by Judith Curry, November 30, 2018 in WUWT

Draft of article to be submitted for journal publication.

Well, I hope you are not overdosing on the issue of sea level rise.  But this paper is somewhat different, a philosophy of science paper.  Sort of how we think about thinking.

I would appreciate any comments, as well as suggestions as to which journals I might submit to.  I have two in mind, but am open to suggestions (and I may need backups).

Thanks in advance for your comments.

Sea level rise: What’s the worst case?

Abstract. The objective of this paper is to provide a broader framing for how we bound possible scenarios for 21^st century sea level rise, in particular how we assess and reason about worst-case scenarios. This paper integrates climate science with broader perspectives from the fields of philosophy of science and risk management. Modal logic is used as a basis for describing construction of the scenario range, including modal inductivism and falsification. The logic of partial positions and strategies for speculating on black swan events associated with sea level rise are described. The rapidly advancing front of background knowledge is described in terms of how we extend partial positions and approach falsifying extreme scenarios of 21^st century atmospheric CO₂ concentrations, warming and sea level rise. The application of partial positions and worst-case scenarios in decision making strategies is described for examples having different sensitivities to Type I versus Type II errors.

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