Climate Change Reconsidered - May 24, 2011

Climate Change Reconsidered:

The Website of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change

New Material Posted on the NIPCC Web site Active Tornado Seasons, Big Outbreaks and Stronger Tornadoes Have Been Shown to Be Associated With La Niñas and Natural Variability in the Pacific (24 May 2011) Very active tornado months in May 2008 and April 2011 have been attributed by some to climate change. Numerous authors have instead found that stronger La Niñas, which are more frequent during cold Pacific (negative Pacific Decadal Oscillation) eras, are characterized by such outbreaks, active months, and strong tornadoes ... Read More Ocean pH Tolerance in Two Important Antarctic Invertebrates (24 May 2011) New findings "do not support a view that polar species are more affected by lowered pH compared with temperate and tropical counterparts" ... Read More What Does the World Health Organization Study of Global Health Risks Imply about Global Warming's Health Risks? (24 May 2011) It attributed 154,000-166,000 deaths worldwide and 5.5 million lost Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) in 2000 to global warming. The methodology, however, used to develop these estimates is suspect because ... Read More Pasture and Rangeland Responses to Rising CO2 Concentrations and Projected Changes in Climate (24 May 2011) Overall, the response of pasture species to increasing CO2 is expected to be "consistent with the CO2 response of C3 and C4 crop species," both of which are positive ... Read More Chinese Locust Plagues of the Past Millennium (24 May 2011) Results suggest that "global warming might not only imply reduced locust plague[s], but also reduced risk of droughts and floods for entire China" ... Read More The Greening of Earth's Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (24 May 2011) Rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations initiate the process, while a host of other phenomena combine to enhance it ... Read More Climate Models Need to Render the Past Before Projecting the Future (25 May 2011) One of the chief criticisms of model projections of future climate in the climate change debate is that the general circulation models (GCMs) are not fully able to replicate past climate reliably due to "well-known" deficiencies in the models. One way that modelers attempt to overcome these is through the use of ensemble techniques, or multiple runs of the model. This provides for a future scenario that can be expressed as a range. But, even these cannot overcome all the shortcomings found in the models ... Read More Plant Species' Range Shifts in Mountainous Areas (25 May 2011) Although there is indeed a general tendency for plant species to move upward in elevation at their cold-limited range boundary in response to rising temperatures, some remain stationary and some even move in the opposite direction, while at their heat-limited range boundary, many do not move at all ... Read More Southern Scandinavian Storminess (25 May 2011) Data reveal that "there is no significant overall long-term trend common to all indices in cyclone activity in the North Atlantic and European region since the Dalton minimum" ... Read More Fluctuations in Air Temperature and Certain Cloud Parameters (25 May 2011) Apparently, some weather and climatic parameters have not become more variable or extreme with the passage of time, even over the last few decades, when climate alarmists claim the earth warmed at a rate and to a level not experienced over the past millennium or more ...Read More Climate-Driven Adaptations of Balsam Poplar Trees (25 May 2011) How did the trees change as they expanded their ranges in response to the warming that followed the last glaciation? ... Read More Roots of CO2-Enriched Trees Seek Out Needed Nitrogen (25 May 2011) As atmospheric CO2 enrichment provides an opportunity for trees to enhance their growth rates, it also seems to provide a way for them to find the extra nitrogen they need to do so ...Read More