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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday October 06 2019, @02:19AM   Printer-friendly
from the back-to-the-soil dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Recently published climate research led by Sanjiv Kumar, a professor in Auburn University's School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences, has already provided the basis of a pioneering new outlook product that is capable of forecasting drought.

Kumar and his team published their findings in the May issue of the Journal of Climate.

In August, the Massachusetts-based Climate Impact Company introduced an innovative new forecasting product developed based on that research. An article and accompanying chart on the company's website now exhibits the most likely dry or drought-prone areas in North America for meteorological autumn, or September, October and November. The article cites the soil reemergence process as its source, breaking down the science behind it.

"It is striking to see the speed at which basic climate science research can deliver a practical solution nationally and internationally—in this case, less than four months," said Kumar, who leads Auburn University's Climate, Water and Society, or CWS, Lab in the School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences. "This development highlights the way in which basic climate research can fuel practical solutions world-wide."

[...] School of Forestry and Wildlife Sciences Dean Janaki Alavalapati said the rapid development of a forecast product based on Kumar's research affirms that the findings will significantly affect climate science in the years to come.

"The findings that Dr. Kumar and his team have made in this research represent a major breakthrough in terms of the role of the land in climate predictability science," Alavalapati said. "This could result in substantially improved predictability of drought, which could positively impact the lives of people affected by drought each year and affect the decisions of natural resource managers and policymakers."


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  • (Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 06 2019, @03:15AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 06 2019, @03:15AM (#903272)

    SoylentNiggerNews reports the sighting of a buck nigger stalking white women in your neighborhood. Lock your doors and windows.

  • (Score: 3, Touché) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday October 06 2019, @03:17AM (5 children)

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Sunday October 06 2019, @03:17AM (#903273) Homepage Journal

    ...a pioneering new outlook product that is capable of forecasting drought.

    They left out the word "accurately". Was that poor English skills or because it isn't applicable? I mean, the quarter in my pocket can forecast drought too with a guaranteed 50% accuracy...

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.
    • (Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Sunday October 06 2019, @03:31AM

      by fustakrakich (6150) on Sunday October 06 2019, @03:31AM (#903275) Journal

      They're oddsmakers, climate bookies. Commodities markets will benefit from this data.

      --
      La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
    • (Score: 2) by Rupert Pupnick on Sunday October 06 2019, @03:57PM (2 children)

      by Rupert Pupnick (7277) on Sunday October 06 2019, @03:57PM (#903388) Journal

      They can’t say if it’s accurate without comparing the outcome to the prediction. And that could take some time.

      They need to show their prediction track record before laying claim to a breakthrough, IMO.

      • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday October 06 2019, @04:12PM (1 child)

        by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Sunday October 06 2019, @04:12PM (#903397) Homepage Journal

        Well, they could(-ish) if they hadn't been tweaking the numbers on climate data to the point where they need to be in the fiction section rather than the reference section. You just only give the model data up to say 1970 and ask it to make predictions on climate events that've already happened but it doesn't have data on. Ain't perfect but with true input you should be able to see whether it's worth pursuing further at least.

        --
        My rights don't end where your fear begins.
        • (Score: 2) by Rupert Pupnick on Sunday October 06 2019, @05:00PM

          by Rupert Pupnick (7277) on Sunday October 06 2019, @05:00PM (#903417) Journal

          On further reading, the article on the Climate Impact Company website explains that they use standard rainfall estimates as input to the drought model. The drought estimates generarated are based on measurements of how dry the soil is, not how much rainfall is predicted. A local farmer can probably make the same estimates based on experience and observation, so this doesn’t seem all that useful considering the effort you have to go through to get data.

          This is not a breakthrough.

    • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Monday October 07 2019, @03:20PM

      by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 07 2019, @03:20PM (#903725) Journal

      It sounds like you are talking about my patented disc shaped decision support device.

      --
      To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
  • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 06 2019, @03:23AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 06 2019, @03:23AM (#903274)

    Niggers. Is there anything they can't do?

  • (Score: 2) by Coward, Anonymous on Sunday October 06 2019, @04:09AM (5 children)

    by Coward, Anonymous (7017) on Sunday October 06 2019, @04:09AM (#903289) Journal

    These days, everything in science is "innovative", "striking", "practical", and "a major breakthrough". I wish there was something that pushes back against the hype, but unfortunately there is nothing. Like everything else, science has become more democratic, and the scientific plebes set the tone.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Sunday October 06 2019, @08:08AM

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday October 06 2019, @08:08AM (#903320) Journal

      Clickbait title pages rule the world of advertising. I suppose we should just get used to it.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Rupert Pupnick on Sunday October 06 2019, @03:59PM

      by Rupert Pupnick (7277) on Sunday October 06 2019, @03:59PM (#903390) Journal

      Welcome to the Information Age where entertainment value is more important than factual content.

    • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday October 06 2019, @04:15PM (2 children)

      by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Sunday October 06 2019, @04:15PM (#903398) Homepage Journal

      That's where we, the public and press, come in. We replace the label with "boring as hell", "complete bullshit", or whatever we think it should be and they're stuck in the position of defending their adjectives.

      --
      My rights don't end where your fear begins.
      • (Score: 2) by Coward, Anonymous on Monday October 07 2019, @07:40PM (1 child)

        by Coward, Anonymous (7017) on Monday October 07 2019, @07:40PM (#903831) Journal

        That's like fighting against the incoming tide with a beach bucket... It is people's full-time job to do this kind of incremental scientific work, and it's other people's full-time job to hype it up in a press release. Volunteer party poopers aren't going to make a dent.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 06 2019, @06:10AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday October 06 2019, @06:10AM (#903304)

    Sumdood researched a thing and totally produced results with it! To predict droughts! And it works on soil ... something not very clearly specified.

    A good summary would have stated what the key elements of the prediction were, and some reasonable relation of the prediction to a result that someone can care about.

    In corporatese: we need the actionable data. Not the hype.

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