Mistakes in Al Gore's new book begin with the cover

Bad choice on inaccurate cover

The follow up to An Inconvenient Truth by former Vice President Al Gore called Our Choice, has once again shown the lack of science follow through. It all begins on the cover, and basically it is wrong.  The cover has a fold out that shows a view of the Western Hemisphere today, and an artist rendition of what it may look like if drastic environmental policy is not enforced.  From a meteorological perspective, it has the legitimacy of the movie The Day After Tomorrow.  Look at the images in the slide show below to see how dramatic and inaccurate the photo shop job was.  As The Atlantic Hurricane Examiner, I take exception the following issues:

1. The storm near Florida is spinning the wrong way.
2. The hurricane on the equator is impossible following the Laws of Physics.
3. Complete countries such as Cuba and many in Central America that disappear under water.
4. The ice at the north pole completely disappears, but the ice at the arctic circle remains

It's one thing to push the extreme notion of rising sea levels, but some of these land masses have very tall mountains that wont taste salt water unless there is a major collapse of the tectonic plates along the lines of Krakatau. Besides, these claims are ramping up ahead of the December Climate Summit in Copenhagen.  In 2005, the record year was the pinnacle of the Global Warming Movement with claims that more of the same would follow.  Since then, the tropical activity has slowed down dramatically.  This year has turned out to be below normal, even with the late eruption of Hurricane Ida in November. The Hurricane season forecast was lowered with the expectation of 12 named storms.  We have only has 9, the quietest in a decade.  It's been so calm, that I spent the majority of time in this forum discussing the typhoons in Asia.  The Philippines did get hit with 7 storms this year though.

As for criticism of the leader of the green movement, Al Gore has a long line just waiting to debate him.  A debate in which he refuses to grant, stating the science if in.  There is dissent among the consensus, and the doubters got a surge of ammunition last week when

Climate Change conspirators were busted by computer hackers. The computer at Britain’s Climate Research Unit, University of East Anglia was hacked, unleashing  thousands of emails and documents showing how some climate scientists seemed confused that the planet was not warming, but cooling contrary to computer models.  It also showed plans to block any papers that would show evidence of planetary cooling.

Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth came under fire for numerous factual errors.  British High Court Judge Michael Burton said that the film is "substantially founded upon scientific research and fact" but that the errors were made in "the context of alarmism and exaggeration." Nine errors in to be precise.  And that was just what was presented at trial, many others are speculated.  Check out this video clip from The Great Global Warming Swindle produced and aired in Britain. 

With some humor, there may be poetic justice for the skeptic crowd known as The Gore Effect.  This is an example or display of unusually cool weather when a major statement or protest is scheduled.  Nature's irony if you will.  As for those Inconvenient Errors, here they are as presented from UK's Telegraph:

•        1.  Mr Gore claims that a sea-level rise of up to 20 feet would be caused by melting of either West Antarctica or Greenland "in the near future". The judge said: "This is distinctly alarmist and part of Mr Gore's "wake-up call". He agreed that if Greenland melted it would release this amount of water - "but only after, and over, millennia"."The Armageddon scenario he predicts, insofar as it suggests that sea level rises of seven meters might occur in the immediate future, is not in line with the scientific consensus."
•    2.  The film claims that low-lying inhabited Pacific atolls "are being inundated because of anthropogenic global warming" but the judge ruled there was no evidence of any evacuation having yet happened.
•      3.  The documentary speaks of global warming "shutting down the Ocean Conveyor" - the process by which the Gulf Stream is carried over the North Atlantic to western Europe. Citing the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the judge said that it was "very unlikely" that the Ocean Conveyor, also known as the Meridional Overturning Circulation, would shut down in the future, though it might slow down.
• 4.  Mr Gore claims that two graphs, one plotting a rise in C02 and the other the rise in temperature over a period of 650,000 years, showed "an exact fit". The judge said that, although there was general scientific agreement that there was a connection, "the two graphs do not establish what Mr Gore asserts".
• 5.  Mr Gore says the disappearance of snow on Mt Kilimanjaro was directly attributable to global warming, but the judge ruled that it scientists have not established that the recession of snow on Mt Kilimanjaro is primarily attributable to human-induced climate change.
• 6.  The film contends that the drying up of Lake Chad is a prime example of a catastrophic result of global warming but the judge said there was insufficient evidence, and that "it is apparently considered to be far more likely to result from other factors, such as population increase and over-grazing, and regional climate variability."
• 7.  Mr Gore blames Hurricane Katrina and the consequent devastation in New Orleans on global warming, but the judge ruled there was "insufficient evidence to show that".
• 8.  Mr Gore cites a scientific study that shows, for the first time, that polar bears were being found after drowning from "swimming long distances - up to 60 miles - to find the ice" The judge said: "The only scientific study that either side before me can find is one which indicates that four polar bears have recently been found drowned because of a storm."That was not to say there might not in future be drowning-related deaths of bears if the trend of regression of pack ice continued - "but it plainly does not support Mr Gore's description".
• 9.  Mr Gore said that coral reefs all over the world were being bleached because of global warming and other factors. Again citing the IPCC, the judge agreed that, if temperatures were to rise by 1-3 degrees centigrade, there would be increased coral bleaching and mortality, unless the coral could adapt. However, he ruled that separating the impacts of stresses due to climate change from other stresses, such as over-fishing, and pollution was difficult.