Tiempo Climate Newswatch
Interview with Jim Salinger
- Newswatch
- Home
- Noticeboard
- Announcements
- Conferences
- Courses
- Mailing lists
- Climate treaty
- Latest news
- Secretariat
- National reports
- IPCC
Featured sites
The United Nations Decade for Deserts and the Fight Against Desertification website provides information, news and resources concerning action to protect the world's drylands from further deterioration and degradation.
The Corner House website makes available a series of thought-provoking reports and presentations, published by themselves and by and other organizations, on climate issues.
News of weather events and climate affairs from around the African continent.
And finally,
Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo discusses her work Melting Men, a series of installations that has been adopted as climate change art.
About the Cyberlibrary
The Tiempo Climate Cyberlibrary is a co-production of the Stockholm Environment Institute and the International Institute for Environment and Development. It is sponsored by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.
Tiempo Climate Newswatch is a weekly on-line magazine with news, features and comment on global warming, climate change, sea-level rise and development issues. The news stories carried by Newswatch are updated weekly. Comment, features, interviews and other sections of the magazine are updated on a weekly to monthly basis.
The Tiempo Climate Portal is a listing of selected websites covering climate and development and related issues.
The Tiempo Climate Cyberlibrary is maintained and edited by Mick Kelly and Sarah Granich. The cartoons are created by Lawrence Moore. The site was developed by Mike Salmon and Mick Kelly.
While every effort is made to ensure that information on this site, and on other sites that are referenced here, is accurate, no liability for loss or damage resulting from use of this information can be accepted.
 |
Jim Salinger discusses the development of the global temperature record, a key stage in the acceptance of climate change as a serious threat. |
|
Find out about Jim Salinger's global warming priority (low or high bandwidth streaming video) |
|
Background |
|||
|
During the 1950s and 1960s, cooling over the landmasses of the Northern Hemisphere led a number of eminent climate scientists to doubt the greenhouse theory. Considering the warmth of the 1940s extremely unusual, they reckoned the cooling trend was likely to continue. |
|||
|
|||
|
We now know that the mid-20th century cooling was restricted in geographical extent and short-lived. |
|||
|
But it was only the work of scientists such as Jim Salinger, painstakingly collecting and correcting local temperature records, that enabled the development of a truly global record of the state of our climate. |
|||
|
This, in turn, led to the realization that the world was again warming rapidly and thence to political action to curb the climate problem. |
|||
|
Newswatch asked Jim to discuss the early stages of this work. We return to the 1970s with predictions of global cooling regularly appearing in the media... |
|
To listen to the streaming audio or video files, you will need RealPlayer or Real Alternative, both free downloads |
||
|
What prompted you to start collecting climate data for New Zealand? |
|
|
|
Low bandwidth |
||
|
High bandwidth |
||
|
But just how much could you say about wider trends over the Southern Hemisphere from the New Zealand record? |
|
|
|
Low bandwidth |
||
|
High bandwidth |
||
|
Why should there have been a difference between the trends in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere? |
|
|
|
Low bandwidth |
||
|
High bandwidth |
||
|
How did the international cooperation that led to the development of the global temperature record come about? |
|
|
|
Low bandwidth |
||
|
High bandwidth |
||
|
Are you still involved in climate monitoring? |
|
|
|
Low bandwidth |
||
|
High bandwidth |
||
|
Biography |
|
Jim Salinger is a senior climate scientist with the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research in New Zealand. He is responsible for the preparation of climate updates, as well as leading various research projects on New Zealand climate change. |
|
A leading climate change expert, he has been involved in researching and monitoring past and current climate trends, as a university climate researcher, and later in the former New Zealand Meteorological Service. |
|
Contact information |
|
Jim Salinger, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd, PO Box 109695, Auckland, New Zealand. Fax: +64-9-3752051. Email: j.salinger@niwa.co.nz. Web: www.niwa.co.nz. |
Bright Ideas
A prize-winning nation-wide biogas programme takes Vietnam's human and animal waste and turns it into clean, renewable energy, improving smallholders' quality of life
Schools for Intelligent Energy Use builds a bridge between intermediate vocational schools and civil societies to increase involvement in the field of energy saving and renewable energy
HANGER 4 LIFE produces a stylish range of ecofriendly, carbon-neutral adjustable garment hangers
Toronto Zoo is deploying green roof technology, solar hot water heating and solar and geothermal energy and plans to use dung from elephants and other large animals in a biogas plant
The Tokyo Electric Taxi Project is trialling battery-switch technology that could provide the optimum solution for electric vehicle fleets
The Far Eastern Group has built the EcoARK, a three-story exhibition hall, using 1.5 million plastic bottles (video)
SmartTrips visits different Portland neighborhoods every year with activities aimed at reducing drive-alone trips and increasing biking, walking and public transit use.
Zipcar provides flexible car sharing, by the hour or by the day and in many cities
Hydrogen-powered buses are carrying passengers on the streets of Reykjavik, Iceland (video)
The Esprimo P7000 Series of desktop computers from Fujitsu supports 0-Watt technology
Progressive Lighting and Energy Solutions makes companies green, one light bulb at a time
Ghent, Belgium, has declared Thursday a Veggie Day, promoting a meat-free, climate-friendly diet for one day of the week
Tiempo Climate Newswatch
Updated: August 29th 2010