Climate cuttings 61

The problem with being away from your desk for a day is that there is so much to write about when you get back, as well as a backlog of real work. Here are a few of the things I might spend time on if I had more of it.

Nigel Calder reports the latest findings of Henrik Svensmark and his team. They now have experimental support for the idea that the molecular clusters formed by cosmic rays keep growing to a size where they can become condensation nuclei - something that some people said was impossible. The findings need to be caveated though as they are submitted to a journal but not yet published.

Lubchenko and Karl have a paper in Physics Today on extreme weather events. Roger Pielke Jr is unimpressed, tweeting as follows: "Even more nonsense, an embarrassment of riches". We'll have to wait for details of his critique.

Citizen Joe Smith writes in the Huffington Post about presentation of the climate change argument, noting that the public "know that over-hasty phrases like 'the science is finished' misrepresent the work". This appears to be a toned-down version of his description of it the other day as a "tactical lie". Now I come to think of it, wasn't "the science is settled" at the core of the BBC seminar on climate he ran with Roger Harrabin?

The Columbia Journalism Review looks at Gleick's misdeeds and considers the legal implications.

Windfarm

I came across this woodcut by artist Paul Bloomer and thought it told a story. Thanks to Paul for sending a high-res version.

US Government Climate Change spend 2011 vs Heartland - Josh 153

Fakegate showed how small the Heartland Institute budget is compared to spending on Climate Change science. Here is just one example using US Government figures. I thought a simple graphic would be more helpful than a cartoon here.

Click the image for a bigger version.

Cartoons by Josh

Busy again

Today is a busy day. I am doing a telephone interview for Australian radio this morning (for broadcast some time in the future). In the afternoon I'm giving a talk at Heriot-Watt University and then in the evening I'm going to be on a panel for a Q&A at a public meeting run by a windfarm protest group in St Andrews.

Blogging will, of necessity, be light, although I might get the chance to post odd updates during the day.