Global warming estimates,media expectations,and the asymmetry of scientific challenge

Mass media in the U.S. continue to suggest that scientific consensus estimates of global climate disruption, such as those from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), are “exaggerated” and overly pessimistic. By contrast, work on the Asymmetry of Scientific Challenge (ASC) suggests that such consensus assessments are likely to understate climate disruptions. This paper offers an initial test of the competing expectations, making use of the tendency for science to be self-correcting, over time. Rather than relying in any way on the IPCC process, the paper draws evidence about emerging science from four newspapers that have been found in past work to be biased against reporting IPCC findings, consistently reporting instead that scientific findings are “in dispute.” The analysis considers two time periods — one during the time when the papers were found to be overstating challenges to then-prevailing scientific consensus, and the other focusing on 2008, after the IPCC and former Vice-President Gore shared the Nobel Prize for their work on climate disruption, and before opinion polls showed the U.S. public to be growing more skeptical toward climate science once again. During both periods, new scientific findings were more than twenty times as likely to support the ASC perspective than the usual framing of the issue in the U.S. mass media. The findings indicate that supposed challenges to the scientific consensus on global warming need to be subjected to greater scrutiny, as well as showing that, if reporters wish to discuss “both sides” of the climate issue, the scientifically legitimate “other side” is that, if anything, global climate disruption may prove to be significantly worse than has been suggested in scientific consensus estimates to date.     

Dew and rain water collection in the Dalmatian Coast, Croatia

Passive dew harvesting and rainwater collection requires a very small financial investment but can exploit a free, clean (outside urban/industrial zones) and inexhaustible source of water. This study investigates the relative contributions of dew and rain water in the Mediterranean Dalmatian coast and islands of Croatia, with emphasis on the dry summer season. In addition, we evaluate the utility of transforming abandoned roof rain collectors (“impluviums”) to collect dew water too. Two sites were chosen, an exposed open site on the coast favourable to dew formation (Zadar) and a less favourable site in a cirque of mountains in Komiža (Vis Island). Between July 1, 2003 and October 31, 2006, dew was collected two or three times per day on a 1 m² inclined (30°) test dew condenser, together with standard meteorological data (air temperature and relative humidity, cloud cover, windspeed and direction). Maximum yields were 0.41 mm in Zadar and 0.6 mm in Komiža. The mean yearly cumulative dew yields were found to be 20 mm (Zadar) and 9.3 mm (Komiža). Because of its physical setting, Komiža represents a poor location for dew collection. However, during the dry season (May to October), monthly cumulative dew water yield can represent up to 38% of water collected by rainfall. In both July 2003 and 2006, dew water represented about 120% of the monthly cumulative rain water. Refurbishing the abandoned impluviums to permit dew collection could then provide useful supplementary water, especially during the dry season. As an example, the 1300 m² impluvium at Podšpilje near Komiža could provide, in addition to rain water, 14,000 L dew water per year.     

The TiO2 frequency in volcanic rocks

The authoress calculates the frequency of the TiO₂-content in the lavas of the active volcanoes and shows by the aid of a quotient =Al₂O₃ – Na₂O/TiO₂ the pronounced bimodality of the frequency curve from which she concludes that the great variety of the magmas cannot be explained by a magmatic differentiation but only by a double origin of the magmas from the upper mantle and from the sialic crust of the earth.

---

Zusammenfassung Die Verfasserin berechnet die Häufigkeit des TiO₂-Gehalts in den Laven der tätigen Vulkane und zeigt vermittelst eines Quotienten =Al₂O₃ – Na₂O/TiO₂ die ausgesprochene Bimodalität der Häufigkeitskurve, woraus sie den Schluß zieht, daß die große Verschiedenheit der Magmen nicht durch eine magmatische Differentiation erklärt werden kann, sondern daß man eine zwiefache Herkunft der Magmen annehmen muß: aus dem oberen Mantel und aus der sialischen Kruste der Erde.

---

Résumé L'auteur calcule la fréquence du pourcentage de TiO₂ dans les laves des volcans la bimodalité cans actifs et montre, à 1 aide d un quotient =Al₂O₃ – Na₂O/TiO₂ la bimodalité prononcée des courbes de fréquence, et en tire la conclusion que la grande variété des magmas ne peut pas être expliquée par une différenciation magmatique, mais par l'origine double des magmas: du manteau supérieur et de la crôute sialique de la terre.

---

Riassunto L'autrice calcola la frequenza del contenuto in TiO₂ nelle lave dei vulcani attivi e dimostra mediante un quoziente =Al₂O₃ – Na₂O/TiO₂ la pronunziata bimodalità delle curve di frequenza e ne trae la conclusione che la grande varietà dei magmi non è dovuta a differenziazione magmatica ma ad una duplice provenienza: dal mantello superiore e dalla crosta sialica della terra.

---

. , , , : 1. , 2. .

---

---

Dedicated to Professor Dr. A.Rittmann on the occasion of his 75. birthday

---

This study is a part of the researches, carried out with the funds of the National Research Council of Italy under the direction of Prof. A.Rittmann.     

Dew water collector for potable water in Ajaccio (Corsica Island, France)

We report on the development of an inexpensive radiative condenser for collecting atmospheric vapor. Based on the experience gained using a small working model in Grenoble (France), a prototype of 10×3 m² was established in Ajaccio (Corsica, France). The condensing surface is a rectangular foil made of TiO₂ and BaSO₄ microspheres embedded in polyethylene and has an angle of 30° with respect to horizontal. The hollow part of the device, thermally isolated, faces the direction of the dominant nocturnal wind. Dew measurements were correlated with meteorological data and compared to dew condensed on a horizontal polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA, Plexiglas) reference plate. The plate served as a reference standard unit and was located nearby. Between July 22, 2000 and November 11, 2001 (478 days), there were 145 dew days for the reference plate (30%), but 214 dew days for the condenser (45%). This yield corresponds to 767 l (3.6 l, on average, per dew day). The maximum yield in the period was 11.4 l/day. Dew mass can be fitted to a simple model that predicts dew production from simple meteorological data (temperature, humidity, wind velocity, cloud cover). Chemical analyses of the water collected from the plate were performed from October 16, 1999 to July 16, 2000 and from the condenser, from July 17, 2000 to March 17, 2001. The following parameters were investigated: suspended solids, pH, concentration of SO₄²⁻, Cl⁻, K⁺, Ca²⁺ ions. Only Cl⁻ and SO₄²⁻ ions were sometimes found significant. Wind direction analyses revealed that Cl⁻ is due to the sea spray and SO₄²⁻ to the combustion of fuel by an electrical plant located in the Ajaccio Gulf. Except for a weak acidity (average pH≈6) and high concentration of suspended solids, dew water fits the requirements for potable water in France with reference to the above ions.