This is all well and good and a tremendous waste of the taxpayer's dollars. Especially since this whole CO2 bugaboo is ridiculous and is designed to line the pockets of the likes of the Goracle and the esteemed Dr. Hansen (I would like to see his financials).

As far as there being more CO2 emissions here in the Southeast, duh, have you ever tried hanging your rifle or shotgun in the rear window of a hybrid?

discussing what we will do about the climate problem," Hansen says.

My solution to the increasingly cold climate may be to move back to California. It has gotten too cold here for my tastes.

In the 1970s, climatologists wanted to put soot on the polar ice caps to solve the "climate problem."

Newsweek, April 28, 1975

Climatologists are pessimistic that political leaders will take any positive action to compensate for the climatic change, or even to allay its effects. They concede that some of the more spectacular solutions proposed, such as melting the Arctic ice cap by covering it with black soot or diverting arctic rivers, might create problems far greater than those they solve.

http://www.denisdutton.com/cooling_world.htm

The current "climate problem" exists inside some deeply flawed computer models, and some very troubled minds.

A map of estimated, interpolated and extrapolated data with 1200km smoothing. Wow, aint this digital age grand?

heh, heh...nice brett, this ought to be an entertaining thread...logic dictates that a miniscule increase in a life sustaining gas, that makes up a miniscule portion of all heat trapping gases, is NOT a causation to pontificate global meltdown hysterics...logic dictates that subjectively inputted faulty computer programs based on faulty thermometer readings are incapable of creating a time warp to predict the future...logic dictates that history will repeat itself, whereby, dubious snake oil salesmen will use mankind's illogical emotions to promote a money pilfering scheme...logic dictates that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few (hansen, gore, U.nited N.incompoops)...logic dictates that mankind will live longer and prosper more using sound science and technology to develop energy that proves daily it allows mankind to live longer and prosper more...logic dictates that mankind should not give into the power of the darkside, so that it may boldy go where no one has gone before...the ongoing mission is to seek out "the truth" and understand the real cause of climatic variations, that is, the variable interaction of a big ball fire with a big ball of mostly water....live long and prosper dudes :)

Hi all - I just read the gore heckling thing & was shocked at Gore's claim that internal combustion engines were 1 % efficiency so I checked & found the following ... as usual the goracle is totally full of BS. That this joker has anyone believing his lies is only because the majority of the population could not pass high school physics & is totally lacking in any knowledge of the sciences, computer modeling & statistics.

The efficiency of various types of internal combustion engines varies, but it is nearly always lower than electric motor energy efficiency (If this comparison is allowed to be made with different reference energy: chemical versus electrical). Also, each internal combustion engine, has an efficiency that varies with the engine speed and load, as all other energy converters. Most gasoline-fueled internal combustion engines, even when aided with turbochargers and stock efficiency aids, have an average efficiency of about 20% [1][2]. The efficiency may be as high as 37% at the optimum operating point. With this point as an example, 37% of the fuel energy reaches the shaft as useful work, maybe 35% goes to the exhaust as heat, another 18% to the coolant water as heat and the rest, 10% goes to mechanical friction and essential losses like oil pump, coolant water pump, fan, altenator etc.

Right on Gary... I am sure this estimated data will be much more accurate than the previously estimated data.. but it will look really cool though!! The phrase "perfuming the pig" comes to mind.

Also, wonder what the price tag was for this study that we as taxpayers are picking up the tab on?

"The three-year project, which was funded by NASA and the U.S. Department of Energy under the North American Carbon Program, involved researchers from Purdue University, Colorado State University and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory."

Thanks Brett for your continued efforts on posting this information.

First, Hansen needs to backup and start with studies that show CO2 is actually causing any climate change. The first step in that is to show a strong, positive correlation between atmospheric CO2 and climate.

Next, he can explain how it warms first and then CO2 increases and back that up with actual studies, not spin that only a college professor could believe.

Sorry, computers models of future climate just won't cut it. Computer models do not output scientific data. The results of computer climate models are not facts and aren't even predictions. Computer climate models output possible scenarios and the programming can't account for all variables.

Four more scientists that beleive in AGW

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2008/04/14/nobel-prize-winning-peacekeeper-asks-un-admit-climate-change-errors

Vulcan was the god of fire in mythology - how appropriate for global warming.

One thing, though - whether its a character from Star Trek or a god - it's all mythology.

Why don't they simply measure CO2 in the same places they measure other atmosphereic components and report the results? Why do they have to construct these elaborate and expensive computer simulations and interpretations when empirical evidence is available?

More detail today on the latest ice shelf to shift into a terminal phase. As I noted yesterday in a different thread, this seems to be a very strong trend at both poles:

Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, Largest In Northern Hemisphere, Has Fractured Into Three Main Pieces

ScienceDaily (Apr. 16, 2008) � A team of scientists including polar expert Dr. Derek Mueller from Trent University and Canadian Rangers have discovered that the largest ice shelf in the Northern Hemisphere has fractured into three main pieces.

During their sovereignty patrol across the northernmost parts of Canada over the last two weeks, they visited a new 18 kilometre-long network of cracks running from the southern edge of the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf to the Arctic Ocean. This accompanies a large central fracture that was first detected in 2002, and raises the concern that the remaining ice shelf will disintegrate within the next few years.

Evidence of these cracks first came from Radarsat satellite images in February. Confirmation came from Canadian Rangers, partnering with International Polar Year scientists during Operation NUNALIVUT 08, a Canadian Forces High Arctic sovereignty patrol. Rangers mapped the extent of the fissures and monitored melt rates for Quttinirpaaq National Park, which encompasses the ice shelf.

The patrol scientists also found that the nearby Petersen Ice Shelf lost over a third of its surface area in the past three years. This ice shelf calved following the break-up of landfast sea ice in the summer of 2005 and 2007, which had protected it from the open ocean.

�Canadian ice shelves have undergone substantial changes in the past six years, starting with the first break-up event on the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf, and the loss of the Ayles Ice Shelf,� said Dr. Luke Copland of the University of Ottawa. �These latest break-ups we are seeing have come after decades of warming and are irreversible,� said Dr. Derek Mueller of Trent University.

Only five large ice shelves remain in Arctic Canada, covering less than a tenth of the area than they did a century ago.

Whenever somebody says something is NOT political, I cringe. Everything is political and always has been. Try opening a new business in your town and see how even the smallest detail of your business becomes political. The global warming debate is no exception to political intent and how the war is being waged.

So it seems as an example, that the high fuel prices are warming the hearts of many alarmists that want the prices to remain high so that consumption is reduced. McCain is taking some serious heat about suspending the gas tax for the summer which according to some would encourage people to drive again. The problem is that high fuel costs are now being built into many products and so are being passed on to the consumer. Our restaurant suppliers are now charging us just to deliver now as if we have any choice about this charge. Do keep in mind that fuel costs have always been factored into the prices they quote for all their products. We are currently absorbing huge increases in dairy cost, meat, and grains. So while the alarmists might cheer about the latest survey that shows a decrease in consumption, that decrease is being felt at motels, restaurants, retail stores etc. and thus responsible for the slowing economy. For some of us choosing to live in a rural environment it is impossible to reduce consumption unless we buy all new vehicles. The problem there is affording a new automobile with everything else going higher.

They could have saved some time... even their new map looks like a population map! Check out a comparison on my blog. Cool 3-D videos of dispersion though.

thanks for the nice link GW steve...as to project Vulcan, sensors indicate an alien probe from the dark side has been launched...it has the capability to modify its appearance with scary red and blue colors...its internal workings are hidden by a cloaking device whereby we cannot ascertain its intent...logic dictates that we proceed on yellow alert, shields raised as similar type alien computer contraptions have been proven to be manipulated to pilfer money from the federation of carbon based lifeforms...sorry brett, just couldnt help myself, the parallels with Star Trek fantasy is too funny...have a nice day, fellow trekkie dudes..

Jesse:

Great point.

I think you hit it on the head, this is a model that seems to be based upon "expected" CO2 releases. Yes, I know it is based upon EPA measurements but the simulations look like a cheap video game. I watched the video on the Youttube link and the comments elicited seem to be the intent of the work. America is bad.

Like most AGW items nowadays, we are no longer dealing with science, we are dealing with propaganda.

Capt.! Capt.! Are you there? Yes I'm here Scotty, me and Spoc just discovered a strange interesting place where some beings are trying to convince other beings they are controlling the climate of their planet by living their daily lives. Scotty: What do men Capt. Kirk: Well they are falsely accusing them and trying to get them to change the way they live, like turning a free country into communism, crazy and interesting. The thing is some of them are smart enough not to fall for this tactic but you wouldn't believe the power of the one dictactor, he seems to have an ability to control the minds of many. Al is his name. I think you better beam me us Scotty, maybe Dr. McCoy can figure this strange phenomenon out. But I doubt it, these people just have completely lost it.

If you read the "About Project Vulcan" you may have noticed the word "neigborhood" included. Just a matter of time before we are taxed for breathing :)

Evidence of these cracks first came from Radarsat satellite images in February

Hi Steve Bloom,

Some new cracks appear in an Arctic ice shelf in the dead of winter, when temperatures are well below 0F.

In the rational mind of a true believer, that must be due to global warming.

BTW - Looks like Arctic sea ice may move above normal in the next few days, for the first time in five years.
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/current.365.jpg
http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/current.anom.jpg

Some pictures of how global warming is affecting Michigan.

http://codgy.com/michigan-winter-ice-waves/

I couldn`t help to notice that "Vulcan" will measure only emissions from fossil fuel sources rather than from all sources. My understanding is that 93% to 97% is from natural outputs from decaying plants, etc. Am I wrong? It would be important to know so that if a carbon tax is enacted the burden and costs would be shared all emitters.

For some of us choosing to live in a rural environment it is impossible to reduce consumption unless we buy all new vehicles. The problem there is affording a new automobile with everything else going higher.

Gee, my heart bleeds for all those poor souls who bought vehicles that struggle to get two-digit gas mileage.

How many of those existing vehicles were bought in, say, the last ten years. Surely there was just as much information about limited petroleum reserves in 1998 as there is today. All these red-state republicans who bleat so loudly about "self-responsibility", the "free market", and "competition" -- how quickly they change their tune when those forces work against them.

In the mid-80s, the average American consumer could choose among a number of affordable vehicles that got mileage well above 30MPG -- the VW Rabbit, Subaru hatchbacks, several Volvos, etc. Yes, its true that American manufacturers by and large missed the boat. They found it much easier to instead manipulate the regulatory process to allow them to move the market from cars to "light trucks" and therefore evade the mileage restrictions on passenger automobiles.

Now, the time has come to pay the piper. All those rural folks driving all those gas-guzzlers, pretending that their SUVs and pickups are "needed".

So our contrarians not only want to stay in denial of the basic science of climatology, but they also hide their collective heads in the sand about the basic economics of gasoline. Along the way, they conveniently attempt to duck the predictable and predicted consequences of their own terrible choices ten years ago.

Since "Kricki" is so deeply concerned about the skyrocketing cost of basic necessities, I wonder how she stands on, for example, illegal immigration. Does she think that targeting people willing to work harder than she does longer than she does for sweatshop rates is going to raise or lower the costs of those basic necessities? How much does "Kricki" pay for the spinach she serves in her restaurant, and how much does she think the (often illegal) migrant workers who harvest it for her should be paid? Is "Kricki" ready to pay twice as much for her spinach so that the growers report worker income on W2s, pay federal withholdings, collect social security benefits when they retire, and so on? Is Kricki prepared to pay enough for her spinach to pay those workers time-and-a-half for overtime during harvest season, triple-time on Sundays and holidays? I doubt it.

I wonder, for that matter, whether Kricki reports the wages she pays her busboys and the tips her servers collect.

Here's the deal, "Kricki". When you're willing to hold those "choosing to live in a rural environment" to the same harsh standards that you apply to -- for example -- unwed mothers or the working poor, then let's talk. Until then, I suggest you quit your complaining and get back to work figuring out how to pay $5.00 a gallon -- soon to be $10 -- to keep that gas-guzzler of yours on the road.

Steve Bloom,
Thank you for the summary of the ice caps. Truly disturbing. Your posts really bring a nice scientific lift to this blog.

I get so tired of the politics, including the cherry picking, name calling (Gore, Hansen), local weather reports or just crazy statements like JEP's "Computer models do not output scientific data."

I guess we will have to shut down most scientific research in the world. I'll tell NASA, NIH and the NSF if you'll call the major research universities.

Regards,
GettingWarm

I'd like to see a "Vulcan" map of China. If one area of the world doesn't clean up after itself it affects all of us!

Brookline,. I would love to see you drive a vw rabbit here on an Indiana backroad in winter, or during the spring thaw.

Where I live the road is gravel (if I'm lucky) and snow plows and salt trucks do not come out here. Your post is rambling, at best, and shows no actual knowledge of anything outside of a city. You sound much like Barack Obama who is very disconnected with real life people outside of a major urban area. While I cling to my guns during this economic crisis, maybe you should reduce your carbon footprint by refusing to breathe. Think how much cooler the world would be.

Lets hope for the creation of a Bush dynasty....please George, don't step down in January. Too much is at stake...especially if anyone supported by Brookline Tom replaces you. I would rather have a monarchy with economic freedom than a communistic taxocracy under a person like Obama.

Bloom:

Wow, another shelf bites the dust. Ummm, since you do bring a lot of good science to this discussion, I would appreciate it if you could relate the recent demise of these shelves in a historical sense. In other words, how many times have these shelves formed,