Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Blog

Cosmic Rays, Clouds and Climate (Part 2)

By

THERE is a theory that the earth’s climate is influenced by cosmic rays that penetrate our atmosphere from outer space.  In particular it is thought cosmic rays influence the production of cloud condensation nuclei with periods of higher cosmic rays penetration associated with more cloudiness.   The power of what is known as the solar wind, the magnetic force associated with the sun, is thought to influence the extent to which these high-energy charged particles composed of protons, electrons, and ionized nuclei reach earth.   

The theory has been based to a large extent on correlations between climate and sunspot cycles.  There is now a research effort to establish a physically-plausible link between cosmic rays, clouds and climate including through laboratory experiments in clouding at the Cern Cloud Facility in, Geneva, Switzerland.    The theory and the experiments are explained in ‘Cosmic Rays and Climate’ by Jasper Kirkby, Surveys in Geophysics, Volume 28, pages 333-375. 

I know of no equivalent research effort looking at establishing a causal link between carbon dioxide and climate. 

This paper by Dr Kirby was first discussed here in a blog post by Paul Biggs on May 21 this year.  I’ve only just properly discovered it – and thought it so good you should read about it a second time.  I posted  ‘Cosmic Rays, Clouds and Climate (Part 1)’ on April 13, 2008.

Ten Worst Blog Posts: A Note from Cohenite

By

EVER since public computer networks burst onto the scene in the 1980’s, the subject of online content has been a controversial one, explained Mark Newton at e-journal On Line Opinion last week.   A few months ago, 30 July 2008, John Stewart on Australian ABC television’s Lateline described online blogs as one of the few places where the science of climate change is still debated.  Now, occasional blogger, Cohenite, has come up with the 10 worst climate blog posts on the basis, “they all represent a denial of not only the intrinsic transparency of the web but also the openness necessary for scientific debate and to this extent they reveal that at least part of this debate about anthropogenic global warming (AGW) is not about science, but its suppression.” 

Here goes, the ten worst, according to Cohenite:

1. On April 16, 2008, at a blog called ‘Open Mind’, the prince of AGW, he who is known as Tamino, posted a piece entitled ‘Perjury’. Tamino’s basis for the charge of perjury was that someone had claimed there had been a temperature decline since 1998. [Read more…] about Ten Worst Blog Posts: A Note from Cohenite

Get a Globally Recognised Avator – A Gravator

By

Hi Jen

Have you seen those little picture things in your blog (and at other sites)? Well… Inspired by none other than G Bird I have hacked through your page source and found the relevant link.

Neat little freeware service… Creates a gravatar for you to make your blog persona come alive.  And you can have a library and change them too.  If you register and do a gravatar “check” at the gravatar site  – you will get something like this.  Change the size to 48 (last two digits). Wack this in the URL spot for comments in your blog and your blog picture persona will appear !

Of course you need to do your own ….above just an example.

Send the inmates a message.

Only catch is the service takes about 10 minutes to register after you set it up.

Luke

[First posted on September 11, 2008 https://jennifermarohasy.com.dev.internet-thinking.com.au/blog/2008/09/2168/ ]

National University fosters Forest Activism based on Ignorance: A Note from Mark Poynter

By

A recent paper by economist Dr Judith Ajani of the Australian National University’s Fenner School of Environment and Society, states that:

Deforestation and the degradation of native forests account for an estimated 20 per cent of Australia’s annual net greenhouse gas emissions. Most of the degradation occurs via (wood) chip exports …

Pardon? This is completely at odds with the Department of Climate Change (formerly the Australian Greenhouse Office) whose website quotes figures based upon the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) showing that emissions from the “land use, land use change and forestry” sector comprise just 2.5 per cent of Australia’s annual greenhouse emissions.

Dr Ajani’s paper (ANU E-press, Agenda, Volume 15 No. 3) goes on to explain that her estimation of annual emissions from forest “deforestation and degradation” is compromised of 11-13 per cent from land clearing for agriculture, with 7 per cent (or 38 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent) from logging native forests.   However, this latter figure studiously excludes carbon capture by regenerated forests and, while said to be based on AGO figures, has actually been calculated by prominent “green” activist Margaret Blakers using a briefing paper from the Wilderness Society.

[Read more…] about National University fosters Forest Activism based on Ignorance: A Note from Mark Poynter