“New planet discovered“. Anthony Watts gives us some more random science copy-and-paste to momentarily interrupt the endless flow of denialist claims.

“Sat tracking of ultraviolet light shows increase since 1979“. Another news release copy-and-paste from Anthony Watts, this time from NASA. You can read the abstract here at the Journal of Geophysical Research. I think he’s trying to “pad out” the denialist bunk with random “science”. Seeing these kinds of posts always makes me stop and wonder “what’s his angle?”

UV increase was greater at higher latitudes but leveled off in 1998. Unlike global warming.

Maybe Anthony thinks this information feeds into the “it’s natural!” solar theory of global warming, but the identified cause is decreased levels of UV-blocking stratospheric ozone. And it is not tracking the global temperature trends either:

After 1998, midlatitude annual average ozone amounts and UV irradiance levels have been approximately constant. Herman, J. R. (2010), Global increase in UV irradiance during the past 30 years (1979–2008) estimated from satellite data, J. Geophys. Res., 115

“Indianapolis wind power contract canceled“. So what, Anthony? Does he want readers to think that alternative energy projects are being abandoned because there is no global warming? Each project has its own costs and benefits and should be judged on that basis.

“Aquatic ‘dead zones’ contributing to climate change“. Anthony Watts passes on an “alarming missive.” To Anthony, this is a chance to divert attention to other natural sources of greenhouse gases. Stop picking on poor little CO₂!

Dead zones. Maybe the greenhouse gas thing is all because of N2O! 2010-03-13 update: This image, used by Anthony in his post, is for a river not the ocean (credit: Hank Roberts).

“Paleo-clamatology“. Anthony Watts disparages scientific studies until he finds one that suits him. Incomplete data, cherry-picking, needs confirmation, wait for new data, they “don’t share”, whatever he can come up with to brush  inconvenient research aside. But if he likes the conclusion the paper is immediately the Holy Grail.

In the case of this report from Nature about oxygen-18 isotopes in molluscs as paleoclimate indicators, Anthony thinks it will “surely stick in the craw of many who think we are living in unprecedented times of warmth“. He also ‘cautiously’ declares “the data resolution is incredible.” Good skepticism there, Anthony.

Now this kind of data is very interesting. It will be exciting to watch the study’s reception by knowledgeable scientists and how it develops under further scrutiny and deeper analysis. I hope to hear a lot more about it.

But a few things stick out in the context of Anthony’s praise: First, the data is from a single Icelandic bay. Not a global signal. Second, the author says “What we’re getting to here is palaeoweather.” Weather ain’t climate, right Anthony? Third, the presented data stops at 1600 AD, well before reliable direct temperature measurements were available or the onset of what some people call Global Warming.

Clams in Iceland whisper to Anthony that there is no Global Warming. Well, in one bay in Iceland anyway. Psst. See that downward trend on the end? It's 400 years ago. Click to enbiggen.

I bet Dr. William Patterson is about to find he has some creepy new friends that will be hard to shake.

Yowzer! “sea ice extended to the equator 716.5 million years ago”. Anthony Watts offers this interesting report from Harvard University – Scientists find signs of ‘snowball Earth’. It states that sediments from the Canadian Arctic, which owing to plate tectonics were on the equator 700 million years ago, indicate that there have been periods of truly global sea ice coverage.

Gray carbonate sediments (tropical) underlying thinner dark brown glacially influenced sediments. I've done field work in this beautiful region.

Anthony wants to imply that this means that huge and rapid climate changes can easily have a natural cause. Unfortunately, in geological terms “rapid” means tens of thousands of years, not decades. Also these geological climate changes are the product of physical changes to the earth impacting atmospheric gases and hence climate. The fact that we are not seeing planetary changes driving the observed changes in atmospheric gases and climate is why there’s such a fuss being made about man-made influences.