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Climategate - Lord Oxburgh to head new University of East Anglia inquiry

David Adam
The Guardian
Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:25 UTC
Former chair of the science and technology select committee will lead a panel to reassess the scientific papers produced by the Climatic Research Unit

Image
© Eamonn McCabe
Lord Oxburgh, former chair of the House of Lords science and technology select committee.
The University of East Anglia has asked Lord Oxburgh, former chair of the House of Lords science and technology select committee, to head a new inquiry into the results produced by the climate scientists at the centre of a media storm.

Oxburgh will lead a panel of scientists that will reassess the scientific papers produced by experts at the university's Climatic Research Unit (CRU). The work of the CRU has been subject to intense scrutiny since thousands of emails from its scientists were released online in November.

Oxburgh said: "The shadow hanging over climate change and science more generally at present makes it a matter of urgency that we get on with this assessment. We will undertake this work and report as soon as possible."

The university has already set up a separate inquiry into the way the CRU scientists behaved, led by Sir Muir Russell. The new investigation will look at the results they published in scientific journals.

Comment: So this is a peer review of the way the UEA scientists did climate change peer review. It will be extraordinary if this review ends up anything other than a giant whitewash, but we can hope that the panel members value integrity over grants.

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Magnify

Wind contributing to Arctic sea ice loss, study finds

David Adam
The Guardian
Mon, 22 Mar 2010 07:00 UTC
New research does not question climate change is also melting ice in the Arctic, but finds wind patterns explain steep decline.

Image
© HO/AFP/Getty Images
Arctic sea ice as seen from NASA satellites.
Much of the record breaking loss of ice in the Arctic ocean in recent years is down to the region's swirling winds and is not a direct result of global warming, a new study reveals.

Ice blown out of the region by Arctic winds can explain around one-third of the steep downward trend in sea ice extent in the region since 1979, the scientists say.

The study does not question that global warming is also melting ice in the Arctic, but it could raise doubts about high-profile claims that the region has passed a climate "tipping point" that could see ice loss sharply accelerate in coming years.

The new findings also help to explain the massive loss of Arctic ice seen in the summers of 2007-08, which prompted suggestions that the summertime Arctic Ocean could be ice-free within a decade. About half of the variation in maximum ice loss each September is down to changes in wind patterns, the study says.

Comment: More and more evidence mounts up demonstrating the exaggerations and the lies we have been fed about global warming.

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Bulb

Canada: The lowly honeybee deserves a lot more attention

Tom Spears
The Montreal Gazette
Mon, 22 Mar 2010 17:48 UTC
Five years after the mysterious mass deaths of honeybees began, bees keep dying, yet in many ways the mystery seems as deep as ever.

Why can't we solve this, in a country with Canada's scientific resources?

Bees are important to anyone who wants food on the table. It's easy to forget this. Once, wild bees pollinated flowers and fruit trees across the continent. But the Europeans brought honeybees, and these have taken over the job.
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Bizarro Earth

Australia: Severe hailstorm batters Perth

Chloe Johnson, Daile Pepper, Tim Clarce, Roy Fleming
WA Today
Mon, 22 Mar 2010 19:25 UTC
Image
© WAtoday
The biggest storm to hit Perth in 50 years has caused massive destruction across the city.

Within a couple of hours of the storm passing through, more than 150,000 homes were without power, residents flooded Fire and Emergency Services helplines desperate for assistance, roads were underwater and traffic in some areas was at a standstill.

Almost 100 sets of traffic lights were out and planes were stranded at both Perth airports.

The State Emergency Service has had reports of structural damage to several major hospitals and aged care facilities, and these cases were the priority.

A landslide through Kings Park down to Mounts Bay Road has buried and crushed two cars, with police unable to confirm whether there were any occupants inside. The cars were in parking bays, so police are hopeful nobody was inside.
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Igloo

US: More Snow Falling In Oklahoma, Arkansas. Spring Blizzard


NPR / Associate Press
Sun, 21 Mar 2010 14:19 UTC
Image
© AP
A robin perches on plowed snow and ice Saturday, March 20, 2010, in Lawrence, Kansas
More snow was falling Sunday as part of a powerful storm blowing through Oklahoma and the southern Plains on the first weekend of spring.

The National Weather Service said there was moderate to heavy snow across northeast Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas, with some places reporting 8 to 12 inches of snow. The snow and rain was expected to end later Sunday.

Authorities have attributed at least four deaths in four states to the weather. Police in Arlington, Texas, said ice on an interstate caused an accident Sunday involving five vehicles and two 18-wheelers. One of the 18-wheelers fell on another vehicle, killing one person.
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Bizarro Earth

Worst-ever dust storm from China hits Taiwan


Taiwan News
Sun, 21 Mar 2010 17:41 UTC
Taipei - The worst-ever dust storms from China forced air quality in Northern Taiwan sharply down Sunday, the Environmental Protection Administration said.

A total of 24 observation stations across the island recorded more than 1,000 micrograms of dust per cubic meter and a further ten showed values at damaging levels, according to the EPA. Skies turned a yellowish grey as there was no rain to wash away the dust, the Central Weather Bureau said.

The worst levels of pollution were recorded on the island of Matsu close to the coast of China's Fujian Province, in Keelung on the North Coast and in several Taipei City districts, EPA official Chu Yu-chi said.

Doctors advised people to limit outside activities to the barest minimum, and to wear masks or even goggles when riding a motorcycle. Patients suffering from breathing problems even before the storm should wait a few days until after it had left before resuming normal outside activities, reports said.

The number of patients recording breathing problems increased by 20 percent to 30 percent because of irritation by the dust, reports said. People wearing contact lenses felt irritation of the eyes, according to media reports quoting physicians.

The storms expanded to Central and Southern Taiwan during Sunday afternoon, especially in areas close to the coast, the EPA said. Visibility in Taitung on the southeast coast was reduced to 5 kilometers, according to reports.
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Bizarro Earth

Rapid Increases in Tree Growth Found in U.S.


ScienceDaily
Mon, 22 Mar 2010 00:00 UTC
Image
© Michele Hogan
Trees in Maryland.
Researchers from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Earthwatch met in Panama from Mar. 1-5 to present mid-term research results from the HSBC Climate Partnership, a five-year initiative to identify and respond to the impacts of climate change. The program is supported financially by HSBC and involves a global team of bank employees -- 'climate champions' -- in vital forest research.

The first-ever research program of its kind has so far:
  • Found rapid increases in tree growth in the forest around the Smithsonian's Environmental Research Center (SERC) in Maryland, USA, a finding attributed to increased atmospheric carbon dioxide and longer growing seasons, published in PNAS.
  • Proposed a novel biodiversity theory relating stress and seed-size published in PNAS.
  • Examined the effects a changing climate in forests is having on white-tailed deer, mice and even mosquitoes.
  • Addressed the lack of a reliable method for estimating the carbon storage capability of secondary forests on a landscape scale by assessing how measurements from airborne LiDAR and other remote sensing technologies relate to ground-based measurements.
  • Reviewed how human disturbance changes the way forests take up carbon in diverse environments.
Researchers working in broadleaf forest plots near Oxford, England, Atlantic rainforests in Southern Brazil and subtropical forests near Gutianshan Nature Reserve in China, as well as the SERC site in Maryland, have been putting HSBC employees to work.
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Bizarro Earth

US: 2 Earthquakes Recorded in Central Oklahoma


KTUL
Mon, 22 Mar 2010 07:25 UTC
Image
© USGS
The U.S. Geological Survey reports recording two earthquakes in central Oklahoma.

A 3.7 magnitude quake was recorded near Prague in Lincoln County about 8:35 p.m. Sunday and a 2.8 magnitude quake was recorded in the same area just after 4:15 a.m. Monday.

No injuries or damage are reported.

The survey says people as far away as Tulsa and Claremore reported feeling the 3.7 quake. Quakes of magnitude 2.5 to 3 are generally the smallest felt by people.

According to the USGS, there were 3 earthquakes: 3.8, 2.8 and 2.7.
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Snowman

Heavy snowstorm paralyzes traffic in Russian Far East


RIA Novosti
Sun, 21 Mar 2010 10:45 UTC
Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk - A heavy snowstorm has paralyzed traffic on Russia's
Image
© RIA Novosti, Сергей Красноухов
Far Eastern island of Sakhalin, regional transportation authorities reported on Sunday.

The cyclone, which approached from the Yellow Sea, hit the Pacific island on Sunday morning with winds up of to 25 meters per second and heavy snow, creating the danger of avalanches in the island's south, the transportation authorities said.

The cyclone has partially interrupted air communication with Sakhalin while the ferry service between the island and the mainland has been suspended, the transportation authorities said.
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Igloo

China: More than 10,000 houses collapse as rainstorm and blizzard hit Xinjiang


Xinhua
Mon, 22 Mar 2010 08:18 UTC
Image
© Xinhuanet
Xinjiang is hit by blizzard and rainstorm.
More than 11,000 houses have collapsed in Yining County, the most seriously damaged area by blizzard and rainstorm in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, local authorities said Sunday.

The county government has sent 950 tents of its 1,000 emergency tents to the residents who have lost their dwellings. It also has provided plastic cloth for others to protect their houses, an official said.

Some residents have been moved to the offices of local governments and schools, as there are not enough tents and plastic cloth.

Xinjiang has suffered the most serious snowstorms in six decades since last December, which seriously affected at least 1.88 million people in Xinjiang after houses collapsed and livestock were killed.

As temperature rises, the snow has been melting and some houses were flooded.

Tacheng City in northwest Xinjiang has suffered from melted snow in its E'min, Tuoli and Yumin counties as temperature rose to 18.1 Celsius degrees last Wednesday, which affected 60,000 people and caused 5,000 houses to collapse.
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