Tag: Climate Study

Plankton Production Same As 20 Years Before–Climate Scientists Panic!

Plankton production in UK and surrounding waters is the same as it was 20 years ago.

Plymouth Marine Laboratory scientists have announced a major decline linked to warming.

From Watts Up With That?

By Paul Homewood

Yet another junk study, which would not see the light of day in any other branch of science:

Abstract

Phytoplankton Primary Production supports most of the marine ecosystem and is highly sensitive to changing environmental pressures. There is much debate about whether marine primary production is increasing or decreasing and what environmental parameters may be driving these changes. We analysed a 21-year time-series of net primary production (NPP) computed from Ocean Colour Climate Change Initiative (OC-CCI) data spanning September 1997-December 2018, focusing on areas of similar phenology, climatology, and annual NPP in the north-east Atlantic Ocean. Across the entire area, NPP increased from 1998 to 2003, followed by a significant decline until 2018. This pattern was predominant in north-western European coastal waters and specific areas of the English Channel, Irish Sea, North Sea and Norwegian Sea, where it was related to changes in sea surface temperature and mixed layer depth.

Frontiers | Decline in satellite-derived primary production in the north-east Atlantic driven by changes in sea surface temperature and mixed layer depth

The press release states:

Detected from space: 20 years of data shows declining photosynthesis in UK and surrounding waters

A new study by scientists at Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) has revealed a significant long-term decline in ocean productivity across large parts of the north-east Atlantic. This raises concerns about the future health of marine food webs, fisheries and the ocean’s ability to absorb and sequester carbon dioxide.

Using more than two decades of satellite observations, researchers analysed changes in microalgae net primary production – the process by which microscopic marine plants convert sunlight and carbon dioxide into organic matter, which forms the foundation of marine ecosystems.

The study, led by PML’s Dr Gavin Tilstone and Dr Peter Land, examined satellite data spanning 1997 to 2018 and found that, after a brief period of increasing productivity in the late 1990s and early 2000s, primary production declined steadily across much of the region, particularly in north-west European coastal waters, the Irish Sea, North Sea, western English Channel and parts of the Norwegian Sea.

The research links these declines primarily to changes in sea surface temperature and mixed layer depth – key physical properties that control how nutrients and light are distributed in the upper ocean.

Dr Gavin Tilstone, Bio-optical Oceanographer at PML, said:

“While the ocean may appear to be one giant body of water, it is often divided into layers based on temperature. As the ocean warms, these layers become stronger and less likely to vertically mix – a process known as thermal stratification.”

“This matters because the mixing of ocean waters helps transport nutrients from the depths to the surface, where phytoplankton can use them to grow. When that supply is reduced, microalgae productivity can decline.”

Dr Peter Land, Remote Sensing Scientist at PML, added:

“In many regions, warming surface waters and altered mixing are reducing the conditions phytoplankton need to thrive. This limits the energy entering marine food webs and can have huge knock-on effects for fish stocks and ecosystem services.”

Detected from space: 20 years of data shows declining photosynthesis in UK and surrounding waters  – Plymouth Marine Laboratory

Like so many other climate studies, this one takes a microscopically short period of data, twenty one years, and pretends that trends during that time have any significance whatsoever. As scientific experts in the Atlantic climate have long known, ocean temperatures and currents there regularly undergo massive climatic shifts. During the last century alone, the North Atlantic has swung from cold to warm, warm to cold, and back again to the warmer climate we have enjoyed for the last three decades.

It is not coincidental that the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation switched to warm phase in the mid 1990s, just when this latest study began its analysis.

The graph below is key to the study’s findings that plankton production is declining:

Another Climate Study Finds ‘Apocalyptic’ Messaging Causes Disengagement

Breitbart reports that “[a] simulation based on apocalyptic images designed to highlight “the disastrous effects of climate change” had the opposite impact on those who viewed it and failed to shift attitudes, a study from Singapore Management University details.”

From ClimateRealism

By Linnea Lueken

A recent article from Breitbart describes a study that found people are less likely to display concern over climate change after being shown apocalyptic messaging about potential future impacts. While it’s only a single study, the results are consistent with alarmists’ own reports that say exaggeration of climate impacts actually discourages people from supporting the climate cause, whether due to narrative fatigue or hopelessness. That combined with the fact that the central claim itself–that climate change is producing apocalyptic effects– is also false, makes it easy for laypeople to ignore alarmist claims.

In the article, “Study: Catastrophic Climate Warnings Fail to Shift Attitudes,” Breitbart reports that “[a] simulation based on apocalyptic images designed to highlight “the disastrous effects of climate change” had the opposite impact on those who viewed it and failed to shift attitudes, a study from Singapore Management University details.”

In the study, researchers created a video simulation of Hong Kong being catastrophically flooded with storm surge, something the researchers claim could happen in the future due to climate change. Instead of frightening people into being more concerned about how climate change might hurt them, participants actually were less fearful after viewing the simulation. Some said it was because they didn’t think human-induced climate change was real, others said the impacts would happen too far in the future to be worried about, and another group said they lived too far above sea level to worry about storm surge anyway.

Breitbart reports that the researchers who conducted the study were disappointed in the results.

One of the report’s authors, Dr Terry van Gevelt, told Eco-Business.com the simulation should have provided “the wake-up call needed to modify individual behaviour and support costly climate adaptation and mitigation measures.”

Instead the result was exactly the opposite.

These results are not altogether surprising. Multiple media outlets, even those which usually hype an extreme cataclysmic vision of the future under climate change, recently reported that young people have become increasingly resistant to climate action as the media continues to promote more alarm. As reported by Climate Realism in “Multiple Outlets Admit “Catastrophe” Narrative is Counterproductive,” activist journalists are finding that a fatalist, or “doomer,” perspective has begun to emerge as a lack of massive societal upheaval fails to materialize the way activists have demanded. This leads to people who otherwise would be sympathetic to their movement checking out instead, thinking that there is nothing that can be done to stop climate change.

As Climate Realism has repeatedly shown, (here, here, and here, for recent examples) during the past century-or-more of warming, none of the so-called “disastrous effects” of climate change have materialized, so perhaps stopping the Earth’s climate from changing, as it has for millions of years, isn’t so urgent.

Additionally, despite constant media fearmongering, climate change consistently ranks last among issues of concern in public opinion polls. Over recent years, polls conducted by The Washington Post/ABC, Gallup, The New York Times,  and others, consistently show that while there is some concern, most voters rank climate change among their least pressing issues. Those results are the same globally—in a 2016 United Nations poll, climate change again ranked dead last among world issues.

Breitbart did a solid job reporting on the Singapore Management University study, this kind of information is vital to note when the majority of climate-related journalism is focused on convincing the public that there is a consensus—not just the alleged (and false) scientific consensus—but a consensus among laypeople that there is a looming catastrophe and that we need immediate and extreme action. No such public consensus exists, the opposite is true; most people consistently rank climate change as a low-priority issue, and are not overly impressed with computer simulated apocalypses.

https://climaterealism.com/author/llueken/

Linnea Lueken is a Research Fellow with the Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy.

While she was an intern with The Heartland Institute in 2018, she co-authored a Heartland Institute Policy Brief “Debunking Four Persistent Myths About Hydraulic Fracturing.”

Linnea Lueken