[ale] Disappointed in the recent climate research hack

[Greg Freemyer]

Sean,

1850 is a very interesting year in the global warming discussion.  It
is often the baseline year from which Global Warming is measured.

It is a good choice because:

1) Standardized thermometers were becoming widely distributed in
Europe and parts of NA.

2) We have a real temperature record going back that far.  (Not tree
rings, etc.)

3) It is long enough ago to seem significant when discussing climate,
not weather.

4) It is considered the start of the industrial time period.  ie. The
recent climate is often broken into the industrial period and the
pre-industrial period.  1850 is the dividing line.

It is a bad choice because:

1) It was the end of the "little ice age"

2) Temperatures at that time may have been below the average for the
last few thousand years. (no thermometers, so it is hard to say, but
there is reason to think so.  tree rings, human history, etc.)

Or if we don't footnote 1850 as being the end of the little ice age,
maybe its not such a bad thing after all.

As one example look at
<http://themes.eea.europa.eu/IMS/ISpecs/ISpecification20041006175027/IAssessment1233744357544/view_content>

How often are you reminded that 1850 was a cold point in the history
of Europe.

I quote "The annual average temperature for the European land area up
to 2008 was 1.3 degrees C above pre-industrial levels".

No mention of Europe recovering from the little ice age is part of
that 1.3 degrees.

Thus in many global warming reports / papers the climate is studied
since 1850, but the very relevant information that 1850 was the end of
the little ice age is left out.  Apparently the little ice age is an
inconvenient truth. ;)

Greg

On Tue, Nov 24, 2009 at 2:06 PM, drifter <drifter at oppositelock.org> wrote:
> With all due respect, Greg, European history is very clear about the effects
> of the mini-ice age. There are too many reports of years without summer.
> I think your "sacred models" need to be retired to the Dark Ages from
> whence they almost certainly came.
> Scientists have documented (via tree-ring dating) the same climatic cooling
> in North America as well. The Anasazi (the PC designation is now Ancestral
> Puebloans) left the area around Mesa Verde about 1300 a.d., driven out by
> the double whammy of colder and longer winters (which shortened the growing
> season) and reduced rainfall.  Obviously >something< happened in the 13th
> century that caused the climate in the Nrthern Hemisphere to dramatically
> cool. And before that cool-down began, it was much warmer.
> Why; damned if I know.
> But it happened.
>
> Sean
>
>
>
> On Tuesday 24 November 2009 13:19:42 Greg Freemyer wrote:
>> As to the Little Ice Age, the sacred models clearly show this never
>> happened, so it has been agreed by all concerned to disregard this
>> legend from the past.
>>
>> Greg
>>
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Greg Freemyer
Head of EDD Tape Extraction and Processing team
Litigation Triage Solutions Specialist
http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregfreemyer
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