Scientists Employ Wit To Highlight The Lack of Climate Trends Across Greece Since The 1800s

The accumulation of over two centuries of precipitation records across Greece indicates there have been overall slightly declining trends in precipitation extremes across the region and “negligible climate variability.” This supports a new study’s tongue-in-cheek title referencing a “404 Not Found” climate crisis.

Eight scientists have published a new study  examining the popularized conceptualization of an anthropogenically-induced climate change that has increasingly become “the post-modern scapegoat for which every disaster is blamed.” The authors point out, for example, that even the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic has been blamed on a human-caused warming climate.

The study utilizes detailed precipitation data available for Greece, as these climate records often extend to the early 1800s.

The scientists tendentiously searched for climate-related (i.e., 30+ years) trends that might confirm there is a “climate emergency, climate crisis, etc.” in the works linked to an anthropogenic influence.

However, no trend consistent with any anthropogenic climate influence could be found in the records. Hence, the wit-intended “404 Not Found” study title (which one of the 3 peer-reviewers recommended be kept in the final publication rather than discarded).

“The current period can be characterized as normal without notable climatic events.”

“The overall period does not show a linear trend or appreciable difference in the two 30-year climate periods.”

“…precipitation did not linearly change during the past 7 decades.”

Analyses of precipitation extremes may even support a “decreasing, albeit slightly” trend over the two centuries, as the record average and maximum rainfall depths occurred in the 1800s or early 1900s.

Image Source: Koutsoyiannis et al., 2023

In anticipation of the timeworn, “But Greece is not the globe!” criticism, it should be noted that comprehensive analysis of global-scale precipitation data in the satellite era also do not support detection of intensifying trends associated with the timing of the sharp rise in anthropogenic CO2 emissions or a warming climate.

Image Source: Nguyen et al., 2018