Former NASA GISS climate scientist reveals incompetence, junkets, best model called “jungle” of code

Dr Duane Thresher who worked seven years at NASA GISS describes a culture of self serving rent-seekers, mismanagement and  incompetence. These are the top experts in the climate science field that we are supposed to accept without questioning. Those who say they are working to “save the planet” care more about their junckets than they do about the data or their “best” model.

NASA GISS’s most advanced climate model is run from the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Thresher recounts a story from someone on the inside:

“NASA GISS’s climate model — named Model E, an intentional play on the word “muddle” — is called the “jungle” because it is so badly coded.”   I know this to be true from my own extensive experience programming it (I tried to fix as much as I could…).

Thresher writes about how the team was happy to take taxpayer funds and spend it on unnecessary conferences which were “loads of fun” while they scrimped and saved on things like data security and incompetent tech staff. Secretaries and mail boys were hired for jobs they were not qualified for. At one point data was lost when exposed plumbing leaked in the computer room.

One of the guys hired/promoted to provide tech support was the NASA GISS mail boy. He was a good kid so why not give him a high-paying tech job?

Similarly, a NASA GISS secretary was hired/promoted to provide tech support. She was very nice but c’mon.

Another of the guys hired was so incompetent a bunch of the climate scientists finally got together and demanded Jim Hansen, head of NASA GISS then, fire him, WITHOUT REPLACEMENT. Tech support got BETTER after that.

While I was nearing completion of my dissertation at NASA GISS, an exposed water pipe to the bathroom overhead broke in the computer room, destroying thousands of dollars worth of computer equipment and data, including mine; the “data recovery” by incompetent NASA GISS tech support destroyed even more. To start, you should be shaking your head and saying, “why are there exposed bathroom water pipes going through a computer room?”

 Even though flights are a large contributor to carbon emissions, climate scientists were keen to fly for fun:

Even though nowadays conferences could easily and more efficiently be done as teleconferences, climate scientists love to travel to FUN places for conferences, paid for by the taxpayer. We were no different, as we said in AGU’s “Climate Change: Believe It Or Else” Prize

At some climate conferences, climate scientists can even donate some of their conference travel money to offset the carbon emissions from the travel. The tiny number of participants would make Scrooge blush.

He wanted to be a whistleblower but the media weren’t interested

I wanted to be like FBI agent Mark Felt, who was the Watergate informant Deep Throat, or Edward Snowden, the NSA informant. Secretly supplying inside information to bring down a government agency gone bad. (Due to lawmakers actually hating whistleblowers, Snowden isn’t covered by whistleblower laws, but I might be.) I even tried that at first (did you know that you can’t simply email information to WikiLeaks but have to use Tor, which can be a bit of a hassle?).

Journalists weren’t interested. This shouldn’t have surprised me. Read Glenn Greenwald’s No Place To Hide, which is about Edward Snowden and the NSA. Snowden practically begged Greenwald for months to take his information but Greenwald was too lazy. The Washington Post (which also stalled Snowden), The New York Times (“Pravda On The Hudson”), and the rest are worthless at this point so we became our own newspaper. Recognize our masthead font?

Thresher is pressing a case against Gavin Schmidt, current head of NASA GISS, for violations of the Hatch Act. (Quote: “…the Hatch Act, …forbids government officials from spending government time and money on political activities.”)

What usually happens is that money for specific projects is pooled to pay the grad students, although usually there is one big money project paying the lion’s share. That means that many grad students are paid off grants for specific projects but are not working on those projects. I remember once at NASA GISS having to write up a progress report for a project I didn’t really work on but was paid off of. That is the definition of “misspent”.

Our article, Top NASA Climate Scientist Uses Private Email To Avoid Oversight, describes well Gavin Schmidt’s violation of the Federal Records Act while at NASA GISS. But we’ve only briefly touched upon his violation of the Hatch Act. Here is my email to the NASA OIG agent that describes the Hatch Act violation best.

He advises skeptics and commentators to use FOI to go after the money instead of the data.

“The data is often fundamentally flawed. How you process it after that is irrelevant. Garbage in, garbage out. “

 

9.9 out of 10 based on 109 ratings

92 comments to Former NASA GISS climate scientist reveals incompetence, junkets, best model called “jungle” of code

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    It’s really sad that the media is so complicit in this whole sordid affair. The Leftist ideology is so ingrained in the MSM that nothing outside of their belief system can be tolerated. Where is Australia’s Breitbart?

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      Idiot_Wind

      The headline at the international level is left wing (i.e. “We are saving the world”) but below that at national level the reality may be very right wing. For example, here in the UK, landowners can earn huge rents for having wind generators on their estates (e.g. our ex PM’s father in law) and rich middle classes with cash to spare could invest in photovoltaics which brought large returns from supplying tiny amounts of energy to the electricity grid. And who pays for all this? Ordinary people and the poor, of course, in higher electricity costs adding to the financial plight of “the just about managing” class and of the businesses that they work(ed) for. In short, the developing world is being saved from a non-existant problem by the poor of one of the countries of the developed world. Is it similar in your country, dear reader? However, I agree that the silence of the MSM on these matters is deafening.

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        That’s another issue that makes me angry. Only a relatively small group benefit from these subsidies, which are ostensibly paid for by the less well off who can’t afford such things. And it’s not just the subsidies, there’s a raft of other less obvious things, cost of living for a start, that hit the less well off because of this entire scam.

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          Graeme No.3

          bemused:
          I wrote this on WE unthreaded but more relevant to your comment.
          Canberra is supposedly 100% renewables (or closing in on that target) because the ACT has signed agreements with wind farms around Australia to buy at $70-90 a MWh. Nevermind that the actual supply will come mostly from NSW coal fired what is the position regarding the subsidies under the RET? These are added onto customers bills in ratio with the RET and the amount of conventional power bought, but if Canberra is 100% renewables who pays for those subsidy certificates? Does this mean that Canberrans get electricity at (wholesale) $70-90 a MWh whereas we peasants pay $100-120 PLUS the $82 RET subsidy PLUS the cost of Canberra’s RET subsidy?
          Enquiring mind would like to know.

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          Rereke Whakkaro

          Then we need to keep on calling it out as scam. We need to explain the mechanisms in simple words straightforward ideas. And we need to keep on pointing out that it is the less privileged in society who are being ripped off, in order to support the lifestyles of the affluent and professional classes.

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          Scott M

          The small group are friends(donors) and family of the politicians…

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        Tom O

        Actually, those that you describe are not right wing. There is nothing conservative about wanton greed, it’s just greed. And I have never considered people that take advantage of “socialized gifts” as having “right wing leanings.”

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        TdeF

        Any time a very left government, like Australia’s current government, forces billions to be paid for nothing at all, the money makers gather. They are not right wing. They are not conservatives. They are simply in for the state generate rivers of cash, like everyone else. I detest the phrase right wing.

        Yes, conservatives often earn much more than poor left wing radicals like former Greens leader Dr. Brown, who moaned loudly on retirement that as a leader of the Nation he earned much less than the rich business leaders he despised. That is not political opinion. That is jealousy and envy presented as a vision of unfairness. Similarly with Gail Kelly, Westpac head on retirement who moaned that she was discriminated against only an $8Million a year salary.

        However I would not call the rich people around the trough right wing. They are simply enjoying the unholy alliance of righteous greens demanding billions are spent achieving nothing much and are more than happy to oblige. While the poor are seriously deprived of power, businesses and airports shut and people left without heating or airconditioning, the feasting continues. Half a billion here and there to people who do not need it.

        This disgraceful period in Australia’s history is without shame. Labor closing down factories. Greens jetting off to conferences around the world and capitalists enjoying the river of money without social responsibility. It has to stop.

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  • #
    Peter C

    The Red team, if and when they are appointed, have plenty of information to get started on right here with Dr Duane Thresher.

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    • #
      Will Janoschka

      “The Red team, if and when they are appointed, have plenty of information to get started on right here with Dr Duane Thresher.”

      Perhaps better would be to eliminate any funding for NASA Goddard NYC GISS by P45 deliberatly ‘dissapearing’ GISS by declaring such a ‘terrorist organization’! No need for leftover stuff like Gavin remaining a lifelong government employee as is his predecessor James Hanson.
      I met Hanson in 1972, while attempting to understand, with many conscientious others, the actual transmission of thermal EMR through this weird atmosphere! Even back then Jimmy was a pompous know it all a** hole!

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      • #
        graphicconception

        … a pompous know it all a** hole

        Strangely, that does seem to be one of the most popular qualifications required for consensus climate scientists. I wonder why that is?

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        • #
          Will Janoschka

          Ha! We thought NASA Godard could help. This was the USAF commitment to identifying the limits of passive atmospheric ‘seeing’ from 0.2 micron (UV) to 200 micron longest wavelength optics. The impetus was to do that ‘before’ the skillful Russian guys did that. The cost was truly obscene! We even had many ‘radar’ guys trying to help explain the vast difference between ‘antennas’ and ‘optics’ All were frantically running round in circles not knowing whether to scratch watch or wind ass!
          All the best!-will-

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    Rod Stuart

    It was a clever ploy to link this shonky outfit to NASA.
    How many times have I heard the logical fallacy “I suppose you think you know more than NASA. They put a man on the moon”.

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      sophocles

      ROTFL. (Wipes tears from eyes!).

      Maybe we should all (individually) email Dr. Pretty-Boy-Whose-Name-Won’t Be-Mentioned that he owes Senator Roberts a very public apology?
      (I keep thinking of him by a very impolite, positively uncivil, if not coarse, perjorative which is not appropriate for this forum. I would rather not upset FLY, nor Jo 🙂 )

      Yes, I know that will Nevvah! happen because Warmists and their Apologists have a singular lack of ethix, courage, principles, and, most of all, cojones.

      First the BOM, now GISS, who’s next? PIKT? The Grauniad? Nah, they’re Flightless Avians, aka ostriches, renowned for hiding heads in the sand.
      The East Anglia CRU? Again? The little Mindless Mann’s court actions seem to be fraying around the centre as well as the edges, too. The UK’s MO?
      Forget Skeptical Science; they shot themselves in both feet way back, repetitively.

      Hm, speaking of the UK MO, I wonder how much like the GISS Model E, the UK MO’s model is? They managed to convince their government that they just had to buy a new, bigger, faster, more powerful Super Computer, a 140-tonne, £97 million Cray XC40, to run their klimate model in 2014/2015. It ” …could save the UK £2 billion…” with bigger brighter better faster and more accurate weather forecasts. Oh Wow. (That “more accurate” is not likely to happen.) It was supposed to go live in March this year (2017). Piers Corbyn doesn’t seem to be particularly worried, not even concerned, with his new competition for forecasting the UK’s weather; probably because he knows GI (Garbage In) always gives GO (Garbage Out).

      If the MO had thought to ‘roll their own’ by using interconnected multiple Linux clusters, each cluster of, say, 1024 PCs using AMD 8 core CPUs to give 8192 CPUs as a cluster cell, at UKP 900,000 per cluster cell, into a bigger parallel array of, say, 8 cells, they could have had a more powerful and maybe even a faster machine than the Cray for only 8 million. They would have saved well over UKP 80 million to re-write their model with, and have enough left for fun junkets, too. How unimaginative they’ve been.

      2017 has turned into a Wonderful year. 🙂 Rock on!

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        Roger

        “2017 has turned into a wonderful year.”

        Coldest end of July for years, coldest August for years, coldest September for years so far. But Met Office still calls the late August Bank Holiday (28th Aug) as the hottest, that is after deciding to adjust the previous hottest Down by 1 deg C ! (and ignoring the Much Hotter 1930 record that beat it by some 2.5 deg C.)

        As for Met Office forecasts, its now reached the stage where whatever their ‘long term’ weather is we know to expect the opposite. What happened to the confidently predicted heat wave from late July through all of August ? It has been cold and wet.

        It won’t make any difference how much the Met Office spend on super computers -their entire modelling is based on warming fantasy that week in and week out prove itself Wrong.

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          el gordo

          When the NAO is negative during the UK summer it will be cool and wet, a regional cooling signal.

          http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/precip/CWlink/pna/nao_index.html

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          sophocles

          Okay, Roger, so I didn’t include your weather. Over here, where I live, just to the left of the International Dateline (Southern half), it’s been cold, wet, wet, and cold. And wet. You’ll notice: I mentioned wet. And wet. The weather pattern since the start of June has been “wash, rinse and repeat,” especially repeat.. There has been one and occasionally two, fine days per week more often than not, so we have seen the sun. Otherwise, it’s been wet.

          Auckland had it’s whole year’s average rainfall in less than eight months this winter, and it hasn’t stopped raining, yet. It’s forecast for the rest of this week. Oh, there will be a fine day on Tuesday and, if we’re good, part of Wednesday. Otherwise, it’s cold, wet, wet and cold.

          Our summer wasn’t any great shakes either. It was cloudy and cool but not exactly cold. That was while you were having your winter.

          Yeah, I figured your MO had made itself a laughing-stock nearly ten years ago, after the snow satellite photo and all those summer holiday snaps during the “Barbecue Summer” all featuring kayaks … in use, on what used to be land. I have no proof but I sort of suspect … predict! … that we’re going to be in for more of the same unpredictable stuff well into next year. We can hope not and I, for one, would be pleased to be wrong!

          You can’t have a heat wave without clear, cloudless skies. If there is no big high pressure system or anticyclone to bring them, then there’s no heat wave. I take it you watch your weather maps? And rain radar? (You can see ours on http://www.metservice.com. Maps & Radars. What’s yours?)

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            Peter C

            Thanks Sophocles,

            I have that link now to you weather service. They are in some ways linked to our BOM because your weather balloon flights get recorded on the BOM.

            The thing I did not find (immediately) was the link to Climate Change!
            Has the New Zealand Weather Service pulled back on that?

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            • #
              sophocles

              The thing I did not find (immediately) was the link to Climate Change!
              Has the New Zealand Weather Service pulled back on that?

              You would have to check NIWA’s website. That’s their purview. It’s been spun off as a “Crown Research Institute.” I think. Whatever it is, it’s a law unto itself just as BOM seems to be in Oz. I ignore it because I haven’t been impressed with its impartiality. Professor Chris de Freitas (recently deceased) published a paper in 2015 with two co-authors, which was rather hard for NIWA to argue with as it rigorously applied NIWA’s own rules and procedures to their temperature database. The result was NZ’s annual average temperature of 12.5°C not having changed at all significantly since about, I think, 1850.

              Eek. The aurora Australis is currently going berserk. A CME has landed/impacted. I keep a tab with http://www.aurora-service.net open in it and had to kill it because my web browser lost track of RAM and started chewing through resources as though they were infinite. Expletive deleted.

              I thought to find some high ground and have a look, but it’s raining, and there’s 10/10ths cloud (horizon to horizon in every direction) as is usual when these things happen. Lots of Expletives Deleted. It’s really something to see the Aurora from this far north and at the moment it’s at Kp4.5 …but the weather gnome was waiting for me and when I went outside to see what state the sky was in, it promptly rained on me. More Expletives Deleted.

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          • #
            Fred

            Te Anau at the bottom south west corner of NZ i have just had to empty my rain gauge before it overflows 160mm this month up to now,lots of snow on the mountains as well and dammed cold.

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          • #
            Graeme No.3

            I went out to place the garbage bins** for collection tomorrow morning around 5.30 p.m. and rapidly retreated indoors. The thermometer read 9℃ but the wind chill factor overwhelmed that. The sky was clear and I didn’t believe the TV weather forecast that said the minimum would be 7℃ overnight. My gas fire has been working since and shortly I will retreat to bed with an extra blanket on top. It is time that some entrenched AGW advocates were judged by results not what happened in reality.

            ** Adelaide Hills Council has ways of making you pay.

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  • #
    ossqss

    Thank you Dr. Thresher!

    Who is next to step up with truth from experience?

    Open the gates!

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    • #
      Sceptical Sam

      If only there was one person from Australia’s BoM with the integrity of Thresher.

      Surely there must be one? Just one?

      Get that BoM staff list out and start phoning around with innocent questions. Build a relationship. Get to understand how they work. All organisations have one or two people who value their integrity over that of a corrupt organisation.

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    ossqss

    We see all the time how the ECMWF and GFS models etc. do with Hurricane forecast accuracy scoring, where are the Climate model scores?

    C’mon man!

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    joseph

    Too bad he’s not on the Q&A panel tonight . . . . . .

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    Dennis

    EU prevails and from 2015 there will be no more diesel engines manufactured, by order, European Standards, I just heard from a very reliable mechanical and electrical automotive source. Hybrids with petrol engine driven generators will be the next step and pure electric too with EV the only longer term future transportation.

    And we will not own them, we will hire or lease them which will cover battery pack failure/replacement issues for drivers. And of course leasing firms will profit. More business for the crony capitalists.

    Now consider our federal government’s recent gift to an Australian leasing company of $100 million of taxpayer’s monies as “incentive” to increase the EV fleet on Australian roads, company cars and government cars leading the way.

    It is disgraceful that the market for automobiles and other transportation is being manipulated in the name of climate change agenda politics.

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    • #
      Dennis

      2025, sorry

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      OriginalSteve

      They can whistle dixie…..in Australia, if you shut down all the diesels, this country would completely stop, especially the outback, especially long-haul transport.

      And…try and drive some soft urban vehicle across a swollen creek with a load of hay in the back….

      No chance.

      I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – there is a good chance of anti-green riots in this country at this rate.

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        Dennis

        I understand that the European solution to heavy road transport is Hybrid technology, as in Diesel Electric railway engines.

        But I cannot yet work out how that would work satisfactorily with petrol engine generators.

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          OriginalSteve

          Water is a problem for electrical stuff, which is why its unlikely you will every see an offroad vehicle being fully electric.

          Case inpoint, some of the river crossings I’ve done have water up to the top of the bonnet of the vehicle with all diffs locked and the vehicle scrabbling for grip in the river bed.

          Now imagine trying to do the same thing with anything electrical? I cant.

          Dust would be a killer too – in the outback everything gets coated in dust..its everywhere, especially bulldust. A bit of moisture and it all shorts out….

          Clearly this is aimed at places that have sealed roads and everyione lives in urban places.

          Just imaging plouging a paddock with your trusty hybrid tractor…until it gets bogged up tot he axles…in mud…and water….zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz……………BANG!!!!!!!!!!
          Bye bye tractor. Can you imagine the size of the batteries needed for a tractor?

          These people who want to ban petrol cars are just plain stupid.

          I for one will be driving my petrol V8 in 2040.

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          • #
            el gordo

            ‘…and the vehicle scrabbling for grip in the river bed.’

            If I’ve told you once I’ve told you a thousand times. do not drive in flooded rivers.

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            sophocles

            Petrol powered off-road vehicles are eminently practical. There’s no reason the electrics can’t be suitably sealed. Maybe you should upgrade your 4WD to a more recent one :-).

            We have lots of third-hand ones this side of the Tas, both diesel and petrol varieties. Off roading (aka mud plugging) is a real sport over here. We have so much rain there is no shortage of mud and deep streams, at all. Snorkels, of course. are a necessity. I’ve seen many with tide marks halfway up the windscreens. You could buy one complete with as much mud as you could ever want, and the tidemark to go with it. 🙂

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              Will Janoschka

              “Off roading (aka mud plugging) is a real sport over here. We have so much rain there is no shortage of mud and deep streams, at all.”

              What cost for shipping lots to the USA? We gotsa ‘drain the swamp’!! Is there conversion kit from crocodiles to alligators? How much?
              As far as rain; can yous’all compete with Houston or Orlando? 🙂

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                sophocles

                What cost for shipping lots to the USA?

                Probably too high, Will. The USA drives on the wrong side of the road from us. Japan, Australia and New Zealand all drive on the left hand side of the road, with RH-drive vehicles. You would most likely have to have everything converted to LHD, and that gets expensive.

                Don’t know about agillator conversion kits. There are no snakes, crocs or alligators in NZ. Thanks to everybody who has managed to keep them out for keeping them out!!

                Don’t know Orlando, and haven’t been to Houston, but I think we can do a good imitation of Seattle from time to time.

                I’ve been to an Off-Roader’s meeting once, over ten years ago. The course was about 15km (10 miles) north of me. It was in the middle of our winter. Everyone else was having a lot of fun getting soaked and muddy (Brr, they must have been cold!), but I was being a big wimp and staying warm and dry. Those drivers were madmen. There were a couple of madwomen in there too.

                Some of the vehicles were highly modified American-made 4WDs. I saw some Jeeps (the brand) but couldn’t identify any of the others. Many were Japanese Toyota Landcruisers, the workhorses but not the SUVs. (We call SUVs “Remuera Tractors.” Remuera (pronounced Rem-oo-era) is a very gentrified upmarket Auckland suburb.) Others were Land Rovers, some were the luxury Land Rover V8’s with the luxury stripped out.

                A couple of vehicles got stuck and had to be man-handled out. I didn’t get involved with that. Those who did were soaked and mud coloured all the way up, with tide-marks at shoulder and neck level. All the vehicles had snorkels and high exhaust outlets. Because they had to swim in the mud, everything was waterproofed. The objective was to get around the course as fast as possible which meant they hit the mud wallows and water obstacles at speed.

                As for lots: well, maybe I exaggerated just a bit. Like a lot 🙂 I have no idea how many would be here or involved in the sport. I’ve seen some well muddied vehicles on the roads near home every year, but apart from the one event those years ago, I don’t follow it at all.

                The course I was taken to was a dedicated one, that alone suggests some serious interest. Given our population of about 5 million, though, we’re small potatoes in terms of quantity. You could check http://www.trademe.co.nz to see if you can find anything.
                Good luck.

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                Will Janoschka

                sophocles Sept 19, 2017

                “Probably too high, Will. The USA drives on the wrong side of the road from us.”

                Not roaders, mudders with snorkels! Here in US we have a ‘dirth’ of good mudders, most have center saddle! Is ‘left’ port or starboard when riding a submarine with wheels? Some have handlebar mounted rifles. Quite useful for taking out alligators and other political varmints. 🙂
                All the best!-will-

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                Will Janoschka

                sophocles Sept 19, 2017

                “Don’t know Orlando, and haven’t been to Houston, but I think we can do a good imitation of Seattle from time to time.”

                Indeed; both Portland OR and Seattle have rain every day. From moss on trees every-way is north.
                But in FL and TX they recently got greater than 2cm/hr precipitation for over 30 hours straight. Can you do dat? I wants a new submarine without wheels! 🙂

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              OriginalSteve

              Id like to see a water seal that actually worked 100%.

              Sorry, but there is no way you would get me in an electric vehicle crossing a river crossing….asking for trouble…its why 4WD diffs have breather hoses…

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            Peter Scammell

            There is more bulldust in the Cities than the bush these days

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          Will Janoschka

          “I understand that the European solution to heavy road transport is Hybrid technology, as in Diesel Electric railway engines.”

          Why in the EU or anywhere else is there any ‘significant’ need for ‘heavy road transport? What does that do to the roads? Can anyone justify that nonsense?
          For non stationary power; the large constant speed diesel engines used in RR locomotive and ocean ship power are the most fuel efficient. These can be always be made as pollution free as you have money to waste on your political agenda!
          In rail transport because of change in altitude (up and down), you will see the cars designed with much improved truckage (wheels) with self operating brush-less motors and Li-polymer power storage built in! The locomotive still supplies frictional and other transportation losses.
          The cars themselves automatically provide back-and-forth shuttling of ‘power storage’ between load (mass-gravitational potential) and electrical potential (the charge on those batteries)! Currently 65% efficiency.
          Some added cost of maintenance! This will be done for profitability; never political agenda.
          All the best!-will-

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      Geoffrey Williams

      Dennis A similar story came out on the ABC about 4 weeks ago I think. It originated from an NRMA Study. A load of rubbish telling us that we will have to change; and for example ‘it will be too costly to own your own vehicle and we will all be using driverless cars deliveted to our doors etc etc’
      NRA are another mob to watch out for . .
      GeoffW

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      rapscallion

      Yeah well the EUSSR can go and take a running jump, because on March 29th 2019 we’ll be out of it and there’s not a damn thing they can do about it. What are they going to do about diesel engines for marine use? As ever, nobody ever thinks these things through.

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    pat

    reporting from a political junket:

    18 Sept: Globe&Mail: Shawn McCarthy: U.S. will not seek Paris Accord revamp amid 34 countries’ call to action on climate change
    The United States will not attempt to re-negotiate the Paris climate accord, as it faces intense pressure from other countries to take action on climate change.

    Together with China and the European Union, federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna co-hosted a day-long meeting of 34 countries to maintain momentum to implement the Paris accord.
    “There was agreement that the Paris agreement is irreversible and non-negotiable,” Ms. McKenna said at the conclusion of the session…

    An administration official who attended the meeting indicated the U.S. will look to engage with other countries on climate change, but acknowledged the treaty is not negotiable.
    “While we understand that the U.S.’s position on the Paris Agreement has not changed, we are pleased they continue to engage and recognize the economic opportunity of clean growth, including clean energy,” Ms. McKenna said Saturday…

    “I’m happy because no one called into question the Paris agreement,” France’s minister for energy and the environment, Nicolas Hulot, told reporters.
    “And even the United States re-affirmed this accord is irreversible, so they can’t re-negotiate it.”…

    No U.S. cabinet minister attended the meeting on Saturday, but an adviser to the President on international economic affairs, Everett Eissenstat, was in the room. On Monday, Ms. McKenna and climate ministers from several other countries are scheduled to meet in New York with Gary Cohn, one of Mr. Trump’s key economic advisers who is deeply involved in the administration’s climate policy…

    “We are encouraged by your commitment to tackle climate change and reduce emissions,” Ms. McKenna said in reference to Trump administration statement’s that the U.S. would continue to reduce emissions…
    “Climate change is real; it is having real impacts all over the world,” she said.
    The minister told reporters that she saw the presence of the U.S. delegation as a “positive sign.”
    “We continue to engage them,” she said during a break. “And we continue to make the case that like the United States, we want to create jobs, we want to create economic growth and there’s $30-trillionn in opportunity when it comes to . . . growth and climate action.”

    China’s special representative on climate change, Xie Zhenhua, said the Paris accord must be respected, and commitments for emission reductions must be increased.
    “The Paris agreement is a milestone on climate change,” Mr. Xie told the session. “We cannot let it go; we cannot let it fail.”
    Mr. Xie said China will play a leadership role in the United Nations climate process, as well as in the ***development and deployment of low-carbon technologies needed to meet its goals.

    E.U climate commissioner Miguel Arias Canete said “all countries must deliver on their commitments” under the Paris accord…
    However, those commitments are not binding, and President Trump could backtrack on them without re-opening the Paris accord itself…

    Ms. McKenna said the Liberal government recognizes the need for increased ambition, and is counting on the development and deployment of low-carbon technology to achieve it.
    https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/stay-in-paris-accord-climate-ministers-urge-us/article36283125/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&utm_medium=Referrer:+Social+Network+/+Media&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links

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      el gordo

      “The Paris agreement is a milestone on climate change,” Mr. Xie told the session. “We cannot let it go; we cannot let it fail.”

      Yeah, it would be an economic disaster for China and could potentially become a world Depression if AGW is falsified,

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      • #
        Dennis

        When a lie becomes too big to be acknowledged as a lie.

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      • #
        Peter C

        could potentially become a world Depression if AGW is falsified,

        Tongue in cheek El Gordo!

        I think that world depression is more likely if we continue on our present course. That seems to be the objective of the Climate Doomsayers.

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    • #
      Will Janoschka

      “18 Sept: Globe&Mail: Shawn McCarthy: U.S. will not seek Paris Accord revamp amid 34 countries’ call to action on climate change”

      Why bother that issue is dead!

      “The minister told reporters that she saw the presence of the U.S. delegation as a “positive sign.”
      “We continue to engage them,”

      And As P45’s Daughter recommended, as did SOS T-rex, I want to ‘engage idiots’ The US can beat China on this mindless game. Its Fun!

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    pat

    ***The World Bank’s Rachel Kyte is now Chief Executive Officer of Sustainable Energy for All (SEforAll), and Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Sustainable Energy for All:

    18 Sept: ClimateChangeNews: Megan Darby: Huge cash shortfall stops electricity reaching world’s poor
    Investment needs to double to bring power to every home by 2030, UN initiative finds, urging a greater focus on solar home systems for underserved rural areas.
    That was the conclusion of analysis by Sustainable Energy for All (SE4All) launched on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York on Monday.
    The UN initiative estimates it will take $45 billion of investment a year to bring power to every home worldwide, one of the internationally-agreed sustainable development goals. More than a billion people have no electricity supply, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa.

    Yet in 2013 and 2014, the annual total flowing from governments, multilateral development banks and the private sector to the 20 priority countries averaged $19.4bn.
    “Overall investments are substantially lower than what’s needed to achieve our energy access goals,” said ***Rachel Kyte, head of SE4All. “Fixing financial flows to ensure everyone has access to clean, affordable reliable energy is essential in meeting our commitment to leave no one behind.”

    Nearly all the funds tracked went to boost grid electricity supplies, with less than 1% going into off-grid options like solar home systems. Kyte urged financiers and policymakers to support more decentralised energy, seen as the best way to reach many rural communities…

    Another trend the report highlighted was the increasing importance of China as an investor.
    ***Chinese public and private institutions accounted for 21% of finance, with the biggest chunk going to large hydropower dams or coal-fired plants in Africa…

    That exceeded the 15% from western Europe, 13% from Japan and 8% from North America. Just over a third of the total (36%) was disbursed by multilateral development banks…
    http://www.climatechangenews.com/2017/09/18/huge-cash-shortfall-holding-back-universal-electricity-access-se4all/

    guess the above sounds a little less expensive than this trillion dollar affair:

    2011: ClimateChangeNews: $1 trillion needed to ensure electricity for all
    By Tierney Smith
    Ensuring universal access to energy will mean $1 trillion of investment by 2030, according to a new report from the International Energy Agency (IEA), with 60 per cent going to sub-Saharan Africa…
    Coming ahead of the UN’s ‘International Year of Sustainable Energy for All’, the report calls for rapid collective action to address energy poverty, with $48 billion worth of extra investment needed every year to 2030 to ensure every community and every household has access to electricity and clean cooking facilities.

    Over 550 million of those without electricity are currently living in Africa – rising to around 650 million by 2030. The whole of sub-Saharan Africa – excluding South Africa – currently only generates 28 GW of electricity, the same amount as generated in Argentina.
    The IEA say 60 per cent of the total investment should be focussed on this area…
    http://www.climatechangenews.com/2011/10/31/1-trillion-needed-to-ensure-electricity-for-all/

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    • #

      Over 550 million of those without electricity are currently living in Africa – rising to around 650 million by 2030. The whole of sub-Saharan Africa – excluding South Africa – currently only generates 28 GW of electricity, the same amount as generated in Argentina.

      28GW.

      You know, The Peak Power mark here in Australia on a typical Summer’s Day.

      Tony.

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  • #
    Will Janoschka

    “Over 550 million of those without electricity are currently living in Africa – rising to around 650 million by 2030. The whole of sub-Saharan Africa – excluding South Africa – currently only generates 28 GW of electricity, the same amount as generated in Argentina.”

    And the Chinese have how many million without electricity?
    Currently fixing that with 1.6 brand new Coal fired HELE plants, every month.
    Please have your children become proficient in Chinese spoken and written language within the year! 🙂

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    pat

    easy to tell it’s “climate week” in NYC:

    14 Sept: Scripps Institution of Oceanography: New Climate Risk Classification Created to Account for Potential “Existential” Threats
    Researchers identify a one-in-20 chance of temperature increase causing catastrophic damage or worse by 2050
    by Robert Monroe
    A new study evaluating models of future climate scenarios has led to the creation of the new risk categories “catastrophic” and “unknown” to characterize the range of threats posed by rapid global warming. Researchers propose that unknown risks imply existential threats to the survival of humanity.

    These categories describe two low-probability but statistically significant scenarios that could play out by century’s end, in a new study by Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a distinguished professor of climate and atmospheric sciences at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, and his former Scripps graduate student Yangyang Xu, now an assistant professor at Texas A&M University.

    The risk assessment stems from the objective stated in the 2015 Paris Agreement regarding climate change that society keep average global temperatures “well below” a 2°C (3.6°F) increase from what they were before the Industrial Revolution.

    Even if that objective is met, a global temperature increase of 1.5°C (2.7°F) is still categorized as “dangerous,” meaning it could create substantial damage to human and natural systems. A temperature increase greater than 3°C (5.4°F) could lead to what the researchers term “catastrophic” effects, and an increase greater than 5°C (9°F) could lead to “unknown” consequences which they describe as beyond catastrophic including potentially existential threats. The specter of existential threats is raised to reflect the grave risks to human health and species extinction from warming beyond 5°C, which has not been experienced for at least the past 20 million years…

    Ramanathan and Xu also describe three strategies for preventing the gravest threats from taking place…
    Aggressive measures to curtail the use of fossil fuels and emissions of so-called short-lived climate pollutants such as soot, methane and HFCs would need to be accompanied by active efforts to extract CO2 from the air and sequester it before it can be emitted. It would take all three efforts to meet the Paris Agreement goal to which countries agreed at a landmark United Nations climate conference in Nov 2015.
    “This report shines a bright light on the existential threat that climate change presents to all humanity,” said Calif. Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., who has collaborated with Ramanathan on carbon neutrality measures in the state…

    Increases in production of renewable energy, especially wind and solar power, have also bent the curve of emissions trends downward. Other studies have estimated that there was by 2015 enough renewable energy capacity to meet nearly 24 percent of global electricity demand…

    The release of the study coincides with the start of Climate Week NYC in New York, a summit of business and government leaders to highlight global climate action. Ramanathan and colleagues will deliver a complementary report detailing the “three-lever” mitigation strategy of emissions control and carbon sequestration on Sept. 18 at the United Nations. That report was produced by the Committee to Prevent Extreme Climate Change, chaired by Ramanathan, Nobel Prize winner Mario Molina of UC San Diego, and Durwood Zaelke, who leads an advocacy organization, the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, with 30 experts from around the world including China and India.
    TWO COMMENTS ONLY – READ
    https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/new-climate-risk-classification-created-account-potential-existential-threats

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  • #
    Amber

    So the “science is settled “? The cause of global warming is … money . Unloved scientists looking
    to party on the tax payers dime while their models spew what ever they are programed to do .
    Need a bit more warming … who you going to call ?
    Good on Dr. Thresher for coming forward .

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  • #
    Konrad

    “the Hatch Act, …forbids government officials from spending government time and money on political activities.”
    Clear evidence exists that a number of individuals at GISS have been in violation of the hatch act. Gavin Schmidt amongst others were found to be contributing to an alarmist website “Real Climate” during their paid working hours at NASA and government funded university positions.
    Most funding for “Real Climate” can be traced back to George Soros. Google of course blocks all search results for Real Climate funding information, but Bing and Duck Duck Go still return valid search results.

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    RickWill

    I have doubts about Duane Thresher’s credibility. He appears to have taken lessons in self promotion from Michael Mann. This from his blog:

    We are the most qualified real climatologists to ever come out as global warming skeptics,

    He was happy to take the money when it was flowing freely. His type of science appears to be malleable. He has co-authored papers with Gavin Schmidt on climate alarmism.

    Now that skepticism is viewed as a virtue in the US he is painting himself in the same light as Judith Curry and Roy Spencer. They may have refined their science but not changed tack with the unfavourable winds. Could anyone trust what this guy states. More politician than scientist; Look at the linked email:

    1. You will address me as “Dr. Thresher”, not just “Sir”. Your attempt to take
    away my authority is noted and not appreciated.

    Complete snob; authority over science and humility.

    His sort of skepticism is for political gain, not seeking understanding.

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    • #
      Rereke Whakaaro

      I am sorry Rick, but I don’t agree with your analysis in regard to the use, or otherwise, of the word “Sir”.

      In the confrontation, as presented, the epithet, “Sir”, can be used to depersonalise the person being addressed. The Agent could be talking to the wall, for all he cares.

      The same thing is done in the military, where every soldier is just referred to as “soldier”, (even though they wear name badges), by other soldiers of a more senior rank.

      By insisting on the Agent using his honorific and name, the conversation cannot be depersonalised. I think you will find that Dr Thresher is also addressing the Agent by name as well.

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    • #
      Mark

      My goodness gracious, you terminal skeptic. Doncha know, in an effort to become Edward Snowden II, he even tried to ‘use Tor, which can be a bit of a hassle?’
      What a pity that Wikileaks makes itself so hard to contact. My goodness, that Snowden is a smarty pants, knowing how to use Tor ‘n’ all.

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    • #
      Peter C

      Ok, I hear what you say.

      But he was an insider. He is speaking out and taking a big risk in doing so.

      The quote that you have referenced:

      1. You will address me as “Dr. Thresher”, not just “Sir”. Your attempt to take
      away my authority is noted and not appreciated.

      was a response to A NASA investigator who, having been given the information, seemed to be inclined to take NO ACTION. Hence Dr Thresher tried to ramp up his authority.

      So I will give Dr Thresher a bit of slack here. If he is trying to be an “Edward Snowden”, in the full knowledge of what happens to whistele blowers, then I think we should take notice of what he is saying!

      10

    • #
      Robert Rosicka

      There were some murmurs as to his weird weird and wacky ways but if what he says is provable it can’t hurt our cause .

      00

  • #
    Dennis

    Can we have our Australia back please.

    Southern Hemisphere based, Asia Pacific Region.

    And tell the UN and EU mob to live with their own mistakes and leave us to make our own.

    Starting with Australia New Zealand Standards.

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    • #
      KinkyKeith

      Yes!!!!!!

      20

    • #
      Peter C

      ANZ standards very dodgy themselves.

      However, nothing happening in the Southern Hemisphere regarding Climate Change, despite what the BOM and the NZ Weather Bureau say.

      Can’t find then reference but AndyG55 might help. He has all the data/.

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      • #
        AndyG55

        The SH total is affected by the recent strong El Nino in the tropics.

        If we look at UAH data……

        the Southern Ex-tropics has a trend from 1979 of 0.086C/decade
        Last 20 years, a very slight +ve trend, indistinguishable for zero trend

        Australia has a from 1979 trend of 0.16C/decade
        and over 20 years, a very slight negative trend indistinguishable from zero

        South Pole region has zero trend over the whole satellite era.

        So we see that the ONLY warming has come from the El Nino events, which are NOT produced by any sort of human influence.

        There is absolutely NO CO2 WARMING SIGNAL in the whole of the UAH satellite data.

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    Kim

    And, apparently, if the models are run on various different computers they produce various different results. Seems to be a problem of the coders not understanding how Floating Point Units work.

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    • #
      NuThink

      As the Ariane 5 coders found out too late that 64 bit does not always go into 16 bit. Very embarrassing and expensive.

      On 4 June 1996, the maiden flight of the Ariane 5
      launcher ended in a failure. Only about 40 seconds after initiation of the flight sequence, at an altitude of about 3700 m, the launcher veered off its flight path, broke up and exploded.

      The failure of the Ariane 501 was caused by the complete loss of guidance and altitude information 37 seconds after start of the main engine ignition sequence (30 seconds after lift-off). This loss of information was due to specification and design errors in the software of the inertial reference system.

      The internal SRI* software exception was caused during execution of a data conversion from 64-bit floating point to 16-bit signed integer value. The floating point number which was converted had a value greater than what could be represented by a 16-bit signed integer.

      http://www-users.math.umn.edu/~arnold/disasters/ariane.html

      I have also being surprised how many coders have not understood why comparing 2 floating point numbers can be problematic, and why when used in loops the loop may never terminate.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    In regard to my entire scientific career I never knew a time that the idea of GIGO, Garbage In, Garbage Out did not apply to computer models or anything else. Do they not teach the concept of GIGO any more?

    For BoM lurkers whom we know secretly read this site, think about it if you are still capable of thinking.

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  • #
    David Maddison

    BoM lurkers out there. Just remember when the Climate Nuremberg Trials start, your crimes against science, reason and humanity might attract a lesser or no sentence if you expose the BoM operation now. It is your only possible way out.

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    • #
      Reed Coray

      Dave, your prediction of Climate Nuremberg Trials presents the BoM lurker with a Hobson’s choice. (a) If I speak up now I may lose my job; and I’ll definitely be ostracized by my fellow BoMers. (b) If I don’t speak up now, I may be prosecuted; and I’ll definitely be condemned by my BoM association. What’s a lurker to do? Tough choice. I’m glad I don’t have to make it.

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  • #
    Robert Rosicka

    Looking at the BOM forecast for town today and noticed at 9.30am they updated wind gusts up to 25 odd but at the moment we are getting very strong gusts and when I looked they updated at 4.30pm .
    Which just reinforces that the weather game is nothing but guesses and bad modelling and this is what they base climate science and global warming on , bad guesses .
    Also noted I’m sure we’re missing a few frost days so must keep an eye out .

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  • #
    pat

    global warming breaking out all over:

    12 Sept: NBC4i: David Mazza: September on track to be coldest on record!
    COLUMBUS (OHIO) (WCMH) – Another month, another chilly start…
    So far, we are sitting more than 8.1 degrees below normal:
    The current average temperature (highs + lows for each day) this month is just sitting at 62.3°.
    •62° on September 1st was the coldest high temperature for the date
    •61° on September 2nd was the coldest high temperature for the date

    Right now we stand at an average of 62.3°, which as of today, is 8.1° below normal. Overall, the coldest September on record was in 1918, when we averaged just 59.0°.
    But remember, temperatures on average fall through the month, so that average temperate of 59.0° is about 7.8° below normal for the entire month.

    Monthly rankings for average temperatures are going down during the summer:
    •January: 12th warmest
    •February: 1st warmest
    •March: 42nd warmest
    •April: 1st warmest
    •May: 54th warmest
    •June: 52nd warmest
    •July: 62nd warmest
    •August: 87th warmest…

    The next three days this week, we will continue with below normal temperatures…

    Below is the 6-10 day (Sept 18-22) outlook from the Climate Prediction Center at NOAA. Notice that we are in the shading for better chances of above normal temperatures…

    Below is the Septmeber outlook from the Climate Prediction Center at NOAA. Notice that we are projected to have slightly cooler than normal temperatures still for the month…
    http://nbc4i.com/2017/09/12/september-on-track-to-be-coldest-on-record/

    1 Sept: Syracuse.com: Shivering in Syracuse: Today was coldest Sept. 1 in 50 years
    By Glenn Coin
    Syracuse, N.Y. — Did you break out the fleece jacket this morning?
    Today’s low of 42 degrees in Syracuse tied the coldest Sept. 1 on record. The previous record was in 1967…
    There’s a slim chance Syracuse could reach the cold record again Saturday. The record for Sept. 2, also set in 1967, is 40 degrees. Forecasts say temperatures early Saturday could fall in the low 40s.

    It was much colder in other parts of the state this morning. In the Oswego County of Redfield, the temperature dipped to 34 degrees.
    There’s a frost advisory for adjacent Lewis County and the western Adirondacks tonight. The National Weather Service says temperatures there could drop into the low 30s, killing sensitive plants…

    6 Sept: Daily Mail: Australia shivers through coldest start to September EVER: Freezing weather and record spring snow dump turns coastal towns white – so when will it end?
    Victoria has been blanketed in thick snowfall, including coastal areas like Lorne
    It’s estimated up to 250 centimetres has fallen in some areas, massive for Spring
    Falls Creek, Hunters Hill and Thredbo Village had coldest September days ever
    PHOTO CAPTION: A massive dump of snow led to one home being ‘snowed in’, with this incredible photo showing the severity of the snowfall.
    PHOTO CAPTION: The record levels of falls in some areas led to cars being completely covered in the thick snow.

    The incredible cold snap also led to records being set in three alpine towns in both Victoria and New South Wales.
    Falls Creek, Hunters Hill and Thredbo Village had their coldest September day ever recorded, with maximum temperatures as low as -3…
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4856286/Victoria-turned-white-snow-covers-parts-state.html

    Coldest September 16th ever measured in De Bilt
    IceAgeNow – 17 Sept 2017
    De Bilt is the seat of the headquarters of the Royal Dutch Meteorological Institute, KNMI.
    This was in Dutch, but Pauline van Houten translated for us:
    Saturday was the coldest 16th of September ever measured. In De Bilt it was only 12.9 degrees. This broke the old record of 13.4 degrees on September 16, 1972.

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    pat

    comment in moderation re (sarc) “global warming breaking out all over”…

    17 Sept: Guardian: Press regulator censures Mail on Sunday for global warming claims
    Mail on Sunday criticised by Ipso for article claiming global warming data had been exaggerated to win Paris climate change agreement
    by Fiona Harvey
    The Independent Press Standards Organisation censured the newspaper for publishing a story in early February that was flawed in key aspects. The news story suggested that data from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), one of the world’s gold-standard sources of weather and climate research, had been treated in such a way as to suggest greater warming than had really occurred.

    The research hinged on the “pause” in global warming that had been seized on by dismissers of climate change as evidence that the concerns of mainstream scientists had been overblown

    The outlier year of 1998 was exceptionally hot, owing to a strong El Niño, and these record temperatures were not surpassed for several years.

    This allowed sceptics to claim that global warming had stopped until 2013. However, as mainstream scientists pointed out, the years following 1998 still exhibited an upward temperature trajectory compared with the long-term average, so while the upward march of temperatures was slightly slower, and some years were cooler than others, talk of a “pause” that suggested an end to global warming was misleading.
    NOAA published research shortly before the Paris climate change negotiations suggesting the pause was less than had been claimed. Subsequent research backed up NOAA’s findings.

    The Mail on Sunday article alleged that the NOAA had taken data that was “unverified” and used it to suggest the pause had not happened.

    Ipso ruled that the Mail on Sunday had “failed to take care over the accuracy of the article and had then failed to correct these significantly misleading statements”. Further, a graph published with the article that purported to show large differences between NOAA’s published data and data on warming from other sources was found to be wrong, owing to the newspaper’s “failure to plot the lines correctly”.
    Some of these examples were deemed to constitute breaches of the editorial code to which newspapers sign up.

    David Rose, the author of the original story, frequently writes on global warming, often reporting on sceptics’ views on climate science. He is a respected journalist and won the British Press Awards’ prestigious reporter of the year title for 2015. He writes frequently on issues such as police corruption and miscarriages of justice.

    Bob Ward, policy and communications director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics, pursued the Ipso claim against the newspaper. He said: “Fake news stories about climate change are a significant threat to the public interest in the UK, US and other countries. The expert community must continue to fight back against the deluge of propaganda from climate change deniers.”

    He said several other media outlets had repeated the false claims, and they had even been cited in a letter to NOAA from a leading committee chairman in the US Congress. He called the Ipso ruling “a significant victory”.

    A spokesman for the Mail on Sunday said: “The subject of the rate of climate change is fiercely debated, with reputable scientists taking positions on both sides. The Mail on Sunday has published articles that challenge some widely held opinions. The complainant in this case is a professional spokesman for two academic institutions involved in the debate. He has complained to the press regulator on three previous occasions about our articles on climate change, but those complaints were rejected.”

    The spokesman added: “This newspaper is fully committed to the principle of independent press regulation and is a member of Ipso. We are disappointed with this finding, but we accept it and are publishing the adjudication with prominence in the newspaper and online.”

    Not all of the complaints made by Ward against Rose’s article were upheld, and some of those upheld reflected narrow technical points, for instance over the archiving of data.
    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/17/press-regulator-censures-mail-on-sunday-for-global-warming-claims

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    pat

    FakeNews beat-up:

    18 Sept: WaPo: Next wave of EPA science advisers could include those who question climate change
    by Chris Mooney & Brady Dennis
    People who have questioned aspects of mainstream climate research appear on a list of 132 possible candidates for positions on EPA’s influential Science Advisory Board, which the agency has opened for public comment until September 28. The board currently has 47 members, but 15 have terms ending in September and could be replaced by some of the candidates.

    One candidate believes more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will “confer great benefits upon future inhabitants of the globe” by driving plant growth. Another has said of the climate change debate that “scare tactics and junk science are used to secure lucrative government contracts.” Five candidates have challenged the Environmental Protection Agency’s own science on the warming of the planet in court.

    The board nomination process is an open one — anyone can nominate anyone else for consideration — and an EPA official involved in the process said that there had been “no whittling down” of the names submitted, other than making sure those nominated were indeed interested…

    “We should be able to trust that those who serve the EPA are the all-stars in their fields and committed to public service,” said Michael Halpern, deputy director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists. He said the upcoming round of appointments will test whether EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is “remotely interested” in independent scientific advice. “He already has a parade of lobbyists and advisers providing him with the perspectives from oil, gas, and chemical companies. The Science Advisory Board is a check on political influence and can help the agency determine whether the special interests are telling it straight.”…

    The EPA official, who requested anonymity because the selection process is ongoing, said that after the public comment period ends, staff members likely will scale down the list of nominees to a smaller group of qualified candidates, with an emphasis on balancing out the board and trying to make sure there are experts across a range of disciplines, from hydrology to microbiology to statistics…

    E&E News last week identified (LINK) about a dozen board candidates that it said had previously expressed skepticism of widely accepted findings of climate science…

    “There are definitely some inappropriate names on there,” said one EPA scientist, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. “I don’t know how concerned to be. But I’m hoping that the scientific community comments actively on the list.”

    Several of the candidates are affiliated with the Heartland Institute, an Illinois-based conservative think tank with a long history of questioning various aspects of climate change science. E&E News reported that it had suggested a number of the names…READ ON
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2017/09/18/next-epa-science-advisers-could-include-those-who-question-climate-change/

    FakeNews beat-up #2 (not the piece linked in above):

    15 Sept: E&E News: ‘I’m working in the … Soviet Union.’ Staff eyed for leaks
    by Robin Bravender
    Are you a U.S. EPA employee thinking about leaking information about President Trump?
    You’re about to get a training session telling you why you shouldn’t.
    The agency intends to comply with a White House directive aimed at cracking down on leaks across the federal government, said agency spokeswoman Liz Bowman. “We fully agree that government employees should do their part to protect classified information and control unclassified information,” she said in an email. “EPA is developing training to support the White House’s request.”
    Other government officials are expected to get similar instructions after Trump’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, issued a memo earlier this month to the heads of agencies across government. He asked them to hold training events aimed at cracking down on leaks, according to a copy of the document published yesterday by BuzzFeed…

    Since the Trump administration took office, federal employees across government — many of whom are critical of the new president’s policies on issues like climate change — have shared information with the media about the new team’s policies and activities.
    “I have been willing to talk to reporters,” said a longtime EPA employee who is critical of the administration. “Look, we have an administrator with staff who don’t even want to talk to those of us who have dedicated our lives to the agency and the public good. The public trusts us ***to protect the planet and their health, and I am going to honor that trust by staying true to the EPA mission.”…

    “What’s concerning to workers is that [the Trump appointees] have no respect for rule of law and could do anything to retaliate, even though it’s illegal,” said another longtime EPA employee. “That’s why there’s a chilling effect.”
    That person said other administrations — including the Obama administration — have similarly sought to keep certain agency details from getting to the press, but said, “This administration is different.” Employees “have to be much more careful,” that employee said. “I feel like I’m working in the former Soviet Union.”…

    Largely, EPA employees aren’t paying attention to perceived consequences for leaking information, Edgell said, because “they’re not the ones leaking it. … A lot of this information is very closely held and is getting out from senior officials, both political and career. It isn’t the worker bees.”
    Still, staffers say such training could hurt morale, even among those who aren’t behind leaks.
    “No one likes to be watched even when you’re not doing something wrong, because you feel untrusted; I think it is fair to say that employees feel untrusted by this administration,” Edgell said.
    https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060060783

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    Dave in the States

    Well now we have have this to add to the revelations by Bates about the Karl paper, your own ongoing data tampering and biasing by the BOM, and going back to Climate Gate and beyond. All this dishonesty is all about influencing public policy, and the following enforcement of that policy against the will of the peoples, and to hood wink the citizens into going along with it. In just about every case it involves the scientific malpractice of tampering with data to make them fit a preconceived outcome.

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    Roy Hogue

    I can understand that “jungle of code”. We used to call it spaghetti code because from any given place in the program it was likely to go jumping to any other place without any discipline at all. You can’t follow the stuff because it may jump back on itself or jump into the middle of something else almost random like.

    I was once handed a vendor’s operating system, all assembly language stuff, to make work and then maintain and it was an unbelievable mess. Some of its parts were OK but some of them were absolute nightmares. By the time it came to modifying that thing heavily I had an assistant I could hand part of the job to and let him sort out that one module while I concentrated on the rest. He managed to get the job done but I don’t know quite how he did it.

    I was very glad that nothing needed to be changed in the worst offender of all, the relocating execution time loader, because I think I would still have been there trying to make a change work. That one piece was critical to everything else and it was more like a can of worms than spaghetti, wiggling as I looked at it.

    The fact that the models are such a mess tells me that there are likely to be errors that no one has detected much less been able to track down and fix.

    Put this one under the heading of, suspicions confirmed.

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    • #
      Roy Hogue

      In other words — I don’t know how you can test such code and be sure it’s doing what you think it’s doing.

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      KinkyKeith

      Hi Roy,

      Interesting about computer programming. Did a little bit on a toy we bought for the kids about 40 years ago.

      You typed the given program in and transferred it to a tape.

      I don’t know much about programming but I know a lot about models of highly complex interactive systems and as soon as I hear a warmer asking for more powerful computers it immediately tells me something: they don’t understand the system they are working on.

      The only realistic model I have ever seen regarding the Earth’s climate could be done on an XL spreadsheet.

      It’s the graph of Earth’s surface temperature vs time for the last half a million years showing the regular glaciations and interglacial periods occurring at intervals of 100 to 110 thousand years.

      Orbital mechanics seems to be the driver.

      KK

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    Roy Hogue

    He wanted to be a whistleblower but the media weren’t interested

    As I have just found out from being critical of something to email correspondents, orthodoxy counts more than the truth. Whistleblowers it seems, always suffer.

    Be happy, smile. The boss loves idiots so act like one. That way you’re safe.

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    ScotsmanInUtah

    NASA GISS 30+ years of waste

    Jo, this is a great post and illustrates just how disfunctional NASA GISS has become.

    I have worked on Government programs at RockwellCollins on both civil and military and the requirements for accountability in time and resources is very strict.

    Ethics training is required as part of the processes in development and certainly transferring funds from one program to another is considered a serious misuse of funds.

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    Uncle Gus

    Second time this week that something has surfaced on this blog suggesting something like a lack of probity in the climate change industry. (The last one was about the specific grades of “climate scientist’s” qualifications.)

    I’ve wondered for years how this is all going to end. Could this be it? Not with a bang, but with an *audit*?

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    I like this guy. He’s funny and blunt and doesn’t take prisoners.

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