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UK Flooding Events and Fake Science

UK Flooding Events and Fake Science

Blöschl et al (2017, ref 1) published a paper in Sciencethat purports to show flooding in S England occurs every year but only ever in January and that flooding is disconnected in time from extreme rainfall events via water storage in soils. The changing pattern with time is ascribed to man-made climate change and implications for insurance were highlighted by the Financial Times.

A simple analysis of actual UK flood records from the UK Met Office shows that floods actually occurred throughout the year and that these are always directly associated with extreme heavy rainfall of either convective or cyclonic origin. According to Blöschl et al, floods in Southern England occur only in January (Fig 1), but the Met Office records show no flooding in Southern England in January at all.

On Monday last week I had a post titled European Floods and Fake Science and in it I said I would return to the subject with a more detailed look at the pattern of UK floods in recent decades as reported by the UK Met Office and to compare this real world with the imaginary world of climate science. There is no semblance of similarity between the two when it comes to UK floods and I dare say this may apply across the board.

The two data sets I use here are the S England flood data published by Blöschl et al in the once-esteemed journal Science [ref 1] and a qualitative diary of extreme UK weather events in the UK published on-line by the UK Met Office [ref 2]. The latter includes journalistic entries on uncommon hot, cold, dry, wet and windy conditions. I have extracted the entries on uncommon wet events that led to flooding and reproduced these in Appendix 1 and Figure 2.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

European Floods and Fake Science

European Floods and Fake Science

I wrote a post a couple of weeks ago targeting the BBC for biased reporting on energy and climate issues. It was never published because in writing it I realised that the the problem did not necessarily lie with the BBC but with the climate science fraternity. Another alarmist article appeared in Blowout last week covered by the BBC with the headline “Climate change has shifted the timing of European floods” accompanied by a picture of an Alpine village being swept away. The article in question (Blöschl et al [1] published in Science) does not contain any actual data on European floods. The ten year average of peak annual river flow is used instead which is a meaningless proxy for actual flooding. The authors fail to make an empirical connection between trends in peak annual flow and trends in actual flooding which is a basic scientific error.

The FT also picked up this story citing implications for hydroelectric power and insurers which may well be used as an excuse to raise premiums, yet again. The scientific article in question was published in Science and I decided to have a closer look.

The BBC headline:

In different parts of Europe, rivers are flooding earlier or later because of rising temperatures, say scientists.

And Blöschl et al say in the abstract:

Warmer temperatures have led to earlier spring snowmelt floods throughout northeastern Europe; delayed winter storms associated with polar warming have led to later winter floods around the North Sea and some sectors of the Mediterranean coast

Polar Warming

Let us begin by taking a look at “polar warming” at the N Pole. We don’t have climate records for the N Pole and so I will use instead 32 high latitude climate stations from either side of the Arctic Circle in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia (Figures 1 and 2), as reported in Record Arctic Warmth – in 1937.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

European Gas Security 2017

European Gas Security 2017

On 22nd June, The Telegraph published an interesting article called Germany’s gas pact with Putin’s Russia endangers Atlantic alliance where Ambrose Evans-Pritchard made many of the correct observations but also managed to make some odd comments too. The article focussed on proposals to build Nord Stream II that would pipe more Russian gas directly into Germany, bypassing Belarus and Ukraine. This will clearly enhance German and European gas security, and yet Evans-Prichard manages to say:

The Nord Stream 2 venture creates a sweetheart arrangement with Germany while undermining the security and economic interests of Eastern and Central Europe, and leaves Ukraine at the mercy of Kremlin blackmail.

“It does nothing whatsoever to supply the EU with gas. It deprives the East Europeans of political leverage and rewards an aggressor state,” said Professor Alan Riley from the Institute for Statecraft.

I find these comments to be totally bizarre. Evans-Prichard seems to have forgotten that it was Ukraine stealing gas that crossed its territory that led Russia to periodically cut supplies to the whole of Europe. And I seem to recall that it was Western meddling in the Ukrainian elections that led directly to the civil war. Bypassing land pipeline routes that cross either Ukraine or Belarus of course improves European gas security. Evans-Prichard goes on to say:

What the project does is to erode Ukraine’s $2bn revenue from pipeline fees and to leave the country vulnerable to a Gazprom squeeze. It stops Ukraine transporting gas to Slovakia and then buying it back at EU prices to escape punitive tariffs.

It enables Russia to play a divide-and-rule game that splits the EU, and that sweetens Germany with preferential pricing. It really is a bizarre 1939-style pact.

The Changing Face of the European Gas Market

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

Oil Production Vital Statistics December 2016

Oil Production Vital Statistics December 2016

Global total liquids production hit yet another record high of 98.24 Mbpd in November led by OPEC and Russia! Libya’s drive to restore production is a significant factor with production up 280,000 bpd from recent lows. The US oil rig count has risen for 32 consecutive weeks and US oil production has stopped falling. Production from the North Sea and Asia are in decline as the past low price and drive to restore profitability works through the system.

The oil price has significantly broken above the $51 / bbl resistance and Brent is currently at $57. With OPEC + Russia due to decrease production from January first and to maintain lower plateau levels, combined with the relentless rise in demand, the oil price should rally from here, but not by much. The ceiling is set by the cost of new supply that currently resides with the N American LTO frackers. US production has halted its decline which is perhaps a sign of what is coming.

The following totals compare November 2016 with November 2015:

  • World Total Liquids +780,000 bpd
  • OPEC +950,000
  • Russia + FSU +440,000
  • Europe -170,000 bpd
  • Asia -640,000
  • North America -640,000

The net figures from the above are +1.39 Mbpd and -1.45 Mbpd leaving a net -0.06 Mbpd increase compared with the + 0.78 Mbpd global total liquids figure.

Year on Year, OPEC and Russia are the big winners. North America, Asia and Europe the big losers. And on the drilling front:

  • US total rig count up 261 to 665 from the low of 27 May
  • International rigs up 15 in November

This article first appeared on Energy Matters.

EIA oil price and Baker Hughes rig count charts are updated to the end of October 2016, the remaining oil production charts are updated to September 2016 using the IEA OMRdata.

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…

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