Study finds oceanic carbon cycle still works for carbon dioxide uptake

The ocean carbon cycle [credit: IAEA]

Of course it does, but there seems a hint of surprise in the findings. It’s long been known that colder water absorbs more atmospheric CO2, just as warmer water absorbs less. Anyone familiar with fizzy drinks knows the story, or ought to. The article here announces that ‘the oceans present vast and promising potential for storing carbon dioxide’. Surely this is not regarded as news? As for potential, it’s always happened.
– – –
The recent cold spell has plunged South Korea into a deep freeze, resulting in the closure of 247 national parks, the cancellation of 14 domestic flights, and the scrapping of 107 cruise ship voyages, says Phys.org.

While the cold snap brought relief by significantly reducing the prevalence of particulate matter obscuring our surroundings, a recent study indicates that, besides diminishing particulate matter, it significantly contributes to the heightened uptake of carbon dioxide by the East Sea.

According to research conducted by a team of researchers, including Professor Kitack Lee from the Division of Environmental Science & Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) and Professor Tongsup Lee and So-Yun Kim from the Department of Oceanography at Pusan National University, the cold atmosphere in the Arctic is influencing the absorption of carbon dioxide by the East Sea.

‘Magical’ tech innovations a distraction from real solutions, climate worriers claim

Photosynthesis [image credit: Nefronus @ Wikipedia]

Real ‘solutions’ like degrading entire economies and reducing living standards? How many toytown ‘climate innovations’ does it take in order to grasp that such things are always a dead end, and often an expensive one? The tedium of COP meetings repeating the same worn-out themes grinds on and on.
– – –
Machines to magic carbon out of the air, artificial intelligence, indoor vertical farms to grow food for our escape to Mars, and even solar-powered “responsible” yachts: the Cop28 climate summit in Dubai has been festooned with the promise of technological fixes for worsening global heating and ecological breakdown, says Yahoo News.

The UN climate talks have drawn a record number of delegates to a sprawling, freshly built metropolis, which has as its centrepiece an enormous dome that emits sounds and lights up in different colours at night.

The two-week programme is laden with talks, events and demonstrations of the need for humanity to innovate its way out of the climate crisis.

Rishi’s Empty ‘Net Zero’ Rhetoric – NZW

Photosynthesis [image credit: Nefronus @ Wikipedia]

Net Zero Watch summarises: ‘Rishi Sunak’s recent speeches on Net Zero are long on rhetoric, but the decarbonisation juggernaut rumbles on uninterrupted.’ — Pursuing climate obsession at a slightly slower rate still doesn’t work. Carbon dioxide isn’t a pollutant.
– – –
Over in the Spectator, Fraser Nelson is inviting us to welcome a change in Rishi Sunak’s tone on Net Zero, says Andrew Montford @ NZW.

His interest has been piqued by the PM’s speech at COP28, which he says shows that Sunak has “started the difficulty work of moving the UK climate agenda from fantasy to policy”.

There will be no more precautionary-principle daftness, we are told, and attention is drawn to the Prime Minister’s claim that from now on decarbonisation will be pursued “in a more pragmatic way, which doesn’t burden working people”.

Nelson is quite correct that the whole drive for Net Zero is a fantasy. It is the triumph of political posturing and bureaucratic trickery over rational decisionmaking.

Nobel Laureate Dr. John Clauser: Climate Models Miss Key Variable – Clouds

Paraphrasing a well-known misquote (‘I thought it sounded so good that I never bothered to deny it’): “A trillion here, a trillion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.” Why clouds make climate, briefly explained in layman’s terms.
[Start the video at 5 mins. or watch the clip here].
– – –
“This is clearly the most important, the controlling mechanism for the earth’s temperature & climate. And it dwarfs the effect of CO2 & methane.”

Nobel prize winner John Clauser says the complexities of clouds and variations in cloud cover have been largely ignored in climate models—with major implications.

He argues there is no climate emergency, says Climate Depot.

Climate confusion: Differing Net Zero definitions must ‘mesh’ say Met Office scientists

[image credit: latinoamericarenovable.com]

Another trip to cloud cuckoo land. How do they plan to accurately measure all the so-called emissions and get all parties to agree with the results anyway? Time to return to reality and stop wasting time and effort on non-existent supposed remedies.
– – –
A new paper published in Nature has highlighted a fundamental mismatch in the way greenhouse gas emissions are measured which could mean that Net Zero could be met in one definition up to five years ahead of the other, says the Met Office .

The IPCC report shows that global temperature will stop increasing when we reach ‘net zero’ emissions of CO2. [Talkshop comment -*claims*, not shows].

To achieve this, human activity cannot put more CO2 into the atmosphere than it removes – we need to massively reduce our emissions, with some removal of CO2 to help areas which are really hard to decarbonise.

This sits behind the principle of Net Zero, which countries including the UK hope will be reached by 2050.

Hanson et al paper claims ‘climate is more sensitive than usually assumed’

Here we go again. Sound the alarm – louder! So far most climate models have consistently over-estimated temperature rises, compared to observations. The paper goes online shortly (see below for full details).
– – –
According to a new paper in Oxford Open Climate Change, the strategies humanity must pursue to reduce climate change will have to include more than reducing greenhouse gases.

This comes from an analysis of climate data led by researcher James Hansen, says the press release (@ EurekAlert!).

Scientists have known since the 1800s that infrared-absorbing (greenhouse) gases warm the Earth’s surface and that the abundance of greenhouse gases changes naturally as well as from human actions. [Talkshop comment – the human actions part at least is still a theory].

Roger Revelle, who was one of the early scientists to study global warming, wrote in 1965 that industrialization meant that human beings were conducting a “vast geophysical experiment” by burning fossil fuels, which adds carbon dioxide (CO2) to the air.

Carbon dioxide ‘pollution’ nonsense reaches record high

Photosynthesis [image credit: Nefronus @ Wikipedia]

Funny how plants, trees, vegetation etc. rely on ‘pollution’ for photosynthesis, according to so-called climate science. Meanwhile the costly renewables craze mandated by politicians can’t even keep pace with the inexorable global rise in demand for coal, oil and gas.
– – –
Global emissions of planet-heating carbon dioxide [Talkshop comment – a tiny 0.04% of the atmosphere] are expected to rise around one percent to reach a new all-time high in 2023, the climate scientist behind the preliminary research said Tuesday.

Scientists say carbon pollution will need to be cut almost in half this decade to meet the world’s targets of limiting global warming and avoiding catastrophic climate impacts, parrots Phys.org.

Global CO2 emissions should be falling by around five percent this year, said Glen Peters, research director at the CICERO climate research institute in Norway.

Instead they have continued to rise, according to his research, with current expectations that the year will see emissions up between 0.5 percent and 1.5 percent.

US oil production hits all-time high, conflicting with efforts to cut ‘heat-trapping pollution’ (aka vital trace gas)

Another media trip to climate cloud cuckoo land, as they insist on cutting supply of oil as demand increases, without viable alternatives in place, to feed their unrealistic climate obsessions and tired beliefs. But it’s just not happening.
– – –
United States domestic oil production has hit an all-time high last week, contrasting with efforts to slice heat-trapping carbon emissions [Talkshop comment – no ‘heat-trap’ evidence offered] by the Biden administration and world leaders, says AP News.

And it conflicts with oft-repeated Republican talking points of a Biden “war on American energy.”

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration reported that American oil production in the first week of October hit 13.2 million barrels per day, passing the previous record set in 2020 by 100,000 barrels.

Weekly domestic oil production has doubled from the first week in October 2012 to now.

Supercomputer climate model absurdity: ‘extreme global warming could eventually wipe out humans’

The illogical conclusion of tail-wagging-dog climate theories fed into models based on them, with a side order of volcanoes. In any case a lot happened to Earth in the last 250 million years, including periods when CO2 was much higher than today – so whatever comes out of a supercomputer, natural evolution will continue.
– – –
Extreme global warming will likely wipe all mammals – including humans – off the face of the Earth in 250 million years, according to a new scientific study. Sky News reporting.

Temperatures could spiral to 70C (158F) and transform the planet into a “hostile environment devoid of food and water”, the research warns.

The planet would heat up to such an extent that many mammals would be unable to survive – and the Earth’s continents would merge to form one hot, dry, uninhabitable supercontinent.

The apocalyptic projections are from the first-ever supercomputer climate models.

Poland files lawsuit against key EU climate policies

European Commission HQ, Brussels [image credit: Em_Dee @ Wikipedia]

Poland objects to being bounced into net-zero style policies against its will, so the EU’s climate dogma will get tested in court. Of course arguing with the EU is usually a waste of time, as the UK found out, but there is an obvious alternative (hint).
– – –
The EU’s recently adopted climate legislation was not properly assessed, exceeded Brussels’ authority and now threatens Poland’s economy as well as energy security, legal arguments published by Warsaw on Monday (28 August) contend, reports Euractiv.

The EU has approved a raft of climate laws over the past months, aiming to reduce its net greenhouse gas emissions to 55% below 1990 levels by 2030 and help the bloc of 27 countries comply with the Paris Agreement on climate change.

But Warsaw is contesting those laws, now aiming to overthrow some of them in court – including the hard-won agreement on banning the sale of new combustion engine cars by 2035.

“We don’t agree with this and other documents from the ‘Fit for 55’ package and we’re bringing this to the European Court of Justice. I hope other countries will join,” Polish climate and environment minister Anna Moskwa said back in June.

Dramatic climate action needed to curtail ‘crazy’ extreme weather, say alarmed (or alarmist?) scientists

Photosynthesis [image credit: Nefronus @ Wikipedia]

Where’s the list of ‘the world’s leading climate scientists’ as they’re described below? We should be told. The hysteria bug seems to have got them all, after just one warmer than normal month in some parts of the world. Even climate models are wilting under the strain it seems, as we accelerate to oblivion or something. More drama needed? Or just more self-serving headlines? Reminder: the carbon dioxide they obsess about is a minor but essential trace gas currently occupying around 0.04% of the atmosphere.
– – –
The “crazy” extreme weather rampaging around the globe in 2023 will become the norm within a decade without dramatic climate action, the world’s leading climate scientists have said. – From The Guardian (via Yahoo News).

The heatwaves, wildfires and floods experienced today were just the “tip of the iceberg” compared with even worse effects to come, they said, with limitations in climate models leaving the world “flying partially blind” into the future.

With fears that humanity’s relentless carbon emissions have finally pushed the climate crisis into a new and accelerating phase of destruction, the Guardian sought the expert assessments of more than 40 scientists from around the world.

Do not heat your homes in the evenings, net zero quango tells public

Domestic radiator

Hairshirts all round to ‘save the climate’? Not likely. It’s just another admission that current energy policies are no good, due to endlessly obsessing about harmless trace gases in the atmosphere.
– – –
Millions of families will be urged by a green quango not to heat their homes in the evening to help the Government hit its net zero target, says The Telegraph.

The Climate Change Committee (CCC) said people should turn off their radiators at peak times as part of a wider drive to deliver “emissions savings”.

In a document on “behaviour change” the body recommended Britons “pre-heat” their houses in the afternoon when electricity usage is lower.

Germany’s cheap public transport ticket an ‘ineffective climate tool’

German hydrogen train [image credit: Euractiv]

No surprise there. What are these delusional climate worriers even talking about? If ‘the climate’ was human it wouldn’t give a hoot how Germans get around, but might be bemused to find itself corroding the minds of their leaders with their irrational obsession over ‘carbon emissions’ to the exclusion of all else.
– – –
Germany’s new monthly €49 offer for all regional public transport will have little impact on the transport sector’s carbon emissions so the country will continue to fail its climate targets for transport and beyond, according to an expert council advising the government.

As the German transport sector has so far failed to meet its emissions targets, in June the government presented a bundle of measures that should help to put the country on track to reduce overall emissions by 65% by 2030, compared to 1990, says Euractiv.

One of the key measures touted by Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP/Renew Europe), is the new “Deutschlandticket” introduced in May, a subscription offer that enables users to use regional trains and buses, trams, metros, as well as some ferries across the country for €49 per month.

Alarmists trumpet 0.01C increase (since 2016) in ocean surface temperature ‘record’

Credit: sciencedaily.com

One hundredth of one degree in seven years, all due to supposedly naughty humans? Hilarious. An ex-boss of mine used to call such tiny variations ‘spurious accuracy’. What’s the margin of error?
– – –
The world’s oceans set a new temperature record this week, raising concerns about knock-on effects on the planet’s climate, marine life and coastal communities, says AFP (via Euractiv).

The temperature of the oceans’ surface rose to 20.96 degrees Celsius on 30 July, according to European Union climate observatory data.

The previous record was 20.95C in March 2016, a spokeswoman for the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service told AFP on Friday.

The samples tested excluded polar regions.

Global ‘Carbon’ Emissions Hit New Record Despite Green Energy Push

Coal-hungry China [image credit: democraticunderground.com]

How much of the increase is due to warmer oceans outgassing more CO2 and/or absorbing less of it? In any case the renewables delusion of an energy transition is shown up again. Unfortunately this article resorts to the old propaganda trick of using a sunset picture of cooling towers to make steam appear black.
– – –
Despite growing investments in renewable energy, global carbon dioxide emissions reached a new record in 2022, driven largely by developing nations in Asia, says OilPrice.com.
. . .
The 2023 Statistical Review of World Energy revealed that fossil fuels account for 82% of the world’s primary energy consumption, and CO2 emissions from energy rose by 0.9% in 2022.

Although emissions from OECD countries have been declining, non-OECD nations, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, are seeing a sharp rise due to economic growth and increased energy consumption.

Addressing global emissions requires collaboration with Asia’s fast-growing nations, innovative technologies to bypass traditional fossil fuel dependence, and strategies to balance economic growth with environmental responsibility.
. . .
The 2023 Review shows the world remains heavily reliant on fossil fuels for energy needs, even as renewables like solar and wind continue rapid growth.

Full article here.

Massive sun ‘umbrella’ attached to asteroid could help fight global warming, scientist says

[image credit: latinoamericarenovable.com]

Carbon dioxide in varying concentrations has been around for millions of years. Plants, trees etc. depend on it, and here we are. But climate scientists know best – don’t they? Looks like another trip to cloud cuckoo land here, in pursuit of the absurd climate control illusion.
– – –
A new study lays out the theoretical plan of tethering a giant solar shield to a captured space rock, says Space.com.

Potentially, this contraption could protect Earth from the sun.

To help combat the effects of global warming, scientists are toying with an innovative idea to shield our planet from the sun with a spaceborne “umbrella” of sorts.

How carbon colossus China dwarfs Britain’s net zero push

The imaginary ‘fight against climate change’ takes a new twist, as a few inconvenient facts get an airing from an unlikely source, showing just how ludicrous UK political obsessions have become. Example: ‘Sir Tony was correct to note that in some years the rise in China’s annual emissions has indeed been greater than Britain’s total CO2 output.’
– – –
Rishi Sunak might not have expected Sir Tony Blair to emerge as a net-zero sceptic, says the Telegraph (via MSN).

In the midst of a Tory battle over Britain’s carbon-reduction targets and the policies being used to get there, the last Labour leader to win a General Election sounded a note of caution.

Britain’s diminishing contribution to global CO2 emissions poses new questions in the fight against climate change, he suggested.

In Defence of Non-IPCC CO2 Science

.
.
No matter what the evidence and reasoning put forward, the notion of modern CO2 increases *following* warming will always be a non-starter for climate alarmists.

Science Matters

Currently some Zero Carbon zealots are trying to discredit and disappear a peer reviewed study of CO2 atmospheric concentrations because its findings contradict IPCC dogma.  The paper is World Atmospheric CO2, Its 14C Specific Activity, Non-fossil Component, Anthropogenic Fossil Component, and Emissions (1750–2018). by Skrable et al. (2022).  The link is to the paper and also shows the comments recently addressed to the authors and the editor of the journal, as well as responses by both.

This came to my attention by way of a comment by one of the attackers on my 2022 post regarding this study.  Text is below in italics with my bolds.

D. Andrews 10/7/2023

This post is over a year old, but in the interest of correcting the record, please note the following:
1. Skrable et al. have conceded that the data they “guesstimated” bore little resemblance to actual atmospheric radiocarbon data.

2. In…

View original post 3,897 more words

New legal challenge to UK Government’s climate plans

Making climate targets legally enforceable turns out not to be such a smart idea, except for fee-seeking lawyers. Who knew?
– – –
THREE ORGANISATIONS are taking the UK Government to court for the second time in under two years over its ‘feeble and inadequate’ strategy for tackling climate change, says Ekklesia.

Friends of the Earth, ClientEarth and Good Law Project say the government’s revised net zero strategy – the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan, published on 30 March – is unlawful and have filed papers at the High Court requesting a judicial review.

The news follows a damning progress report from the Climate Change Committee, published on 28 June, which found there are only credible plans for less than a fifth of the emissions cuts needed to meet the UK’s legally binding climate targets.

This is down from the government’s independent climate advisors assessment last year that just 39 per cent of plans were fit for purpose.

More hydrogen hype as new British truck unveiled

Credit: Scottish Power

‘Could a truck that’s powered by hydrogen and only emits water help in the climate change fight?’ – asks Sky News. Two problems there – ‘only emits water’ doesn’t tell the whole story as unwelcome nitrogen oxide comes into play, and ‘climate change fight’ belongs to mythology. Another difficulty (quote): ‘hydrogen still has problems as a power source. Making it from green electricity is currently expensive and far less energy efficient than plugging a battery into a charging point.’ Also (quote): ‘a switch to hydrogen would need 35.6GW of electricity to make it’ – over three times more than needed for comparable battery charging, according to the report.
– – –
Summary: The vehicle can be fuelled up with hydrogen in just 15 minutes and gives drivers 600 miles of range, the company behind it says, with the gas being stored in high pressure tanks designed to withstand impact.
. . .
British trials have started of a heavyweight truck powered by a gas that’s lighter than air – and emits nothing but water.

Sky News was given exclusive access to the first British designed and built heavy goods vehicle (HGV) to be fuelled by hydrogen as it was driven around the Horiba Mira test track in Warwickshire.

The Scottish manufacturers, HVS, say the truck could help decarbonise the road freight industry, which produces more than 21 million tonnes of carbon dioxide each year in the UK alone.