February 8, 2012
We have been down to -22°C over the weekend and it’s -10°C today. The cold spell is likely to last another 10 days or so. There are few clouds and day time temperatures are 10+°C higher than at night.
It’s only weather of course but a timely reminder that – anywhere in the world – daily temperature variations are of the order of 10-15 °C and seasonal variations every year are of the order of 30 – 50 °C. And this variation is entirely due to the effects of the sun and the winds and the cloud cover. The effects of carbon dioxide and climate scientology are insignificant. But it’s only weather.
An extract from the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute (SMHI) for 4th February makes the point:
SMHI:
All of Sweden has had it much colder than normal for the season.
In parts of northern Norrland it was more than 20 °C colder than normal. It was coldest in Kvikkjokk-Årrenjarka in Lapland with a temperature of -42.7 °C, which is the lowest temperature recorded there since surveys began in 1888. It was 25°C colder than what is normal for the season where “normal temperature” means the average daily temperature between the years 1961-1990.
The reason for the extreme cold was the northern and easterly winds in combination with very clear weather. Without any insulating cloud cover night-time temperatures plummeted.
For the country as a whole it was a fairly even distribution of about 20 °C colder in the north to over 10 °C colder than normal in southern Götaland. At the Norwegian border, with Lakes Vänern and Vättern and along the Östergötland and Småland coast, it was between 8 and 10 °C colder than normal. It was mildest in southern Öland, with temperatures of only 6 to 7 °C lower than normal.
Sweden temparature anomalies on 4th February 2012 - SMHI
Tags: climate scientology, daily temperature, global warming, SMHI, Sweden, temperature anomaly
Posted in Climate, Sweden, Weather, Winter | Comments Off on The big freeze: Sun and wind and clouds – not climate scientology or carbon dioxide
February 3, 2012
As Europe freezes in Siberian weather and people die it is not so difficult to imagine what life would be like in the throes of a Little Ice Age. Humans have endured and survived during the ice ages but have only developed and thrived and expanded when the Earth goes through its interglacial periods.
It is global cooling and the potential for a little ice age that poses the real threat to humans. Not some fantasy about anthropogenic global warming. The demonisation of carbon dioxide in the assumed – but unproven – belief that it contributes to global warming will turn out to be one of the most wasteful contentions of modern science.
If only it was that easy to change the climate!
NoTricksZone reports:
Germany’s no. 1 daily Bild (by circulation numbers) reports on the Killer Cold now paralyzing Europe and Asia, and calls it the worst in 25 years. The cold has hit Eastern Europe especially hard, with temperatures plummeting to -30°C throughout the Ukraine and Poland. So far the cold has claimed 139 lives, with 3 in Germany.
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Tags: coldest winters, Europe, global cooling, global warming, Little Ice Age, winter
Posted in Climate, Solar science, Weather, Winter | Comments Off on Hundreds die as cold wave in Europe provides a taste of what a little ice age could do
February 1, 2012
Well now!!!
Perhaps this just panders to my opinions but I find this more convincing than the Hockey Stick.
Bicentennial Decrease of the Total Solar Irradiance Leads to Unbalanced Thermal Budget of the Earth and the Little Ice Age by Habibullo I. Abdussamatov, Pulkovo Observatory of the Russian Academy of Science, St. Petersburg, 196140, Russia
Applied Physics Research ISSN 1916-9639 (Print) ISSN 1916-9647 (Online)
Abstract
Temporal changes in the power of the longwave radiation of the system Earth-atmosphere emitted to space always lag behind changes in the power of absorbed solar radiation due to slow change of its enthalpy. That is why the debit and credit parts of the average annual energy budget of the terrestrial globe with its air and water envelope are practically always in an unbalanced state. Average annual balance of the thermal budget of the system Earth-atmosphere during long time period will reliably determine the course and value of both an energy excess accumulated by the Earth or the energy deficit in the thermal budget which, with account for data of the TSI forecast, can define and predict well in advance the direction and amplitude of the forthcoming climate changes. From early 90s we observe bicentennial decrease in both the TSI and the portion of its energy absorbed by the Earth. The Earth as a planet will henceforward have negative balance in the energy budget which will result in the temperature drop in approximately 2014. Due to increase of albedo and decrease of the greenhouse gases atmospheric concentration the absorbed portion of solar energy and the influence of the greenhouse effect will additionally decline. The influence of the consecutive chain of feedback effects which can lead to additional drop of temperature will surpass the influence of the TSI decrease. The onset of the deep bicentennial minimum of TSI is expected in 2042±11, that of the 19th Little Ice Age in the past 7500 years – in 2055±11.
The full paper (pdf) is here: Abdussamatov App Physics Research
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Tags: Abdussamatov, climate change, global cooling, Little Ice Age, Pulkovo Observatory, Russian Academy of Science, solar effects on climate
Posted in Climate, Solar science | 1 Comment »
January 31, 2012
Finally the winner of the Indian MMRCA competition has been announced (or at least the L1 bidder) and it seems that the French dumped their prices for the Rafale to beat the Eurofighter by $4-5 million per aircraft. The performance of the Rafale in the Libyan adventure was also to its benefit compared to the Eurofighter Typhoon. Normally in the procurement process, the L1 bidder is called for final discussions to settle the contract and some further price negotiations can be expected. The contract will not be settled till the next fiscal year (after April 2012) and it would be very unusual for the evaluated L1 bidder not to get the contract. This contract is particularly important for Dassault since not only did the Rafale need a boost but also because they are guaranteed a market with the Indian Air Force for at least the next 15 years.
Economic Times:
French company Dassault Rafale on Tuesday bagged India’s biggest-ever contract for supplying 126 combat aircraft for the air force, edging out European competitor EADS in the multi-billion dollar deal.
The French firm was declared as the lowest bidder, according to which it will get the contract under India’s defence procurement procedure, sources said. “The French firm Dassault Rafale has emerged as the L-1 (lowest bidder) and cheaper than its european rival EADS (maker of Eurofighter) in the tender and will be offered to supply the aircraft to the IAF,” the source said.
They said the representatives of Dassault here were informed about the development in the morning and further negotiations on price will be held with them in the next 10-15 days.
The contract will be signed only in the next fiscal. According to the Request for Proposal (RFP), the winner of the contract will have to supply 18 of the 126 aircraft to the IAF in 36 months from its facilities and the remaining would be produced at HAL facilities in Bangalore.
Six companies including American F-16 and F-18, Russian MiG 35, Swedish Saab Gripen alongwith Eurofighter and Dassault Rafale were in the race in the beginning. But in April last year, the Defence Ministry shortlisted Dassault and EADS, evicting the American, Russian and Swedish bids.
The process was started with the issuing of a global tender in 2007 after which all the six contenders were subjected to extensive field evaluation trails by the Indian Air Force at several locations across the globe.
The Defence Ministry had earlier cleared the way for opening commercial bids of Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon by approving their offset proposals.
Tags: Dassault, Dassault Rafale, Eurofighter Typhoon, India, Indian Air Force, MMRCA
Posted in Aviation, Defense, India | 5 Comments »
January 28, 2012
This piece appeared in the WSJ signed by 16 scientists:
No need to panic about global warming
There’s no compelling scientific argument for drastic action to ‘decarbonize’ the world’s economy.
Editor’s Note: The following has been signed by the 16 scientists listed at the end of the article:
A candidate for public office in any contemporary democracy may have to consider what, if anything, to do about “global warming.” Candidates should understand that the oft-repeated claim that nearly all scientists demand that something dramatic be done to stop global warming is not true. In fact, a large and growing number of distinguished scientists and engineers do not agree that drastic actions on global warming are needed. ….
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Tags: Alarmism, climate alarmism, global warming, IPCC
Posted in Alarmism, Climate, scientific misconduct | Comments Off on No need to panic about global warming
January 27, 2012
h/t Jimmy
Tags: Dalai Lama, humans as paradox
Posted in Behaviour | Comments Off on Humans as paradox
January 22, 2012
I have long felt that Håkan Juholt was inappropriate as the leader of the Swedish Social Democrats. But what was most disturbing – in this time of transparency – was the opaque manner of his being “appointed and anointed” as leader of the party some 10 months ago.
But it is the party’s Executive Committee (Verkställande utskott) who come out of this debacle as being particularly incompetent. No doubt Juholt himself was lacking in the competence and leadership qualities necessary to unite the party behind him. But it was the Executive Committee which displayed gross incompetence; first in choosing a leader who would be constantly sniped at from within the party; secondly, incompetent in the coup-like manner in which they pulled Juholt’s name out of a hat; thirdly incompetent in not being able to discern Juholt’s lack of the leadership qualities necessary for the position; and finally incompetent in not being able to shield their “appointed” leader from the snipers and the baying media.
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Tags: Executive Committee, Håkan Juholt, Party leader, Sweden, Swedish Social Democratic Party
Posted in Politics, Sweden | Comments Off on Swedish Social Democrats implode as Juholt resigns
January 20, 2012
The dark side of solar energy: Der Spiegel graphic
The price for the headlong rush to renewable energy in Germany driven largely by a rampant Green party now has to be paid. Subsidies have exceeded 100 billion € but nothing of that has reached the consumer. But some developers and some entrepreneurs have made some not so small fortunes.
Der Spiegel is not known for daring to challenge political correctness and has been one of the staunch supporters of the global warming orthodoxy. But even Der Spiegel is apalled:
The costs of subsidizing solar electricity have exceeded the 100-billion-euro mark in Germany, but poor results are jeopardizing the country’s transition to renewable energy. The government is struggling to come up with a new concept to promote the inefficient technology in the future.
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Tags: Germany, Renewable Energy Law, solar energy subsidy, Solar panel, Subsidy
Posted in Alarmism, Climate, Renewable Energy | Comments Off on The dark side of the sun in Germany
January 18, 2012
The new McCarthys in the US
- Senators Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Diane Feinstein(D -California), Harry Reid (D- Nevada), Ben Cardin (D-Md.)
- Motion Picture Association of America, Chris Dodd (Lobbyist and Chairman of MPAA and former Senator)
- News Corp., Time-Warner, Sony and Disney
Tags: Hollywood censorship, internet censorship, McCarthyism
Posted in Corruption, Media | Comments Off on The new censors – McCarthyism by Hollywood
January 18, 2012
The advent of shale gas has moved the peak of “peak-gas” into the future by some 250 years. This together with the fact that gas-fired power plant have the shortest construction times and the lowest investment costs of any form of power generation provides the possibility to hold down electricity generation costs. The increase in generation costs in recent times has been the natural consequence of the subsidy regimes for wind and solar power plants and the opportunistic rush to renewable power. Huge fortunes have been made by “green” developers as the subsidies have been milked – but consumers have only seen rising electricity prices.
Bloomberg reports:
A shale-driven glut of natural gas has cut electricity prices for the U.S. power industry by 50 percent and reduced investment in costlier sources of energy. With abundant new supplies of gas making it the cheapest option for new power generation, the largest U.S. wind-energy producer, NextEra Energy Inc. (NEE), has shelved plans for new U.S. wind projects next year and Exelon Corp. (EXC) called off plans to expand two nuclear plants. Michigan utility CMS Energy Corp. (CMS) canceled a $2 billion coal plant after deciding it wasn’t financially viable in a time of “low natural-gas prices linked to expanded shale-gas supplies,” according to a company statement.
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Tags: Electricity generation, Energy, gas glut, Gas price, gas turbine boom, Natural gas, Shale gas, Utilities
Posted in Energy, Engineering, Gas | 2 Comments »
