Denialist Judith Curry is trying to rewrite the temperature records
Anthony Watts had a strangely wrong WUWT Quote of the Week from Judith Curry about a supposed "cooling trend".
This period since 2002 is scientifically interesting, since it coincides with the ‘climate shift’ circa 2001/2002 posited by Tsonis and others. This shift and the subsequent slight cooling trend provides a rationale for inferring a slight cooling trend over the next decade or so, rather than a flat trend from the 15 yr ‘pause’.
You can read about the work of Tsonis "and others" here on SkepticalScience.com, which includes links to their papers including one published in 2009, the year before the hottest year on record so far.
Anyway, I went to Curry's blog and found that denialists are apparently now trying to downplay what was the hottest decade on record using wordplay: shifting from a "slowdown" to a "15 to 17 year pause" to a "slight cooling". We wish!
Apparently Judith Curry has been "receiving inquiries from journalists" about the "cooling" since 2002, ignoring the fact that three of the ten years since 2002 were hotter than it was that year.
JC note: Attention in the public debate seems to be moving away from the 15-17 yr ‘pause’ to the cooling since 2002 (note: I am receiving inquiries about this from journalists).
What cooling do you legitimately ask? I think Curry mixed up her binaries and decimals, her "twos" and "tens" when she speaks of "cooling" and "slight cooling". If she wanted to be accurate and since she doesn't mind coming across as a total idiot, she could try to say "cooling since 2010", since that was hottest year on record or, in some series, the equal hottest year on record with 2005.
 |
| Source: NASA |
As for the rest of the earth system - well it certainly hasn't "stopped cooling" or "paused" in the last 15 to 17 years either:
 |
| Source: University of Colorado |
 |
| Source: PIOMAS |
 |
| Source: NODC/NOAA |
Let's stick Curry in ice for a couple of years and see what happens with her fake "cooling trend".
 |
| Iced Curry |
Postscript
I notice in that blurb that Anthony Watts says he is going to elevate to an article
I don't understand how someone who actually studies climate can say something so misleading and not see the damage she is doing.
ReplyDeleteJudith's aim is to give buzz words and phrases to the 8% dismissives. IMO in her heart she is not interested in the truth of the matter, but is unfortunately stuck with it as long as she is employed as a scientist. Her ideology is in conflict with her science, which is probably why she uses her blog for the former and saves science for her publications in the literature.
DeleteThe fact that she's downgraded her allegiance from research physicist Muller (who she probably thought was a good enough denialist at the time) to a physics lecturer (Brown), who does come across as a hard-boiled denier, is indicative of her raw intentions.
Is Judith Curry really a scientist? Wow, you learn something new every day.
DeletePhD The University of Chicago, Department of the Geophysical Sciences in the early 1980s. Won a major award from the American Meteorological Society in 1991 or 2 (check www.ametsoc.org for details). One of the major forces behind the SHEBA experiment in the Arctic in the 1990s. Author of quite a few professional articles (see google scholar, and, no, they're not 'energy and environment' nonsense 'journals'
DeleteUntil around 2009, Curry was actually quite sensible. When she started her blog in september 2010 and got addicted to the admiration of crackpots, it went fast downhill.
DeleteCurry's behaviour is utterly mystifying. Normally one can at least come up with a plausible motive for peoples' behaviour, but in her case, no.
Delete