identified 17 years as the minimum period of time necessary to separate man-made warming from the “noise” of natural temperature fluctuations.
This separation you speak of is not something that comes about suddenly when the 17 year threshold is past. Rather the separation gradually gets more distinct over time. The point at which one calls it “significant” is arbitrary. As it stands, the statement about 17 years is meaningless without some associated quantitative metric for confidence. I think this is another case of an over-simplification and misinterpretation of a technical assertion.
 
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