Ask a climate [junk] scientist: the Tamas edition – Rooted

Question 3: What caused the medieval warm period, and why do you rule out natural variability for long term warming given that today’s temperatures are historically unexceptional?
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Galen A. McKinley, from the University of Wisconsin, responded:

Todays temperature are, in fact, historically exceptional, not unexceptional as proposed in the question. The analysis by NASA indicates that global surface temperatures have increased 0.8C (1.5F) from 1880, based on the instrumental record. Going back further in time, it is clear that this warming is significantly outside the longer-term historical pattern, with the period 1000-1400 being about -0.2C (negative meaning less than the long-term average), and the year 2000 being about +0.4C from this long term mean (reference fig 16-12 of Ruddiman (reference below), taken forom Jones and Mann 2004).

Melting glacial ice sheets `may not raise sea levels after all`

the ice sheet has a defence mechanism - as it melts, sea levels around it will fall, say Natalya Gomez and Jerry Mitrovica of Harvard University and colleagues.

The ice sheet will release extra water into the sea - but because the mass of ice has shrunk, its gravitational pull on the seawater will be weaker. Also, the bedrock will rise up as the weight of ice on it drops.

"You get a fall in sea level within 2000 kilometres of the ice sheet," said Mitrovica.

This means there will be less water sloshing around the sheet's base, so it will last longer. "It will slow down the retreat," said Gomez.

Cold weather lifts UK prompt gas to 9-month high | Energy & Oil | Reuters

N-W Europe temperatures to drop 1-4 degrees below norms

Twitter / Andy Revkin: [look, he capitalized POLICY]

Sherwood Boehlert chastises fellow Republicans for naysaying climate science instead of engaging on climate POLICY: http://j.mp/BoehlCO2