Climate expert leaves "politicized" UN climate panel
Chris Landsea, a leading expert on hurricanes, has left the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), protesting misuse of his research by a "politicized" body. Landsea's work on tropical cyclones has been widely cited by the IPCC and other climate experts. However, the IPCC's Dr. Kevin Trenberth chose to misuse the evidence by issuing widely publicised claims that the busy hurricane season in 2004 was the result of global warming, something there is no evidence for. In an open letter to the scientific community, Landsea explains his problems with the UN climate body:
Shortly after Dr. Trenberth requested that I draft the Atlantic hurricane section for the AR4's Observations chapter, Dr. Trenberth participated in a press conference organized by scientists at Harvard on the topic "Experts to warn global warming likely to continue spurring more outbreaks of intense hurricane activity" along with other media interviews on the topic. The result of this media interaction was widespread coverage that directly connected the very busy 2004 Atlantic hurricane season as being caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas warming occurring today. Listening to and reading transcripts of this press conference and media interviews, it is apparent that Dr. Trenberth was being accurately quoted and summarized in such statements and was not being misrepresented in the media. These media sessions have potential to result in a widespread perception that global warming has made recent hurricane activity much more severe.
I found it a bit perplexing that the participants in the Harvard press conference had come to the conclusion that global warming was impacting hurricane activity today. To my knowledge, none of the participants in that press conference had performed any research on hurricane variability, nor were they reporting on any new work in the field. All previous and current research in the area of hurricane variability has shown no reliable, long-term trend up in the frequency or intensity of tropical cyclones, either in the Atlantic or any other basin. The IPCC assessments in 1995 and 2001 also concluded that there was no global warming signal found in the hurricane record.
Moreover, the evidence is quite strong and supported by the most recent credible studies that any impact in the future from global warming upon hurricane will likely be quite small.
He also provides evidence that the claims Trenberth was misrepresented by the press are false. The official press release, even the sound from the press conference (Windows media), provides solid documentation that the IPCC issued a statement that was directly contrary to the real scientific evidence.
Landsea will not participate in the upcoming Fourth Assessment Report (AR4):
I personally cannot in good faith continue to contribute to a process that I view as both being motivated by pre-conceived agendas and being scientifically unsound. As the IPCC leadership has seen no wrong in Dr. Trenberth's actions and have retained him as a Lead Author for the AR4, I have decided to no longer participate in the IPCC AR4.
The UN climate panel is "politicized." Who could have imagined?
(From the excellent Norwegian science and research site forskning.no)
4:47:20 PM 
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