Battle of the climate scientists and the 'Hijacking of the American Meteorological Society'

February 6, 4:51 PMDenver Weather ExaminerTony Hake

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Battle of the climate scientists - William Gray versus
James Hansen.  Learn more about them and the other
players in the global warming debate in our slideshow.

Certainly the debate over manmade climate change and global warming can get heated at times (pun intended).  Today that went to a new level pitting William (Bill) Gray, Professor Emeritus of Colorado State University who is best known for his hurricane forecasts against James Hansen of NASA's GISS division and devout climate change advocate. 

Updated:  After reading this posting, please click here to view part 2 in this series where we take a look at Dr. Gray's assertion that Dr. Hansen is an unqualified spokesman for anthropogenic global warming.

Bill Gray has long been warning that the threat of manmade climate change is not real.  In his own words, “I am of the opinion that this is one of the greatest hoaxes ever perpetrated on the American people.  I've been in meteorology over 50 years. I've worked damn hard, and I've been around. My feeling is some of us older guys who've been around have not been asked about this. It's sort of a baby boomer, yuppie thing.”

On the other side James Hansen has become Al Gore's best friend thanks to his sometimes outlandish claims about the effects of global warming.  He recently warned that President Obama has 'four years to save the world' and was quoted as saying, “We cannot afford to put off change any longer.  We have to get on a new path within this new administration. We have only four years left for Obama to set an example to the rest of the world. America must take the lead.”

The latest battle is over the decision of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) to grant its highest award, the Rossby Research Medal, to Hansen.  In a seven page letter to the AMS titled “On The Hijacking of the American Meteorological Society,” Mr. Hansen no longer seems willing to be outshouted in the debate over global warming.  The first two paragraphs of the letter pretty much sum up his thoughts:

I am appalled at the selection of James Hansen as this year’s recipient of the AMS’s highest award – the Rossby Research Medal. James Hansen has not been trained as a meteorologist. His formal education has been in astronomy. His long records of faulty global climate predictions and alarmist public pronouncements have become increasingly hollow and at odds with reality. Hansen has exploited the general public’s lack of knowledge of how the globe’s climate system functions for his own benefit. His global warming predictions, going back to 1988 are not being verified. Why have we allowed him go on for all these years with his faulty and alarmist prognostications? And why would the AMS give him its highest award?

By presenting Hansen with its highest award, the AMS implies it agrees with his faulty global temperature projections and irresponsible alarmist rhetoric. This award, in combination with other recent AMS awards going to known CO2 warming advocates, is an insult to a large number of AMS members who do not believe that humans are causing a significant amount of the global temperature increase. These awards diminish the AMS’s sterling reputation for scientific objectivity.

The letter goes on to highlight why Gray believes Hansen's studies are faulty, rails against the mainstream media, and in general lays it all on the line.  It is great reading to say the least. We will discuss this more next week but I wanted to throw it out there right away.   

What do you think about this latest development and William Gray's letter?  Where do you stand on the debate about global warming and manmade climate change?  Leave a comment below!

Updated:  After reading this posting, please click here to view part 2 in this series where we take a look at Dr. Gray's assertion that Dr. Hansen is an unqualified spokesman for anthropogenic global warming.