WP: US Hurricane Scientist Leaves UN Team (global warming connect protest)

[DeepModem Mom]

Hurricane Scientist Leaves U.N. Team
U.S. Expert Cites Politics in a Letter

By Juliet Eilperin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, January 23, 2005; Page A13


A federal hurricane research scientist resigned last week from a United Nations-sponsored climate assessment team, saying the group's leader had politicized the process.

Chris Landsea, who works at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's hurricane research division in Miami, said Monday that he would not contribute to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's chapter on atmospheric and surface climate conditions because the lead author had told reporters global warming contributed to intense Atlantic hurricanes last year.

In a letter he posted on the Internet, Landsea said there was little evidence to justify Kevin Trenberth's assertion in October that in light of current warming trends, "the North Atlantic hurricane season of 2004 may well be a harbinger of the future."...

***

The spat between Landsea and Trenberth -- who heads the climate analysis section at the private nonprofit National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. -- underscores a larger battle over what role scientists should play in one of the decade's most contentious environmental debates. Some researchers say they have a duty to express concern about human contributions to climate change, given what is at stake; others say scientists have no right to act as policy advocates....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29397-2005Jan22.html

[Oversea Visitor]

1. What is this fixation that US

has against global warming. We all witnessing a change in weather pattern. Mother Earth is geeting screwed.

[aquart]

3. No, dear. Mother Earth is screwing back.

[CHIMO]

4. Well One Has To Know

Who is the screwer and who is the screwee.
Otherwise one is screwed. One has to know the opponent.

http://www.grist.org/

[pnorman]

2. As if the "Global Warming is JUNK-Science" mantra

isn't "political" also. What mealy-mouth HYPOCRITES!!

pnorman

[xchrom]

5. exxon put some money in this guys bank account?

[Cooley Hurd]

6. ...or someone from the WH, ala Armstrong Williams.

I'd put money on it...

[depakid]

7. Good riddance

and good career move. He will advance far under Republican rule.

[grilled onions]

8. It's a new version of "bi-Polar"

That refuse to see the damage being done at the Poles. Similar damage has been done at the Polls for a second term now.....:crazy:

[bahrbearian]

9. Here is the perfect guy to head the EPA

[pokercat999]

10. It would be truly horrible if we

wasted money on global warming when it could be spent on a good cause like present or future wars.

[sbj405]

11. There is no evidence linking global warming and this hurricane season

At least, no scientific evidence. It's not a matter of being against the idea of global warming. It's about attempting to create links that aren't proven.

I would not put my scientific reputation on the line either.

[DrRang]

12. Warmer waters pump up power

I had the chance to interview Ross Gelbspan a few months ago (author of "Boiling Point" and "The Heat Is On") and asked him, since it was the middle of hurricane season.

Gelbspan, who's not a scientist either but has been focused on global warming data for years, said the frequency of hurricanes is most affected by a multi-year cycle, but that hurrican force is affected by ocean temperatures, with warmer waters providing more energy to the storms. Since global warming is causing ocean temps to rise, it seems hard to deny that global warming increases the force of hurricanes.

[DeepModem Mom]

13. Thanks, DrRang -- and welcome to DU!