Resisting Climate Hysteria

[IFocus]

The article that says temps hit 37 degrees has been "upgraded" to "near 40degrees" in the headline analysis.
Would it be ok for me to say it was only near 34 degrees?
Mick

37.8 degrees would be accurate...ish

I think the temperature is well beyond anyone's expectations the weather / atmospheric reasons for it would interesting.

 

[wayneL]

Global boiling.......

 

[mullokintyre]

I guess some will discount it because it came from Murdoch Deniers , but it is not opinion, it is not a model, its actual measurement.
Mick

 

[basilio]

Mick I would discount Dr Ridds story because it comes from Dr Ridd.
He is a committed climate change denier and in that context repeatedly downgrades the effects of global warming on the GBR.

Peter Ridd: The new hero of climate science denial

Graham Readfearn reports on Professor Peter Ridd, the new "free speech" hero for conservative media and climate change deniers.

independentaustralia.net

This was how the latest effects of global warming were reported in the ABC. The observation about how last years bleaching happened in a La Nina year are the cause for concern coming into a predicted much warmer 12 months.

Mass coral bleaching halts recovery across two-thirds of Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef's latest report card shows mass bleaching during what should have been a cooler year has halted coral recovery across the majority of the reef.

www.abc.net.au

 

[mullokintyre]

Mick I would discount Dr Ridds story because it comes from Dr Ridd.
He is a committed climate change denier and in that context repeatedly downgrades the effects of global warming on the GBR.

Peter Ridd: The new hero of climate science denial

Graham Readfearn reports on Professor Peter Ridd, the new "free speech" hero for conservative media and climate change deniers.

independentaustralia.net

This was how the latest effects of global warming were reported in the ABC. The observation about how last years bleaching happened in a La Nina year are the cause for concern coming into a predicted much warmer 12 months.

Mass coral bleaching halts recovery across two-thirds of Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef's latest report card shows mass bleaching during what should have been a cooler year has halted coral recovery across the majority of the reef.

www.abc.net.au

Of course you would dismiss it, it does not fit your bias.
He is not a climate change denier, he has never denied climate change, what he has denied is that the GBR is in dire straits, and has shown that the science does not prove either way. People stick the perjorative term on anyone they see fit, as it absolves them from having to show that their arguments have merit.
This is a classic glass half full event.
The hysterical catastrophists see the glass half empty, people like Ridd see the glass half full.
The Reef has recovered from Cyclones, warmer waters, and probably a bit of pollution from the tourist trade.
As for the ABC, I love the way they use Coral Bleaching and coral death as if they are interchangeable.
Coral bleaching is not coral dying, its coral still alive, and kicking out the symbiotic algae that gives the coral its colour.
Mick

 

[basilio]

Peter Ridd on Climate Change

Ideological bent?

Also in the 2017 Sky News interview, Ridd accused other scientists of lacking objectivity and suggested another problem was that "we also potentially have scientists with an ideological bent".

This is the time to look at Ridd’s own “ideological bent” and his long history associating with climate science deniers whose “theories” are rejected by every major scientific academy on the planet, as well as governments around the world.

Ridd has been affiliated with several groups that reject the science linking human emissions of carbon dioxide to dangerous climate change.

Ridd is a director and “Science Coordinator” of the Australian Environment Foundation (AEF) — a group he has been associated with since its launch in 2005 (and not to be confused with the Australian Conservation Foundation).

The AEF, which emerged from a 2004 meeting organised by the IPA, promotes the idea that wind turbines make people sick and that human-caused climate change is unproven.

Ridd is also listed as an adviser to the Galileo Movement — an Australian group that for many years was run by former One Nation Senator and climate science denier Malcolm Roberts.

Ridd joined a list of well-known climate science deniers in 2009 when he co-signed an open letter coordinated by the Cato Institute — a U.S. “think tank” funded by petrochemical billionaires Charles and David Koch.


The letter ran as a full-page ad in several newspapers, including The New York Times, and claimed that recent temperature changes were 'modest', that the 'case for alarm regarding climate change is grossly overstated' and that global warming had stopped.


In 2011, Ridd called for a 'Scientific Challengers Office' that 'should start on Global Warming'
Ridd is based at the Marine Geophysics Laboratory and, according to his university research profile, he ' ... raises almost all of his research funds from the profits of consultancy work which is usually associated with monitoring of marine dredging operation'.

Several major coal and gas projects are listed as former clients of the lab, which was also home for the late Dr Bob Carter who was, at one time, associated with ten or more different climate science denial groups around the globe.

 

[basilio]

Re the effect of coral bleaching on reef health

Fact Check-Mass bleaching events in the Great Barrier Reef kill coral and risk the future of the reef​

Fact Check-Mass bleaching events in the Great Barrier Reef kill coral and risk the future of the reef

The Australian Government’s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority Summer Snapshot 2021-22 document made headlines recently after it revealed over 90% of the Great Barrier Reef's coral "exhibited some bleaching," based on an aerial survey.

www.reuters.com

 

[mullokintyre]

Re the effect of coral bleaching on reef health

Fact Check-Mass bleaching events in the Great Barrier Reef kill coral and risk the future of the reef​

Fact Check-Mass bleaching events in the Great Barrier Reef kill coral and risk the future of the reef

The Australian Government’s Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority Summer Snapshot 2021-22 document made headlines recently after it revealed over 90% of the Great Barrier Reef's coral "exhibited some bleaching," based on an aerial survey.

www.reuters.com

I will see your rueters article and raise one from the NOAA
Warmer water temperatures can result in coral bleaching. When water is too warm, corals will expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues causing the coral to turn completely white. This is called coral bleaching. When a coral bleaches, it is not dead. Corals can survive a bleaching event, but they are under more stress and are subject to mortality.

In 2005, the U.S. lost half of its coral reefs in the Caribbean in one year due to a massive bleaching event. The warm waters centered around the northern Antilles near the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico expanded southward. Comparison of satellite data from the previous 20 years confirmed that thermal stress from the 2005 event was greater than the previous 20 years combined.

Not all bleaching events are due to warm water.

In January 2010, cold water temperatures in the Florida Keys caused a coral bleaching event that resulted in some coral death. Water temperatures dropped -6.7 degrees Celsius lower than the typical temperatures observed at this time of year. Researchers will evaluate if this cold-stress event will make corals more susceptible to disease in the same way that warmer waters impact corals.

And heres one from Great barrier reef Foundation

Mick

---

 

[mullokintyre]

Peter Ridd on Climate Change

Ideological bent?

Also in the 2017 Sky News interview, Ridd accused other scientists of lacking objectivity and suggested another problem was that "we also potentially have scientists with an ideological bent".

This is the time to look at Ridd’s own “ideological bent” and his long history associating with climate science deniers whose “theories” are rejected by every major scientific academy on the planet, as well as governments around the world.

Ridd has been affiliated with several groups that reject the science linking human emissions of carbon dioxide to dangerous climate change.

Ridd is a director and “Science Coordinator” of the Australian Environment Foundation (AEF) — a group he has been associated with since its launch in 2005 (and not to be confused with the Australian Conservation Foundation).

The AEF, which emerged from a 2004 meeting organised by the IPA, promotes the idea that wind turbines make people sick and that human-caused climate change is unproven.

Ridd is also listed as an adviser to the Galileo Movement — an Australian group that for many years was run by former One Nation Senator and climate science denier Malcolm Roberts.

Ridd joined a list of well-known climate science deniers in 2009 when he co-signed an open letter coordinated by the Cato Institute — a U.S. “think tank” funded by petrochemical billionaires Charles and David Koch.


The letter ran as a full-page ad in several newspapers, including The New York Times, and claimed that recent temperature changes were 'modest', that the 'case for alarm regarding climate change is grossly overstated' and that global warming had stopped.


In 2011, Ridd called for a 'Scientific Challengers Office' that 'should start on Global Warming'
Ridd is based at the Marine Geophysics Laboratory and, according to his university research profile, he ' ... raises almost all of his research funds from the profits of consultancy work which is usually associated with monitoring of marine dredging operation'.

Several major coal and gas projects are listed as former clients of the lab, which was also home for the late Dr Bob Carter who was, at one time, associated with ten or more different climate science denial groups around the globe.

Is that the best you can come up with, guilt by association?
I presume you copied the above from somewhere, is there a reason that you did not provide the source?

Ridd is a well credentialed marine scientist who got into trouble because he called out poor science.

Have a read of the Lonstedt Report into the faked research at JCU from where he was sacked.

Mick

Mick

 

[Sean K]

Is that the best you can come up with, guilt by association?
I presume you copied the above from somewhere, is there a reason that you did not provide the source?

Ridd is a well credentialed marine scientist who got into trouble because he called out poor science.

Have a read of the Lonstedt Report into the faked research at JCU from where he was sacked.

Mick

Mick

The latest statistics on the amount of coral on the Great Barrier Reef, just released by the Australian Institute of Marine Science, should end 60 years of flawed predictions of its imminent demise.

The coral cover for 2023, averaged over the entire reef, was not statistically different from last year’s record-breaking high levels.

The reef now has twice as much coral as in 2012 when it hit a low point after being smashed by major cyclones.

Last year’s record-breaking result was also embarrassing to the GBR science institutions. They had proclaimed that the reef had just been devastated by four unprecedented hot water bleaching events in 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2022 – but then it had more coral than ever. One might imagine the crisis talks in the reef-science institutions to agree on embarrassing corrections, but any such eleventh-hour acknowledgment of the facts was instead substituted by political spin.

Some damned the news with faint praise. It showed that the reef had some resilience left but was still doomed by climate change. Others managed to twist the story to make it bad news – it was only the fast-growing corals, called acropora, and ironically the most beautiful type, that had recovered and these are more susceptible to climate change.

So, all this record-breaking coral makes the reef more doomed than ever. Never mind that the acropora still takes five to 10 years to grow and was supposedly killed by those four hot-water bleaching events since 2016. They must have been non-events.

This year, AIMS carried on the tradition by spinning good news as bad by describing the record-equalling 2023 coral cover as a “pause in recovery”.

Media outlets love bad news, so when will they see that the bad news is about the reef-science institutions, not the reef? Their pathetic attempts to spin the good news as bad is final proof of their intellectual bankruptcy.

The truth is we have been scammed for decades, and the perpetrators have been caught out. Once-trusted science institutions have become untrustworthy. It is time they are subjected to serious scrutiny. Have they become ideological? Are they inclined to groupthink? Are they motivated by the funding imperative, which relies on the reef being perpetually doomed? How do they handle dissenters – are they ostracised or welcomed? What are their quality assurance systems that clearly failed? How did they get this so wrong for 60 years?

Clearly, many Australians doubt the veracity of reef-scientists. A poll by the Australian Environment Foundation found that, despite the merciless media focus on the “doom science” of the reef for decades, only 51 per cent think the reef is presently in poor shape.

Within a few years there will be a big cyclone, which is now known to be by far the biggest coral killer, or another plague of crown of thorns starfish, both of which are entirely natural. The amount of coral will reduce. Doubtless the headlines will say we have lost half the coral on the reef, as they have proclaimed many times in the past – occasionally truthfully. The science institutions will be happy. The money will keep flowing. The children will remain depressed. More costly red-tape will be imposed on farmers to “save the reef”, and the reef-tourism industry gets kicked in the teeth again by the bad publicity.

Or maybe we have finally reached the point where people can see what is happening. The amount of coral on the GBR changes dramatically from decade to decade, but the science institutions are making use of this natural variability, especially the times when the amount of coral falls, for non-scientific purposes.

The Great Barrier Reef is a good place to start bringing under scrutiny our science institutions. Record-equalling coral cover does not happen every year, and there is no better example of the untrustworthiness of some science institutions. We must audit reef-science. The inevitable outrage in the media will still serve to publicise the fact that we have, yet again, extremely high amounts of coral on the reef – hence the need to audit the science institutions.

 

[wayneL]

View attachment 160767

The latest statistics on the amount of coral on the Great Barrier Reef, just released by the Australian Institute of Marine Science, should end 60 years of flawed predictions of its imminent demise.

The coral cover for 2023, averaged over the entire reef, was not statistically different from last year’s record-breaking high levels.

The reef now has twice as much coral as in 2012 when it hit a low point after being smashed by major cyclones.

Last year’s record-breaking result was also embarrassing to the GBR science institutions. They had proclaimed that the reef had just been devastated by four unprecedented hot water bleaching events in 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2022 – but then it had more coral than ever. One might imagine the crisis talks in the reef-science institutions to agree on embarrassing corrections, but any such eleventh-hour acknowledgment of the facts was instead substituted by political spin.

Some damned the news with faint praise. It showed that the reef had some resilience left but was still doomed by climate change. Others managed to twist the story to make it bad news – it was only the fast-growing corals, called acropora, and ironically the most beautiful type, that had recovered and these are more susceptible to climate change.

So, all this record-breaking coral makes the reef more doomed than ever. Never mind that the acropora still takes five to 10 years to grow and was supposedly killed by those four hot-water bleaching events since 2016. They must have been non-events.

This year, AIMS carried on the tradition by spinning good news as bad by describing the record-equalling 2023 coral cover as a “pause in recovery”.

Media outlets love bad news, so when will they see that the bad news is about the reef-science institutions, not the reef? Their pathetic attempts to spin the good news as bad is final proof of their intellectual bankruptcy.

The truth is we have been scammed for decades, and the perpetrators have been caught out. Once-trusted science institutions have become untrustworthy. It is time they are subjected to serious scrutiny. Have they become ideological? Are they inclined to groupthink? Are they motivated by the funding imperative, which relies on the reef being perpetually doomed? How do they handle dissenters – are they ostracised or welcomed? What are their quality assurance systems that clearly failed? How did they get this so wrong for 60 years?

Clearly, many Australians doubt the veracity of reef-scientists. A poll by the Australian Environment Foundation found that, despite the merciless media focus on the “doom science” of the reef for decades, only 51 per cent think the reef is presently in poor shape.

Within a few years there will be a big cyclone, which is now known to be by far the biggest coral killer, or another plague of crown of thorns starfish, both of which are entirely natural. The amount of coral will reduce. Doubtless the headlines will say we have lost half the coral on the reef, as they have proclaimed many times in the past – occasionally truthfully. The science institutions will be happy. The money will keep flowing. The children will remain depressed. More costly red-tape will be imposed on farmers to “save the reef”, and the reef-tourism industry gets kicked in the teeth again by the bad publicity.

Or maybe we have finally reached the point where people can see what is happening. The amount of coral on the GBR changes dramatically from decade to decade, but the science institutions are making use of this natural variability, especially the times when the amount of coral falls, for non-scientific purposes.

The Great Barrier Reef is a good place to start bringing under scrutiny our science institutions. Record-equalling coral cover does not happen every year, and there is no better example of the untrustworthiness of some science institutions. We must audit reef-science. The inevitable outrage in the media will still serve to publicise the fact that we have, yet again, extremely high amounts of coral on the reef – hence the need to audit the science institutions.

Great article! We need more scientists with such integrity... and a media who will give them airtime. Both in very short supply.

 

[IFocus]

I think the GBR is perfectly fine Pauline Hanson has investigated and confirmed that fact.

How is the ice melt going in Antarctica, maybe Hanson could go down an have a look ? ?

 

[wayneL]

I think the GBR is perfectly fine Pauline Hanson has investigated and confirmed that fact.

How is the ice melt going in Antarctica, maybe Hanson could go down an have a look ? ?

I would be interested in your *first hand* observations. If not maybe you could go down for a look too

 

[basilio]

The extreme global temperatures are causing massive coral bleaching.

Huge’ coral bleaching unfolding across Central America prompts fears of global tragedy​

Scientists stunned by unprecedented heat-stress event in the Americas say they can only hope it ‘motivates and unites people’

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

Graham Readfearn

@readfearn
Fri 11 Aug 2023 15.59 AESTLast modified on Fri 11 Aug 2023 16.53 AES


Corals across several countries are bleaching and dying en masse from unprecedented levels of heat stress, prompting fears that an unfolding tragedy in Central America, North America and the Caribbean could become a global event.
US government scientists have confirmed reefs in Panama, Colombia, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Mexico and six countries in the Caribbean, including the Bahamas and Cuba, are suffering significant bleaching, alongside corals in Florida that began turning white almost a month ago.

“I don’t think any of these places have seen heat stress like this before,” said Dr Derek Manzello, coordinator of Coral Reef Watch at the US National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration.

“This will only get worse until there is a global reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. This is essentially a big field experiment. The big fear is there will be catastrophic mortality.”

Coral reefs are home to more than a quarter of the world’s marine species despite taking up about 0.1% of the ocean floor and are considered one of the most susceptible ecosystems to global heating.

Noaa’s Coral Reef Watch this week also had its highest level of coral bleaching warning over reefs off north Vietnam and southern China.

‘Huge’ coral bleaching unfolding across the Americas prompts fears of global tragedy

Scientists stunned by unprecedented heat-stress event say they can only hope it ‘motivates and unites people’

www.theguardian.com

 

[mullokintyre]

The extreme global temperatures are causing massive coral bleaching.

Huge’ coral bleaching unfolding across Central America prompts fears of global tragedy​

Scientists stunned by unprecedented heat-stress event in the Americas say they can only hope it ‘motivates and unites people’

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

Graham Readfearn

@readfearn
Fri 11 Aug 2023 15.59 AESTLast modified on Fri 11 Aug 2023 16.53 AES




“I don’t think any of these places have seen heat stress like this before,” said Dr Derek Manzello, coordinator of Coral Reef Watch at the US National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration.

From ARS

The new method indicates that between 57 and 52 million years ago, the North Atlantic abyss was about 20°C. That’s a big difference from the oxygen isotope data, which yielded temperatures of 12–14°C. “That's a whole lot warmer,” said Meckler. For comparison, today’s equivalent is around 1–2°C.

Humans only discovered coral bleachng in the 1980's.
To suggest they have never seen heat stress like this before is pure unadulterated hysteria.
The oceans have been much warmer before, but no one knew about bleaching back then, or perhaps they didn't have the internet to spread the hysteria.
Mick

 

[wayneL]

Another rare scientist with integrity

Scientist admits the ‘overwhelming consensus’ on the climate change crisis is ‘manufactured’

Climate scientist Judith Curry says climate change is a “manufactured consensus.”

nypost.com

 

[farmerge]

Another rare scientist with integrity

Scientist admits the ‘overwhelming consensus’ on the climate change crisis is ‘manufactured’

Climate scientist Judith Curry says climate change is a “manufactured consensus.”

nypost.com

Slowly, ever so slowly more of the truth comes out.
Remember Al Gore, must have made millions out of his b***sh** paranoria on climate change.
Seasons change, climate changes, go back a 100 years and see what that shows.

 

[basilio]

From ARS


Humans only discovered coral bleachng in the 1980's.
To suggest they have never seen heat stress like this before is pure unadulterated hysteria.
The oceans have been much warmer before, but no one knew about bleaching back then, or perhaps they didn't have the internet to spread the hysteria.
Mick

That article was an excellent find Mick. Thanks.

Your right of course that the oceans have been much hotter in the past. In fact the period you quoted included the PETM event.

They found surprisingly cool temperatures 55 million years ago, sandwiched between super-warm temperatures 57 and 52 million years ago. Meckler told Ars she was “very puzzled” by such large temperature swings, with cool temperatures showing up shortly after a well-known global warming event called the “Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum” or “PETM.” The PETM occurred 56 million years ago; unfortunately, the team does not have data covering the PETM itself.
There was a completely different ecosytem (if there was one at all) in the oceans at that time. Certainly no coral reefs

Just for interest this (free) indepth university online course offers a great education on changes in our climate.

Course Home Page | EARTH 103: Earth in the Future

 

[mullokintyre]

That article was an excellent find Mick. Thanks.

Your right of course that the oceans have been much hotter in the past. In fact the period you quoted included the PETM event.

They found surprisingly cool temperatures 55 million years ago, sandwiched between super-warm temperatures 57 and 52 million years ago. Meckler told Ars she was “very puzzled” by such large temperature swings, with cool temperatures showing up shortly after a well-known global warming event called the “Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum” or “PETM.” The PETM occurred 56 million years ago; unfortunately, the team does not have data covering the PETM itself.
There was a completely different ecosytem (if there was one at all) in the oceans at that time. Certainly no coral reefs

And what do you base that on?
Heres something from USGS.

Corals have been found in fossil reefs as old as 500 million years, but corals similar to the modern colonial varieties have constructed reefs only during the last 60 million years.

And of course, the Medieval warm period, which lasted some 300 years may well have seen oceans warmer than today, and corals still growing and bleaching in that period.

Just for interest this (free) indepth university online course offers a great education on changes in our climate.

Course Home Page | EARTH 103: Earth in the Future

I presume that you have done the online course yourself, seeing as you suggest its an in depth course.
Mick

 

[basilio]

Yep. The earths climate has gone through many changes. The PETM period would have been one period that resulted in mass extinctions because of the very sharp increases in temperature.

The Medieval Warm period? Yes a warm time but on known records certainly not as warm as current temperatures.

Medieval Period Was Warmer Than Expected - Antarctica Journal

One of the most common arguments of those skeptical of global warming is that the Medieval Warm Period (800-1400 AD) was as warm as or warmer than today. Using this as proof to say that we cannot be the cause of current global warming is a faulty notion based upon rhetoric rather than science...

www.antarcticajournal.com