By Phil Plait (Slate): It’s official: 2013 is the fourth hottest year since records started being kept in 1880. It ties with 2003 for that dubious honor. This result was just announced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It uses global annual land and sea surface temperatures to make the call, and in 2013 these two measures combined…
Notice: The original video is no longer available. Published on Sep 28, 2013: “Last Hours” is the first in a series of short films that explore the perils of climate change and the solutions to avert climate disaster. Each subsequent film will highlight fact-based challenges facing the human race, and offer solutions to ameliorate these…
I have brought my previous study (see here and here) up-to-date by reviewing peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals over the period from Nov. 12, 2012 through December 31, 2013. I found 2,258 articles, written by a total of 9,136 authors. (Download the chart above here.) Only one article, by a single author in the Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences,…
by Becky Fried | January 08, 2014 | Release URL Here at the White House, while we’re beginning to thaw from this week’s bone-chilling deep freeze, our discussions about the science of weather extremes are heating up. We know that no single weather episode proves or disproves climate change. Climate refers to the patterns observed in…
Blanket 24/7 media coverage of the short but frigid ‘Polar Vortex’ temperatures — climate change? global warming? — provides a cornucopia of material for this month’s ‘This is Not Cool’ video.
2013 National Headliners Award First Prize Environmental Reporting HD 42 mins In the summer of 2012, one of the most vital ecosystems on earth, the Greenland ice sheet, experienced a meltdown that alarmed scientists the world over. Greenland is an island encased in ice and it’s the world’s second largest ice sheet after Antarctica. That…
At least since around 2001 we have study papers connecting the polar vortex / jet stream behavior to anomalies, such as cold weather outbreaks or precipitation changes. The polar vortex phenomenon was described as early as 1853. In recent years studies linked changes in the cryosphere to the polar vortex. Feel free to suggest further study papers in the comments.…
Published 3rd December 2013: National Research Council Abrupt Impacts of Climate Change: Anticipating Surprises | Release URL Both abrupt changes in the physical climate system and steady changes in climate that can trigger abrupt changes in other physical, biological, and human systems present possible threats to nature and society. Abrupt change is already underway in some…
Chris Hayes from MSNBC talks to Michael E Mann about global warming deniers and the season we call “winter.” Release with full segment URL Chris Mooney in MotherJones: 1. Statements about climate trends must be based on, er, trends. Not individual events or occurrences. Weather is not climate, and anecdotes are not statistics. 2. Global warming is actually…