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'Pause' in global warming was never real, new research proves
Claims of a 'pause' in observed global temperature warming are comprehensively disproved in a pair of new studies published today.
An international team of climate researchers reviewed existing data and studies and reanalysed them. They concluded there has never been a statistically significant 'pause' in global warming. This conclusion holds whether considering the `pause' as a change in the rate of warming in observations or as a mismatch in rate between observations and expectations from climate models.
[...] Dr. Risbey said: "Our findings show there is little or no statistical evidence for a 'pause' in GMST rise. Neither the current data nor the historical data support it. Moreover, updates to the GMST data through the period of 'pause' research have made this conclusion stronger. But, there was never enough evidence to reasonably draw any other conclusion.
"Global warming did not pause, but we need to understand how and why scientists came to believe it had, to avoid future episodes like this. The climate-research community's acceptance of a 'pause' in global warming caused confusion for the public and policy system about the pace and urgency of climate change.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Captival on Thursday December 20 2018, @02:15AM (9 children)
What I'd like to hear from my scientists:
"We did research. Here are the results."
What I'm currently hearing:
"An act of thoughtcrime has been committed and those responsible are under direct investigation. How can we prevent future heretics from questioning the righteous orthodoxy?"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 20 2018, @02:31AM (3 children)
We have a fight over high-stakes funding for research, and a fight over far higher stakes control of the world economy. In such an environment, honest science is impossible and nobody can be trusted.
Not that the science matters! No matter if the orthodox opinion is factual or not, the winning move is to burn more coal. Avoiding coal just reduces the price, making other nations more likely to cheat. Crushing our own economy in self-inflicted burden will ultimately weaken us to the point that we are nowhere near a superpower, and it becomes possible for other nations to seriously consider conquering us for our unmined coal. If things get hot enough to cause major problems, the nations best able to deal with it will be the ones with the stronger economies... enabled by burning lots of coal.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by khallow on Thursday December 20 2018, @04:20AM
My view is that shaky science plus "Think globally. Act locally." is going to result in some impressive historical lessons for anyone willing to pay attention. The mitigation advocates don't have the evidence or authority to impose and enforce global rules on climate change mitigation. So it's going to devolve to local demonstrations. And in an environment where defectors prosper and mitigation efforts have substantial costs, this will result in educational shifts in power to the defectors.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by istartedi on Thursday December 20 2018, @06:55AM
Only a hand full of people in the world come even close to be qualified climate scientists, and they're under just as much social pressure as anybody else.
For the rest of us, it's like we've been knocked out and have woken up aboard a lavishly appointed cruise ship.
We're seated at some kind of gaming table in the ship's casino. The guy on the left says this is the Titanic, but is just as busy placing bets as anybody else. The guy on the right is the captain who insists nothing is wrong. He boasts that before he left the bridge, his last order was to shovel on more coal.
Appended to the end of comments you post. Max: 120 chars.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Sulla on Thursday December 20 2018, @06:23PM
I found it really interesting checking out the map at https://www.carbonbrief.org/mapped-worlds-coal-power-plants. [carbonbrief.org] The west appears to be closing a lot of coal plants and does not have any plants proposed to replace them. I presume this is switching to natural gas, which although still a fossil fuel is better than coal when it comes to pollution. I couldn't find the map I looked at a while back, but it showed proposed plants better, with hundreds in the process of being built in China but none in the west.
Ceterum censeo Sinae esse delendam
(Score: 2, Insightful) by NateMich on Thursday December 20 2018, @02:35AM (1 child)
Inconclusive results don't make headlines, get you invited onto talk shows, or sell books and movies.
(Score: 4, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Thursday December 20 2018, @04:29PM
Calling it a "pause" in the first place was pretty damn clickbaity.
Global Temperature Record [wikipedia.org]
Most humans would not call 2014 a pause.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 20 2018, @03:00AM
especially when I read things like:
"The comparisons were made with a variety of statistical techniques to correct for problems in previous work."
you can 'fix' anything using the 'right' statistical techniques.
(Score: 1, Troll) by khallow on Thursday December 20 2018, @04:11AM
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Thursday December 20 2018, @04:21PM
They did the research, the nonexistant pause is the result.