Real Climate Science

No, the earthquake has nothing to do with climate change – past, present or future.

http://www.google.com/

A couple of readers think that the author “misinterpreted” what Hansen is saying.  ROFLMAO. “Tape on the windows” “Highway under water” “high winds” “same birds won’t be there.”

Maybe what Hansen meant was that he was going to put drapes on the windows because he doesn’t like seeing the water or hearing the highway on windy days since his Parakeet died.

West Side Highway 1936

In 1988, James (3-6 metres) Hansen forecast that Manhattan’s West Side Highway would be submerged by 2008.

The West Side Highway [which runs along the Hudson River] will be under water. And there will be tape across the windows across the street because of high winds. And the same birds won’t be there. The trees in the median strip will change.” Then he said, “There will be more police cars.” Why? “Well, you know what happens to crime when the heat goes up.”

Continue reading →

http://www.data.scec.org/faults/lafault.html

As many as 200,000 people died in the 1855 quake.

http://query.nytimes.com/

http://discover.itsc.uah.edu/amsutemps/data/amsu_daily_85N85S_ch05.r002.txt

The graph below highlights the frightening warming period we are going through.

We had no idea how powerful soccer moms can be.

http://www.dailytech.com

h/t To Marc Morano

http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/89606.html

http://www.wunderground.com/

They used a novel idea – climate models. I wonder why no one thought of that before. Can they get their grant money now?

In an article to be published in a forthcoming issue of the scientific journal Climate Dynamics, the research team analyzed 16 global climate models from 1950 to 2099 and combined it with more than 100 years of observational data to evaluate what climate change might mean to the Arctic’s sensitive ecosystems by the dawn of the 22nd century.
The study is one of the first to apply a specific climate classification system to a comprehensive examination of climate changes throughout the Arctic by using both observations and a collection of projected future climate changes, said Song Feng, research assistant professor in UNL’s School of Natural Resources and the study’s lead author.
Based on the climate projections, the new study shows that the areas of the Arctic now dominated by polar and sub-polar climate types will decline and will be replaced by more temperate climates — changes that could affect a quarter to nearly half of the Arctic, depending on future greenhouse gas emission scenarios, by 2099.
Changes to Arctic vegetation will naturally follow shifts in the region’s climates: Tundra coverage would shrink by 33 to 44 percent by the end of the century, while temperate climate types that support coniferous forests and needle-leaf trees would push northward into the breach, the study shows.
“The expansion of forest may amplify global warming, because the newly forested areas can reduce the surface reflectivity, thereby further warming the Arctic,” Feng said. “The shrinkage of tundra and expansion of forest may also impact the habitat for wildlife and local residents.”
Also according to the study:
* By the end of the century, the annual average surface temperature in Arctic regions is projected to increase by 5.6 to 9.5 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on the greenhouse gas emission scenarios.

http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-climate-impact-arctic-regions.html

The Arctic is quickly melting at 

http://www.catlinarcticsurvey.com/

Julienne Stroeve, a research scientist with the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado, said conditions in the Arctic have been deteriorating for several years, and it isn’t inconceivable that some day, attempts to reach the Pole might become too dangerous.

“I don’t think we will ever see the Arctic ice-free all year round,” said Stroeve.

“But in my lifetime, we may see spring and summer months with very little, or no ice, making North Pole treks nearly impossible.”

In September 2007, scientists around the world sounded alarms when an extreme meltdown reduced the ice cover from a winter maximum of about 15 million square kilometres to an end-of-summer minimum of just over four million square kilometres.

Since then, summer ice cover has repeatedly fallen below the 30-year average minimum of about seven million square kilometres. The centre reports that February 2011 tied with February 2005 for the lowest ice cover ever, at just over 5.5 million square kilometres.

Stroeve added that along with the overall shrinkage in ice area, the polar region’s oldest and thickest slabs are increasingly being replaced by younger and thinner ice – a trend that makes the ice pack unstable and trekking much more dangerous.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/