Jennifer Marohasy

a forum for the discussion of issues concerning the natural environment

Climate & Climate Change

Subarctic Temperatures (Part 3): A Note from Nichole Hoskin

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Churchill is a town in subarctic Canada surrounded by the most studied polar bear population in the world.  Polar bears are believed to be under threat from global warming.

On Thursday, Jennifer Marohasy, posted a note stating:

“It is warming in Churchill.   At least thermometer temperature data from both Environment Canada and NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) indicate that it has been warmer since 1998 – but the annual mean is still below zero!”

Dr Marohasy was basing this assessment on annual mean temperature values for Churchill compiled by the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) back to 1884 and Environment Canada back to 1929.

Dr Marohasy also commented:

“I’m also curious to know why the GISS data for this site shows an annual average that is consistently warmer than the Environment Canada data.   And why the data gaps?  There is no GISS data for Churchill from 1994 to 1996 and also from 1911 to 1931?  And why the step change in temperature since 1998 – I didn’t know the Arctic was influenced by El Nino events?”

I cannot help with Dr Marohasy’s last two questions, however, by excluding all the estimated values from nearby weather stations in the Environment Canada data, and by excluding years with missing months from the GISS data, the annual averages are not generally warmer for the GISS data.  

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Near-Arctic Temperatures (Part 2)

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There are no roads to Churchill – a town in northern Canada on the shores of Hudson Bay.   This remote outpost is known as the polar bear capital of the world.   Polar bears have become something of an icon for those concerned that we have a climate crisis.  Indeed Al Gore in his movie, An Inconvenient Truth, suggested polar bears are already suffering from global warming.   

It is warming in Churchill.   At least thermometer temperature data from both Environment Canada and NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) indicate that it has been warmer since 1998 – but the annual mean is still below zero!

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A Message from Tuvalu: Year 2272

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Dear Jennifer, 

This is a note from my friend William York. He, like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), is able to travel to the future and he has sent me this fascinating message:

Tuvalu 10pm New Year’s Eve, 30 December 2272

Dear Tom

I have just been listening to The Voice of Tuvalu, one of the most-listened-to Internet Radio Stations (IRS) of this extremely popular set of tourist islands. The IRS reported that the Tuvalu Museum Department of Sea Level Records has been given a contemporary copy of the Scripptures, one of the most sort-after documents of the early part of the twenty first century.

These documents are supposed to be the basis for a mysterious group called the IPCC.  Little is known of their role and actions as they were evidently wiped out in 2020 and all their records destroyed by the governments who had evidently originally sponsored them.

It is thought that they may have acted like an environmental Taliban, another mysterious group operating at about the same time although there is no evidence that they acted in concert.

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Darn Weather

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The ‘Gore Effect’ happens when a global warming-related event, or appearance by the former vice president and climate change crusader, Al Gore, is marked by exceedingly cold weather or unseasonably winter weather.  Read more here.