<div dir="ltr"><h1>Article mentioned in subject heading below my comment.<br></h1><p>------------------------------------------------<br></p><h1><font size="2">Complaints about the cumbersome bloated hard to change federal government bureaucracy are ubiquitous, but there's an upside... It's not easy to make sweeping destructive changes to such a system, such as the suggested Trump administration defunding of NASA climate science, or Earth Science as NASA itself describes it: <a href="https://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/">https://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/</a> It's hard to totally separate science aimed at weather disaster preparedness, something even global warming denialists need, from climate science that is more focused on anthropogenic global warming. <br></font></h1><p>------------------------------------------</p><p>Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett</p><p>------------------------------------------<br></p><h1><font size="2"><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gavin-schmidt-trump-cant-stop-nasa-climate-science-research-2016-11">http://www.businessinsider.com/gavin-schmidt-trump-cant-stop-nasa-climate-science-research-2016-11</a></font><br></h1><h1>A NASA scientist told us why he’s surprisingly optimistic about one area of science under the Trump administration</h1><div class="gmail-list-pipes gmail-no-pipe">
<ul><li class="gmail-author-byline gmail-ks-author-byline"><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/author/rafi-letzter">Rafi Letzter</a></li></ul>
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<span rel="1479828660">Nov. 22, 2016, 10:31 AM</span></li></ul><p>Gavin Schmidt, a climate scientist and director of NASA's Goddard
Institute for Space Studies, which studies the changing atmosphere, says
that it won't be simple for Trump to purge federal agencies of climate
researchers during his presidency.</p>
<p>"Chopping off science just to prevent people from talking about
climate change won't work," Schmidt told Business Insider. "You need
science for hazards, for weather forecasting, and climate comes along
for the ride."</p>
<p>President-elect Donald Trump's stated views on climate change have ranged from the absurd — <a href="http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jun/03/hillary-clinton/yes-donald-trump-did-call-climate-change-chinese-h/">that it's a Chinese hoax</a> — to the doubtful — "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-clinton-climate-change-warming-2016-9">There is still much that needs to be investigated</a>." His statements, including his <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-climate-change-danger-action-2016-11">pledge to roll back programs designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions</a> in the US and his <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-epa-climate-science-myron-ebell-2016-11">selection of someone who says he does not believe in climate change to lead the Environmental Protection Agency's transition</a>, suggest he could reject policies designed to control pollution and curb global warming.</p><p>"I'd be lying if I said that there wasn't some level of concern,"
Schmidt said. "But the federal government is a very, very large place.
And the number of appointees is very small."</p>
<p>"I don't think one should be complacent," he added. "I think people
are going around going 'Oh yeah it's just the same as the last time and
it will be fine, it will be fine, it will be fine.' I'm finding it hard
to muster that kind of optimism."</p>
<p>But still, the sheer scale of science at the federal level makes it
hard for a new presidential administration to radically alter its
course.</p>
<p>"When I first started working for the federal government I got
frustrated," Schmidt said, "like why are we stuck in this pattern? Why
are decisions that are made so difficult to reverse? Why is it so hard
to shift anything? And it's hard because there's a lot of people and
there's a lot of moving parts and there's a huge amount of money. But
now I'm thinking, 'Oh, you know what, it's a good thing that that things
can't be changed on a dime.'"</p>
<p>Schmidt added that the work he and his fellow researchers are doing
has faced considerable challenges under previous administrations as
well. But that didn't stop them from continuing to do the research.</p>
<p>"During the [George W.] Bush administration we had climate skeptics
rewriting reports and trying to control what's said to the media," he
said. "But the planet kept warning. We kept reporting on it. We kept
improving the science that underlies our understanding of why it's
changing. And we will work to continue to do so."</p>
<p>If there <i>was</i> a campaign to censor or publish bad climate science under Trump, Schmidt said that outside researchers would notice.</p>
<p>"All of these things are peer reviewed up the wazoo," he said.</p>
<p>And to the degree that there's been information about Trump's plans for NASA, Schmidt said it doesn't worry him too much.</p>
<p>"The NASA appointee from what I can tell is going to be somebody
who's going to be very focused on Mars or human spaceflight, and I don't
think that's terrible," he said.</p>
<p>In the end, the exact fate of climate research under Trump is still impossible to predict.</p>
<p>"President Obama said that he hopes their policies will be 'thought
through,'" Schmidt said. "I think that's something to hope for, though
whether I would put money on it myself is a slightly different
question."</p><p><br></p><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Nov 23, 2016 at 9:09 PM, Ron Force <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:ronforce@gmail.com" target="_blank">ronforce@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><p dir="ltr">Won't need to worry anymore when Trump eliminates NASA's "politicised science"</p>
<p dir="ltr"><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/22/nasa-earth-donald-trump-eliminate-climate-change-research" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/<wbr>environment/2016/nov/22/nasa-<wbr>earth-donald-trump-eliminate-<wbr>climate-change-research</a>?</p>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div class="gmail-h5">On Nov 24, 2016 11:47 AM, "Ted Moffett" <<a href="mailto:starbliss@gmail.com" target="_blank">starbliss@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"></div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div><div class="gmail-h5"><div dir="ltr"><div>The National Snow & Ice Data Center graph pasted in below of Arctic sea ice extent reveals what the Guardian article 11-22-16 discusses lower down. For this time of year, the ice is at a record low. Also, the first website below shows Arctic sea ice decline from 1979-2016:</div><div>------------------------------<wbr>---------</div><div>Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/files/2016/11/Figure3-1.png" target="_blank">http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicen<wbr>ews/files/2016/11/Figure3-1.<wbr>png</a></div><div>------------------------------<wbr>----------<br></div><div><a href="https://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/" target="_blank">https://nsidc.org/arcticseaice<wbr>news/</a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div id="gmail-m_-112641627411242019m_-853839932265983810gmail-bottomNav"><a title="close image gallery" id="gmail-m_-112641627411242019m_-853839932265983810gmail-bottomNavClose"><div id="gmail-m_-112641627411242019m_-853839932265983810gmail-jqlb_closelabel"></div></a></div><div id="gmail-m_-112641627411242019m_-853839932265983810gmail-outerImageContainer" style="width:1005px;height:808px"><div id="gmail-m_-112641627411242019m_-853839932265983810gmail-imageContainer"><img id="gmail-m_-112641627411242019m_-853839932265983810gmail-lightboxImage" style="width: 985px; height: 788px; display: inline;" src="http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/daily_images/N_stddev_timeseries.png"><div id="gmail-m_-112641627411242019m_-853839932265983810gmail-hoverNav" style="display:block"><a title="previous image" id="gmail-m_-112641627411242019m_-853839932265983810gmail-prevLink" style="height:788px;display:block"></a><a title="next image" id="gmail-m_-112641627411242019m_-853839932265983810gmail-nextLink" style="height:788px;display:block"></a></div><div id="gmail-m_-112641627411242019m_-853839932265983810gmail-jqlb_loading" style="display:none"><a id="gmail-m_-112641627411242019m_-853839932265983810gmail-loadingLink"><div id="gmail-m_-112641627411242019m_-853839932265983810gmail-jqlb_spinner"></div></a></div></div></div></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>------------------------------<wbr>------------------------------</div><div><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/22/extraordinarily-hot-arctic-temperatures-alarm-scientists" target="_blank">https://www.theguardian.com/en<wbr>vironment/2016/nov/22/extraord<wbr>inarily-hot-arctic-temperature<wbr>s-alarm-scientists</a></div><div><br></div><div>Tue. 11-22-16</div><div><br></div><div><font size="4">Extraordinarily hot' Arctic temperatures alarm scientists </font></div><div><font size="4"><br></font></div><div><font size="4">Danish and US researchers say warmer air and sea surface could lead to record lows of sea ice at north pole next year</font></div><div><br></div><div><p>The <a class="gmail-m_-112641627411242019m_-853839932265983810gmail-u-underline" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/arctic" target="_blank"><font color="#005689">Arctic</font></a> is experiencing extraordinarily hot sea surface and air temperatures, which are stopping ice forming and could lead to record lows of sea ice at the north pole next year, according to scientists.</p><p> Danish and US researchers monitoring satellites and Arctic weather stations are surprised and alarmed by air temperatures peaking at what they say is an unheard-of 20C higher than normal for the time of year. In addition, sea temperatures averaging nearly 4C higher than usual in October and November.</p><p>“It’s been about 20C warmer than normal over most of the Arctic Ocean, along with cold anomalies of about the same magnitude over north-central Asia. This is unprecedented for November,” said research professor Jennifer Francis of Rutgers university. </p><p>Temperatures have been only a few degrees above freezing when -25C should be expected, according to Francis. “These temperatures are literally off the charts for where they should be at this time of year. It is pretty shocking. The Arctic has been breaking records all year. It is exciting but also scary,” she said. </p></div></div>
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