How does rising atmospheric CO2 affect marine organisms?

Click to locate material archived on our website by topic


Storminess in the Northeast Atlantic
Reference
Wang, X.L., Zwiers, F.W., Swail, V.R. and Feng, Y. 2009. Trends and variability of storminess in the Northeast Atlantic region, 1874-2007. Climate Dynamics 33: 1179-1195.

What was done
Based on surface pressure data for the period stretching from January 1874 to January 2008, which were obtained from eleven sites scattered throughout the northeast Atlantic region, the authors computed -- and analyzed trends in -- the seasonality and regional differences of storm conditions characterized by 95th and 99th percentiles of geostrophic wind speeds, which they calculated from 3-hourly sea level pressure data over the period of time when the earth recovered from the global chill of the Little Ice Age and transited into the Current Warm Period, and when the world's climate alarmists contend that it experienced a warming that was unprecedented over the prior one to two millennia. If this was truly the case, we note that it should provide a good test of the ancillary climate-alarmist claim that such warming should lead to a significant increase in storminess.

What was learned
Wang et al. determined that storminess conditions in their study region "have undergone substantial decadal or longer time scale fluctuations, with considerable seasonal and regional differences." With respect to annual percentiles of geostrophic wind speeds for the entire study region, however, they state that "the Kendall test identifies a downward trend of at least 5% significance in both the 99th and 95th percentile series [italics added]."

What it means
With respect to perhaps the most contentious climatological conundrum of our day, the four Canadian researchers state that the question of whether there is an anthropogenic contribution to the changes they observed "remains open." When the observed results are just the opposite of what the world's climate alarmists contend should be a sign of anthropogenic involvement, however, we tend to believe that the case is closed, and that there has been no anthropogenic involvement in the matter. Is not that the most rational conclusion one could draw?

Reviewed 31 March 2010