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ENVIRONMENTAL AND ENERGY DIVISION NEWSLETTER 21 MAR. 2016

If you need older URLs contact George at ghh@att.net. Please Note: “This newsletter contains articles that offer differing points of view regarding climate change, energy and other environmental issues. Any opinions expressed in this publication are the responses of the editor alone and do not represent the positions of the Environmental and Energy Engineering Division or the ASME.”

George Holliday

A. ENVIRONMENT 1. ASME ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING DIVISION EDUCATION SUPPORT PROGRAM AWARD

The ASME Environmental Engineering Division (EED) is proud to announce the recipients of its 1st Annual Education Support Program Awards. The Program is designed to help foster the impact of environmental engineering and education in communities around the world, to help people identify and solve environmental problems, and thereby lead to improvements in their quality of life. The Program can fund a maximum of $25,000 per year (no more than five proposals will be funded with a limit of $5,000 per award) to students, educators and EED members who propose interesting ways to impact environmental education in their communities. The Program received many outstanding proposals from not only the United States but also from several foreign counties. The Awards Committee, made up of ASME volunteers from the EED Executive Committee, reviewed the proposals and requested clarification from multiple proposers before deciding on the winners. The winners spanned the entire gamut of education from high school teachers to college/graduate students to professors. The winners were Mechanical Engineers, other engineers, as well as non-engineers. The winning proposals were: • Michael S. Czahor, Outreach Committee Director, Wind Energy Student Organization, Iowa State University, Ames, IA; Austin Herrema, Outreach Committee Ph.D. Representative, Wind Energy Student Organization, Iowa State University, Ames, IA: “Wind Energy Student Organization” • Megan Fuller, Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Philadelphia University, Philadelphia, PA; “Lab component for Sustainability Course” • Michael Lazere, Project Lead the Way Engineering Program, Marshalltown HS (Iowa); Mark Mba Wright, Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa: “Using Interactive iPython Simulations to Model Life Cycle Analysis of Ethanol Production” • David A. Roke, Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Akron, Akron, OH; Theresa Cutright, Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Akron, Akron, OH: “High School Student Laboratory Education Module: Use of Abundant Waste Materials in Concrete Mix Design”

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EED and ASME want to congratulate all the winners as well as all others who submitted proposals. Arnold Feldman [jjdsenv@att.net]

2. WHAT IS ENERGY SECURITY? DEFINITIONS AND SCENARIOS

Posted on March 3, 2016 | 182 comments by Evan Hillebrand Energy security is complicated, and multi-dimensional. It goes beyond over-simplified notions of energy self-sufficiency or energy independence. It’s about where our energy comes from and its the cost, reliability, sustainability, and scale of our energy use. Technical, economic, geopolitical and other factors all play a role, and one needs to understand how they interact. Energy security is not just a matter of energy; it’s about how energy affects national security. https://judithcurry.com/2016/03/03/what-is-energy-security-definitions-and-scenarios/#more-21233

3. NEW RESEARCH UNCOVERS THE ‘MYTHS’ BEHIND AVIATION’S CLIMATE CHANGE CRISIS From the UNIVERSITY OF SURREY and the “I’ll believe air travel pollution is a big climate problem when Bill McKibben and Leo DiCaprio stop flying around the world to tell us how bad it is” department. Reliance on technological solutions in cutting emissions are ‘myths’ propagating inaction by industry and government Damaging emissions from aviation… http://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/03/05/new-research-uncovers-the-myths-behind-aviations-climate-change-crisis/

4. CLOUDY MODELING PROBLEMS: TODAY’S CLOUDS MIGHT NOT BE THE SAME AS PRE-INDUSTRIAL ONES Study helps narrow down one reason why clouds are hard to model From the DOE/PACIFIC NORTHWEST NATIONAL LABORATORY RICHLAND, Wash. – Airborne particles known as “aerosols” strongly impact the way clouds form and change, but accurately capturing this effect in computer climate models has proved to be notoriously difficult. A new study in the Proceedings… http://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/03/06/cloudy-modeling-problems-todays-clouds-might-not-be-the-same-as-pre-industrial-ones/

5. MONGOLIA: DEADLY COLD, HEAVY SNOW BLAMED ON GLOBAL WARMING Guest essay by Eric Worrall More evidence that global warming is spreading its icy tentacles across the entire Northern Hemisphere; devex reports that global warming is freezing Mongolian livestock, and preventing the grass from growing in the summer. For Mongolians, climate change is as personal as it gets When the world adopted the newest climate agreement during the United Nations climate change http://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/03/07/mongolia-deadly-cold-heavy-snow-blamed-on-global-warming/

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6. MONDAY MIRTHINESS: MANN FLIES THE FRIENDLY SKIES From the “I’m sorry sir, you’ll have to check that ego with baggage, you can’t carry it on” department comes this ironic missive from Michael Mann. Gate agents have quite a bit of leeway, and it’s just shocking they’d treat a fake Nobel Laureate this way. h/t to Tom Nelson. Mann should be more retrospective,… http://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/03/07/monday-mirthiness-mann-flies-the-friendly-skies/

7. CALL FOR ASME PAPERS Track 8: Energy 2016 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition Phoenix, Arizona, November 11-17, 2016 8-14 Carbon Capture and Storage Organized by Dr. Chuanwei Zhuo, Cabot Corporation, chuanwei.zhuo@gmail.com PURPOSE AND SCOPE Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is one of the technologies expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Efficient, economic, and environmentally friendly solutions are always being sought. This symposium brings together the work of prominent researchers in the field with the emphasis on both CCS fundamentals and applications. Main areas of interest are engineering challenges of CCS, and progress made in recent years in terms of novel materials, processes and applications. Papers, extended abstracts and technical presentation are solicited in areas including but not limited to: • CCS system - general (control, behavior, response, interaction with power generation and transmission systems, etc.) • Materials developed for CO2 capture, separation, purification, transport, storage, and applications • Gas capture (separation) from large point sources (power generation, natural gas processing, heavy industries, hydrogen production, etc.) • Gas compression/dehydration • CO2 transport and transport system maintenance • Beneficial reuse of CO2 (e.g. enhanced oil recovery (EOR), urea application, food industry, beverage carbonation, carbonate/bicarbonate, biomass processing) SUBMISSION DEADLINE: March 7, 2016 See Conference website for detailed Publication Schedule http://www.asmeconferences.org/IMECE2016/Author/NewAbstract.cfm Sponsored by ASME Energy Division, Advances Energy Systems Division and Environmental Engineering Division Email From: ASME, 2 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Arne Feldman

COMMENTS A. THE WEEK THAT WAS: 2016-03-12 (MARCH 12, 2016)

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By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP) Quest for Precision: One of the characteristics of scientific activities is the quest for precision to describe the physical world. Precision in understanding the error, or uncertainty, of one’s knowledge is an example of this quest. In some of his many essays on the philosophy of modern science Bertrand Russell, a prolific writer, used the ability to articulate uncertainty of knowledge as an example of what separates a scientist from an ideologue. The scientist defines with empirically established boundaries of the certainty of his findings. For example, a finding may be within plus or minus 5% using rigorous procedures that are well established. The ideologue is certain, absolutely, without boundaries of error. Another issue is false precision, which is presenting numerical data in a manner that implies greater precision than is possible with the instrumentation or procedures used or knowledge current. Combining high precision data with low precision data and using the error range of the high precision data is a common example. To others, this practice gives the illusion of greater understanding and overconfidence in the accuracy of the results. Scientists and engineers have various techniques to correct for false precision. Writing in American Thinker, physicist Tom Sheahen describes the enormous steps taken over the past 90 years to develop the precise instruments needed to discover and measure gravitational waves, a quest that has gone-on for 100 years since Einstein published the General Theory of Relativity. The detection of these waves shows that space-time deforms and bends, as predicted from the theory of General Relativity. This is one more verification, a very complex and delicate one, of the theory that overthrew classical mechanics developed by Isaac Newton. Near the end of the 19th century classical mechanics was considered a certainty. The resources, including over $600 million, needed to measure gravitational waves were not suddenly thrown together. They came from decades of effort with many intermediate steps supporting the theory. An early step was measuring the bending of light during a solar eclipse in 1919. Other intermediate steps followed. The multi-decade process illustrates another characteristic of modern, empirical science – it is built step-by-step by empirical verification. The discovery of gravitational waves illustrates one reason why SEPP does not accept the global climate models used by the UN Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC). Further, these models are relied upon by the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) and by the EPA’s endangerment finding, that increasing greenhouse gases, primarily Carbon Dioxide (CO2) endanger human health. The models have not been empirically verified or validated. In general, the models greatly overestimate the warming of the atmosphere, where the greenhouse effect takes place. There is no logical reason to assume they are able to predict future global warming caused by CO2 emissions as General Relativity was used to predict gravitational waves. There is no logical basis for using these models for establishing government policy, especially energy policy. See Article # 1. ******************* Sea Level Rise – Seeking Greater Imprecision? As shown in the first report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate (2008), the first four assessment reports (ARs) of the IPCC had a reduction in the maximum estimates of global sea level rise to 2100. In AR-1 (1990) it was between a minimum of 10 centimeters (cm) to a maximum of 367 cm (4 to 144 inches). In AR-2 (1995) it was 3 to 124 cm (1 to 49 inches); in AR-3 (2001) it was 11 to 77 cm (4 to 30 inches); in AR-4 (2007) it was 18 to 59 (7 to 23 inches). (The draft of AR-4 had it between 14 to 43 cm (6 to 17 inches). AR-4 was current when the EPA Endangerment Finding was announced.

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Based on historical data, Fred Singer of NIPCC estimated the rise will be 18 to 20 cm (7 to 8 inches). These estimates are global. The rise and fall of local sea levels depends upon numerous local conditions such as land subsidence and plate tectonics. It is quite jarring to read a 2009 NOAA (updated in 2015) report stating “Scientists are very confident that global mean sea level will increase by at least 8 inches (0.2 meter) but no more than 6.6 feet (2.0 meters) by 2100.” The upper bound is inflated dramatically, without justification. One cannot state that the NOAA estimate is wrong, any more than one can state that the sea level rise will be between minus 2 meters and plus 10 meters is wrong. But one can state that some US government entities are misleading the public by inflating their reports. Such reports are being used by federal government representatives to insist that local officials must account the inflated reports when making land use decisions in low lying areas, which include extensive areas of the southeastern US near coastal regions. A separate issue is the claim that there is acceleration in sea level rise by using two sets of data. One dataset is from historic tidal gages, and the second dataset from satellite measurements. The two sets of measurements are not fully calibrated. To claim acceleration in sea level rise by jumping from one dataset to another without fully explaining the effects of the jump is misleading. Also a claim by NOAA that the pace of sea level rise has increased since 1990 from acceleration and glacier and ice sheet melting is also questionable. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy – NIPCC and Changing Seas. ******************* Unreliable and Costly: Last week, TWTW discussed an experiment in the Canary Islands to make the electricity on one of the islands independent from fossil fuels, and dependent only on renewable generation from a combination of wind power with pumped hydro as back-up. After eight months of operation, the renewable system generated only about 32% of the electricity used, while diesel generators provided the remainder. It appears that, at best, the renewable system will generate a maximum of 50% of the total electricity needed. The major shortcoming is not the wind turbines. The shortcoming is inadequate storage in the upper reservoir that is needed for water to generate electricity when wind fails for prolonged periods. Since the islands are quit arid, and depend on desalination plants, nature cannot be relied upon to fill the reservoirs when needed. The estimated costs of the entire system were not available, much less the costs of expanding existing upper reservoirs. Using data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) and EurObserv’ER, Ed Hoskins of the UK, makes some rough comparisons of capital costs needed to generate one Gigawatt (GW) of electricity from onshore wind, offshore wind, and solar photovoltaic (pv) on grid. The variance in estimated capacity factors is striking. The EIA estimate of onshore wind is 36%, offshore wind 38%, and solar pv on grid is 25%. The EurObserv’ER measured capacity (2014) is 21.8% for combined onshore and offshore wind, and 12.1% for solar pv. The Renewable Energy Foundations measured capacity factor for the UK (2002-2015) is 22.4% for onshore, 24.9% for offshore and 9.8% for solar pv. The differences in the capacity factors for solar pv are not that surprising. In general, Europe is at more northern latitudes than the US. Further, northern Europe has cloudy weather. Certainly, solar pv there makes far less sense than installing solar pv in southwestern US. Yet, Germany has spent far more on solar pv than either Italy or Spain. All too often, capacity measurements are ignored by promoters of wind or solar, both in and out of government. For comparison among alternative generating types, the EIA data gives an estimated levelized cost of electricity for each type of electricity generation per megawatt hour with 2013 cost of fuel. For example, the natural gas-fired conventional combined-cycle had a capacity factor of 87%, a levelized capital cost of 14.4 dollars, a fixed operation and maintenance of 1.7 dollars, variable operation and maintenance (including fuel costs) of 57.8 dollars, and transmission investment of 1.2 dollars for a system total of 75.2 dollars. As illustrated in 2013, fuel costs were the greatest component.

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Using parity of one euro per one dollar and estimates of 2016 fuel prices along with actual EurObserv’ER capacity, Hoskins makes very rough estimates of the cost of renewables per gigawatt of generation. The approach needs to be refined, but it gives some idea of the enormous expense of solar and wind generated electricity as compared with natural gas. Further, the approach does not account for the inherent unreliability of solar and wind and the fact that they cannot be called upon to produce when needed. Hoskins concludes: “If the objectives of using Renewables were not confused with ‘saving the planet’ from the output of Man-made CO2, their actual cost in-effectiveness and inherent unreliability would have always ruled them out of any consideration as means of electricity generation for any developed economy.” See Number of the Week and link under Questioning European Green. ******************* Additions and Corrections: The February 27 TWTW contained the statement: According to historian Bernie Lewin, the hot spot was invented, without empirical support, at the 1995 UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientific conference in Madrid by Benjamin Santer and promoted by IPCC Chairman John Houghton. This became a turning point for IPCC. https://enthusiasmscepticismscience.wordpress.com /2015/11/21/remembering-madrid-95-a-meeting-that-changed-the-world-2/#more-1838 It should have stated: According to historian Bernie Lewin, terming the hot spot “the distinct human fingerprint” was invented, without empirical support, at the 1995 UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scientific conference in Madrid by Benjamin Santer and promoted by IPCC Chairman John Houghton. This became a turning point for IPCC because it permitted the claim that the balance of evidence points towards a discernible human influence on global climate.” https://enthusiasmscepticismscience.wordpress.com/2015/11/21/remembering-madrid-95-a-meeting-that-changed-the-world-2/#more-1838 ******************* Number of the Week: 16, 45, and 63 times more expensive. Although his analysis could use refinement, Ed Hoskins demonstrates that with today’s natural gas prices and actual capacities measured in Europe, onshore wind, offshore wind, and solar pv are roughly 16, 45, and 63 times more expensive than combined cycle natural gas, respectively. See link under Questioning European Green. ################################################### http://www.sepp.org/twtwfiles/2016/TWTW3-12-16.pdf

B. U.S. LEADS WORLD IN WIND ENERGY PRODUCTION

The United States continues to lead the world in wind energy production according to recently

released data by the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) and by the U.S. Energy Information

Administration (EIA).

Over 31 percent of Iowa’s in-state electricity generation came from wind last year – marking

another major milestone. This is the first time wind has supplied a state with more than 30

percent of its annual electricity. Iowa, Kansas and South Dakota all generated more than 20

percent of their electricity from wind in 2015.

Wind produced over 190 million megawatt-hours (MWh) in the U.S. last year, enough electricity

for about 17.5 million typical U.S. homes. China is close behind the U.S. at 185.1 million MWh

and followed by third-place Germany at 84.6 MWh. Although China has nearly double the

installed wind power capacity as the U.S., strong wind resources and production-based U.S.

policy have helped build some of the most productive wind farms in the world. Upgraded

transmission infrastructure in the U.S. also helps relieve congestion and bring more low-cost

wind energy to the most densely populated parts of the country.

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Wind energy supplied 4.7 percent of the total electricity generated in the U.S. in 2015, enough

electricity to supply the equivalent of all electricity demand in Colorado, Oklahoma, and Kansas.

Solar energy (including utility-scale and distributed solar) generated 0.94 percent of all U.S.

electricity in 2015.

Additional detailed information is available at:

http://www.awea.org/MediaCenter/pressrelease.aspx?ItemNumber=8463

ASME

C. A SIMPLE EXPLANATION ABOUT THE PROBLEMS WITH WIND AND SOLAR ENERGY It's a only 4+ minute video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObvdSmPbdLg&feature=youtu.be

Don Shaw

D. MAX ROSER (2016) – ‘GDP GROWTH OVER THE VERY LONG RUN’. PUBLISHED ONLINE AT OURWORLDINDATA.ORG. From the long-term perspective of social history, we know that economic prosperity and lasting economic growth is a very recent achievement for humanity. In this section we will look at this more recent time and will also study the inequality between different regions – both in respect to the unequal levels of prosperity today and the unequal economic starting points for leaving the poverty of the pre-growth past. http://ourworldindata.org/data/growth-and-distribution-of-prosperity/gdp-growth-over-the-very-long-run/

E. WHAT IS ENERGY SECURITY? DEFINITIONS AND SCENARIOS Posted on March 3, 2016 | 127 comments by Evan Hillebrand Energy security is complicated, and multi-dimensional. It goes beyond over-simplified notions of energy self-sufficiency or energy independence. It’s about where our energy comes from and its the cost, reliability, sustainability, and scale of our energy use. Technical, economic, geopolitical and other factors all play a role, and one needs to understand how they interact. Energy security is not just a matter of energy; it’s about how energy affects national security. https://judithcurry.com/2016/03/03/what-is-energy-security-definitions-and-scenarios/#more-21233

F. MARCH 2016 UPDATE OF GLOBAL TEMPERATURE RESPONSES TO 1997/98 AND 2015/16 EL NIÑO EVENTS Guest Post by Bob Tisdale In lagged responses to the 2015-16 El Niño, there have recently been sizable upticks in the lower troposphere temperature data from both RSS and UAH, as shown in Figure 1.

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http://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/03/05/march-2016-update-of-global-temperature-responses-to-199798-and-201516-el-nino-events/

G. CALIFORNIA TO GET CLOBBERED WITH WET ATMOSPHERIC RIVER THIS WEEKEND Every once in awhile California gets a “Pineapple Express” this is more like an El Niño express as the source of this moisture river extends all the way across the Pacific to the Philippines, near the “warm pool” area that gets created by an El Niño event. Source: http://www.nnvl.noaa.gov/view/globaldata.html#GFSW Latest Forecast synopis: Area Forecast Discussion National Weather… http://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/03/04/california-to-get-clobbered-with-wet-atmospheric-river-this-weekend/

H. NUCLEAR POWER LEARNING RATES: POLICY IMPLICATIONS Posted on March 13, 2016 | 22 Comments

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By Peter Lang A revolution could be achieved with nuclear power if we remove the factors that caused the large cost increases during and since the 1970’s, i.e. return to the learning rates demonstrated before 1970. https://judithcurry.com/2016/03/13/nuclear-power-learning-rates-policy-implications/#more-21285

I. IS THE 2015/16 EL NIÑO AN EL NIÑO MODOKI? AND Is that the Reason Why This El Niño is Not Suppressing the California Drought as Expected? Guest Post by Bob Tisdale El Niño events come in different flavors, and those different flavors can have differing impacts on regional weather around the globe. There are East Pacific El Niño events like the 1997/98 El Niño,… http://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/03/04/is-the-201516-el-nino-an-el-nino-modoki/

J. NOT SO FRIDAY FUNNY – SCIENCE IS TURNING BACK TO THE DARK AGES Science is in an integrity crisis, and climate science is leading the way for loss of integrity Science is turning back to the dark ages Man-made global warming theory has been propped up by studies that many scientists have dismissed as methodologically flawed, ideologically bent or even fraudulent. The http://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/03/04/not-so-friday-funny-science-is-turning-back-to-the-dark-ages/

K. COMMENTS ON NEW RSS V4 PAUSE-BUSTING GLOBAL TEMPERATURE DATASET March 4th, 2016 Now that John Christy and I have had a little more time to digest the new paper by Carl Mears and Frank Wentz (“Sensitivity of satellite derived tropospheric temperature trends to the diurnal cycle adjustment”, paywalled here), our conclusion has remained mostly the same as originally stated in Anthony Watts’ post. While the title of their article implies that their new diurnal drift adjustment to the satellite data has caused the large increase in the global warming trend, it is actually their inclusion of what the evidence will suggest is a spurious warming (calibration drift) in the NOAA-14 MSU instrument that leads to most (maybe 2/3) of the change. I will provide more details of why we believe that satellite is to blame, below. Also, we provide new radiosonde validation results, supporting the UAH v6 data over the new RSS v4 data. http://www.drroyspencer.com/ Home/Blog

L. CLEANER, SAFER NUCLEAR POWER IN THE RACE TO REPLACE FOSSIL FUELS

http://theamericanenergynews.com/new-technology-and-innovation/start-ups-look-to-reimagined-nuclear-power-to-replace-fossil-fuels Judith Curry

M. GLOBAL SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE RESPONSES TO THE 1997/98 AND 2015/16 EL NIÑO EVENTS

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Guest Post by Bob Tisdale Alternate Title: Just in Case You Thought Sea Surface Temperatures around the Globe Responded Similarly to Strong El Niños This post will illustrate quite clearly that the responses of ocean surface temperatures differ noticeably with El Niño events of similar strength—those in 1997/98 and 2015/16. INTRODUCTION Climate scientists use statistical… http://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/03/14/global-sea-surface-temperature-responses-to-the-199798-and-201516-el-nino-events/

N. A WARMING ARCTIC WOULD NOT CAUSE INCREASED SEVERE WEATHER OR TEMPERATURE EXTREMES Guest essay by Chuck Wiese, Meteorologist, Weatherwise, Inc. This essay is a critique Francis and Vavrus (2012), hereinafter FV (2012), by atmospheric scientists Jennifer Francis from Rutgers University and Steve Vavrus of the University of Wisconsin. Their paper can be downloaded here: http://marine.rutgers.edu/~francis/pres/Francis_Vavrus_2012GL051000_pub.pdf and an updated version here: http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/10/1/014005/pdf FV (2012) claims a measured decrease… http://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/03/13/a-warming-arctic-would-not-cause-increased-severe-weather-or-temperature-extremes/

O. USE OF FEAR TO SILENCE CLIMATE SKEPTICS IS AN ASSAULT ON REASON Guest opinion: Dr. Tim Ball Fear is the most powerful enemy of reason. Both fear and reasoning are essential to human survival, but the relationship between them is unbalanced. Reason may sometimes dissipate fear, but fear frequently shuts down reason. As Edmund Burke wrote in England 20 years before the American Revolution,” no passion so… http://oilpro.com/post/22945/both-parties-fractured-but-energy-each-unified

P. STATES FIGHT BACK AGAINST EPA’S ‘COERCIVE FEDERALISM’ http://dailycaller.com/2016/03/10/states-fight-back-against-epas-coercive-federalism/ Judith Curry

Q. DON'T LET THE PLANET BERN: COLUMN http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/03/10/bernie-sanders-energy-plan-anti-emissions-reduction-nuclear-natural-gas-column/81500436/ Judith Curry

R. WE CAN END THE CLIMATE POLICY WARS: DEMAND A TEST OF THE MODELS By Larry Kummer. From the Fabius Maximus website.

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Summary: This is the last of my series about ways to resolve the public policy debate about climate change. It puts my proposal to test the models in a wider context of science norms and the climate science literature. My experience shows that neither side of the… http://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/03/09/we-can-end-the-climate-policy-wars-demand-a-test-of-the-models/

S. GLOBAL WARMING INCREASES RAIN IN WORLD’S DRIEST AREAS Not only does the wet get wetter over land, but the driest areas get wetter too From the UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES and the “Flannery says permanent drought over Australia” department Global warming will increase rainfall in some of the world’s driest areas over land, with not only the wet getting wetter but the… http://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/03/09/global-warming-increases-rain-in-worlds-driest-areas/

T. ROBERT WILL, AMOCO CORP. Will received his Mechanical Engineering degree from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/obituaries/ct-robert-will-obituary-20160229-story.html Karen Vallark

U. ON INAPPROPRIATE USE OF LEAST SQUARES REGRESSION Posted on March 9, 2016 | 56 comments by Greg Goodman Inappropriate use of linear regression can produce spurious and significantly low estimations of the true slope of a linear relationship if both variables have significant measurement error or other perturbing factors. This is precisely the case when attempting to regress modelled or observed radiative flux against surface temperatures in order to estimate sensitivity of the climate system. Judith Curry

V. CLIMATE CRAZINESS OF THE WEEK: PUMPING SEA LEVEL RISE AWAY ONTO ANTARCTICA Actual headline from press release: Sea-level rise too big to be pumped away From the POTSDAM INSTITUTE FOR CLIMATE IMPACT RESEARCH (PIK) Future sea-level rise is a problem probably too big to be solved even by unprecedented geo-engineering such as pumping water masses onto the Antarctic continent. The idea has been investigated by… http://wattsupwiththat.com/2016/03/09/climate-craziness-of-the-week-pumping-sea-level-rise-away-onto-antarctica/

W. THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE HAS LOOKED INTO THE POSSIBILITY OF PURSUING LEGAL ACTION AGAINST ‘CLIMATE DENIERS’ MARCH 9, 2016 tags: climate change, Department of Justice, Department on Injustice, DOJ, Global Warming, government control, Loretta Lynch, Politics

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For all of their rhetoric on global warming the Democrats have not been able to push its radical climate agenda through the Congress so now they are apparently looking at Plan B. This Plan B apparently includes using the Department of Injustice to pursue legal action against “climate deniers.” Attorney General Loretta Lynch has admitted her Injustice Department has looked into the possibility, here is more: Attorney General Loretta Lynch acknowledged Wednesday that there have been discussions within the Department of Justice about possibly pursuing civil action against so-called climate change deniers. “This matter has been discussed. We have received information about it and have referred it to the FBI to consider whether or not it meets the criteria for which we could take action on,” Lynch said at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Justice Department operations. We are quickly reaching the point where the left is trying to criminalize opposing positions, using threats, harassment, and intimidation to stifle opposing views and I find this to be very troubling to say the least. Of course backers of this radical agenda are equally radical when it comes to imposing their views on others so they see no problem in criminalizing thought in order to get what they want. One would have to wonder how these same people would respond if a Republican-led Department of Injustice used this same tactic to push issues near and dear to its heart. But I think we know the answer… Don Shaw

X. NOAA RADIOSONDE DATA SHOWS NO WARMING FOR 58 YEARS Interesting article and data that needs further study to understand why NOAA ignores the Radiosonde data as they do the pristine USCRN data ( https://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/uscrn_avg_temp_jan2004-april2014.png) which shows no warming. You can go to this URl to learn more about NOAA radiosonde data: https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/weather-balloon/radiosonde-atmospheric-temperature-products-accessing-climate. Unfortunately the plots did not copy into the message and you can read the article here or click on the links I added to see the plots. Don Shaw http://realclimatescience.com/2016/03/noaa-radiosonde-data-shows-no-warming-for-58-years/#comment-6398 NOAA Radiosonde Data Shows No Warming For 58 Years Posted on March 7, 2016 by tonyheller In their “hottest year ever” press briefing, NOAA included this graph, which stated that they have a 58 year long radiosonde temperature record. But they only showed the last 37 years in the graph. http://realclimatescience.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2016-03-07060741.png NESDIS Strategic Communications Here is why they are hiding the rest of the data. The earlier data showed as much pre-1979 cooling as the post-1979 warming. http://realclimatescience.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2016-03-

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07060954.png

1520-0493(1978)106<0755:GTVSMA>2.0.CO;2 I combined the two graphs at the same scale below, and put a horizontal red reference line in, which shows that the earth’s atmosphere has not warmed at all since the late 1950’s http://realclimatescience.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/2016-03-07060229-1.png The omission of this data from the NOAA report, is just their latest attempt to defraud the public. NOAA’s best data shows no warming for 60 years. Don Shaw Regards George