Satellites Spot Greenhouse Effect; Climate Data Still Inadequate

Satellites Spot Greenhouse Effect

In a major non-news story that received major press and broadcast coverage, a paper by a team of scientists at Imperial College, London published in the March 15, 2001 issue of Nature finds data from satellites provides the first "direct observational evidence" that the greenhouse effect is intensifying as a result of manmade greenhouse gas emissions.

"However," according to a CNN story, "the study did not tackle whether Earths surface temperature is actually increasing. In fact, whether this greenhouse effect will lead to global warming or global cooling is unclear, the study scientists said."

Climate Data Still Inadequate

If the claims about widespread scientific certainty about global warming are true, then why does Nature bemoan the poor quality of climate data? Nature argues in a March 15 article that, "There is also a small chance that none of the IPCCs scenarios will come close to reality." Why? Because, "The accuracy of any model depends significantly on the quality of the underlying raw data. The problem is, the quality is patchy."

The Global Climate Observing System (GCOS) was created in 1992 to solve this problem. But there are serious flaws in the system, according to Nature. With only 1,000 stations in operation, coverage is sparse. It is mostly confined to rich industrialized countries, while Africa, South America and Asia, as well as remote polar regions in Russia and Canada go largely unmeasured. "Through misreporting, instrumental drifts and biases, unreliable communication infrastructures or political unrest, about half the worlds climate data potential is lost or corrupted each month," says Nature. Part of the problem is the high cost of the program. A single GCOS station costs up to $500,000 per year to operate.

Moreover, "Sea-based climate observation and ocean monitoring, which is likely to add significantly to our knowledge of what drives atmospheric processes, is only just beginning."

Etc.

The efforts of the Cooler Heads Coalition and its member groups to convince the Bush Administration to oppose regulating CO₂ emissions have been recognized by the environmental movement. The Clean Air Trust on March 15 awarded its "Villain of the Month" award to Cooler Heads Coalition chairman Myron Ebell. The Trusts press release (www.cleanairtrust.org) cited the "furious lobbying charge" of the Cooler Heads Coalition and described it as "a motley array of radical anti-clean air groups, mostly funded by business, with ties to the extreme right wing of the Republican party."

Ebell accepted the award in a letter (www.cei.org) to the Clean Air Trust, but questioned whether the Trust really believed that carbon dioxide was a pollutant since it isnt included on the list of air pollutants on its web site. Past winners of the Villain of the Month award include Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, Sen. George Voinovich, American Electric Power, Exxon Mobil, and Cinergy.

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