Excellent piece. I really liked the inclusion of the paintings. After the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991, similar colourful twilights were photographed around the globe, and astronomical photometers detected a 10% lowering of light transmission through the atmosphere, that took 2 years to recover. Global warming temporarily became global cooling, until the atmospheric chemistry returned to normal.
One thing though. Surely the subtitle, "recorded history's most destructive volcanic event", obviates the need for the trigger warning that follows?
Wow, very interesting, I didn’t read about that volcanic event in my research but it sounds very similar to Tambora and Krakatau. Thanks for sharing, and thanks for your kind words.
As far as the trigger warning goes, I felt that the descriptions of death and disease across the Asian content may be too much for some. Maybe the subtitle is enough, but as someone who avoids reading about certain topics, I prefer to err on the side of caution.
If you think we hold the levers to control weather through our carbon emissions then I urge you with all speed, move to China and lobby their dictatorship to stop building coal power plants. They are the largest emitter by far, and if they don't change, and you're correct, then there truly is no hope.
But then again, you could be wrong. Record ice levels in Antarctica, and all of Al Gore's doom predictions being wrong, are tending in that direction.
How was the physical evidence of net warming collected? When did this warming start, and has it exceeded the period around 1200 or so during the middle ages?
What did you think of the huge Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai eruption that peaked in Jan 2022, and its interesting aftermath?
Great questions! From the books I read it seems the evidence of warming was recorded by ordinary people during the time. With no standardized weather reporting or photographic evidence, written record is really all we have. But your question makes me wonder what the archaeological record shows!
As far as exceeding the middle ages’ warm weather, the temps did drop back down around 1819, but with many other factors at play it seems we have seen some of the worlds warmest temperatures in our own previous decade.
I haven’t read enough about Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha-apai but it seems to have had some similar effects—very interesting.
The apples and oranges data collection, as well as the use of surrogate data for past temps, without establishing the validity of the relationships, and even NOAA's inability to maintain their weather stations in recent decades, while still continuing to publish "data" from them, has caused me to believe that we are not able to legitimately draw conclusions about incremental overall temperature changes world wide. There have been way too many people sitting at desks, and too few out in the field fixing equipment and obtaining real observations.
#NOAAghoststation hashtag on X is where John Shewchuck (who created the ROAB weather data analytical software used in the aviation industry), collects his personal observations of non-existent or defunct NOAA weather stations from which "data" has been published after their demise. He's established the coordinates of over 90 such ghost stations from his own work in the field during what might usually be considered "retirement" years. I wonder if this publishing of fraudulent data is part of what led to the move to cut funds to NOAA.
We certainly could never design and test structures and machinery based upon such quality of "data" we have about the weather over time. Building would crumble engines would melt, planes would fall out of the sky, etc.
We need real data in order to establish relationships and form useful conclusions about weather and what influences it. Without this, catastrophically bad decisions are possible.
Fascinating article, I did not know about this and now want to find out more. Thanks
Thanks so much! I highly recommend the two books listed at the end of the article, they were each super informative and very interesting.
Excellent piece. I really liked the inclusion of the paintings. After the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991, similar colourful twilights were photographed around the globe, and astronomical photometers detected a 10% lowering of light transmission through the atmosphere, that took 2 years to recover. Global warming temporarily became global cooling, until the atmospheric chemistry returned to normal.
One thing though. Surely the subtitle, "recorded history's most destructive volcanic event", obviates the need for the trigger warning that follows?
Wow, very interesting, I didn’t read about that volcanic event in my research but it sounds very similar to Tambora and Krakatau. Thanks for sharing, and thanks for your kind words.
As far as the trigger warning goes, I felt that the descriptions of death and disease across the Asian content may be too much for some. Maybe the subtitle is enough, but as someone who avoids reading about certain topics, I prefer to err on the side of caution.
If you think we hold the levers to control weather through our carbon emissions then I urge you with all speed, move to China and lobby their dictatorship to stop building coal power plants. They are the largest emitter by far, and if they don't change, and you're correct, then there truly is no hope.
But then again, you could be wrong. Record ice levels in Antarctica, and all of Al Gore's doom predictions being wrong, are tending in that direction.
How was the physical evidence of net warming collected? When did this warming start, and has it exceeded the period around 1200 or so during the middle ages?
What did you think of the huge Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai eruption that peaked in Jan 2022, and its interesting aftermath?
Great questions! From the books I read it seems the evidence of warming was recorded by ordinary people during the time. With no standardized weather reporting or photographic evidence, written record is really all we have. But your question makes me wonder what the archaeological record shows!
As far as exceeding the middle ages’ warm weather, the temps did drop back down around 1819, but with many other factors at play it seems we have seen some of the worlds warmest temperatures in our own previous decade.
I haven’t read enough about Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha-apai but it seems to have had some similar effects—very interesting.
The apples and oranges data collection, as well as the use of surrogate data for past temps, without establishing the validity of the relationships, and even NOAA's inability to maintain their weather stations in recent decades, while still continuing to publish "data" from them, has caused me to believe that we are not able to legitimately draw conclusions about incremental overall temperature changes world wide. There have been way too many people sitting at desks, and too few out in the field fixing equipment and obtaining real observations.
#NOAAghoststation hashtag on X is where John Shewchuck (who created the ROAB weather data analytical software used in the aviation industry), collects his personal observations of non-existent or defunct NOAA weather stations from which "data" has been published after their demise. He's established the coordinates of over 90 such ghost stations from his own work in the field during what might usually be considered "retirement" years. I wonder if this publishing of fraudulent data is part of what led to the move to cut funds to NOAA.
We certainly could never design and test structures and machinery based upon such quality of "data" we have about the weather over time. Building would crumble engines would melt, planes would fall out of the sky, etc.
We need real data in order to establish relationships and form useful conclusions about weather and what influences it. Without this, catastrophically bad decisions are possible.
Mother Nature really said “goth summer” and accidentally launched the horror genre.
Would Frankenstein have happened if the sun had just shown up like it was supposed to?
⬖ Stamped with uncertainty at Frequency of Reason: https://tinyurl.com/39hx4kjv
lol she really did though! Where would gothic horror be if the Shelleys had a normal summer vacation?