East coast in Irene’s path, scrambles to prepare .

Posted on August 26, 2011 by ovehblog

Sydney Morning Herald, August 26, 2011

UPDATE: See Scott Mandia on CNBC talking about Irene, the flood risk and other issues.

The north-east seaboard of the US, including Washington and financial centre New York, rushed to prepare for a possible mauling from Hurricane Irene that will hit the coast this weekend. From the Carolinas to Cape Cod, more than 50 million people were potentially in Irene’s path. States, cities, ports, industries, oil refineries and nuclear plants scrambled to activate emergency plans, while residents stocked up on food and water and worked to secure homes, vehicles and boats. Continue reading →

Suspension Of Arctic Scientist Suddenly Lifted

Posted on August 26, 2011 by ovehblog

WASHINGTON–(ENEWSPF)–August 26, 2011. A top federal Arctic scientist is returning to work today after six weeks on administrative leave without any charges being leveled against him, according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). Meanwhile, the agency which suspended the scientist is itself under investigation for mishandling the matter.

On July 18, 2011, the Bureau of Ocean Energy, Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEM) suspended Dr. Charles Monnett in connection with an ongoing Interior Department Office of Inspector General (IG) investigation. Continue reading →

The Atlantic: Michael Mann cleared (Again).

Posted on August 24, 2011 by ovehblog

UPDATE: See Peter Sinclair’s insightful on the phony case made by the denialists and their inability to accept the results of the NSF inquiry: “Climategate” Debunked Again. Climate Deniers: Mike Mann born in Kenya“.

JAMES FALLOWS – Aug 24 2011 – James Fallows is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and has written for the magazine since the late 1970s. He has reported extensively from outside the United States, and once worked as President Carter’s chief speechwriter

In my article a few months ago about the importance of China-US efforts to find cleaner ways to use coal — because both countries, like it or not, are going to keep using coal, and because if they don’t find ways to reduce its carbon emissions, nothing else done about climate change will count — I quoted the Penn State climate scientist Michael Mann(right).

Continue reading →

Finding no research misconduct or other matter raised by the various regulations and laws discussed above, this case is closed.

Posted on August 22, 2011 by ovehblog

By Joe Romm on Aug 22, 2011 at 12:08 pm

NSF Inspector General: “Finding no research misconduct or other matter raised by the various regulations and laws discussed above, this case is closed.”

Reconstruction of Northern Hemisphere temperatures, Mann et al.

Two things we know with extremely high confidence:

Recent warming is unprecedented in magnitude and speed and cause (so the temperature history looks like a Hockey Stick).
Michael Mann, the lead author on the original Hockey Stick paper, is one of the nation’s top climatologists and a source of first-rate analysis.

We know these things because both the Hockey Stick and Mann have been independently investigated and vindicated more times than any other facet of climate science or any other climate scientist (see links below). Continue reading →

Even more voting opportunities.

Posted on August 18, 2011 by ovehblog

Worried about climate change? Furious about the carbon tax? Confused about the science? Walkley-award winning journalist Michael Bachelard will lead The Sunday Age team investigating the 10 most popular questions on OurSay which will be featured and updated on The Age’s Climate Agenda website.

Go here to vote which question you would like to have investigated. The one starting “There are some very vocal and seemingly influential climate change sceptics …” is a particularly interesting question in the light of what we have seen over the last 12 months!

Union of concerned scientists: vote for calendar entries.

Posted on August 17, 2011 by ovehblog

The Union of Concerned Scientists has a series of cartoons that they would like people to vote on. Here is a beauty! Go through to their website to view more. Continue reading →

The ‘Galileo Movement’ must have scientific hero rolling in his grave

Posted on August 16, 2011 by ovehblog

UPDATE – for more on this false scientific movement, Graham Readfearn has the details here. Note how most of their ‘experts’ are unpublished in the expert literature and don’t believe that CO2 is a greenhouse gas!

By Douglas Fischer and The Daily Climate | August 16, 2011, Scientific American

A new group challenging the general consensus on climate science is getting significant air time in Australia, where uproar over a proposed carbon tax may topple the country’s minority government. Continue reading →

Poll shows support for media regulation inquiry

Posted on August 12, 2011 by ovehblog

Sydney morning Herald, Lenore Taylor, August 12, 2011

THE Communications Minister, Stephen Conroy, and the Greens leader, Bob Brown, have discussed possible terms of reference for a parliamentary inquiry into media regulation, as a new poll shows 60 per cent of voters support the idea.The negotiation will continue when Parliament resumes next week, when the government is likely to make a final decision about whether to proceed. An Essential Research poll commissioned by a GetUp!-linked activist group, Newsstand, suggests majority voter support for another media inquiry. Sixty-one per cent of those surveyed ”agreed” or ”strongly agreed” with the proposition that ”a public inquiry into the Australian media is necessary so the public can better understand the relationship between politicians, corporations and media outlets.” Continue reading →

Arctic ice melt could pause in coming decades

Posted on August 12, 2011 by ovehblog

AGU Release No. 11–27
August 11, 2011
For Immediate Release

WASHINGTON—Despite the rapid retreat of Arctic sea ice in recent years, the ice may temporarily stabilize or somewhat expand at times over the next few decades, new research indicates.

A new computer modeling study reinforces previous findings by other research teams that the level of Arctic sea ice loss observed in recent decades cannot be explained by natural causes alone, and that the ice will eventually melt away during summer if the climate continues to warm. Continue reading →

Meeting report available on ocean acidification and its impacts.

Posted on July 30, 2011 by ovehblog

Experts interested in ocean acidification and affiliated with academic and federal agencies in the United States met for the first time the Woods hole in March 22-24 of this year. There are a number of interesting presentations and videos to watch of leading scientists discussing the issues at the meeting website.