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Bishop Hill
Copyright © 2006-2013, Bishop Hill All rights reserved.
Reader Comments (13)
What no beard?!!
Breaking news
Ryan Giggs to sue the inventor of the internet
I probably shouldn't, but I'm quite liking the notion of supporting proper science with charm.
It's refreshingly civilised.
Impressive array of very good qualifications, why no questioning brain?
Or, don't they teach [to question the orthodox] that at Orxbridge any more?
BTW, Josh, I like the penguin - how did it get on board - or is it also part of the Survey....recruited to join the other birdbrains.
Yes, indeed, Athelstan, tis the penguin of reason, always ready to dive deep into empirical science and test the waters of real data.
Also a polar bear would be inaccurate and we like to be accurate.
Sign that penguin up for the DECC!
:)
Don't worry - the penguin of reason comes with me every day to check that the evidence really stacks up. As you can tell from the cartoon, he is a fearless and curious little creature who is ready to dive into action whenever required.
Emily
@ Emily
I am slightly puzzled at why this work is necessary, given that the science is settled?
Everyone entitled to an opinion on the matter has agreed that the global average temperature will increase by about 6 degrees over the next 100 years. Isn't your work a bit like studying phlogiston, or something?
The chart I'd really like to see someone produce is the one that shows the correlation between energy price, energy consumption, emissions production, CO2 levels, and global temperature, over time. It's tough to model six variables on one graph, but if we could nail those causal relationships down, we could then figure out exactly what tax to levy on energy, and the problem will be solved.
J4R, I think you could add a couple more items of data to your graph and see the correlation with the income (over time, of course) of Lord Oxburgh, Clegg's wife, and Cameron's father-in-law.
No, I'm not a cynic. Honest.
Very nicely done, Josh - any one who can do cross-species caricatures is an artist, in my book. I'm sure Dr Emily would like a signed copy...
Hey guys,
Any idea why the sun has not heated up the poles in all these 4.5 billion years (or how many number of years water's been around). I mean, the ocean currents should have conveyed all the heat from the tropics and cooked the poles by now.
Shub
Now, now. Remember the relative change in insolation - the gradient from equator to pole. The poles are always areas of net energy loss from the climate system, whereas the equator is always a belt of net energy gain.
Hence the 'heat pump' climate circulation transporting energy from the low to the high latitudes where it is lost to space.
That's why tropical heat hasn't cooked the poles yet.
BBD,
I am talking about a net effect at the billion year scale here. At a given period for example, the hgh latitude ocean should be carrying the heat it is transporting from the poles and therefore it should be warm enough for it to dissipate the heat away. One can easily envision all the water on the earth to have by now been warmed up to some extent.
I am reminded also of this thought experiment: take a nugget of gold and surround it with CO2. Shine a torchlight on it and one day the gold nugget will melt. Is this correct?
The penguin is of course there to sybolise Freedom of Information
- being as it is the logo of Linux, the Open Source operating system