Or where's the data.
Now that the shutdown is over I took a look at our commenter's favorite desmogblog post and frankly I feel like that old lady in the Wendy's hamburger commercial. Where's the data? lets compare:
Here's desmog:
http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/09/23/gl ... -on-record
And the text for the first little bit:
With the release of a major climate science report by the United Nations coming this week, the self-proclaimed climate "skeptics," better referred to as the climate deniers or flat-earthers, are kicking it into high gear for their fossil fuel clients and right wing ringleaders.
What report? Now I think that most of us here know that this referring to the IPCC AR5. The person who drops into the blog might not, but it sound official and scary. Those deniers and flat earth types must be really stupid if they are not scared by the official UN report.
The likes of Tom Harris, better known for his lobbying work on behalf of the Canadian energy industry, and Fred Singer, formally a tobacco company expert-for-hire, are trying to make headlines again claiming that the warming of our planet has significantly slowed down. As Harris, a man with absolutely no scientific background in climate change, reassures us like a bunch of schoolchildren, "don't be scared."
Who are these guys and why are they relevant? Oh, they are some of those terrible deniers
I wish it were the case that the rate of global warming has significantly slowed and that we don't have to "be scared" of more extreme weather events, droughts and flooding.
But according to the scientific community, the experts who have decades of training in the field of atmospheric and climactic study, our planet continues to warm. In fact, we just came through the hottest decade ever recorded. Not only was it the hottest decade recorded, it has occurred despite the presence of major cooling factors, like La Nina's and reduced solar activity. Such events should result in a significant dip in the earth's temperature, but they are only having a relatively slight cooling effect.
Ok now he's being really scary, but this is only his opinion. What experts, where is he referring to and why are there no quotes and citations. Finally there is a link to an Noaa page, there must be some real data there, right?: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories201 ... imate.html
nope nothing there but some scary pictures, and oh yes, the link is three years old. maybe the current "state of the climate isn't so scary so desmog didn't want us to know about it. In the end this is nothing more than a cheap hit piece of the kind so loved by certain political type with no real content to trouble themselves with. Combined with the scary red map it's obvious that the page is intended to frighten and agitate rather than inform. No science there.
Now lets look at Watts on the same topic. Now this entry is a couple years old, but as an example it works since desmog was referring to a three year old Noaa page. Without further ado, lets take a look:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/11/05/n ... ng-colder/
See update below: New comparison graph of US temperatures in 1999 to present added – quite an eye opener – Anthony
There’s been a lot of buzz and conflicting reports over what the BEST data actually says, especially about the last decade where we have dueling opinions on a “slowing down”, “leveling off”, “standstill”, or “slight rise” (depending on whose pronouncements you read) of global warming.
Here’s some media quotes that have been thrown about recently about the BEST preliminary data and preliminary results:
“‘We see no evidence of it [global warming] having slowed down,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. There was, he added, ‘no levelling off’.” – Dr. Richard Muller
In The Sunday Mail Prof Curry said, the project’s research data show there has been no increase in world temperatures since the end of the Nineties:
‘There is no scientific basis for saying that warming hasn’t stopped,’ she said. ‘To say that there is detracts from the credibility of the data, which is very unfortunate.’ - Dr. Judith Curry in The Sunday Mail
Climatologist Dr. Pat Michaels in an essay at The GWPF wrote:
“The last ten years of the BEST data indeed show no statistically significant warming trend, no matter how you slice and dice them”. He adds: “Both records are in reasonable agreement about the length of time without a significant warming trend. In the CRU record it is 15.0 years. In the University of Alabama MSU it is 13.9, and in the Remote Sensing Systems version of the MSU it is 15.6 years. “
In the middle of all those quotes being bandied about, I get an email from Burt Rutan (yes THAT Burt Rutan) with a PDF slideshow titled Winter Trends in the United States in the Last Decade citing NCDC’s “climate at a glance” data. This is using the USHCN2 data, which we are told is the “best”, no pun intended. It had this interesting map of the USA for Winter Temperatures (December-February) by climate region on the first slide:
What do we see here? Data, lots of it, all of it sourced. No name calling. Quotes from opposing viewpoints. This is a page that's intended to inform you, not scare you. It keeps to the point. It doesn't hit people, it gives them a platform and opens discussion. That is the way science is supposed to work. That is why Watt's is the top science blog. That's why it's good place to get informed. Whatever Tony Watts may have done in the past, or his credentials were, doesn't change the attitude and the professionalism that his blog reflects every day. That goes for the people who contribute as well, many of whom, regardless of their positions are geophysicists with degrees. Not that that matters. The important thing is access to the facts and to have some fun on the journey. That's what science is about.