Thank you, this is such an important post. Those seasonal shifts are creeping up on us, with their subtle changes year by year - although we start to notice now. And jet they can have big impacts which are difficult to bring to the attention, and like you say they go further than the shifts of our holidays.
Glad you see the importance of it. It's always so hard to get the importance of these nuanced shifts across, particularly when we have overlooked their potential importance for ecosystems. That's why we initiated this research -- to really get to the heart of things. Having it in the running to get the Frontiers Planet Prize shows we're part way there.
Congratulations to your student, Daniel, for being New Zealand's Frontiers Planet Prize Champion. He is obviously doing great work. Isn't it a pity we don't hear more about this kind of work in mainstream media.
Seasonality is such an interesting subject and I really loved the Cottonwood example. So delicate is the balance for species living by a rhythmic clock. It really highlights the importance of seasonality research.
Thanks Kim — will pass it on! Yep, I’m so driven to understand the intricacies of the natural world’s association with the seasons — and how it’s at risk of changing. So much exciting stuff to explore in this space.
Here in Southern California, our Santa Anas, dry desert winds that warmed our Octobers, now blow across our landscapes throughout the year. In April, our chaparral and coastal sage are normally lush and green. They are now drying up for lack of rain.
Fire devastated Pacific Palisades of Los Angeles in January, a month when wildfires used to be impossible.
Interesting timing! I wonder if that little warm patch we had recently led to a few speeding things up to beat the rush. Probably not a very successful strategy given how cold it is right now!
Physicists have known for a long time that the logarithm of CO2 concentration drives its warming effect. Not the concentration itself. But we all see graphs of Mauna Loa temperature against concentration. It looks like a compelling correlation (notwithstanding the 2000-2010 and 2013-2018 periods where temperature remained stagnant as CO2 increased). If a constant times the logarithm of CO2 were plotted, most would see that CO2 cannot be driving climate significantly. Other forces are. This is what many people avoid facing.
Al Gore was correct in fearing that the polar ice cap would disappear circa 2013. Plots of ice mass over previous years showed declining ice. But in 2012, the decreasing stopped. Mass has trended constantly since then. Obviously, CO2 concentration doesn't drive ice sheet disappearance.
Climate science for the last 38 years has avoided any other climate driver besides CO2. Research into cloud cover variations, which influence warming 10 times that of CO2 doubling, languished. And one never hears the effect of Milenkovich cycles or magma heating.
A lot of CO2-driving climate proponents forget what Einstein said: when consensus prevails, thinking stops.
Thank you, this is such an important post. Those seasonal shifts are creeping up on us, with their subtle changes year by year - although we start to notice now. And jet they can have big impacts which are difficult to bring to the attention, and like you say they go further than the shifts of our holidays.
Indeed Femke.
Glad you see the importance of it. It's always so hard to get the importance of these nuanced shifts across, particularly when we have overlooked their potential importance for ecosystems. That's why we initiated this research -- to really get to the heart of things. Having it in the running to get the Frontiers Planet Prize shows we're part way there.
Congratulations to your student, Daniel, for being New Zealand's Frontiers Planet Prize Champion. He is obviously doing great work. Isn't it a pity we don't hear more about this kind of work in mainstream media.
Seasonality is such an interesting subject and I really loved the Cottonwood example. So delicate is the balance for species living by a rhythmic clock. It really highlights the importance of seasonality research.
Thanks Kim — will pass it on! Yep, I’m so driven to understand the intricacies of the natural world’s association with the seasons — and how it’s at risk of changing. So much exciting stuff to explore in this space.
Here in Southern California, our Santa Anas, dry desert winds that warmed our Octobers, now blow across our landscapes throughout the year. In April, our chaparral and coastal sage are normally lush and green. They are now drying up for lack of rain.
Fire devastated Pacific Palisades of Los Angeles in January, a month when wildfires used to be impossible.
Geez Paul -- I'm not looking forward to late summer in the US West this year. We can only hope the super el niño doesn't play out as bad as it does.
I just noticed with surprise some spring jonquils popping up in my garden. What delicate bee that relies on its pollen is still asleep, I wonder?
Interesting timing! I wonder if that little warm patch we had recently led to a few speeding things up to beat the rush. Probably not a very successful strategy given how cold it is right now!
Physicists have known for a long time that the logarithm of CO2 concentration drives its warming effect. Not the concentration itself. But we all see graphs of Mauna Loa temperature against concentration. It looks like a compelling correlation (notwithstanding the 2000-2010 and 2013-2018 periods where temperature remained stagnant as CO2 increased). If a constant times the logarithm of CO2 were plotted, most would see that CO2 cannot be driving climate significantly. Other forces are. This is what many people avoid facing.
Al Gore was correct in fearing that the polar ice cap would disappear circa 2013. Plots of ice mass over previous years showed declining ice. But in 2012, the decreasing stopped. Mass has trended constantly since then. Obviously, CO2 concentration doesn't drive ice sheet disappearance.
Climate science for the last 38 years has avoided any other climate driver besides CO2. Research into cloud cover variations, which influence warming 10 times that of CO2 doubling, languished. And one never hears the effect of Milenkovich cycles or magma heating.
A lot of CO2-driving climate proponents forget what Einstein said: when consensus prevails, thinking stops.