Missing News: Reflections on Rapid Response to Unjustified Climate Alarm

ABC remain in the grip of a fantasy about Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming and ignore reasoned rational debate on the issue. This piece by Atmospheric Scientist Richard Lindzen missing from our Auntie's news and opinion reports:

Reflections on Rapid Response to Unjustified Climate Alarm

Climate alarm belongs to a class of issues characterized by a claim for which there is no evidence, that nonetheless appeals strongly to one or more interests or prejudices. Once the issue is adopted, evidence becomes irrelevant. Instead, the believer sees what he believes. Anything can serve as a supporting omen.

Follow the link for the rest.

Late morning glory

Last year the Morning Glory arrived early and ABC was all a flutter.
This year it seems it's running a little late. As to them being rare, well hardly in that part of the world!

ABC: blind to the concept of natural variation!

Missing News: Pacific decadal oscillation

ABC always quick to pump the CAGW meme so no surprise that they have not covered this research paper that finds natural factors more important:

Atmospheric controls on northeast Pacific temperature variability and change, 1900–2012

 Authors

Significance

Northeast Pacific coastal warming since 1900 is often ascribed to anthropogenic greenhouse forcing, whereas multidecadal temperature changes are widely interpreted in the framework of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), which responds to regional atmospheric dynamics. This study uses several independent data sources to demonstrate that century-long warming around the northeast Pacific margins, like multidecadal variability, can be primarily attributed to changes in atmospheric circulation. It presents a significant reinterpretation of the region’s recent climate change origins, showing that atmospheric conditions have changed substantially over the last century, that these changes are not likely related to historical anthropogenic and natural radiative forcing, and that dynamical mechanisms of interannual and multidecadal temperature variability can also apply to observed century-long trends.

Abstract

Over the last century, northeast Pacific coastal sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and land-based surface air temperatures (SATs) display multidecadal variations associated with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, in addition to a warming trend of ∼0.5–1 °C. Using independent records of sea-level pressure (SLP), SST, and SAT, this study investigates northeast (NE) Pacific coupled atmosphere–ocean variability from 1900 to 2012, with emphasis on the coastal areas around North America. We use a linear stochastic time series model to show that the SST evolution around the NE Pacific coast can be explained by a combination of regional atmospheric forcing and ocean persistence, accounting for 63% of nonseasonal monthly SST variance (r = 0.79) and 73% of variance in annual means (r = 0.86). We show that SLP reductions and related atmospheric forcing led to century-long warming around the NE Pacific margins, with the strongest trends observed from 1910–1920 to 1940. NE Pacific circulation changes are estimated to account for more than 80% of the 1900–2012 linear warming in coastal NE Pacific SST and US Pacific northwest (Washington, Oregon, and northern California) SAT. An ensemble of climate model simulations run under the same historical radiative forcings fails to reproduce the observed regional circulation trends. These results suggest that natural internally generated changes in atmospheric circulation were the primary cause of coastal NE Pacific warming from 1900 to 2012 and demonstrate more generally that regional mechanisms of interannual and multidecadal temperature variability can also extend to century time scales.

Giving air to loons

The ABC passed on an interview program featuring former PM John Howard and now that its broadcast it takes a decidedly biased position in covering what was said. 

This morning ABC online ran with the headline: John Howard 'embarrassed' by Iraq WMD intelligence. 

ABC's breathless intro: Former prime minister John Howard says he was "embarrassed" intelligence he used to take Australia to war in Iraq was inaccurate and denies it was a "deliberate deception".

This afternoon ABC follow up with some ridiculous comments from Andrew Wilkie:

"Frankly, I'm disappointed that the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court hasn't thought to hold John Howard responsible for conspiracy to commit mass murder," he said.
Mr Wilkie said Islamic State militants should be condemned for terrorist actions in Iraq, and added that the current unrest in the Middle East had its roots in the events of 11 years ago.

The "roots" are somewhat older. Honestly where do these loons come from?

We wait to see ABC give the same treatment to Kevin Rudd for his support for involvement in Iraq! As always we won't be holding our breath.

ABC in a muddle defining Sharia

Only the ABC can ask the question, What is Sharia? and come up with the answer: "a path to water".

So a top ten list:
ABC tackle some other definitions of the 21st century:

1. Suicide bomber/be-heading: one of a number of systems of de-population intended to reduce the impact of climate change.
2. Summer/Winter: climate change in action.
3. Environment: GAIA - our overlord, all praise the earth goddess and her facilitators.
4. Air conditioning: one of the top 5 social problems of our age .
5. Current government: a blockage on the pathway to GAIA.
6. The Greens: Facilitators of GAIA, praise be upon them.
7. Wind Power: circulating the fragrant farts of GAIA (What bird carcasses?)
8. Coal: Black vile, evil substance.
9. Nuclear Power: see coal, just a different colour

and the top ABC definition

10. ISIS/L:  a group of people on a path to water

Missing News: Don't mention the bird blenders

Seems ABC's environmental reporters are asleep at the wheel, perhaps "well earned break" season has started early this year?

Fortunately The Australian's Graham Lloyd is on duty:

Wind farm turbines take toll on birds of prey
EAGLES, falcons and other raptors make up to a third of the estimated 1500 birds killed each year at Australia’s biggest wind farm.
The finding of an independent report for Macarthur Wind Farm operator AGL follows 12 monthly searches of 48 turbines at the 140-turbine operation in Victoria that found 576 bird carcasses.
After adjusting for birds eaten by scavengers between searches and the total 140 turbines, Australian Ecological Research Services estimated each turbine killed about 10 birds a year.
The analysis said this would include 500 raptors a year.

Read the rest at the link above (subscription required)

Climate action: The missing 99.9957%

ABC headline:
People's Climate March: Hundreds of thousands march in rallies calling for action on climate change
Organisers estimated that some 310,000 people, including United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, former US Vice President Al Gore, actor Leonardo DiCaprio and elected officials from the United States and abroad joined the People's Climate March, ahead of Tuesday's United Nations hosted summit in the city to discuss reducing carbon emissions that threaten the environment.

Re-analysis:

Current world population: 7.2 billion (figures rounded to nearest 100,000,000)

Number marching: 310,000

Percent:0.0043%

Number that found something better to do:7.2 billion (figures rounded to nearest 100,000,000)

Percent: 99.9957% (thanks Craig Mc!)

Perhaps the headline ABC should have run: 99.9957% of world's population didn't march for action on climate change.