Algal Blooms Could Have Caused Last Ice Age | Wired Science | Wired.com

At various points in Earth’s history, dust fell into the ocean and fed algae, which gobbled up carbon dioxide and sank to the bottom of the sea, taking greenhouse gas with them and cooling the world. That’s a key conclusion scientists are drawing from an unusual 2004 experiment in which they grew a massive algae bloom in the Southern Ocean. Data from the experiment may also tell researchers whether seeding the seas with iron is a good way to curb global warming.
...“The source and sink of carbon from glacial to interglacial periods is the holy grail of oceanography,” says oceanographer Victor Smetacek of the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Bremerhaven, Germany, who led the EIFEX expedition and was the lead author on a paper about it published online today in Nature. “It still hasn’t been found, [but] with this paper we are showing that this is probably the place to look.”  [Via Mike M]

Animation Of Hansen Vs. Hansen | Real Science

The black and white image in the animation below is what Hansen said Phoenix should like after UHI adjustments – almost no trend.

The blue line is how Hansen currently shows Phoenix – a sharp warming trend. Apparently the UHI effect in Phoenix has disappeared since he wrote his 1999 paper. He cooled the past by about a degree and warmed the present by almost that much.

Mann invokes the Streisand effect on Twitter | Watts Up With That?

Now that Dr. Mann has drawn attention to it, even more people will want to read the National Review article “Football and Hockey” to find out what he’s so upset about. I didn’t even know about this article until Mann tweeted this demand announcement today [me neither]. This announcement on Twitter is probably a bad move on Dr. Mann’s part. Here’s why...

More Heavy Rain For The Southwest Permanent Drought | Real Science

Last week the experts told us that the southwest fire season was just beginning.