Virginia Attorney General goes after Mann and UVA

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“Virginia Attorney General goes after Mann and UVA“. Anthony Watts is pleased that Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, a denialist right-wing nutter and Tea Party supporter, is moving on from encouraging discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, attacking the Environmental Protection Agency and fighting against federal health care reform.

Now he wants the University of Virginia to produce documents relating to Dr. Michael Mann’s state funding while he was at UVA between 1999 and 2005. Seems every posturing right-wing politician wants to go on a bullying Climategate-style fishin’ trip these days. I predict he’ll return with nothing more than the bait he set out with.

Let’s just say it: this is an ignorant McCarthy-style witch hunt.

Well, at least they didn’t launch it at Roswell

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“Well, at least they didn’t launch it at Roswell“. Anthony Watts’ snarky reference to a NASA balloon experiment in Australia that failed to launch serves as an enjoyable opportunity for his readers to snipe at gubmint scientists and Al Gore.

Another Arctic Sea Ice Milestone

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“Another Arctic Sea Ice Milestone“. Anthony Watts is trying to milk the Arctic Sea Ice Extent blip (aka “weather”) for as long as possible. Of course this is only possible with the Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center’s NORSEX estimate, which uses a slightly broader definition of sea ice. Anthony tells us about a sensational “milestone”:

Today it is encouraging to see the NANSEN is reporting that both Arctic Sea Ice area and extent are above the normal line.

Nansen Arctic Sea Ice Extent, 2010/04/29.

What’s actually happening is that the 2010 sea ice extent has tracked previous “low” years until an early March cold snap in the Bering Sea delayed the onset of retreat. After that delay, it’s right back on the same trajectory.

But keep sayin’ it, Anthony.

2010/04/30 Update: Good sea ice info from Dr. Ron Lindsay at the University of Washington has been pointed out in the comments:

Mar. 2010 sea ice extent prediction for Sept. 2010. After Ron Lindsay.

Disconnected Computer Modeling

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“Disconnected Computer Modeling“. Steven Goddard notices a University Of Washington computer simulation of Arctic sea ice extent by Jinlun Zhang and Ron Lindsay which strikes him “as being particularly disconnected from reality.” Probably because their low prediction for the fall of 2010 doesn’t suit him.

Does Steven explain why the prediction is faulty, or what is wrong with their model? Of course not, he has no clue whatsoever about the how the model is generated.

Arctic Sea Ice Extent 2010 prediction by Zhang and Lindsay.

Zhang’s prediction includes the reasonable statement that “There are many uncertainties with the predictions and the results must be viewed with caution” but it will be interesting to see how this prediction, which includes a month of hindcast, bears out.

EPA’s action Jackson moving forward

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“EPA’s action Jackson moving forward“. There’s nothing Anthony Watts hates more than a government actually doing something. The disparagingly nicknamed EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has testified before Congress that the EPA will be setting efficiency and biofuel standards to further reduce pollution and incidentally decrease American dependency on foreign oil sources.

Damn her and her commie meddling!

Cold from Seattle to Sao Paulo

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“Cold from Seattle to Sao Paulo“. Steven Goddard makes an idiotic and irrelevant observation about the short-term weather forecast for North and South America and commenters talk sagely about how much snow fell in their backyard yesterday. Thus proving that Global Warming is a hoax.

Whatever.

Gore’s new venture – ‘Crowdsourced TV’

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“Gore’s new venture – ‘Crowdsourced TV’“. Al Gore does something! Anthony Watts and his readers are boringly predictable in their knee-jerk response, starting of course with the “inventor of the internet” urban legend. I suppose I could just stop there really.

Anthony belittles Gore’s planned YouTube-like venture, declares everything Gore has done is a failure, and posts a YouTube video that mocks “crowdsourcing”. But isn’t that the only thing that denialist leaders do; coax as many people as possible to join their ignorant chorus?

WUWT Sea Ice News #2

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““. Steven Goddard Photoshops some sea ice extent maps and enthusiastically declares “Arctic ice extent is normal.” Well, nearly. Naturally he only wants to talk about the one data series that briefly popped above “normal” and not about the others, which… don’t.

Steven’s also excited that Arctic weather patterns may produce an anomalous high sea ice extent next winter. I can see that he’s going to wear himself out thrashing wildly back and forth about weather. It’s irrelevant. Why was the record 2007 sea ice extent minimum a cause for concern? Because it was part of a climate trend.

Some other rhetorical master-strokes: mocking a 40 year-old old newspaper report, and embedding a juvenile YouTube clip from the film Airplane!

New ground truth: soil microbe negative feedback

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“New ground truth: soil microbe negative feedback“. Another month, another “game-changer” claim from Anthony Watts. Yes the denialist “game” does indeed keep changing.

In this case, Anthony has found a press release from the University of California, Irvine titled Soil microbes produce less atmospheric CO2 than expected with climate warming. Here’s a quote that sums up the findings:

The new simulations suggest that if microbial efficiency declines in a warmer world, carbon dioxide emissions will fall back to pre-warming levels, a pattern seen in field experiments. But if microbes manage to adapt to the warmth – for instance, through increased enzyme activity – emissions could intensify.

Fungi to the rescue! We’re saved, Anthony! Saved! Saved… Saved?

Anthony’s grasping at straws again. Yes, microbial contributions to the carbon cycle are significant. No, their potentially steady-state contribution isn’t going to magically offset human CO2 production.

Next “game-changer” coming in… one month.

Al Gore says “Denialists in Denial”

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Al Gore says “Denialists in Denial”. Anthony Watts shows what a big man he is by comparing himself to Al Gore (or “Al, Baby” as he respectfully calls him). Apparently WUWT has a higher “rank” than algore.com does according to alexa.com. These kinds of web statistics are widely understood as meaningless, especially when comparing websites with different purposes such as Anthony’s frenzied argument and Gore’s policy-orientation.

Of course most of Al Gore’s activity is through altogether separate websites such as The Alliance for Climate Protection, The Climate Project, Live Earth and An Inconvenient Truth. He’s also read nation-wide and a popular public speaker. But Anthony’s paranoid-obsessive readers give him way more “hits”.

Anthony’s adolescent outburst is a lame attempt to move the focus away from both Al Gore’s criticism of denialist Richard Lindzen’s dishonest op-ed in the Wall Street Journal and Gore’s link to The Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder dismantling of the same.