Posts Tagged ‘Science’

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Precautionary principle is fatally flawed

April 18, 2010

Finally as reported by the BBC the nonsensical bans on flights in Europe are being questioned.

“Europe’s air industry has called for an urgent review of flight bans imposed because of volcanic ash from Iceland………Airlines that have carried out test flights say planes showed no obvious damage after flying through the ash.”

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8628323.stm

The volcanic ash plume from Iceland, top left, to northern France, pictured by Nasa's Terra Satellite , 17 April

Photo: NEODAAS/University of Dundee/AP

Wherever the Precautionary Principle is used to justify restrictions on human activity it is because a political agenda is being served but common sense dictates otherwise. It is usually resorted to by polticians and bureaucrats who defend a process in the name of avoiding the “common bad” even if the results of the process are against the common good.

Big Brother in Europe is alive and well but it is time to put this pseudo-science to bed.

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Do volcanoes cause climate change?

April 18, 2010

Do volcanoes cause climate change or it the other way around?

Freysteinn Sigmundsson, a vulcanologist at the University of Iceland believes that climate change can impact eruptions. “Global warming melts ice and this can influence magmatic systems,” he told Reuters. The end of the Ice Age 10,000 years ago coincided with a surge in volcanic activity in Iceland, apparently because huge ice caps thinned and the land rose. “We believe the reduction of ice has not been important in triggering this latest eruption,” he said of Eyjafjallajokull. “The eruption is happening under a relatively small ice cap.”

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=ice-cap-thaw-iceland-volcanoes

But Steven Goddard writing in What’s Up with That suggests it is the other way around.

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/04/17/volcanoes-cause-climate-change/#more-18609

Not climate, but perhaps solar effects can impact geological changes in the earth’s crust and influence eruptions. It seems unlikely that a feedback loop from surface air conditions could work to change the earth’s crust.

Clouds and dust from volcanoes can surely affect weather and maybe even weather for a few years. Perhaps volcanoes can even change climate but I think the jury is out on that.

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Snow among the cherry blossoms

April 18, 2010

A lovely picture of cherry blossoms in full bloom, people in kimonos, umbrellas unfurled and snow on the ground in Tokyo — from The Japan Times.

News photo

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Snow in Tokyo today. It must be global warming!

April 17, 2010
Tokyo had snow today — the latest time of the year snowfall has been seen since 1969.
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/flashnews/

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The Precautionary Principle is a fraud

April 17, 2010

It is primarily a political device and has little to do with science.

The closing of air space in Northern Europe and the massive disruption to travellers is totally unnecessary and is justified on the grounds of the precautionary principle. But it defies common sense. Eurocontrol rules are being applied blindly without using any common sense.

Swine flu vaccinations were imposed under the guise of the precautionary principle, but were unnecessary and, it now appears, promoted by the manufacturers of flu vaccines.

The banning of ordinary filament light bulbs and the imposition of the so-called low energy lamps is another misuse of the precautionary principle (and in this case a pandering to a particular industrial lobby under the guise of being environmentally friendly)

The entire Y2K and global warming circuses were other examples.

As Daniel Henninger notes the precautionary principle is damaging the credibility of science.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704107104574572091993737848.html

It is claimed in its defence that it is common sense but, of course it is not.

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/prec.php

Common sense does not need the cloak of being labelled a “precautionary principle”. It is what allows politicians and politically motivated scientists to stop or do what is otherwise unjustifiable in the name of common sense.

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Solar cycle 24

April 16, 2010

Spring has come to Sweden but observing the slowness with which ice melts on cloudy days, even with temperatures well above zero is just a reminder that surface air temperatures are much less effective in transferring heat to oceans than direct solar radiation.

There are fascinating indications that the current solar cycle (24) is very similar to solar cycle no.5 which started in January 1798. The inference is that the current minimum could resemble the Dalton minimum. The Landscheidt minimum it seems.  http://www.landscheidt.info/

Does this tie in to the North Atlantic Oscillation which could have caused climate warming for the 30 years prior to 1998 and is now going to lead to 30 years of global cooling?

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/01/11/ipcc-scientist-global-cooling-headed-our-way-for-the-next-30-years/

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Volcanos and global warming

April 16, 2010

k2p — knowledge to people

The ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano has disrupted air traffic across Northern Europe.

This is an intensity one volcano and puts the impact of man into perspective. It occurs to me that to believe (since there is insufficient evidence) that anthropogenic effects can overshadow clouds and solar effects on global warming is just a little arrogant.

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