ABC Radio National

The Science Show





Date/Time 02 Sep 2015 11:29:57am
Bob Fernley-Jones has a problem with the heating of deep water.
Bob, over the past 50 years oceans have absorbed about 90% of the heat warming Earth. The deployment of Argo floats has revolutionised the measurement of water temperatures. This data shows that in the last decade 30% of the warming was below 700m. Changes in surface winds are a major factor. Scientists have known for some time that open ocean deep -water convection quickly transfers warm surface waters to depth --in the North Atlantic, surface water is converted to deep water by open-ocean convection. This mixing minimises differences in surface to deep-water properties including temperature.
Manmade chlorofluorocarbons create an ozone hole each spring over Antarctica. Recent research ["Science", Feb 1, 2013] shows the lack of ozone cools a disc of air, which sinks and accelerates the speed of westerly winds in the Southern Hemisphere. This draws deep water to the surface and pushes it north where it sinks down over a kilometre in the deep tropics. This ACCELERATES
‘overturning” and warming of deep water.

Bob is also troubled about Prof Muller but Matthew England is correct.
Bob is wrong when he says “Muller’s surface temperature results cannot be compared with various major series”. In his results Muller gives a graph with his results of Land –Surface Average Temperature plotted together with the results gained by GISS (Goddard Institute for Space Studies, NOAA (National Aeronautics & Space Administration), HadCRU (Hadley Centre ,Climate Research Unit, UK).
It is difficult to separate the curves because they are practically identical, particularly since 1950!!!
Bob’s comments fail to state that Muller started his research because he” identified problems in previous climate studies” [“such as urban heating, poor station quality”]. Muller says, “call me a converted skeptic”. He used sophisticated statistical methods to analyse a mass of climate data. As well as strongly confirming the conclusions reached by the other 5 scientific teams he found that the “temperature rise of the past 250 years cannot be attributed to solar changes”. He also found the CO2 increase closely matched the extra warming from trapped heat radiation.
The reason Muller’s work has perhaps “slipped into obscurity”, is because what Muller established and confirmed so conclusively, had already been determined by the other teams.
Yes! There is much more, Judith Curry says “Muller and his team have made an important contribution by establishing the data set” and “…I like the idea of ‘elite physicists’ taking a look at climate science.”
Muller is a physicist, Curry started as a geophysicist!
Climate science involves physics,meteorology,chemistry, zoology, geology, botany, oceanography, ecology, mathematics, and statistics just to mention some disciplines.

For one demolition among many, of Judith Curry’s competence as a climat
