RealClimate

How should we allocate resources for climate modelling if the goal is to improve climate-related decisions? Higher resolution, machine learning and/or storylines? A call for a deeper discussion on how we should develop the climate modelling toolbox.

A recent paper suggested that 'climate sensitivity' derived from a new paleo-CO2 record is around 7.2ºC (for equilibrium climate sensitivity ECS) and ~13.9ºC (Earth System Sensitivity - ESS) for a doubling of CO2. Some press has suggested that this means that Earth’s Temperature Could Increase by 25 Degrees (F). Huge if true! Fortunately these numbers should not be taken at face value, but we need to dig into the subtleties to see why. ...

This month's open thread on climate topics. Try to be constructive!

A truly impressive paper was published this week with a new reconstruction of global temperatures over the last ~500 million years. There is something tremendously satisfying about seeing a project start, and then many years later see the results actually emerge and done better than you could have imagined. Especially one as challenging as accurately tracking half a billion years of Earth's climate. Think about what ...

This month’s open thread for climate topics. Please stay vaguely on topic and do not abuse other commenters.

The title of this post might seem like a truism, but for about a decade some people have claimed the opposite, and many people have spent much time and effort trying to understand why. Much of that effort was wasted. A decade ago, Nature Geoscience published [cite ref=Cohen et al (2014)]10.1038/ngeo2234[/cite], a review paper on potential connections between the Arctic warming and extreme events (which has been cited an ...

An interesting commentary addressing a rather odd prior commentary makes some very correct points. Back a few months there was a poorly argued and rather confusing commenary by Ulf Büntgen ([cite ref=Buntgen, 2024]10.1038/s44168-024-00126-0[/cite]) that started: I am concerned by climate scientists becoming climate activists, because scholars should not have a priori interests in the outcome of their studies. Likewise, I am worried about activists who pretend ...

This month's open thread on climate change topics. How are we in November already? And why is it still so warm... ? Anyway, please stay on topic and avoid insulting other commenters.

There is a need to make climate science more agile and more responsive, and that means moving (some of it) from research to operations.

It’s 20 years since we started blogging on climate here on RealClimate (December 10, 2004). We wanted to counter disinformation about climate change that was spreading through various campaigns. In those days it was an unusual move that prompted a welcome from Nature.