Relevant

September 4, 2009: "Amplifying the Pacific Climate System Response to a Small 11-Year Solar Cycle Forcing" in Science (28 August 2009, Vol. 325, No. 5944, pp. 1114-1118), by Gerald A. Meehl, Julie Arblaster, Katja Matthes, Fabrizio Sassi and Harry van Loon.

Many climate realists ("skeptics") assert that there is potential for climate change/AGW to be driven by solar influences, including not only total irradiation, for example, but also variations in solar cycles (length, number of sunspots, etc.). Those assertions have been routinely dismissed out-of-hand by AGW proponents, and by various activist groups. Thanks to researchers Meehl, et al., at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), the reality is now more clear. Their recent report in Science presents results of study into how the Sun, the upper atmosphere (stratosphere) and the oceans interact. In their new publication, the authors identify mechanisms that act together increasing the effect on Earth's climate that had previously been considered "too small" for concern.

Meehl notes that: "With the help of increased computing power and improved models, as well as observational discoveries, we are uncovering more of how the mechanisms combine to connect solar variability to our weather and climate."

One more IPCC uncertainty for which evidence has been discovered that suggests the science is not yet really "settled."

For more, please see:

• Small Fluctuations In Solar Activity, Large Influence On Climate. ScienceDaily. Last accessed: 5 September 2009
• Scientists Uncover Solar Cycle, Stratosphere, and Ocean Connections (Original NCAR/UCAR News Release). Last accessed: 5 September 2009
• "Amplifying the Pacific Climate System Response to a Small 11-Year Solar Cycle Forcing". Last accessed: 5 September 2009 (preprint of the Report on Meehl's UCAR website)

August 29, 2009: "Why the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets are Not Collapsing", by  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , PhD, School of Earth and Geographical Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia and  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , PhD, 803/222 City Walk, Canberra City ACT 2601, Australia. Published in AIG NEWS, The Quarterly Newsletter of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists, No 97, August 2009.

The new paper by Cliff Ollier & Colin Pain "Why the Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheets are Not Collapsing" is a must read. Writing in the newsletter of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists, -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px;">Ollier and Pain detail the basic mechanics of ice sheet movement (a process called "creep"), compare and contrast the movement of valley and continental glaciers, and describe in fair detail why glaciers move in the first place (weight of accumulated ice, plus gravity). The authors also discuss the effect of cold on glacial movement, that geothermal heat -- heat from the Earth itself at the base of the ice cap -- is the more likely cause of melting, as opposed to global warming. (Keep in mind that temperatures in the central Antarctic are exceptional: Vostok has the lowest reliably recorded temperature on Earth (21 July 1983) of -89.2C; the highest recorded temperature, recorded in January 1992, was -19C). The authors also provide a short discussion on the age of ice sheets, both Greenland and Antarctica date back nearly 3/4 million years!

Link to download pdf

August 25, 2009: "U.S. Chamber of Commerce seeks trial on global warming", by Jim Tankersley, Los Angeles Times, California.

"In the coming weeks, the EPA is set to formally declare that the heat-trapping gases scientists blame for climate change endanger human health, and are thus subject to regulation under the Clean Air Act.

The proposed finding has drawn more than 300,000 public comments. Many of them question scientists' projections that rising temperatures will lead to increased mortality rates, harmful pollution and extreme weather events such as hurricanes. ... Critics of the finding say it's far from certain that warming will cause any harm at all. The Chamber of Commerce cites studies that predict higher temperatures will reduce mortality rates in the United States."

Read the whole piece.

August 09, 2009: "Political climate for energy policies cools - Poll: Economy outweighs environment", by This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada, U.S.A.

"Here's what Gallup found: The number of Americans who say the media have exaggerated global warming jumped to a record 41 percent in 2009, up from 35 percent a year ago. ... What's more, fewer Americans believe the effects of global warming have started to occur: 53 percent see signs of a hotter planet, down from 61 percent in 2008. Global warming placed last among eight environmental concerns Gallup asked respondents to rank, with water pollution landing the top spot.

... More importantly, said Ebell, the planet's average temperature hasn't risen since 1997, despite a 5 percent gain in the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide in the same period. Twelve years doesn't make for a long-term trend, Ebell said, but every year that goes by with no increase in average temperatures makes it harder to assert the climate is sensitive to carbon dioxide.  "I think there's a huge amount of skepticism among the public. They've heard all these claims, and now they've been informed that there isn't any recent warming," Ebell said. "The public, without having a lot of information about it, is pretty astute."

Read whole article.  See the original Gallup poll.

July 26, 2009: "Resisting climate hysteria - A Case Against Precipitous Climate Action", by Professor Richard S. Lindzen, PhD, Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric & Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A., published in Quadrant On-Line, Australia.

"For small changes in climate associated with tenths of a degree, there is no need for any external cause. The earth is never exactly in equilibrium. The motions of the massive oceans where heat is moved between deep layers and the surface provides variability on time scales from years to centuries. Recent work (Tsonis et al, 2007), suggests that this variability is enough to account for all climate change since the 19th Century."

Read whole piece.