David Lea
@climateprof.bsky.social
Climate Scientist, Faculty at UCSB since 1989. Biking when I can...
The best defense of the university I've ever read, by Steven Pinker:
Harvard Derangement Syndrome www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/o...
Harvard Derangement Syndrome www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/o...
Opinion | Harvard Derangement Syndrome
www.nytimes.com
May 23, 2025 at 3:20 PM
The best defense of the university I've ever read, by Steven Pinker:
Harvard Derangement Syndrome www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/o...
Harvard Derangement Syndrome www.nytimes.com/2025/05/23/o...
Reposted by David Lea
Need micropaleontology slides? I started a company! MicroPaleoWorks.com. If you need slides, hit me up. Prices range from 1.50 to 2.20 each depending on the variety. We can customize with numbering for a fee. We are a #smallbusiness #womenowned #madeintheUSA using #canadianaluminum & #recycledpaper
MicroPaleoWorks | micropaleoslides
MicroPaleoWorks, a Foraminarium company. Supplier of micropaleoslides for foraminifera and other microfossils or small samples
MicroPaleoWorks.com
April 2, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Need micropaleontology slides? I started a company! MicroPaleoWorks.com. If you need slides, hit me up. Prices range from 1.50 to 2.20 each depending on the variety. We can customize with numbering for a fee. We are a #smallbusiness #womenowned #madeintheUSA using #canadianaluminum & #recycledpaper
Reposted by David Lea
Very pleased to have co-edited the latest version of Elements Magazine (www.elementsmagazine.org) "Biomineral Geochemistry" with @amoeba-lab.bsky.social and Ros Rickaby. Topics range from controls on CaCO3 polymorph to the role of amorphous intermediate phases and "vital effects". 🧪🌊🪸⚒️
April 1, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Very pleased to have co-edited the latest version of Elements Magazine (www.elementsmagazine.org) "Biomineral Geochemistry" with @amoeba-lab.bsky.social and Ros Rickaby. Topics range from controls on CaCO3 polymorph to the role of amorphous intermediate phases and "vital effects". 🧪🌊🪸⚒️
Polling of my global warming class @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social for the 20 years I have taught it.
Results:
Sense of alarm hit a low in 2012 ("Climategate" era), peaked in 2019 (protest era), declined slightly since.
But 2025 "at end" of class was back up.
Why? Fires in LA (Jan), or new admin?
Results:
Sense of alarm hit a low in 2012 ("Climategate" era), peaked in 2019 (protest era), declined slightly since.
But 2025 "at end" of class was back up.
Why? Fires in LA (Jan), or new admin?
March 21, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Polling of my global warming class @ucsantabarbara.bsky.social for the 20 years I have taught it.
Results:
Sense of alarm hit a low in 2012 ("Climategate" era), peaked in 2019 (protest era), declined slightly since.
But 2025 "at end" of class was back up.
Why? Fires in LA (Jan), or new admin?
Results:
Sense of alarm hit a low in 2012 ("Climategate" era), peaked in 2019 (protest era), declined slightly since.
But 2025 "at end" of class was back up.
Why? Fires in LA (Jan), or new admin?
Reposted by David Lea
🧵 I'd like to share some of the recent and ongoing collaborative projects I’m most proud of from my time at NOAA. Some will continue on in one form or another, but others will not - a direct result of the cuts hitting science across the board.
March 12, 2025 at 2:31 PM
🧵 I'd like to share some of the recent and ongoing collaborative projects I’m most proud of from my time at NOAA. Some will continue on in one form or another, but others will not - a direct result of the cuts hitting science across the board.
Reposted by David Lea
A fun case of usual-unusual: Most luminescence in the sea is blue-green, but Tomopteris worms emit yellow light.
With Warren Francis, we found a species that emits blue light — unusual but usual. 🦑🧪
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00227-016-3028-2
doi.org/10.1002/bio.2671
With Warren Francis, we found a species that emits blue light — unusual but usual. 🦑🧪
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00227-016-3028-2
doi.org/10.1002/bio.2671
March 11, 2025 at 6:13 AM
A fun case of usual-unusual: Most luminescence in the sea is blue-green, but Tomopteris worms emit yellow light.
With Warren Francis, we found a species that emits blue light — unusual but usual. 🦑🧪
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00227-016-3028-2
doi.org/10.1002/bio.2671
With Warren Francis, we found a species that emits blue light — unusual but usual. 🦑🧪
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00227-016-3028-2
doi.org/10.1002/bio.2671
Reposted by David Lea
This is a big deal, mainly because it is a very thorough piece of work, but also because the sensitivity of ice sheet models are still highly dependent on important details of the topography and conditions at the bottom of the ice sheet that remain highly uncertain.
March 11, 2025 at 11:32 AM
This is a big deal, mainly because it is a very thorough piece of work, but also because the sensitivity of ice sheet models are still highly dependent on important details of the topography and conditions at the bottom of the ice sheet that remain highly uncertain.
Worth noting that the Princeton GFDL lab @voosen.me highlights was where Nobel prize winner Syukuro Manabe did his pioneering work developing the first climate model used to test the theory of global warming.
My latest: The mass firings at NOAA can feel abstract. Here's what was lost at one research center -- the birthplace of climate modeling.
Fired staff became U.S. citizens to pursue these dream jobs, only to have their dreams upended.
Fired staff became U.S. citizens to pursue these dream jobs, only to have their dreams upended.
NOAA firings hit the birthplace of weather and climate forecasting
Dismissed researchers were improving severe weather predictions
www.science.org
March 5, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Worth noting that the Princeton GFDL lab @voosen.me highlights was where Nobel prize winner Syukuro Manabe did his pioneering work developing the first climate model used to test the theory of global warming.
Reposted by David Lea
February 2025 was the third warmest February on record after 2024 and 2016, at 1.59C above preindustrial level.
This is the first time a month has not been the warmest or second warmest on record since June 2023.
This is the first time a month has not been the warmest or second warmest on record since June 2023.
March 3, 2025 at 4:27 PM
February 2025 was the third warmest February on record after 2024 and 2016, at 1.59C above preindustrial level.
This is the first time a month has not been the warmest or second warmest on record since June 2023.
This is the first time a month has not been the warmest or second warmest on record since June 2023.
Reposted by David Lea
Global temperatures fell sharply in the first half of the month, but have been rising in the past week.
This may be a sign that the short-term cooling effect of La Nina is at long last kicking in, though it it too early to know for sure.
This may be a sign that the short-term cooling effect of La Nina is at long last kicking in, though it it too early to know for sure.
March 3, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Global temperatures fell sharply in the first half of the month, but have been rising in the past week.
This may be a sign that the short-term cooling effect of La Nina is at long last kicking in, though it it too early to know for sure.
This may be a sign that the short-term cooling effect of La Nina is at long last kicking in, though it it too early to know for sure.
Reposted by David Lea
A shift back toward much wetter conditions in NorCal now appears likely by this weekend, with a pretty strong warm/wet #AtmosphericRiver potentially bringing heavy rain somewhere between SF Bay Area and Oregon border (likely heaviest northern/central Sierra). #CAwx #CAwater
January 29, 2025 at 7:49 PM
A shift back toward much wetter conditions in NorCal now appears likely by this weekend, with a pretty strong warm/wet #AtmosphericRiver potentially bringing heavy rain somewhere between SF Bay Area and Oregon border (likely heaviest northern/central Sierra). #CAwx #CAwater
Reposted by David Lea
🚨 🚀🌍 Today, the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law is launching three online tools – the Climate Backtracker, the Inflation Reduction Act Tracker & the Silencing Science Tracker – to keep tabs on the Trump administration’s climate rollbacks & anti-science actions: https://buff.ly/4jsf5HJ
🧵⤵️
🧵⤵️
January 20, 2025 at 5:33 PM
🚨 🚀🌍 Today, the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law is launching three online tools – the Climate Backtracker, the Inflation Reduction Act Tracker & the Silencing Science Tracker – to keep tabs on the Trump administration’s climate rollbacks & anti-science actions: https://buff.ly/4jsf5HJ
🧵⤵️
🧵⤵️
Reposted by David Lea
More than 20% of the Earth's surface recorded its locally hottest annual average temperature last year.
40% of the Earth had its hottest recorded year since 2020, and 85% since the year 2000.
🧪
40% of the Earth had its hottest recorded year since 2020, and 85% since the year 2000.
🧪
January 22, 2025 at 2:01 PM
More than 20% of the Earth's surface recorded its locally hottest annual average temperature last year.
40% of the Earth had its hottest recorded year since 2020, and 85% since the year 2000.
🧪
40% of the Earth had its hottest recorded year since 2020, and 85% since the year 2000.
🧪
Reposted by David Lea
If you're looking for the text of the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement (which takes a yr. to be in effect, but the U.S. is treating as immediate): it is here. Also cuts off US funding to the UNFCCC and US int'l climate finance. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Putting America First In International Environmental Agreements – The White House
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1.
www.whitehouse.gov
January 21, 2025 at 12:14 AM
If you're looking for the text of the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Agreement (which takes a yr. to be in effect, but the U.S. is treating as immediate): it is here. Also cuts off US funding to the UNFCCC and US int'l climate finance. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Reposted by David Lea
Global temperatures have started 2025 at record-setting levels – above where they were in January 2024 despite the emergence of modest La Nina conditions in the tropical Pacific.
January 17, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Global temperatures have started 2025 at record-setting levels – above where they were in January 2024 despite the emergence of modest La Nina conditions in the tropical Pacific.
Reposted by David Lea
After becoming increasingly enmeshed in the wildfire world, you start to notice things about the way we've systematically altered our relationship with the natural environment in a way that has increased the risk of destructive fires. And then you stop being able to unsee them.
January 17, 2025 at 5:34 AM
After becoming increasingly enmeshed in the wildfire world, you start to notice things about the way we've systematically altered our relationship with the natural environment in a way that has increased the risk of destructive fires. And then you stop being able to unsee them.
Reposted by David Lea
I have a new paper in Dialogues on Climate Change exploring climate outcomes under current policies. I find that we are likely headed toward 2.7C by 2100 (with uncertainties from 1.9C to 3.7C), and that high end emissions scenarios have become much less likely.
journals.sagepub.com...
journals.sagepub.com...
January 15, 2025 at 6:18 PM
I have a new paper in Dialogues on Climate Change exploring climate outcomes under current policies. I find that we are likely headed toward 2.7C by 2100 (with uncertainties from 1.9C to 3.7C), and that high end emissions scenarios have become much less likely.
journals.sagepub.com...
journals.sagepub.com...
Reposted by David Lea
New post on The Climate Brink from Zeke @hausfath.bsky.social about our climate future. With current policies, we’re on track for a bit less than 3C, with 2030 NDCs we’re on track for about 2.5C, and with net zero pledges we’re on track for a bit less than 2C.
www.theclimatebrink.com/p/moving-awa...
www.theclimatebrink.com/p/moving-awa...
Moving away from high-end emissions scenarios
I have a new commentary in Dialogues on Climate Change exploring climate outcomes in current policy scenarios
www.theclimatebrink.com
January 15, 2025 at 6:43 PM
New post on The Climate Brink from Zeke @hausfath.bsky.social about our climate future. With current policies, we’re on track for a bit less than 3C, with 2030 NDCs we’re on track for about 2.5C, and with net zero pledges we’re on track for a bit less than 2C.
www.theclimatebrink.com/p/moving-awa...
www.theclimatebrink.com/p/moving-awa...
Reposted by David Lea
Our recent review on "Hydroclimate Volatility on a warming Earth" will be in front of the journal paywall for all to read/download freely for 14 days (until 1/23). Thereafter, this specific (ReadCube) link will grant read-only access to all: https://rdcu.be/d6ceH
Hydroclimate volatility on a warming Earth
Nature Reviews Earth & Environment - Rapid transitions between extreme wet and extreme dry conditions — ‘hydroclimate whiplash’ — have marked environmental and societal...
rdcu.be
January 14, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Our recent review on "Hydroclimate Volatility on a warming Earth" will be in front of the journal paywall for all to read/download freely for 14 days (until 1/23). Thereafter, this specific (ReadCube) link will grant read-only access to all: https://rdcu.be/d6ceH
Reposted by David Lea
In a new report, we explore the weather and climate factors that allowed the Los Angeles fires to become so large and destructive. #PalisadesFire #EatonFire
Full report: sustainablela.ucla.edu/2025lawildfi...
Summary: www.ioes.ucla.edu/article/clim...
Full report: sustainablela.ucla.edu/2025lawildfi...
Summary: www.ioes.ucla.edu/article/clim...
Climate Change A Factor In Unprecedented LA Fires
As a series of historic fires continue to blaze in Los Angeles, UCLA scholars offer insight into the causes, fallout and future mitigation.
www.ioes.ucla.edu
January 14, 2025 at 8:04 PM
In a new report, we explore the weather and climate factors that allowed the Los Angeles fires to become so large and destructive. #PalisadesFire #EatonFire
Full report: sustainablela.ucla.edu/2025lawildfi...
Summary: www.ioes.ucla.edu/article/clim...
Full report: sustainablela.ucla.edu/2025lawildfi...
Summary: www.ioes.ucla.edu/article/clim...
Reposted by David Lea
New Weather West post out now: "Following historic wildfire disasters in Southern California, a statewide dry spell intensifies and extreme fire weather conditions persist in the south." #CAwx #CAfire #PalisadesFire #EatonFire #LAfires
weatherwest.com/arch...
weatherwest.com/arch...
Following historic wildfire disasters in Southern California, a statewide dry spell intensifies and extreme fire weather conditions persist in the south - Weather West
Remarkable wet-to-dry transition combined with extreme downslope wind event yields dual wildfire catastrophes in SoCal It's never good feeling when a dire weather or disaster risk prognostication comes to fruition; that "pit in your stomach" sensation has been described by many meteorologists, climate scientists, emergency managers, and disaster-focused researchers over the years. It certainly encapsulates
weatherwest.com
January 12, 2025 at 8:51 PM
New Weather West post out now: "Following historic wildfire disasters in Southern California, a statewide dry spell intensifies and extreme fire weather conditions persist in the south." #CAwx #CAfire #PalisadesFire #EatonFire #LAfires
weatherwest.com/arch...
weatherwest.com/arch...
Reposted by David Lea
Scientists developed the first climate models in the late 1960s (for which the Nobel Prize in physics was recently awarded!).
How have these models held up against what happened in the real world after they were published? Surprisingly well, it turns out:
How have these models held up against what happened in the real world after they were published? Surprisingly well, it turns out:
January 12, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Scientists developed the first climate models in the late 1960s (for which the Nobel Prize in physics was recently awarded!).
How have these models held up against what happened in the real world after they were published? Surprisingly well, it turns out:
How have these models held up against what happened in the real world after they were published? Surprisingly well, it turns out:
Reposted by David Lea
Is there a link between #ClimateChange & increasing risk/severity of #wildfire in California--including the still-unfolding disaster? Yes. Is climate change the only factor at play? No, of course not. So what's really going on? [Thread] #CAfire #CAwx #LAfires iopscience.iop.org/a...
January 9, 2025 at 10:05 PM
Is there a link between #ClimateChange & increasing risk/severity of #wildfire in California--including the still-unfolding disaster? Yes. Is climate change the only factor at play? No, of course not. So what's really going on? [Thread] #CAfire #CAwx #LAfires iopscience.iop.org/a...
Reposted by David Lea
🚨 Global Temperature Report for 2024
2024 was the hottest year since instrumental measurements began.
3.3 billion people had their locally warmest year.
The warming rate appears to have increased, likely due to reductions in aerosol pollution & cloud cover.
berkeleyearth.org/global-tempe...
🧵
2024 was the hottest year since instrumental measurements began.
3.3 billion people had their locally warmest year.
The warming rate appears to have increased, likely due to reductions in aerosol pollution & cloud cover.
berkeleyearth.org/global-tempe...
🧵
January 10, 2025 at 4:43 PM
🚨 Global Temperature Report for 2024
2024 was the hottest year since instrumental measurements began.
3.3 billion people had their locally warmest year.
The warming rate appears to have increased, likely due to reductions in aerosol pollution & cloud cover.
berkeleyearth.org/global-tempe...
🧵
2024 was the hottest year since instrumental measurements began.
3.3 billion people had their locally warmest year.
The warming rate appears to have increased, likely due to reductions in aerosol pollution & cloud cover.
berkeleyearth.org/global-tempe...
🧵