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8 December 2009
It's not easy going to the South Pole- but it's going to be worth It!
As you may know if you read these ramblings frequently, I am headed to the bottom of the world in three weeks. The National Science Foundation accepted an application from myself and Ann Posegate of the Nat. Env. Education Foundation to visit Antarctica to spread the word about the science and the scientists at the bottom of the world. So once you get selected what happens next? You don’t just …
5 December 2009
Are We Living Through A Notable Moment In Science History??
The class that most impressed me while at university was not taught by one of my meteorology professors. Not that I didn’t have some good ones. One became a provost of the University of Oklahoma, and another has written two text books that are considered the gold standard on dynamics (read that as mean math) and makes frequent appearances on the Discovery Channel with Tornadoes bearing down on him! Instead …
3 December 2009
Get The jab, and learn What a semi-colon means before you accuse scientists of fraud.
I have a pile of things that I’ve wanted to write about, but it’s been a busy time with a family illness. That said, here are some great pieces of good Science I have run across this week. All are worth a look. First of all a salute to the ROYAL SOCIETY by the BBC in the form of an audio visual slide show. Mouse on the pic below to …
7 November 2009
The Breathing Earth
Many people are surprised when they first see a graph of the carbon dioxide levels measured at Mauna Loa in Hawaii. The first question asked is why is it going up and down each year? The answer is that you are looking the Earth breathing! There is much more land in the Northern Hemisphere than the Southern, and when spring arrives in the North, the growing plants suck CO2 out …
31 October 2009
Post Calls Out Senator Laughing Stock
When I wrote a post last month called What do Climate Scientists think of Senator Laughing Stock, I hesitated at pressing the publish key. I try to keep these posts about science and stay away from politics. What CO2 is doing to our climate is a purely scientific question. How we act to fix the problem is a political question. I stay away from political questions! James Inhofe, the senior …
9 August 2009
Why Didn't Someone Think of This!
Here we have done all this science, and spent all this money to find out why the planet is getting warmer. Just this weekend, the USGS has published information about the rapidly melting glaciers in Alaska, and the Cascades. The images below are from the USGS report. For those who like looking at the data, the image below is a summary of three glaciers. Two in Alaska and one in …
15 July 2009
Watts Wrong With That- PLENTY
Hundreds of TV weatherman (and Meteorologists who work in TV) around the country received a slick booklet a couple of months back. It was printed by the Heartland Institute, a libertarian think tank funded in part by Exxon and others. They recently held what they called a “Climate Conference” that itself was funded not by the NSF but by an interesting group of energy companies and right wing foundations. DeSmog …
28 June 2009
Please, Anyone! Send a High School Science Book to Congress
The Copenhagen Climate Conference report is now out. In it, the consensus opinion is that we must hold CO2 levels to 400 ppm, IF we are to stay below 2 degrees Celsius of warming. The current CO2 level is 385 ppm and rising at 2 ppm per year. You should read this report. It’s an excellent summary of the current knowledge. Do the math. We may have less than 15 …
21 March 2009
A Political Exception
I usually do not write much here about the political side of Climate Change. Frequent brushes with it perhaps, but never as a main subject. This post is an exception. They will be very few. Science is much more fascinating than politics. George Will’s column on Climate Change last month in the Washington Post has been attacked in the blogosphere by far better writers than I. The Post itself has …
25 January 2009
A Salute to Stephen Fry
For those of you who read this journal from outside the USA (and thank you by the way!), you will pardon me while I explain to the rest who Stephen Fry is. In a world where most famous movie stars, and sports celebrities have an education level that is sadly lacking, it is refreshing to have a famous actor/comedian/writer/game show host, who is just the opposite! If you check out …
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.