The Real One

Visualizing how a one degree increase in temperature can have such a profound effect is not easy when you first think about it, but when you see graphs like this, it begins to make more sense. The atmosphere is now holding about 4% more water vapor than it did a century ago and this must have an effect. This is also a good example of why scientists use the term climate change and not global warming.

You can see more of this data at NOAA’s National Climate Data Center where they keep track of the Climate Extremes Index.

Another related image is from the NRDC and the Rocky Mountain Climate Org. Hat tip to Joe Romm at Climate Progress for this one. Click the image to see the report the image is taken from.

The Faked One

The Skeptical Science blog has a must read post today about a faked graph that keeps popping up as proof that climate change is a hoax. If you see this graph, your time is being wasted by someone giving you political propaganda and not science. Apparently this graph has appeared in numerous newspapers including the Wall Street Journal (Not exactly known for it’s accurate coverage of climate physics).

The Pretty One

I never get tired of looking at the true color images from the MODIS sensor on the Aqua and Terra satellites. This one is from Friday afternoon as Aqua passed up the east coast. My house is in the pic (along with a few million others!). Go here to see more.

Pictures That Make Sense

…and after the firestorm of outrage over the Heartland Inst. comparing those who believe in peer-reviewed science to the Unabomber, this billboard:

I find it really fascinating how the iron wall around some people’s worldview can cause them to say such silly things without even having a clue to how absolutely ridiculous they look. Some amazing research about this has been done by Dr. Bob Altemeyer, and I wrote about it awhile back here.