Tuesday, December 25, 2007

The Dessler 20


Eli spent some time going through the membership list of the 400 Club to find those that could give our young contender, Andrew Dessler, a workout. Andy is itching for a debate, even after the pug he was scheduled to flatten didn't show. Sad to say the Rabett could only come up with about 20 full time US denialists. Canada provides a few wetbacks (Update: Eli is informed the proper term of art is) loons and for the price of an intercontinental first class fare there are some from overseas, but my oh my, the roadkill list is long. Your lists may vary, and we are prepared to listen to suggestions.

  1. Dr. Sallie Baliunas, astrophysicist and climate researcher, Boston, Mass.
  2. Dr. Reid Bryson, the founding chairman of the Department of Meteorology at University of Wisconsin (now the Department of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences
  3. Dr. John Christy of the University of Alabama in Huntsville and NASA
  4. Joseph D'Aleo served as the first Director of Meteorology at The Weather Channel.
  5. David Deming, PhD (Geophysics), Associate Professor, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Oklahoma, U.S. 3
  6. Robert Durrenberger, past president of the American Association of State Climatologists
  7. Dr. Hugh W. Ellsaesser, physicist/meteorologist, previously with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Calif.; atmospheric consultant.
  8. Dr. Oliver W. Frauenfeld, a co-author of the 2005 book Shattered Consensus: The True State of Global Warming and a research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences Division of Cryospheric and Polar Processes at the University of Colorado
  9. Dr. William Gray, Emeritus Professor of Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University (CSU), and head of the schools Tropical Meteorology Project 3
  10. Douglas V. Hoyt, senior scientist at Raytheon (retired) and co-author of the book The Role of the Sun in Climate Change; previously with NCAR, NOAA, and the World Radiation Center, Davos, Switzerland 2
  11. Craig D. Idso, PhD, Chairman, Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, Arizona, U.S.
  12. David R. Legates, PhD, Director, Center for Climatic Research, University of Delaware, U.S. 2
  13. Richard S. Lindzen, PhD, Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology, Dept. of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, U.S. 3
  14. Dr. Patrick J. Michaels, professor of environmental sciences, University of Virginia 2
  15. R. Timothy Patterson, PhD, Professor, Dept. of Earth Sciences (paleoclimatology), Carleton University, Canada 4
  16. William E. Reifsnyder Meteorologist Forestry, Yale
  17. S. Fred Singer, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia and former director, U.S. Weather Satellite Service 4
  18. Dr. Willie Soon Harvard-Smithsonian Center Astrophysicist
  19. Roy W. Spencer, PhD, climatologist, Principal Research Scientist, Earth System Science Center, The University of Alabama, Huntsville, U.S. 3
  20. Mr. George Taylor, Dept. of Meteorology, Oregon State University; Oregon State climatologist; past president, American Association of State Climatologists 3
Roadkill
  1. Bjarne Andresen, PhD, physicist, Professor, The Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
  2. Dr. Nils-Axel Morner, emeritus professor of paleogeophysics & geodynamics, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
  3. Dennis Avery's 2006 book, Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1500 Years
  4. Dr. Jack Barrett, chemist and spectroscopist, formerly with Imperial College London, U.K.
  5. Ernst-Georg Beck, Dipl. Biol., Biologist, Merian-Schule Freiburg, Germany 3
  6. Dr. Edward F Blick, Professor of Meteorology and Engineering at University of Oklahoma
  7. Dr. John Brignell is a UK Emeritus Engineering Professor of Northampton Engineering College who held the Chair in Industrial Instrumentation at Southampton and was awarded the Callendar Silver Medal by InstMC
  8. Piers Corbyn Astrophysicist of the UK based long-term solar forecast group Weather Action
  9. Richard S. Courtney, PhD, climate and atmospheric science consultant, IPCC 4
  10. Tim Curtin, Economist a former advisor with the EU, World bank, and an Emeritus Faculty member of Australian National University
  11. Eduardo Ferreyra, president and founder of the Argentinean Foundation for a Scientific Ecology
  12. Freeman J. Dyson, PhD, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton, N.J., U.S.
  13. Christopher Essex, PhD, Professor of Applied Mathematics and Associate Director of the Program in Theoretical Physics, University of Western Ontario, Canada
  14. Gerhard Gerlich, Professor for Mathematical and Theoretical Physics, Institut für Mathematische Physik der TU Braunschweig, Germany
  15. Vincent Gray, PhD, expert reviewer for the IPCC and author of The Greenhouse Delusion: A Critique of 'Climate Change 2001,' Wellington, New Zealand
  16. Warwick Hughes, a New Zealand earth scientist living in Perth
  17. Keith. Idso, Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, Arizona, U.S.
  18. Sherwood B. Idso, PhD, President, Center for the Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change, AZ, USA
  19. Zbigniew Jaworowski, PhD, physicist, Chairman - Scientific Council of Central Laboratory for Radiological Protection, Warsaw, Poland
  20. Madhav Khandekar, PhD, former Research Scientist Environment Canada; Editor "Climate Research" (03-05); Editorial Board Member "Natural Hazards, IPCC Expert Reviewer 2007
  21. L.F. Khilyuk of the University of Southern California
  22. Marcel Leroux, PhD, Professor Emeritus of Climatology, University of Lyon, France; former director of Laboratory of Climatology, Risks and Environment, CNRS 4
  23. Dr. Jennifer Marohasy, Biologist who has been a field biologist in remote parts of Africa and Madagascar and published in international and Australian scientific journals
  24. John McLean, Climate Data Analyst, computer scientist, Melbourne, Australia 3
  25. Alan Moghissi of the Institute for Regulatory Science
  26. Lord Christopher Monckton, the Viscount Monckton of Brenchley
  27. Lubos Motl, PhD, physicist, former Harvard string theorist, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
  28. Dr Benny Peiser, professor of social anthropology, Faculty of Science, Liverpool John Moores University, U.K.
  29. Dr. Art Robinson, founder, Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, Cave Junction, Ore.
  30. Dr. Oleg Sorochtin of the Institute of Oceanology at the Russian Academy of Sciences
  31. Dr. Ralf D. Tscheuschner
  32. Edward J. Wegman, Bernard J. Dunn Professor, Department of Statistics and Department Computational and Data Sciences, George Mason University, Virginia, U.S.
Why no Landsea, Pielke, etc., well while they are no fans of the IPCC their positions on whether people are changing the climate are equivocal.

16 comments:

Sparrow (in the coal mine) said...

You said: Why no Landsea, Pielke, etc., well while they are no fans of the IPCC their positions on whether people are changing the climate are equivocal.

equivocal: "of uncertain nature or significance; or (often) intended to mislead"

That work may fit Pielke (regretfully I'm not intimately familiar with his work) but I'm pretty sure Landsea's position on AGW is well documented and in agreement with the consensus. His only dispute is the hurricane link which, thanks to the Pacific, has room for legitimate doubt. In short I think you are missing an "un".

Anonymous said...

Pielke Jr. is not a denialist, just a contrarian in dreadful need of media attention. He's often wrong but very aggressive in promoting his views, and he knows how to manipulate journalists.

Landsea is a just a run-of-the-mill mediocrity who is on the losing end of a debate.

Mus musculus anonymouse

Anonymous said...

Of course, Baliunas shows up on top because of alphabetization of the list but it's rather funny when one recalls the Soon-Baliunas paper fiasco, the ozone denying before the Nobel and the GW attribution to ozone after the Nobel. Not to mention the congressional hearing where she said phasing out ozone would cost "trillions."

What's even more amusing is the list itself as an attempt at appeal to authority when skeptics so commonly argue that such logically flawed tricks are void and null when referring to the the many scientists contributing to the consensus view.

Saturnian

Anonymous said...

"What's even more amusing is the list itself as an attempt at appeal to authority"

Especially since the list includes such "authorities" as Lubos Motl.

Authority on what?

Sparrow (in the coal mine) said...

Nary a riposte from the hare?

This sparrow is wondering if Eli agrees with the birg or if the scruffy little hairball knows something others do not. I've been under the impression that Landseas position on AGW was quite clear and centrist.

Sparrow (in the coal mine) said...

clarification:

I consider AGW (more CO2 = more heat) and hurricanes two separate debates. And I will note that Landsea does appear to be on the losing end of the hurricane debate but that is a different matter.

Anonymous said...

I assume that the first list is of persons who have actually worked in climatology and are in-de-Nile (cue photo of Egyptian river); and the second list is of persons who have scientific training but no experience with actual climate science (still in-de-Nile). The remaining 350 or so are persons with insufficient qualifications or are not sufficiently in-de-Nile.

Am I correct? (sometimes the curious language of The Rabbet leaves me baffled.)

Anonymous said...

"Lubos Motl, PhD, physicist, former Harvard string theorist"

Does that mean he's moved on to the woodwinds?

EliRabett said...

Sam, correct on the first, somewhat correct on the second, its a mix of other science and plain old wingnut, but the remainder also include a whole bunch who Eli simply knows nothing about (see Alan Titchmarsh for example)

Anonymous said...

Does anyone have any advice on string?

I've heard it said (mainly, granted, by its purveyors, who obviously have a vest-ed interest in it) that "Harvard string" has promised to knit everything together nicely for almost 40 years now and that it's superior to the new-fangled E8-type netting at physically tying things together. But then again, I've also heard it said that Harvard string has consistently failed to deliver when subjected to field testing.

I've also heard about a variety called brenchley (monkey?) string that should be avoided at all costs, since it falls apart as soon as you look at it, let alone try to use it.

Now I'm only looking for stringy stuff for tying in the ol' Phaseolus ssp. again next year, so should I go for the common gardener's string again?

Whatever your recommendation, it needs to last a full season, and in slightly warmer, windier (and convectively stormier) summers than we've hitherto been used to in these parts. So, should I stick with plain old gardener's string?

Cymraeg llygoden

Kristjan Wager said...

Bjarne Andresen's objection was to the use of a global temperature, which he claims is meaningless (for more info, see here).

He actually has a point, but of course ignores the fact that when all local temperatures rise, it's quite possible to talk about a rise in the global temperature.

It should perhaps be pointed out that according to the website of the Niels Bohr Institute, he holds the title of a 'lektor' which is equivalent to an 'associate professor', not a full professor.

Anonymous said...

Bjarne Andresen may have a point but I serioulsy doubt that even he knows what it is.

As Eli pointed out in more detail than most sane people would ever desire, Andresen and his two colleagues ( Larry and Curly) used Celsius instead of Kelvin for Stefan Boltzmann radiation temperatures, which makes about as much sense as using a microwave oven to freeze your ice cream.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Rabbit
Thank you for checking the list.
I found an interesting site that decided to check the names of the IPCC 2500. They are still working on it but I am sure they will be happy to post the results. One never knows what one will find.
Maybe if they can figure out how to fix the problems in their GCMS and with the surface temps we might one day really know what is going on.
Or did they fail to admit:We really don't know clouds at all.
They only people I currently hear denying anything are AGWites. It is either that or dooms day. you might want to see what they are posting at RC.

EliRabett said...

Mike, we usually include links.

EliRabett said...

Oh yeah Mike, John Fleck had something you might want to read

"First, on the Working Groups II and III skill sets. Working Group I is the climate science group, which is where one expects to find climate science expertise (and, in fact, is where you find it). Working Group II involves societal response to changing climate, which makes social science expertise entirely appropriate. Working Group III involves the costs and benefits of various greenhouse gas reduction approaches, which makes the expertise of economists entirely appropriate."

IOW you tried simple misdirection and you lost.

Anonymous said...

Eli,

Granted, many folks on your Top 20 list are quite publically outspoken concerning their views on global climate change and its causes and potential implications. However, Dr. Frauenfeld isn't one of them. No stretch of anyone's imagination would describe him as "full time denialist."

-Chip Knappenberger