EPA chief out; emails emerge - The Orange County Register

CEI attorney Christopher Horner sued after the agency's refusal to disclose information about creation and use of “secondary” email accounts. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced her resignation Thursday, within two weeks of the Justice Department agreeing to produce the emails, at a rate of 3,000 per month, beginning Jan. 14.

THE HOCKEY SCHTICK: New paper finds climate responds to short and long-term changes in solar activity

A new paper published in The Holocene finds a significant link between solar activity and climate over the past 1000 years. According to the authors, "Our results suggest that the climate responds to both the 11 yr solar cycle and to long-term changes in solar activity and in particular solar minima." The authors also find "a link between the 11 yr solar cycle and summer precipitation variability since around 1960" and that "Solar minima are in this period associated with minima in summer precipitation, whereas the amount of summer precipitation increases during periods with higher solar activity."

THE HOCKEY SCHTICK: Paper finds the Gulf of Maine has cooled ~2°C over past 1000 years

A doctoral dissertation from the Univ. of Maine reconstructs temperatures of the Gulf of Maine during the past 1000 years and finds temperatures were about 2°C warmer than the present during the Medieval Warming Period 1000 years ago.

THE HOCKEY SCHTICK: Paper shows solar activity at end of 20th century was near highest levels of past 11,500 years

A paper published in Astronomy & Astrophysics reconstructs solar activity over the Holocene and finds solar activity at the end of the 20th century was near the highest levels of the entire 11,500 year record. Over the past 2,500 years, the paper shows a 'hockey stick' of solar activity, with a sharp increase following the end of the Little Ice Age in the 1800's.