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Weekly Climate and Energy News Roundup #515 – Watts Up With That?


The Week That Was: 2022-08-06 (August 6, 2022)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project

Quote of the Week: “A man may imagine things that are false, but he can only understand things that are true.”― Sir Isaac Newton

Number of the Week:3.7 W/m2 equals??

THIS WEEK:

By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)

Scope: Last week’s TWTW incorrectly stated the percent of surface-air stations the team of volunteers organized by Anthony Watts found that violated NOAA’s siting standards in 2009. The team found about 96 89 percent of U.S. stations failed to meet the standards NOAA considered “acceptable.” The 2022 survey found that 96 percent now fail to meet these standards. These are not the stations used in the U.S. Climate Reference Network (USCRN) which has 137 commissioned stations in the United States. The USCRN stations should be used in reports such as the National Climate Assessment, not the deficient ones. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/crn/overview.html

Discussed below is a solid presentation by Jim Steele on why ocean warming is caused by the sun, not by greenhouse gases.

Climate modelers fail to test their models against all physical evidence and greatly overestimate the current warming. Now climate modelers are calling for the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to emphasize the most extreme. At what point does exaggeration of physical evidence become science fiction?

The ill-named Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is in the Senate sausage factory. Who knows what will eventually emerge? A few key issues are discussed below.

Earlier this year the Australian government pledged $700 million to protect the Great Barrier Reef against climate change and global warming. Now, it is in the best conditions it has been in 36 years of monitoring. This and other examples of the power of money are discussed.

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory reported that the December 20 to January 15, 2022, eruption of the Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano sent a great deal of water (unprecedented) into the stratosphere that may result in a warming of the atmosphere and the surface.

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Heating the Oceans: An issue with addressing how the earth cools is the mental concept of time. According to the Stefan-Boltzmann law, the earth is continuously emitting infrared energy depending on temperature. Some atmospheric gases, greenhouse gases, continuously interfere with the release of this energy to space in specific wavenumbers (number of wavelengths per centimeter, sometimes called frequency). In clear skies near the surface, most of the gases are well mixed except for water vapor, which varies significantly by region. The entire process of release of energy from the surface, the greenhouse effect, and release of energy to space is continuous, similar to time. Like time, it can be divided into discrete units for mental convenience. But it remains continuous. [Infrared, visible light, ultraviolet and all other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum can be characterized by photon energy, by wavenumbers, the numbers of wavelengths per centimeter, or frequency, the number of waves passing by per second, or even generically by color. We will use the term wavelengths with that understanding.]

Between 1666 to 1672, Isaac Newton developed a set of experiments to understand color. He used a prism to divide a beam of light into the spectrum of colors, then recombined the colors back to white light (colorless light). Thus, Newton demonstrated that the prism does not color light. Clear ocean separates sunlight by wavelengths or colors. The first to go is infrared energy, which is emitted by the earth into the atmosphere and bounced around. It does not penetrate into the ocean by more than a millimeter, thus cannot warm it at depth.

Although addressed somewhat differently, the fact that oceans separate light by wavelengths is a key part of Jim Steele’s presentation on “Why the Sun, Not CO2, Heats the Oceans.” He begins:

“About a decade ago there was a heated and unresolved debate on whether infrared back radiation from greenhouse gases is heating the oceans. Because infrared penetrates less than a millimeter into the ocean’s surface, many skeptics argued it is impossible to blame rising CO2 for ocean warming. However, several prominent skeptic scientists, people who I have great respect for, also weighed in arguing it was silly and useless to argue infrared heat can’t warm the ocean.

“After analyzing the physics detailed in this video, I’m convinced it is solar energy that drives the observed ocean heating, and any infrared ocean heating is insignificant at best. If this analysis holds, it is another significant strike against the prevailing CO2 driven global warming theory.

“To ensure lay people are brought up to speed, here’s a quick summary of where consensus climate science stands today.”

After giving background, Steele discusses research that shows the thin skin layer of the ocean warms during the day but cools back at night. There is no greenhouse gas warming deeper than a millimeter. Steele gives a good graph showing how different colors of visible light penetrate into the ocean as well as the difference between the land surface and the oceans. He discusses the Stefan-Boltzmann law and changing ocean temperatures with changing El Niños and La Niñas (changing El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO)). Steele concludes:

“The obvious clue to the primary driver of ocean warming is that the regions of greatest solar flux into the ocean are the same regions created by Pacific and Atlantic La Ninas. That solar heated water is transported westward and then poleward along ocean currents where the greatest amount heat is vented  “

“To date there has been no provable mechanism illustrating how heating from CO2 can heat anything more than the ocean’s skin surface. In contrast the combined climate effects of solar heating, the ITCZ [Intertropical Convergence Zone] migrations and La Ninas are strongly supported in the peer-reviewed scientific literature.

“So, I will ignore the click bait news media’s fear mongering that our oceans are “on the boil” due to rising CO2. There is simply no scientific proof to support such dishonest narratives.

And I will sleep well. There is no climate crisis.”

The above shows that ocean warming is not proof of global warming. Of course, a general warming of the globe, including the lower atmosphere, will result in a warming of the top layer of the ocean. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.

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Fact or Fiction? Generally, climate studies, including those government sponsored, are not a physical science. They are contradicted by the best physical evidence available – including over forty years of atmospheric temperature trends and measurements of the impact of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Humans adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere are not causing dangerous warming. Except for the West, much of the world does not believe the results of climate models

A paper edited by Professor Emeritus Kerry Emanuel of Massachusetts Institute of Technology calls for bolder studies of extreme claims. An expert on tropical cyclones, Emanuel is a strong supporter of the IPCC and its models. The ACE index of tropical cyclones shows that intensities of storms are declining, not increasing, for whatever the reason. The abstract of the paper states:

Prudent risk management requires consideration of bad-to-worst-case scenarios. Yet, for climate change, such potential futures are poorly understood. Could anthropogenic climate change result in worldwide societal collapse or even eventual human extinction? At present, this is a dangerously underexplored topic. Yet there are ample reasons to suspect that climate change could result in a global catastrophe. Analyzing the mechanisms for these extreme consequences could help galvanize action, improve resilience, and inform policy, including emergency responses. We outline current knowledge about the likelihood of extreme climate change, discuss why understanding bad-to-worst cases is vital, articulate reasons for concern about catastrophic outcomes, define key terms, and put forward a research agenda. The proposed agenda covers four main questions: 1) What is the potential for climate change to drive mass extinction events? 2) What are the mechanisms that could result in human mass mortality and morbidity? 3) What are human societies’ vulnerabilities to climate-triggered risk cascades, such as from conflict, political instability, and systemic financial risk? 4) How can these multiple strands of evidence—together with other global dangers—be usefully synthesized into an ‘integrated catastrophe assessment’? It is time for the scientific community to grapple with the challenge of better understanding catastrophic climate change.

The paper then states:

How bad could climate change get? As early as 1988, the landmark Toronto Conference declaration described the ultimate consequences of climate change as potentially ‘second only to a global nuclear war.’ Despite such proclamations decades ago, climate catastrophe is relatively under-studied and poorly understood. [Boldface added]

This is complete non-science, based on speculation, not physical evidence. Over the past 40 years, there have been great advances in understanding what is occurring in the atmosphere. This physical evidence does not support the claims of catastrophic climate change. The exaggerations are mindless. Accepting this advice is as foolish as accepting the advice of a heart specialist who has ignored the advances in understanding heart disease over the past 40 years. In 1980 the US death rate from heart diseases was 412 per 100,000 in population; in 2018 164 per 100,000, a decline of 60%. See links under Defending the Orthodoxy, Questioning the Orthodoxy, Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda, and https://www.statista.com/statistics/184515/deaths-by-heart-diseases-in-the-us-since-1950/

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Stagflation Preservation? Writing in the Wall Street Journal, columnist Gerard Baker begins:

Just as some claims made in business are so self-evidently fictitious that even the most shameless of hucksters will recoil from articulating them, so some propositions advanced in politics are so dishonest that even the most mendacious politician will avoid association with them.

Then there’s the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

If you’ve ever been convinced by a used-car salesman that the 20-year-old rusting hulk out back with the dodgy chassis and the blue smoke pouring out of the exhaust is a ‘reliable pre-owned bargain,’ you’re going to love the Inflation Reduction Act.

This, you will know, is the new name that has been conferred by Senate Democrats and the White House on the remnants of the old Build Back Better bill, the vastly ambitious tax-and-spending measure that was nearly foisted on an unsuspecting American public last year in the middle of a pandemic.

Like that lemon sitting at the back of the dealer’s lot, it’s been given a little touch-up, a fresh coat of paint, a reduced-price tag, and a bright new description. The master plan that was going to save the planet from extinction a year ago has been repurposed as a fully functional inflation-fighting weapon, laser-focused on reducing price pressures in the American economy.

I’m being a little unfair to used-car dealers. Surely not even the most opportunistic of charlatans would take his customer for that kind of a fool.

The columnist describes some of the spending details of the bill and continues:

If we are in the business of renaming legislative measures with a bill that is going to reduce inflation through deficit reduction, can we now all agree to call the American Rescue Plan of 2021—which added six times as much to the deficit in one-fifth of the time—the Inflation Acceleration Act?

Then take a look at what the Democrats’ new bill actually achieves in deficit reduction.

Because the spending provisions kick in more quickly than the revenue-raising provisions, the bill would actually increase the deficit in its first few years. According to the Penn Wharton Budget Model, it would begin to reduce the deficit only in 2027.

So, the Inflation Reduction Act—sold to Americans on the basis that it will reduce the surging inflation the Democrats themselves helped unleash—won’t even have any downward effect on the deficit for five years. I’m skeptical about the average lawmaker’s ability to predict the inflation rate in five years, but if we have to wait until 2027 to get on top of the current cost-of-living crisis, we are in trouble.

As for those tax increases that kick in straightaway, especially the minimum corporate tax rate, not only are they outweighed by the spending increases, but they make no sense at all for an economy that is clearly contracting at an alarming pace

Democrats claim that some measures, such as enabling Medicare to negotiate drug prices, will tamp down inflation. But that’s largely speculative, and the independent Penn Wharton analysis sees no overall impact on inflation.

Of course, it doesn’t. That’s not what the bill was ever intended to do.

Tear off the absurd Inflation Reduction Act label, and behind it, you will see—illuminated by the excited glow of media coverage of the Democrats’ premature victory laps—exactly what it is: another large plank in the Democratic plan to ‘re-engineer ‘ the U.S. economy, with another hefty expansion of government, disappointingly enabled in part, by the way, by congressional Republicans, who cleared a path for it by helping pass another bill, subsidizing semiconductor producers.

CEI researcher Marlo Lewis found disturbing provisions in the bill that may be used to change the significant Supreme Court decision in West Virginia v. EPA. Lewis writes:

‘No provisions in the bill would literally overturn West Virginia. However, some provisions seem calculated to create specious talking points for progressive judges who already believe—or profess to believe—that West Virginia was wrongly decided.’

After citing such provisions in the new bill Lewis concludes:

“He [Manchin] is now sponsoring legislation that would amend the Clean Air Act to expressly require CO2 emission reductions from fossil-fuel power plants, and that specifically appropriates tens of millions of dollars to promote the Clean Air Act’s use as a framework for making climate policy. Enacting those provisions can only embolden opponents of West Virginia’s Supreme Court victory.”

See Article # 1 and links under Questioning the Orthodoxy.

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The Power of Money – Arizona: In the early 1970s, when Ken Haapala taught at Arizona State University in Tempe, a suburb of Phoenix, the $4 billion Central Arizona Project was underway. The project was designed to bring water from the Colorado River to central Arizona. A few members of the faculty stated that the 1922 Colorado River Compact (Colorado River Basin Water Agreement) allocating Colorado River water among seven states was in error. The base line was set during a wet period. Eventually, a drought would occur. A drought is occurring now. Of course, climate experts blame it on climate change, although droughts have occurred many times in the past.

According to reports, the last Democratic holdout needed to pass the ill-named Inflation Reduction Act was Senator Krysten Sinema of Arizona. Apparently, she agreed once changes were made to some tax provisions and billions of dollars to combat drought. The Southwest US is in its summer rainy season (called monsoons). On August 4 heavy rains hit Phoenix and Las Vegas causing flooding and the Navajo Nation to declare a state of emergency due to flooding. The power of money is surprising. See links under Changing Weather, The Political Games Continue and https://www.cap-az.com/

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The Power of Money – Australia: For years, the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) has produced reports of the decline of the Great Barrier Reef, which is called as proof of dangerous global warming. According to reports, the government of Australia pledged $700 million to protect the reef against climate change and global warming. The just released Annual Summary Report of Coral Reef Conditions by AMS shows that the Reef is in the best conditions it has been in 36 years of monitoring. Amazing how fast corals can recover with money!

The new study includes observations from divers in addition to observations from airplanes and on-board ship. As Jo Nova states:

“We know that corals bleached all the way back in 1862, and probably have for millions of years, there were just not many scuba divers to record it.

“This study is an absolute blockbuster in terms of busting the myth that corals are on the verge of extinction. Spread the word.”

Jennifer Marohasy, a diver who has long stated that observations from airplanes and ships are highly biased, gives a little background using John Brewer Reef:

“I found it impossible to reconcile what I had observed with the results of their aerial survey claiming major coral bleaching. The aerial survey was undertaken by Neil Cantin.

“The results from the aerial surveys, as reported in a series of social media posts by David Wachenfeld from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA), generated worldwide media headlines suggesting that this coral reef (John Brewer Reef) was dead and dying.

“Yet I had never seen a more colourful coral reef, and the fish were exquisite not to mention the white tipped reef shark, nudibranchs, sea anemones and so on.

Marohasy requested but never was given aerial photographic evidence of coral bleaching. See links under Changing Seas and Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.

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More Water Vapor: The eruption of Tonga-Hunga may be the greatest disturbance of the atmosphere since the Krakatoa eruption of 1883, greater than disturbances caused by testing nuclear weapons. The plain language summary of the paper states:

“Using measurements from the Microwave Limb Sounder on NASA’s Aura satellite, we estimate that the excess water vapor is equivalent to around 10% of the amount of water vapor typically residing in the stratosphere. Unlike previous strong eruptions, this event may not cool the surface, but rather it could potentially warm the surface due to the excess water vapor.”

The stratosphere is above the tropopause where most water freezes out. It is characterized by temperature layers, with temperatures increasing with altitude. Will NASA’s climate modelers include this disturbance in their calculations? See links under Changing Earth.

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No TWTW next week: Attending the DDP Conference. SEPP Directors Howard Hayden, Willie Soon and Ken Haapala will be giving presentations.

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SEPP’S APRIL FOOLS AWARD – THE JACKSON

VOTING CLOSED

The awardee will be announced at the annual meeting of the Doctors for Disaster Preparedness on August 14 to 16 at the South Point Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Registration: https://aaps.wufoo.com/forms/qb79fo31o62uh1/; Hotel: https://be.synxis.com/?adult=1&arrive=2022-08-14&chain=6903&child=0&currency=USD&depart=2022-08-15&group=DOC0811&hotel=11548&level=hotel&locale=en-US&rooms=1

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Number of the Week: 3.7 W/m2 equals?? AMO physicist Howard Hayden points out that the IPCC in the Fourth Assessment Report, “Understanding and Attributing Climate Change” (AR4, 2014, Chapter 9) asserts that the climate forcing from a doubling of carbon dioxide will be 3.7 watts per square meter (3.7 W/m2). However, based on graphs presented (Fig 9.20 p 720), but without necessary numbers on the top line for increased Surface Radiation (W/m2), the 3.7 W/m2 works out to be less than 1 °C, less than the lowest estimate in the written text. In grammar, we learned not to have dangling modifiers. Is this an example of dangling a number (or noun)? See https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/ar4-wg1-chapter9-1.pdf

Commentary: Is the Sun Rising?

The Sun-Climate Effect: The Winter Gatekeeper Hypothesis (I). The search for a solar signal

By Javier Vinós and Andy May, Climate Etc. July 31, 2022

[SEPP Comment: Long essay and the first part of a series on a complex problem.]

Challenging the Orthodoxy — NIPCC

Climate Change Reconsidered II: Physical Science

Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2013

Summary: https://www.heartland.org/_template-assets/documents/CCR/CCR-II/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf

Climate Change Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts

Idso, Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2014

http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-biological-impacts/

Summary: https://www.heartland.org/media-library/pdfs/CCR-IIb/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf

Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels

By Multiple Authors, Bezdek, Idso, Legates, and Singer eds., Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, April 2019

http://store.heartland.org/shop/ccr-ii-fossil-fuels/

Download with no charge:

http://climatechangereconsidered.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Climate-Change-Reconsidered-II-Fossil-Fuels-FULL-Volume-with-covers.pdf

Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming

The NIPCC Report on the Scientific Consensus

By Craig D. Idso, Robert M. Carter, and S. Fred Singer, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), Nov 23, 2015

http://climatechangereconsidered.org/

Download with no charge:

https://www.heartland.org/policy-documents/why-scientists-disagree-about-global-warming

Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate

S. Fred Singer, Editor, NIPCC, 2008

http://www.sepp.org/publications/nipcc_final.pdf

Global Sea-Level Rise: An Evaluation of the Data

By Craig D. Idso, David Legates, and S. Fred Singer, Heartland Policy Brief, May 20, 2019

Challenging the Orthodoxy

Why the Sun, Not CO2, Heats the Oceans Revisiting the Debate: Does Greenhouse Back-radiation Warm the Oceans?

Why the Sun, Not CO2, Heats the Oceans

Revisiting the Debate:  Does Greenhouse Back-radiation Warm the Oceans?

By Jim Steele, A Walk On The Natural Side, July 31, 2022

Text: https://perhapsallnatural.blogspot.com/2022/07/revisiting-debate-does-greenhouse-back.html

Video: https://youtu.be/61VxYVIHW-U

Cloud study demystifies impact of aerosols

By University of Exeter, Phys.org, Aug 1, 2022 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]

https://phys.org/news/2022-08-cloud-demystifies-impact-aerosols.html

Link to paper: Machine learning reveals climate forcing from aerosols is dominated by increased cloud cover

By Ying Chen, et al. Nature Geoscience, Aug 1, 2022

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-022-00991-6

“We find that volcanic aerosols do brighten clouds by reducing droplet size, but this has a notably smaller radiative impact than changes in cloud fraction. These results add substantial observational constraints on the cooling impact of aerosols.”

Latest Survey of ‘Coral Cover’ Fundamentally Unscientific

By Jennifer Marohasy, Her Blog, Aug 5, 2022

Defending the Orthodoxy

Climate change: More studies needed on possibility of human extinction

By Staff, BBC News, Aug 2, 2022 [H/t WUWT]

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-62378157

Link to study: Climate Endgame: Exploring catastrophic climate change scenarios

By Luke Kemp, et al, Edited by Kerry Emanuel, MIT, PNAS, Aug 1, 2022

https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2108146119

Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science

Carrots and Sticks Needed to End Oil Dependence

By Carlton D. Everhart, II, Real Clear Energy, August 04, 2022

https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2022/08/04/carrots_and_sticks_needed_to_end_oil_dependence_846070.html

“General Everhart is the former commander of the U.S. Air Force’s Air Mobility Command and currently a member of the Energy Security Leadership Council of SAFE, an organization dedicated to advancing transportation technologies to enhance energy security.”

[SEPP Comment; Will we see air transport at jet speeds using solar or wind power?]

Questioning the Orthodoxy

Schumer-Manchin Bill Undercuts West Virginia v. EPA

By Marlo Lewis, Jr, CEI, Aug 5, 2022

https://cei.org/blog/schumer-manchin-bill-undercuts-west-virginia-v-epa/

“So, if Schumer-Manchin passes, Congress will have amended the Clean Air Act to create an electric-sector greenhouse gas reduction program, with an $18 million fund to ‘ensure’ reductions are ‘achieved,’ including by ‘the establishment of requirements.’ I am unaware of any CAA emission-reduction programs with ‘requirements’ that are not regulatory.”

The Big Green Lie Almost Everyone Claims to Believe

By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Aug 5, 2022

“The claim that the ‘science was settled’ on climate change never withstood scrutiny.”

Climate Emergency? What A Crock, Part 2

I & I Editorial Board, August 3, 2022

“We decided long ago that the climate zealots would never back down, no matter that the facts say. Their fanaticism knows no bounds. So, all we can do is bring the truth whenever we are able. We see no reason people should live in fear and guilt.”

[SEPP Comment: Discusses the survey of surface stations by Anthony Watts, et al.]

Study Human extinction? Climate doomers want to find a nuclear-winter-level scare to motivate people

By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Aug 4, 2022

“To properly assess all these risks, the authors are calling on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change to carry out a special report on catastrophic climate change.”

Simple Pencil Can Teach Us about Energy Prices and Inflation

I, a mere Pencil, would like to show readers just how fundamental energy is—even to a simple desk tool.

By Benjamin Dierker, FEE, July 30, 2022

https://fee.org/articles/i-nflation-pencil-what-a-simple-pencil-can-teach-us-about-energy-prices-and-inflation/

[SEPP Comment: A retelling of Milton Friedman’s tale.]

All Weather Is Now “Climate Change”

By Tony Heller, His Blog, Aug 4, 2022

Video: https://realclimatescience.com/2022/08/all-weather-is-now-climate-change-2/

Text: https://realclimatescience.com/2022/08/all-weather-is-now-climate-change/

Energy and Environmental Review: August 1, 2022

By John Droz, Jr., Master Resource, August 1, 2022

Change in US Administrations

The big new climate bill’s most important provisions

By Andrew Freedman, Axios, July 29, 2022

https://www.axios.com/2022/07/29/climate-bill-most-important-provisions-manchin

“The climate and energy provisions in the Senate’s revenue and spending deal cover everything from incentives to buy electric vehicles to spurring the development of next-generation climate technologies, such as direct air capture.”

[SEPP Comment: Why?]

Biden Promises, Policies and Political Problems

By Paul Driessen, WUWT, Aug 3, 2022

Inflation Reduction Act will boost EPA efforts to tackle the climate crisis

By David Coursen, The Hill, Aug 1, 2022

Problems in the Orthodoxy

Chinese Threat: Renounce Taiwan, or the Global Climate Gets It

By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Aug 5, 2022

“China suspends climate change cooperation with US and sanctions Nancy Pelosi in retaliation for Taiwan visit”

[SEPP Comment: What cooperation?]

India Electricity Mix

By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Aug 5, 2022



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