Wednesday
Jul132011
by 
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill A tree ring blog
Jul 13, 2011 Climate: MWP Kevin Anchukaitis is a tree ring guy who is currently on an expedition to Alaska to sample treeline spruce trees. There's an article here and a related blog diary of the expedition here.
Reader Comments (7)
The URL, http://www.polartrec.com/expeditions/forest-response-to-arctic-environmental-change, says it all. They expect to find environmental change and they darn well are going to find it. Their bias is right up front.
I flew over most of the state of Alaska in June/July of 2009 in a small, two seat, aerobatics plane. Pictures are at my website. I went there expecting outrageous bugs, bitter cold, and a hostile environment, especially for flying. Almost all of my expectations proved incorrect. I’ve seen worse bugs in the Montana Rockies and parts of Canada. The Alaskans were very friendly and there was no threat of crime or theft. The weather was for the most part, quite hot and dry in the center of the state.
Although challenging, the flying was usually quite safe. Incredible beauty and glaciers, that was the expected part.
I had no preconceived climate agenda. Everyone I met, North and West of Fairbanks, where there are no roads, had never heard of or considered climate change. Most people commented that the last few summers were a bit colder than normal but that was about it. I got as far North as Kotzebue, where the sun never sets in June. Oh, and the western shoreline is unchanged since the gold rush 100 years ago. One hell of a trip. They would have laughed if I mentioned global warming. I need to go back.
"on the other other hand, the treeline may be advancing, as conditions in marginal places like this maybe get better for trees"
Will they report it if the tree line is retreating or stationary?
Unlike Redbone my jury is out. It's good that they're dragging their behinds out of the office and doing some real original research. I'm sure it's a bit of a junket too but it is necessary, the more data the better.
"She resides in Carbondale, Colorado in a solar-powered home that she built with her husband."
Practices what she preaches. Wouldn't think there'd be many involved in the game who could much such a claim.
Unlike David, I don’t gloss over the hypocrisy. The woman practices conservation the same way Al Gore does. She's not riding her bicycle to Alaska, or to Idaho to raft rivers, or to Arizona to raft the Grand Canyon, or to Utah to go skiing. Propping up a solar panel next to your tent does not make you green. Nor does putting solar panels on your little yacht, BioSolar One. Green my foot.
"a solar-powered home"
Either it is also plugged into the grid, or it uses a lot of batteries.
From the Ecclesiastical Uncle an old retred bureaucrat in a field only remotely related to climate with minimal qualifications and only half a mind
From one of the Bishop's references in his header for this thread I see d'Arrigo's name.
I suppose the cherrypicking of data, which she told the NAS panel is necessary to make cherry pie [? the reconstructions that tell the right porky?] (HSI page 236), will start when the data the current band of stalwarts are collecting gets into her in-tray.
Are theses normal tress or the magic interconnected ones so beloved of climate science?
I would speculate that what ever report comes out of this the words 'climate change' will be in the title and was indeed in the grant application.