Discussion of: A statistical analysis of multiple temperature proxies: Are reconstructions of surface temperatures over the last 1000 years reliable?

Discussion of "A statistical analysis of multiple temperature proxies: Are reconstructions of surface temperatures over the last 1000 years reliable?" by B.B. McShane and A.J. Wyner [arXiv:1104.4002]Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/10-AOAS398J the Annals of Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Comparative performance of paleoclimate field and index reconstructions derived from climate proxies and noise-only predictors

The performance of climate field reconstruction (CFR) and index reconstruction methods is evaluated using proxy and non-informative predictor experiments. The skill of both reconstruction methods is determined using proxy data targeting the western region of North America. The results are compared to those targeting the same region, but derived from non-informative predictors comprising red-noise time series reflecting the full temporal autoregressive structure of the proxy network. All experiments are performed as probabilistic ensembles, providing estimated Monte Carlo distributions of reconstruction skill. Results demonstrate that the CFR skill distributions from proxy data are statistically distinct from and outperform the corresponding skill distributions generated from non-informative predictors; similar relative performance is demonstrated for the index reconstructions. In comparison to the CFR results using proxy information, the index reconstructions exhibit similar skill in calibration, but somewhat less skill in validation and a tendency to underestimate the amplitude of the validation period mean

Late winter temperature response to large tropical volcanic eruptions in temperate western North America: Relationship to ENSO phases

February–March temperature reconstructions in western North America from 1500–1980 in the Common Era (CE) are used to evaluate, from a regional perspective, the hypothesis that radiative forcing by large tropical volcanic eruptions induces a tendency in the climate system towards an early post-event El Niño (EN) response followed by a delayed La Niña (LN) response. Post-event spatial composites using superposed epoch analysis (SEA) detect indications for an EN-like pattern in post-event Years 1–2; this result, however, is sensitive to the set of eruptions evaluated. Highly significant LN-like patterns are also observed for two eruptions during Year 1. In contrast, a clear and unique LN-like response is found in both evaluated eruption sets during Years 3–5; Year 3 in particular represents the time of strongest post-event response. No significant EN-like patterns occur during these years. The relative homogeneity of the SEA response for each post-event year is evaluated in terms of the ratio of the amplitude of the SEA composite to its standard deviation across the eruption events. In relation to the same metric determined from random-event-year SEAs, these signal-to-noise ratios are most highly significant in the portions of the domain with the strongest anomalies in Years 1–5, especially Year 3. The signal-to-noise ratios tend towards uniformly low and insignificant values beyond the first half-decade after the eruption, indicating generally reduced coherence across events. In relation to the larger-scale circulation, post-eruption 500mb February–March geopotential height composites from the 20th Century Reanalysis show ENSO-type features that are largely consistent with the SEA results from the primary eruption set during Year 1, but are inconsistent with the EN-like pattern exhibited by the second eruption set during Years 1–2. In Year 3, the pressure composite over North America and the adjacent Pacific and Atlantic is strongly LN-like, consistent with all SEA results; similarly, weakening coherence across events as time progresses beyond Year 3 is also consistent with more variable pressure composites noted after that time. The relatively robust character of the delayed LN-like response is evaluated in terms of the dynamic rebound of the climate system towards its initial energy balance as the radiative impact of immediate post-eruption aerosol cooling dissipates. The LN-like SEA temperature response in Years 3–5 exhibits a slight shift of its southern warm anomaly to the north and west relative to pure composite LN conditions, which is detected as a specifically post-eruption feature in the region

2021 Taxonomic update of phylum Negarnaviricota (Riboviria: Orthornavirae), including the large orders Bunyavirales and Mononegavirales.

Correction to: 2021 Taxonomic update of phylum Negarnaviricota (Riboviria: Orthornavirae), including the large orders Bunyavirales and Mononegavirales. Archives of Virology (2021) 166:3567–3579. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-021-05266-wIn March 2021, following the annual International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) ratification vote on newly proposed taxa, the phylum Negarnaviricota was amended and emended. The phylum was expanded by four families (Aliusviridae, Crepuscuviridae, Myriaviridae, and Natareviridae), three subfamilies (Alpharhabdovirinae, Betarhabdovirinae, and Gammarhabdovirinae), 42 genera, and 200 species. Thirty-nine species were renamed and/or moved and seven species were abolished. This article presents the updated taxonomy of Negarnaviricota as now accepted by the ICTV.This work was supported in part through Laulima Government Solutions, LLC prime contract with the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) under Contract No. HHSN272201800013C. J.H.K. performed this work as an employee of Tunnell Government Services (TGS), a subcontractor of Laulima Government Solutions, LLC under Contract No. HHSN272201800013C. This work was also supported in part with federal funds from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), under Contract No. 75N91019D00024, Task Order No. 75N91019F00130 to I.C., who was supported by the Clinical Monitoring Research Program Directorate, Frederick National Lab for Cancer Research. This work was also funded in part by Contract No. HSHQDC-15-C-00064 awarded by DHS S&T for the management and operation of The National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center, a federally funded research and development center operated by the Battelle National Biodefense Institute (V.W.); and NIH contract HHSN272201000040I/HHSN27200004/D04 and grant R24AI120942 (N.V., R.B.T.). S.S. acknowledges partial support from the Special Research Initiative of Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES), Mississippi State University, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, US Department of Agriculture, Hatch Project 1021494. Part of this work was supported by the Francis Crick Institute which receives its core funding from Cancer Research UK (FC001030), the UK Medical Research Council (FC001030), and the Wellcome Trust (FC001030).S

Annual (2023) taxonomic update of RNA-directed RNA polymerase-encoding negative-sense RNA viruses (realm Riboviria: kingdom Orthornavirae: phylum Negarnaviricota)

55 Pág.In April 2023, following the annual International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) ratification vote on newly proposed taxa, the phylum Negarnaviricota was amended and emended. The phylum was expanded by one new family, 14 new genera, and 140 new species. Two genera and 538 species were renamed. One species was moved, and four were abolished. This article presents the updated taxonomy of Negarnaviricota as now accepted by the ICTV.This work was supported in part through the Laulima Government Solutions, LLC, prime contract with the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infec tious Diseases (NIAID) under Contract No. HHSN272201800013C. J.H.K. performed this work as an employee of Tunnell Government Services (TGS), a subcontractor of Laulima Government Solutions, LLC, under Contract No. HHSN272201800013C. U.J.B. was supported by the Division of Intramural Resarch, NIAID. This work was also funded in part by Contract No. HSHQDC15-C-00064 awarded by DHS S and T for the management and operation of The National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Centre, a federally funded research and development centre operated by the Battelle National Biodefense Institute (V.W.); and NIH contract HHSN272201000040I/HHSN27200004/D04 and grant R24AI120942 (N.V., R.B.T.). S.S. acknowl edges support from the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station (MAFES), USDA-ARS project 58-6066-9-033 and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Hatch Project, under Accession Number 1021494. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analysis, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the U.S. Department of the Army, the U.S. Department of Defence, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate (S and T), or of the institutions and companies affiliated with the authors. In no event shall any of these entities have any responsibility or liability for any use, misuse, inability to use, or reliance upon the information contained herein. The U.S. departments do not endorse any products or commercial services mentioned in this publication. The U.S. Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the U.S.Government retains a non-exclusive, paid up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for U.S. Government purposes.Peer reviewe

2021 Taxonomic update of phylum Negarnaviricota (Riboviria: Orthornavirae), including the large orders Bunyavirales and Mononegavirales.

In March 2021, following the annual International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) ratification vote on newly proposed taxa, the phylum Negarnaviricota was amended and emended. The phylum was expanded by four families (Aliusviridae, Crepuscuviridae, Myriaviridae, and Natareviridae), three subfamilies (Alpharhabdovirinae, Betarhabdovirinae, and Gammarhabdovirinae), 42 genera, and 200 species. Thirty-nine species were renamed and/or moved and seven species were abolished. This article presents the updated taxonomy of Negarnaviricota as now accepted by the ICTV

A pollen-based reconstruction of summer temperature in central North America and implications for circulation patterns during medieval times

We present a reconstruction of mean summer temperature for the northern Midwest of the USA based on lacustrine pollen records from three different lakes in Wisconsin. The results suggest a relatively warm period during the earlier part of the record (~1200–1500 CE) followed by a cooler Little Ice Age (~1500–1900) and a subsequent warming to modern conditions. The reconstructed modern summer mean temperature is in good agreement with observations, and the decades of the 1930s to 1950s appear to be the warmest such period in the proxy record (through 1974). Analyses of circulation features associated with the warmest summers in the recent climate record suggest a prevalence of continental ridging accompanied by generally dry conditions during these warm summers in the Midwest. Drought reconstruction using the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) and tree-ring records as predictors also yield relatively dry conditions in medieval times for the central US. As reported in a number of recent studies, possible forcingmechanisms include La Niña-like conditions in the equatorial Pacific andwarmer than average waters in the tropical Indo-western Pacific Ocean possibly coupled to a positive mode of the AMO/ NAO North Atlantic circulation pattern