The Chatter Box

Team Plans To Row To The North Pole - Media ClaimsA team plans to row to the magnetic pole next year.Proving once more, if proof be needed, that the media can't publish a story without incorporating 'added value', the media is misreporting a valiant team effort to reach the geographical North pole next Summer.  The public needs to know that this has nothing whatsoever in any shape or form to do with the possibility of rowing to the geographical North Pole.Its the magnetic pole, ok?

Arctic Tipping Points - #2: Some Feedback MechanismsIn part #1: Background And Recent History I wrote: The global warming trend observed in direct measurements and a very wide range of proxy data since about 1860 has led many climate researchers to discuss the possibility that we humans are engineering a new tipping point through our profligate use of fossil fuels.Of particular concern is the possibility that if the Arctic is ice free in summer, or if the Greenland ice sheet shrinks, or worse: both, then climate change may be inevitable and irreversible.

Some Notes On Data SmoothingThe topic of data filtering can be pretty obscure for the general public.  Taking raw data and smoothing out the lumps can seem like deliberate falsification.  It isn't.In the early days of space exploration it was only possible to produce images of fairly low resolution.  Special techniques were used to enhance the images.In the first image, below, I have colorised a block of 9 pixels to demonstrate a simple set of image enhancement techniques.  Each pixel in an image is compared to its immediate neighbors and an operation is performed to filter the picture.  It could hardly be simpler.

Well Done, My Old ChinaIn London, U.K. 'my old china' is a friendly term for 'friend'.  It originated in the rhyming slang expression: 'china plate', rhyming with 'mate'.Edit: a reader has spotted an error.  The reference should be to an interview, not a visit.In a recent visit to Australia interview on Australian TV, US President Barack Obama on Thursday said China can't be allowed to wait until its standard of living improves before tackling climate change."It is in our interests, both of our countries interests for China to be successful, for China to be prosperous, because that means they're more likely to be stable," he said.

Arctic Tipping Points - #1: Background And Recent HistoryIt is Spring, and with each passing day a greater area of Arctic sea ice has 24 hours of - albeit weak - sunshine every day. It is not surprising to see ice melting in these Lands Of The Midnight Sun.  What is surprising to many is the current extent of ice, and rate of loss, compared with past records."Every school boy learns that at the two ends of the earth the year is composed of one day and one night of equal length, and the intervening periods of twilight; but the mere recital of that fact makes no real impression on his consciousness. "

Volcano in Iceland Grounds UK FlightsEdit: for latest updates please see comments, below.A volcanic ash cloud in UK airspace has left tens of thousands of travellers returning from Easter holidays facing long delays in getting home.  All non-emergency flights have been banned within UK airspace.Statement on Icelandic volcanic eruption: Thurs April 15, 09:30

UEA CRU Scientists Cleared Of Malpractice AllegationsAn independent panel of scientists has cleared scientists at the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit of the malpractice allegations which have been made against them.This follows the the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee report, which I abstracted in The Mother Of Inquiries: Parliamentary CRU Report.Response by the University of East Anglia to the Report by Lord Oxburgh’s Science Assessment PanelWed, 14 Apr 2010

Simon Singh Wins Legal BattleGood news for lovers of freedom of speech across the planet.The British Chiropractic Association (BCA) this morning dropped its libel claim against Dr Singh.Thanks to the adoption by British judges of a principle of US Law, the BCA has finally realised that the legal maxim: 'when you find yourself in a hole, you should stop digging' is a truth of universal application.

CO2 As A Greenhouse GasA greenhouse keeps an air volume warm mainly by enclosing it as fixed volume of air.  From that perspective, the term 'greenhouse gas' is a somewhat unfortunate choice of term.  But we seem to be stuck with it.Obsolete books and web site pages continue to describe the atmosphere in terms of 'well-mixed gases'.  That is counterfactual.  Gases entering the atmosphere from whatever source can take a very long time indeed to become well distributed even even within a single hemisphere.  Or even within a single atmospheric layer.

The Animal That Amplifies ItselfAmplify: to make a thing bigger or more powerful.The characteristic that most distinguishes humans from our animal cousins is not the use of tools.  Nor is it the use of language.  Many animals use twigs or stones as tools.  Many animals have the ability to communicate alarm, distress, food sources and other matters.The only thing, I suggest, that clearly separates humans from all other living things is that we are the only species which can amplify its behaviors.  Whatever biological faculty we wish to use we have a machine to amplify that faculty.  We invented machines to enhance our chances of survival.

Understanding Climate : #6 - HypsographyI am trying to explain in this series the most important aspects of the sciences most relevant to climate as a cross-disciplinary study.  My intention is to help my readers to build up a sort of 'mental model' of the most important components of the earth's climate sytems.The first parts covered mainly astronomical considerations: axial tilt, orbital eccentricity and solar variation, for example.I now turn to the topic of hypsography.New readers may wish to start at Understanding Climate : #1 - Components Of Climate.

Understanding Climate : #5 - Variations In SunshineInsolation variation