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Friday 18 September 2009

Welcome Guardian readers

I see that George Monbiot has linked to this blog in his Guardian piece entitled
"Sceptics seize on climate cooling model - Research suggesting that global temperatures may fall is being used by deniers and sceptics to dismiss the entire canon of climate science"
Apparently:
"Latif's presentation is being used by the deniers to dismiss the entire canon of climate science. They choose to overlook the inconvenient fact that he is also a climate scientist, who believes that the warming trend caused by human actions will bounce back as the oscillation moves into another phase."

George Monbiot also writes
"Could Latif be right? Who knows? As far as I can tell, his paper has not yet been published, so other scientists haven't had the opportunity to see how strong it is. Vicky Pope of the Met Office suggested this morning that his model might not be as accurate as hers, as it measures only sea-surface temperatures, while the Met Office also takes temperatures below the surface into account.

We know that the world's climate system is a noisy one, in which natural variations of all kinds jostle constantly with the man-made warming signal. No one ever proposed that the global warming trend would be a smooth one, in which temperatures move up a notch every year. What we have seen so far are minor fluctuations weaving around a solid long-term trend. Nor does anyone claim that climate models are perfect. They need to be constantly refined and updated as new information comes to light. But in seeking to predict the future, you have only two options: wild guesswork, supported by a feeling in your bones, or models incorporating all the data scientists can lay their hands on. Those who reject modelling altogether must propose a better means of prediction. Seaweed, entrails and crystal balls don't qualify."

Maybe George Monbiot could stop labelling those of us, who do not believe that all the "evidence" being cited in favour of Global Warming/Man Made Climate Change is as conclusive as he believes, as "deniers" and look at the contrary evidence. Will George Monbiot change his mind and debate climate change with Ian Pilmer or is he still scared that a proper scientist may know more than he does?

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