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Global warming pause

Discussion in 'Environmental Discussion' started by tochatihu, Sep 23, 2013.

  1. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    This means that the current decadal air T increase is less than earlier recent decades. You will find it a matter of discussion

    BBC News - Global warming pause 'central' to IPCC climate report

    Among many other places. We are now in a slower decadal air T increase regime. What does that mean, and what should we do (if anything)? I hope you'll read Muller et al.

    Decadal variations in the global atmospheric land temperatures
    Richard A. Muller, Judith Curry, Donald Groom, Robert Jacobsen, Saul Perlmutter, Robert Rohde, Arthur Rosenfeld, Charlotte Wickham and Jonathan Wurtele
    Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 118, 5280–5286, doi:10.1002/jgrd.50458, 2013.

    You should make your own conclusions I hope you notice that J. Curry is the second author, and all that it implies.

    The coming path of decadal air T increase will have much to do with patterns that Muller et al. present here. The degree to which ocean overturning may be affected by +CO2 energy trapping, we don't know.

    That's the damn problem. If it means to you that we should change our +CO2 path, then that's what it means. Or perhaps you see the uncertainty as shining a favorable light on continuing uncontrolled fossil-CO2 emissions. I believe that both of these positions are populated at PC.

    Oddly, vexingly, ocean heat storage will play a major role in political planning for the next decade or two, even though it probably will matter little to air T at the end of this century.

    That is a Big Thing and IPCC AR5 is not going to shrink it.
     
  2. wjtracy

    wjtracy Senior Member

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    OK sounds like a good reference I will try to read it because I like Muller's general approach. You know more than me on the politics, so give me a hint what you mean by "all that it implies" that J. Curry is second author. Seems to me both Muller and Curry try to explain things to the public in open manner and are not overly one-sided.
     
  3. austingreen

    austingreen Senior Member

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    IMHO we should not judge research based on who did it, but on the strength of the science itself, and if we are not experts on the science, on the way the authors handle peer review. IMHO this paper aids our understanding of the data, which should help build better climate models that incorporate the various oscillation.


    IMHO the latest research is consistent with a lower ghg sensitivity to the planet, but the data is quite noisy. This should be good news, but not news with great confidence.

    If AR5 does not shrink the lower estimate, then it won't be following the most recent research, unless the lower estimate has now greatly raised the lower estimate of ghg by 2100. That may not be a bad assumption as we seem further from China reducing ghg than the optimists were considering in AR4.
     
  4. Trebuchet

    Trebuchet Senior Member

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    But wait isn't it settle science, i.e. Scientific Fact, that humans have increased CO2 levels, thereby causing global air T to rise?

    Isn't it a Fact that the human caused CO2 level continues to rise?

    Therefore, global air T should continue to rise or is there something wrong with the settled science?

    A matter of discussion, yeah, that's the understatement of the decade!​
    edited for clarity . . .
     
  5. ksstathead

    ksstathead Active Member

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    How do you process 'smaller increase' and get reduction?
     
  6. austingreen

    austingreen Senior Member

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    Yes both those statements are true.
    The first statement I would change to be more accurate, and foster understanding. According to current physics theory, carbon dioxide will directly contribute to global temperature in response to the log of concentration. This temperature contribution will be higher at the poles and less at the equator, based on current understanding of atmospheric physics. There is also positive and negative feedback in the earths climatic system. There is disagreements about how strong this net feedback is today, and how much of the temperature forced heats various levels of the oceans, and how long it takes ghg to warm the atmosphere. The consensus is the sensitivity is approximately 2-4.5 degrees C for a doubling of carbon dioxide concentration, but there are theories that it can be higher or lower. Feedback may be quite non-linear, and we have seen non-linear feedback in the ice proxy record.


    The global air temperature is rising when averaged along any decent period of time to account for natural variation. There is nothing wrong with the settled science. There is much we do not know about feedback and other mechanisms to warm and cool the earth. There is a problem when people act as if catastrophic things will occur, and that is part of the settled science. Catastrophic consequences are not settled.
     
  7. Trebuchet

    Trebuchet Senior Member

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    ^ Got ahead of myself and should have included the human element, I'll edit for clarity.
     
  8. FL_Prius_Driver

    FL_Prius_Driver Senior Member

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    Clearly yes for the first statement. However, the second statement needs to account for ocean temps. That was the major point of the Opening post. Evidence is accumulating that air temperature increases and ocean temperature increases are not increasing in lockstep. Specifically, the ocean has been absorbing more heat than the atmosphere recently, hence the change (but not reversal) in atmospheric heating rate.

    Is this in question in any way? All of the controversy usually surrounds the final effect of all this addition of CO2, not the source. (Just because someone acknowledges the physics of CO2 accumulation does not make them a believer of future disaster.)

    It is continuing to rise. It's the rate of rise that is different than many primitive models predicted. Clearly there is a problem with models, but the basic physics did not change. Note that many activists (including some scientists) want it to be catastrophic for political and other non-scientific reasons. They ensure only polarized discussions are inflicted in general discussions, making rational discussions very rare.


    Discussing the science is always problematic when the vast majority of the public are "educated" by the media and have no interest in examining the details themselves.
     
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  9. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    In a somewhat discontinuous effort to emphasize 'good news' when it shows up, I have in the past linked to studies finding low CO2/T sensitivity. But this does not imply that the most recent assessments of sensitivity are going down. This paper, arriving online june 20, found evidence for quite a high sensitivity:

    Previdi M, Liepert BG, Peteet D, Hansen J, Beerling DJ, Broccoli AJ, Frolking S, Galloway JN,
    Heimann M, Le Quere C, Levitus S, Ramaswamy V. 2013. Climate sensitivity in the Anthropocene. Q. J. R.
    Meteorol. Soc. 139: 1121–1131. DOI:10.1002/qj.2165

    and yes, J Hansen is who you think it is. But AustinG advised us above to examine the work, not the worker, and I assume he means it without exception.

    ===

    The last time we had a similar 'T pause' was about 1950-1970. During that one, the decadal air T did not increase. During this one, it is increasing (slowly, as you have noticed). This is rather a simplistic observation, by itself surely not 'publishable', but it does suggest that the CO2 thing is getting ahead of the ocean thing.

    The 'T pause' before that was circa 1900. During that one , decadal Ts decreased. So we could talk about the pattern over 3 putative ocean cycles. However, the thermometry 11o years ago was not so good, visible in the Muller/BEST confidence intervals.

    Also these changes in slope of T may be getting closer together. That would also be consistent with the ocean thing gradually getting overwhelmed by the CO2 thing. Mann-Kendall test for slope changes seems appropriate. Not that Mann :) a different one (from 1945).
     
  10. austingreen

    austingreen Senior Member

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    I certainly think Hansen's work should be read objectively. I do not mean without exception though. When we look at someone like Phil Jones, that was caught conspiring to hide data that was contrary to his politically motivated scientific findings, we should not give him the benefit of the doubt. He has been caught and any paper that he is included on is tainted.

    I have only had a chance to skim
    Climate sensitivity in the Anthropocene - Previdi - 2013 - Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society - Wiley Online Library
    I see nothing here that would contradict the fact GCM should be predicting lower sensitivities to ghg. We do have some slow feedback research sited though.

    This boils down to guestimating sensitivity during a period in the ice proxy temperature recreation during a tipping point in the natural ghg cycle during the Holocene transition. I don't find the number meaningful, but the concept of the tipping point with higher warming definitely looks to be recorded in the ice.

    From the conclusion we may already be at a tipping point, in which case added ghg won't really have much sensitivity at all as we are going to get hot no matter what we do.
     
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  11. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    One feedback of direct interest to me, mentioned in Previdi, is the balance between terrestrial photosynthesis and decomposition. As mentioned many times nearby, we are benefiting enormously by those being currently out of balance by 1 or 2 petagrams C per year. That is net C sequestration. If anyone could tell be what a ton of CO2 is worth, we could rewrite that in terms of (billions of) dollars and it would not be small.

    But it is OT in a 'T pause thread'. Atmospheric CO2 has continued to rise (and accelerate) during these years. So I spare you the disparate effects of nitrogen deposition on photosynthesis and decomposition, and several other arcane matters.

    Ya know what though? It seems logical to me that the oceans should 'sink' more CO2 in years (decades) when it also 'sinks' more heat. Don't know if that is how the oceanographers see things though.
     
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  12. mojo

    mojo Senior Member

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    How can you possibly view science objectively when certain scientists have been wrong their entire careers?
    Hansen never made a correct prediction.
    Trenberth says AGW has increased hurricanes.Hes wrong and there is concrete evidence showing a decrease in hurricanes and decades of worldwide lessoning of accumulated cyclone energy.
    Now we are expected to believe a model which proves the missing travesty of AGW is in the deep ocean.Where there are no measurements btw.
    So we should accept their next fibs with the same weight as scientists with a solid track record?
    The IPCC has been wrong for the past 17 years .
    Cry wolf for 17 years .When theres no wolf then admit its not a wolf its a poodle.
    But that poodle is really mean and will do as much damage as the wolf that never appeared.
    We have a 95% certainty ,even though weve been 100% wrong for 17 years.
     
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  13. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    I don't know if this fully responds to the question, by my attempt to viewing science objectively is to read a lot. Doing that helps me to see what fits together and what does not. It is quite time consuming so it won't fit in with the busy lives of many PC readers.

    What I read is about 95% related to the global C cycle, and about 4% related strictly to climate and 1% everything else. That 4% would be be less, but for hubris that I can counteract some of the peculiar and inconsistent things that do , er, get posted at PC from time to time. No doubt. someone else might do a better job, but I post on things that catch my eye, or that seem related to ongoing discussions.

    For hurricane trends, 'Trenberth said so, so it must be wrong' doesn't seem a fruitful approach. I haven't fully read the huricane trends literature. But what I have read suggests than unpredictable ENSO appears to exclude confident predictions by anyone. Said so in the other thread.

    To make better projections about future decadal air T, I think we are going to need much beter understanding of long marine cycles. Have been saying so a lot lately. In fact, here's another link:


    Strengthening of ocean heat uptake efficiency associated with the recent climate hiatus
    Masahiro Watanabe, (and 7 others)
    Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 40, 3175–3179, doi:10.1002/grl.50541, 201

    Global energy balance, sea level rise, ice reductions, and T trends all 'hang together' reasonably well from my perspective. Obviously they don't from yours. That'll have to do.
     
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  14. mojo

    mojo Senior Member

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    I didnt say that .I said concrete evidence proves Trenberth wrong.
    So why believe his next BS?
    Its some wisdom Ive acquired in my lifetime.
    Dont bother associating with people who are consistently wrong.
    Dont associate with liars either.
    Internet and PChat is an exception.Im comfortable with brainwashed zombies and liars.






     
  15. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    Can't rightly say if any new publication by any author might be BS. I can only see whether new ideas are consistent with old ones, or inconsistent and unhelpful, or inconsistent and with the potential of leading towards better understanding. Maybe that counts as wisdom, but I am not wise enough to say :)

    Really, I do appreciate your comfort in dealing with zombies and liars on the internet. It explains more than you may imagine.
     
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  16. austingreen

    austingreen Senior Member

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    There seems to be two camps. Those that require belief in cAGW or else you are called a denier, and excluded from the club. Then there is the camp that finds holes in cAGW and claims there is no AGW. There appears to be a scientific consensus on the AGW, but quite a different reality out their in the political world.

    Camp A - Trenberth. Scientific method does not matter. You must believe in catastrophic global warming or you are a denier and an enemy.

    Camp B - Watts. All the catastrophic predictions are coming false. These are the guys that are controling global warming science so that must be wrong too.

    Both camps are highly political. Both camps are wrong, just like republicans and democrats in congress;)


    Remove the catastrophic from the AGW there is a very wide consensus. Put it in there, and Trenberth must be right that huricanes will be more frequent. The data doesn't matter that katrina and sandy were not out of the normal from natural variation. The data actually says we are at the low end of possibilities of natural variation, AGW may be reducing huricanes. But if you fight with Trenberth you are a denier, even if you publish peer reviewed papers supported by the evidence. You are the enemy.

    If you fight with WUWT you are an idiot. Either way there is name calling and neither side wants science they want the politics that drives money and fame to themselves, even if many know that are just spreading distortions.

    What about the missing heat? Well its not missing the model is wrong;) If your model over estimates the temperature from ghg, than you need to fix the model. There seems to be a fair amount of consensus that the models are poor with heat transfer to mixing oceans. That does not mean the sensitivity numbers are correct though. The heat isn't trapped or hidden. If its in the oceans we should be able to measure and model it.
    Yep and even many skeptics of the catastrophic part of the AGW or ACC agree

    I completely agree. Mojo has been WUWT too long.

    Until climate models accurately portrey what is going on in the oceans though, the catastrophic part of cAGW will meet with some skepticism, and should.
     
  17. bwilson4web

    bwilson4web BMW i3 and Model 3

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    According to 'popular press', the 'pause' was real and dismissed by some obscure collection of e-mails in a government scientist plot. Regardless: There was no pause « RealClimate

    The latest findings confirm the results of Karl et al. 2015 from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which Gavin described in a previous post here on RC. The NOAA analysis received unusual attention because of the harassment it drew from the chair of the US House Science Committee and the subpoena demand for emails.

    Science is convincing because it builds on independent assessments, which either confirm or disagree with previous findings. A scientific consensus is established when many independent lines of evidence underpin the same conclusions.

    It is important to realize that science is about universal truths, which means that you should get a consistent picture in a comprehensive analysis. The idea of a hiatus was indeed inconsistent with other indicators, such as the global sea level which continued to rise unabated (Watson et al, 2015). And there was no reason to think that changes in the cryosphere and precipitation had ceased either.

    I'd used a plot of local maximums and local minimums to create two lines showing global warming continued during the pause. It is a math trick that allows dealing with noisy data where an ordinary average won't work. Regardless, it looks like we're about to see more 'taken out of context' from e-mails, a familiar technique used to distort reality.

    Bob Wilson
     
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  18. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    Bates' problems with Karl's data analyses and publication are all over the place now, including in the House Science Committee.

    It is probably too much to hope for that Bates' own downgrading of his concerns to procedural matters, not data-fudging, would receive equal coverage. They are in Associated Press and (interestingly enough) E&E News. But, many other places seem to have missed them.

    Some new squirrel needs chasing, one might suspect.
     
  19. mojo

    mojo Senior Member

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    Wth?
    You and Wilson are delusional.
    The Climitegate2 revelations will show that NOAA has been faking the data .Not a good thing with regard to esteemed scientists who turn out to be data frauds.
     
  20. tochatihu

    tochatihu Senior Member

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    Read Bates' interview with Associated Press. Be brave.