U. of Alabama – Globe sheds 0.59 centigrade degrees, year to year.

University of Alabama agrees with satellite findings of a massive drop in global temperature over the last twelve months.

As the all-important carbon dioxide increased.

Joe Bastardi:  Watch out, below!

UAH Satellite data for Jan08 in agreement with RSS data

University of Alabama, Huntsville (John Christy) just published their UAH lower troposphere data for January 2008. Like the RSS data set, it shows a negative anomaly, and a steep decline in the past 12 months though the magnitude of the anomaly is slightly lower at ∆T -.588 than the RSS ∆T -.629 degrees Centigrade.

I’ve plotted the UAH data below, as I did for the RSS data in the previous post:

And a zoomed version with the Delta T highlighted:

click for larger images

So as before, we have an indication that the huge La Niña event going on in the Pacific may be responsible for rapid temperature changes in our atmosphere. There’s also the ongoing solar minima thats dragging on.  But there’s more to it than that. Joe Bastardi of AccuWeather recently wrote this on ICECAP about the pattern that has emerged:

“It is straight out of the book of climate. The pattern is so much like the 1949-1950 La Nina, which was signaling the start of the reversal of the warming of the earth’s climate in the 1930s, ‘40s and early 50s. Only someone choosing to ignore it, or not wanting to see it, would not be cognizant of it. But because such a pattern leads to warmer than normal conditions in areas where the greatest centers of human induced global warming information comes out of, western Europe and the eastern part of North America, no attention is being called to the fact that the winter this year does have outstandingly large areas of colder than normal temperatures and in areas, the vast expanses of the tropical Pacific, and the vast expanse of the air above us.”

There’s a lot to be said for human pattern recognition, and when somebody of Joe Bastardi’s experience and skill makes a statement like the one above, we should give it credence.

« RSS Satellite data for Jan08: 2nd coldest January for the planet in 15 years

Just In Time: Strangle the Economy!

As Earth cools at an unprecedented rate, our government is running backwards; stoked by Al Gore and media to tax energy consumption, to battle nonexistent “Global Warming!”

Perfect timing!

How about a little research to find out why Earth is cooling (Svensmark et al The Chilling Stars?). The Chilling Stars

Debate has been halted; there is only the harsh reality of global cooling, an ominously quiet Sun, and a pack of fools buying carbon credits.

In fact, even the most promising research on climate mechanisms other than “global warming” computer games has been cut off!

How will carbon credits help crop yields, in a shortened growing season?

Al Gore’s research on computer programs that forecast the exact opposite of the future, has positioned us well – for a tragedy of global proportion.

Has Al Gore set us up, for the next mega-famine; another Dark Ages on Earth? The Little Ice Age was such a disaster, 500 years ago – but Al Gore has erased all memory of it, with his manufactured hockey-stick curves portraying “global warming” that never came – so he could sell carbon credits.

While carbon dioxide is now proven, in spades, to have little potential to contribute to runaway greenhouse effect; or even measureable greenhouse effect; reducing carbon dioxide release will not make the Earth warmer.

Good luck to humankind; may we somehow escape the chilling fate Al Gore has arranged for us.

More likely, just as fast as Global Warming was debunked, will be Global Cooling (again). Government is a tool of the ignorant.

The Political Climate

House Preparing for Climate Bill This Year Despite Gloomy Economic Forecasts
By Cathy Cash, Electric Utility WeekWith a bipartisan measure awaiting a Senate vote and a House committee vowing to advance its own version, climate change legislation is expected to be a star attraction in this session of the 110th Congress. But dim economic forecasts in addition to stubborn White House opposition have industry insiders looking to future Congresses to get a federal mandate for capping greenhouse gas emissions. “We all have ideas, but depending on how economy goes, the level of interest in tackling something like climate ? These activities raise the cost of energy,” said one Midwest utility lobbyist. “In an economy not doing well, there may be little appetite to take on [climate change] in any serious way. The state of the economy will dictate what the energy and environment agenda looks like in 2008.”Lawmakers might just look back on their 2007 accomplishments toward greenhouse gas reductions, tighter corporate average fuel efficiency standards, biofuel requirements and energy efficiency programs and leave it at that. “With the economy softening and with the transportation sector having already been addressed last year, along with appliance efficiency standards, I don’t think there is much pent-up Congressional demand to sharply increase energy prices through an economy-wide cap-and-trade bill, which is what would be necessary in order to significantly reduce CO2 emissions in these sectors further,” the industry source said.Industry analysts say the potential costs of a GHG cap on various industries will be wide-ranging and lawmakers are only beginning to consider the financial impacts. “The economics are going to be a huge part of it,” said Richard Cortright, managing director at Standard & Poor’s Ratings, which like Platts is a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies. Forecasts for a possible recession this year could deter lawmakers from passing any legislation argued to increase energy costs. “The timing may be really bad,” said Cortright, noting that at the moment, it “seems that the stars are lined up in a way to really prevent passage of any meaningful legislation when it comes to energy.”<!– –>

Earth Chilling (And FAST!)

Earth is cooling off, and fast!

At the same time, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing, to no effect. Carbon dioxide is causing no “global warming.”

Solar activity is at a minimum these days: Solar and geomagnetic data (last month) and Solar Terrestrial Activity Report

A cold Earth is far more hostile to humans, than is a warm Earth. We shall find out, if Sun’s magnetic engine doesn’t re-start, soon.

RSS Satellite data for Jan08: 2nd coldest January for the planet in 15 years

UPDATE – see new graph of global ∆T for the past year below. There has been a global drop in temperature of 0.63 degrees Centigrade in the past 12 months.

Of course we already have had a heads up from all the wire reports around the world talking about the significant winter weather events that have occurred worldwide in the last month, but until now, there hasn’t been a measure of how the planet was doing for the winter of 2007/2008.

Remote Sensing Systems of Santa Rosa just posted the latest MSU (Microwave Sounder Unit) data.

January posted a -.08°C near global anomaly between -70S and 82.5N latitude (the viewshed of the satellite sounder). That makes it the coldest month since January 2000, and the 2nd coldest January for the planet in 15 years. Both northern and southern hemispheres posted negative anomalies of -.120°C and -.038°C respectively, happening for the first time since January 2000.

The United States posted a -.557°C anomaly for January 2008 and a -0.196°C anomaly for December 2007.

Here is the raw anomaly data for January 2008

Year Month -70.0/ 82.5 -20.0/ 20.0 20.0/ 82.5 -70.0/ -20.0 60.0/ 82.5 -70.0/ -60.0 CONUS 0.0/ 82.5 -70.0/ 0.0
2008 1 -0.080 -0.188 -0.063 0.025 0.288 -0.833 -0.557 -0.120 -0.038

Which can be viewed in its entirety here (.txt data, RSS Data Version 3.1)

Here is my plot of the raw, unedited Global anomaly data (-70S to 82.5N) supplied by RSS per month. Note that the anomaly trend between late 2007 and early 2008 is quite steep and that the period leading up to 2008 is relatively flat.

click for a larger image Note: RSS Data Version 3.1
UPDATE:

I decided to plot a magnified graph to show the global change in temperature over the last year from January 2007 to January 2008, the ∆T of -0.629°C is quite significant for a 12 month period, rivaled in the last 10 years only by the 1998 El Nino warming peak.

Click for a larger image Note: RSS Data Version 3.1
Probable cause- [Una] Niña muy grande. It looks like we may have a PDO shift as well. But as some say, trying to correlate such things is a “fools errand”. But, judge for yourself.

click for a larger image
We live in interesting times.
(h/t MattN)

The Chilling Stars

Read ASAP “The Chilling Stars: The New Theory of Climate Change” by Prof. Henrik Svensmark and Nigel Calder 

Circa 1950, scientists confirmed that our galaxy, the Milky Way, is a spiral galaxy. Our Sun, a small star, is not fixed in an arm of the spiral, but orbits outside the galaxy’s center, moving from arm to arm, over hundreds of millions of years. The galactic environment of our system actually changes pronouncedly, from age to age. Inside a dense galactic arm, populated with large, short lived stars, there are many star births, and catastrophic star deaths. Our solar system passes through dense arms periodically, and also through the much less dense space between the arms.

Large stars typically “die” in a massive explosion called a super nova. Such stellar explosions result in highly energetic subatomic particles called “cosmic rays.” Cosmic rays are much more frequently encountered, in the dense arms of the galaxy, and of course, near super novae. Two cosmic rays on average zip through your head every second, unobserved by you. If you are reading this at jet cruising altitude, the number is higher. At present, we are located in a minor or spur arm, called Orion.  Only within the last 15 years have scientists discovered that these energetic particles, creating cascades of free electrons in the atmosphere, contribute effectively to low cloud formation.

Only within the last 15 years have scientists discovered HOW clouds form! Astounding that it took so long.

We know for sure that our Sun itself effectively regulates the flow of cosmic rays reaching the Earth, through the Sun’s magnetosphere, which extends far beyond the planetary orbits. When the Sun is magnetically active (sunspot maxima) cosmic rays are more often deflected from reaching Earth. There is a well known 11 year sunspot cycle, highly correlated with the temperature of Earth’s atmosphere. There are more cycles, clearly correlating Earth’s temperature and solar activity. At a sunspot minima, more cosmic rays interact with our atmosphere, resulting in more formation of low clouds, over vast areas of the Earth. The upper aspect of low clouds is highly reflective, like the ice of Antarctica. Low clouds reflect most of the Sun’s energy which otherwise would be absorbed by the ocean or the land mass at the surface.  Sunspot activity can also slow dramatically for long periods. A very recent such period, prior to 1725, is called the Maunder Sunspot Minimum. It is also called the “Little Ice Age.” They are intimately related. With the Sun’s magnetic activity at a prolonged null, more cosmic rays interacted with Earth’s atmosphere creating more low clouds, and Earth’s atmosphere was cooled, fast. When the Sun became magnetically active again, low cloud formation slowed, and the atmosphere warmed.

Carbon dioxide comes mostly from the ocean, to a large extent generated by sea life. When the ocean warms, carbon dioxide normally dissolved in sea water is forced into the atmosphere. The temperature of the ocean is slow to change, because it is so massive, and also because water takes more energy to heat than does the same mass of atmosphere. Hundreds of years after a major reversal in solar activity, ocean temperature follows. So does carbon dioxide. Human activity generates a tiny fraction of the carbon dioxide which the ocean periodically takes up, or gives off, depending on its temperature. The carbon dioxide content of our atmosphere is a result of ocean temperature, much more than a cause.

If you want a clear explanation of all this and much more, read “The Chilling Stars” by Prof. Henrik Svensmark and Nigel Carter, or watch “The Great Global Warming Swindle” at http://www.rightalk.com . There is still much more to learn; climatology is practically a reborn science, as a result of the recent research of Svensmark and others!