I'm not a climate change denier, but isn't it disingenuous to label this as man-made. There isn't enough science around how the climate functions in general to make the assumption that in this specific area, the changes are a result of humans rather than natural cycles we have yet to identify because of the very little data we have.
"The temperature in Barrow had been warming so fast this year, the data was automatically flagged as unreal and removed from the climate database. It was done by algorithms that were put in place to ensure that only the best data gets included in NOAA’s reports."
These are algorithms that have not been triggered before. I understand that seasonal and "natural" fluctuations are taken care of. In theory that leaves man made. There is rather a lot of science around that indicates us lot as buggering up not just the climate itself but the oceans and even near space (junk). I'll grant you that this article sounds a little breathless but then the issue is a little bit important.
I'll never forget the sight of an Aussie near sobbing on camera as he described coral bleaching over huge parts of the Great Barrier Reef ("Blue Planet II" - BBC). Sun Fish are seen off Cornwall, Polar bears are running out of ice to hunt across, 1 in xhundred year weather events are being seen much more regularly than their name suggests.
We can ignore the science but as civilians we can only attribute so much to el Nino, seasonal variability and such like. Read a few papers yourself or read a few summaries from sources that you trust but don't summarise a shed load of research as:
"There isn't enough science around how the climate functions"
https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/climate-change/changing-ice...
Which indicates that sea levels have historically been several feet higher than they are today during the interglacials. There is no data on the exact temperature profile over short (100 year) historic time scales.
We have evidence of data tampering - i.e. a climate model that showed the "hockey stick" regardless of what the input data was. It's a highly politicized thing.
And lastly, if I accept climate change as a result of human activity I say we still don't have decent models. We need to accurately account for the effect of contrails. There is significant evidence that this matters. There is correlation between temperature rises and the increase in air traffic. It may not be "carbon" but "water vapor" that is the cause.
I find these things interesting, but the headlines and stories are all very alarmist. Look at this fine article we're talking about. The data isn't all that interesting, it's just that it tripped a plausibility check someone implemented, and we don't know what the stated requirements for the check were.
... and yet you quote some rather good science wrt glaciation periods etc (I doubt you did it yourself)
The thing is that we live at the moment as we are with the world as it is. For example if the sea level rose say 1m (4 feet), what would that do to say FL which is rather low lying? The weather will continue to get wilder and wilder. I happen to live on the side of a hill in Yeovil, Somerset, UK (I'm alright, probably). Somerset has a low lying region called the Levels and recently they flooded badly - that will happen more often.
We have a lot of data and a lot of papers and a lot of models that predict a nasty end. Your "hockey stick" example is bollocks - the paper was sound but the interpretation by some was not.
The ridiculous thing is that although no one with a scientific bent has mentioned it, have you noticed just how odd the weather has been over the last decade? Records for hot and cold and wet etc are being broken "since records began" quite often.
"And lastly, if I accept climate change as a result of human activity I say we still don't have decent models."
Have you done any research on this whatsoever?
Have you? The models are all terrible. They can't even output matching observed data!
"They can't even output matching observed data!" - example please?
Citation needed
I think it's fair to say climate models are modelling a very complex, near chaotic, system. One of the difficulties with this subject is understanding and verifying these models is simply impossible for the lay person. I don't think it's fair to accuse someone of a lack of research. It's possible to study this very in depth and still lack the ability to assess if the models are correct.
That's exactly the point. I don't think we should be pumping carbon (or any other adulterants) in to our environment. But remaining skeptical of the claims of climatologists who can't reliably predict the weather 5 days into the future while claiming the ability to definitively predict the weather 5 years (and longer) into the future does not make you a "climate change denier". I have very little doubt that the destruction we are wreaking on the environment (of which carbon pollution is a tiny part) will end poorly for us. Its fine to speculate on how exactly this blowback will manifest itself but hubris to claim to know with certainty.
>> Have you done any research on this whatsoever?
You seem to prefer attacking people rather than concepts.
For example, see the post-2010 studies mentioned in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hockey_stick_graph#2010_onward... ... hockey sticks galore.
note: the ?? above is to indicate my own uncertainty about the rigged model. I didn't see it myself. It's unfortunate that "truth" is so elusive.
I hope you will provide links to back the claim that it was rigged, isn't?
Given that the hockey stick turns out to be observed in other datasets, in fact all datasets, and no misconduct was found after an investigation, you're really not going to convince anyone that there was a "rigged model" unless they already thought that.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/403256/global-warming-bom...
This is not true
> And lastly, if I accept climate change as a result of human activity I say we still don't have decent models.
This is also not true
Sure, we could be exacerbating natural cycles, but according to the large volumes of data we do have it's pretty clear that humans are a major contributing factor.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97...
We don't have enough data to guess next month's weather let alone the possible effects in 10+ years.
And an even greater hubris to ignore the pretty vast dataset we do have and go diametrically against the conclusions it suggests.
It's also pretty funny how that greater hubris is exhibited mainly in a particular country, and a specific party in that country which has a lot of ties/donations from oil companies. Especially when other branches of the government are preparing for the results of man made climate change. Makes you think, doesn't it.
They also prefer to buy gas-guzzling SUVs, use millions of gallons of water to maintain lawns in the desert, redirect water to their large population centers to do so, and line up to buy the new iThing each year (tossing out the perfectly good old one in the trash).
All whilst maintaining the third lowest CO2 emissions per capita. Incredible!
The coastal cities aren't, but the southern central valley cities (Bakersfield, notably) are in the desert.
You can find a list of California’s largest desert cities at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deserts_of_California, and it’s pretty marginal. Note Bakersfield isn’t even on that list.
The list is incomplete; it seems to include only cities in the named deserts, not cities in desert climate; much of the San Joaquin Valley, especially the southern part, is desert—but not in a specifically named desert—that is irrigated for agriculture.
Plenty of people agree that there is not enough data to draw conclusions about such a complex issue. Way to make this political for no reason.
Can you imagine why that particular line might be the one espousing climate change denial and skepticism, uniquely in the developed world, whilst simultaneously preparing for it?
Should you not be skeptical of where your skepticism comes from?
What people, climate scientists?
Weather is very different from climate. As an example, for many regions of the world you can accurately predict the average rain fall per year, but it is nearly impossible to predict whether it will be raining at noon in 7 weeks from now.
Maybe a better analogy for this audience: Predicting statistics does not require predicting particle orbits. Insurance pricing does not require being able to predict the health of each individual person.
For this audience, try load averages. Your 1m load average will be significantly more volatile and unpredictable than your 15m load average.
It takes a very special kind of hubris to be critical of the science when you apparently get confused between climate and weather.
The manufacturer (IPCC) says that based on their best information and models if you do not get your oil changed in your car every 10k miles it will lead to increased engine wear which can lead to other problems. Every reputable mechanic (climate scientists)agrees that 10k is a reasonable estimate and that people who drive over that limit will lead to even worse results on average.
Now lets say you've got a smart uncle Jim. He's a damned good electrician and he's been driving his car over 10k without changing his oil for years and he says his car is still running great. He brings it into the shop and the mechanic says his mileage is down and there's some wear on the engine that they can see. Since your uncle Jim can't see the wear that these mechanics see he accuses them of trying to rip him off and drives the vehicle even farther past the 10k miles just to prove them wrong.
This is the climate change debate in a car analogy. There's tons of variables that can affect how long a car lasts and no good mechanic can tell on what day a car will break, but over a long enough timeline they can say for sure that it will result in degraded performance.
How many papers have you read? There are quite a few that refute your standpoint. When I say quite a few I am really taking the piss: every single scientist, and by that term I mean people who spend their lives studying things, who are responsibly qualified and who use the scientific method which involves observation, analysis and reasonable conclusion.
I'll grant you that there are many sources of bollocks that might distract you but if you stick to decent, authoritative sources you will discover that not only are things as bad as you think they are, they are actually worse.
Personally, I'm a bit of an optimist and I think we can pull back from the brink (whatever that is) but the world is gong to be a bit odd in say 100 years time for humans.
Science isn't consensus. And besides, we have nothing firm at all.
Consider creationist's can request an intermediary fossil from A and C, but if you find B between them they now say their is two missing links A to B and B to C. Repeat as needed.
What specific data do you think is missing, for what time period, to defend what hypothesis, that makes what testable prediction?
The data for 1000s of years is quite fine grained. There are trees that are over 1000 years old and ice cores that give near monthly data going back a very long time. There are also a lot of other clues as to climate from other sources.
The UK's Met. office was established in 1854 and I'm sure that several others are just as old. That's simply when weather prediction became interesting. There is loads of data (temperature, wind speed etc) from before then, from ships and land based sources.
We even have data from ancient civilisations and this can sometimes be corroborated and hence other things be reasonably inferred. More modern, we know that people were ice skating on the river Thames in the 18th century - that's quite a big river and it does not freeze these days - that was a mini ice age.
Anyway, we have a lot of data and it goes back a long, long, way (with a few gaps)
There's also the fact that agenda-based science (not saying that's what this is) can easily produce an ocean of data, e.g., showing that tobacco doesn't cause lung cancer.
EDIT: To the downvoters, I shouldn't have used "Big Tobacco". I would prefer not to name other areas of research to try and keep this non-political. I am only pointing out that data and its interpretation are two very different things, and the incentives matter.
Ah yes, Big Climateology chasing the big bucks by fabricating CO2 measurements.
I was always told to ignore everything before the 'but'.
Because, you know, proof and ethics and all that.