Temperature Record of the Week
This issue's Temperature Record of the week is from Weatherford, Oklahoma. Visit our U.S. Climate Data section to plot and view these data for yourself.
Current Editorial
Earth's "ThermoSolarstat": Does It Protect Coral Reefs During Periods of High Temperature and Solar Radiation?: With so many corals living - and often thriving - so close to water temperatures that can prove lethal to them under conditions of intense solar radiation, it is logical to presume that earth's atmosphere must have a built-in mechanism for limiting both the intensity and duration of such stressful conditions for a large portion of the planet's coral reefs. It is also logical to presume that this same mechanism would kick into gear more often in the face of any increased impetus for global warming. We here discuss the findings of several studies that provide substantial evidence for the validity of these presumptions, providing thereby an essentially new perspective on the issue.
Subject Index Summaries
ENSO (Relationship to Extreme Weather): Climate alarmists periodically terrorize the public with claims that global warming will produce more El Niņos. They further heighten tensions by claiming that El Niņos bring more and stronger storms. Real-world data, however, tell a vastly different story.
Leaves (Other Species): A brief review of some of the recently published literature suggests that increases in the air's CO2 content will cause changes in leaf characteristics that will lead to greater and more efficient production of various plant substances, many of which are of great value to humanity.
Carbon Sequestration Commentary
Woody Plants Expand Their Ranges, Pumping More Carbon Into the Soils Beneath Them, as the Air's CO2 Content Rises: Scientists have long sought the "missing carbon" that seems to be exiting the atmosphere at an ever-increasing rate as the air's CO2 content continues to climb. Could it be it's right under their noses?
Current Journal Reviews
A New Test for Climate Models: Tests. They're what we use to evaluate nearly everything. It would seem only logical, therefore, that climate model performance should be periodically compared with reality, as our knowledge of earth's climate system continues to grow and we gain ever greater insight into various ways in which it operates, especially over periods of time such as those for which models are currently predicting significant CO2-induced global warming.
The Case for Solar Forcing of Climate: Day by day, it grows ever stronger, as we learn ever more about the past.
Antarctic Ice: Is It Growing or Shrinking?: We hear it almost every day: climate alarmists telling us that Antarctic ice is disappearing so rapidly that vast amounts of low-lying coastal areas and islands around the globe are soon to experience a watery death, due to an ungodly rise in sea level. No matter how often the lie is repeated, however, the real world will just not cooperate.
Carbon Costs of Symbiosis in Citrus Seedlings "More Than Covered" by Increase in Air's CO2 Content: Atmospheric CO2 enrichment significantly enhanced photosynthetic rates and biomass production in sweet and sour orange seedlings, regardless of inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi. However, in sour orange, these parameters were always greater in mycorrhizal vs. non-mycorrhizal seedlings, with photosynthetic acclimation in CO2-enriched sour orange seedlings being partially alleviated due to the presence of mycorrhizal fungi that acted as a sink for excess photosynthate.
Long-Term Effects of Elevated CO2 on a Nutrient-Poor Calcareous Grassland: After six years of atmospheric CO2 enrichment, a nutrient-poor calcareous grassland in Switzerland continued to display significant increases in biomass production both above- and below-ground, as well as an increase in soil carbon content.