As many of you know, the Weblog Awards ended Tuesday. Today WUWT was certified as the winner in the “Best Science Blog” category. The vote totals were unchanged from 5PM EST Tuesday. I had thought perhaps the last minute surges drummed up on Daily Kos and Huffington Post might have changed the outcome, be we persevered.
I’d like to sincerely thank all of you in the WUWT community of readers, contributors, and moderators, for creating (and maintaining) an atmosphere in which this could happen. Thanks also go to many friends who run other blogs and websites whom network and share content with us.
There are two other people I’d like to thank and to congratulate. Steve McIntyre of Climate Audit, who won last year and made a strong third place showing this year. Steve has been an inspiration to me in the last year.
I’d also like to congratulate Dr. James Hansen, of NASA GISS, whom was recently awarded the 2009 Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal, the highest honor bestowed by the American Meteorological Society (AMS).
The award states: The Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal is presented by AMS to researchers making outstanding contributions to the understanding of the structure or behavior of the atmosphere.
I may disagree with some of Dr. Hansen’s methods and findings, but the above is certainly true. Congratulations are in order to him.
Yay! You deserve it.
Congratulations, Anthony. I also want to commend you on the civility that you maintain on this blog, including with those with whom you may have disagreements. It makes it exceptional. I enjoy this blog not only because of the civility and the opportunity of expression that it provides to alternative viewpoints, but also because it is very educational. I wish you continued success.
Congratulations to Anthony and to the moderators who give their time to help maintain the decorum here.
As I have said before, congratulations. We are all very proud of you.
Congrats! Best site on the planet!! Special thanks go to Al Gore for giving us a reason to get interested in Weather and Climate
Let my first comment on WUWT be a hearty congrats to Anthony on his award. I make this site a daily place to visit. I only wish you served coffee here. THEN this place would be perfect!
Well done Anthony, Steve and James.
A justified acknowledgment of the ‘science’ one can find here. Congrats !
No, Hansen’s rigid, inadequate CO2 paradigm has actively hampered efforts to understand climate. Well intentioned though he may be, he’s just way wrong, and obstructive.
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congrats Anthony–now back to my vacation
Whooohooo!!!
Does AMS in giving out the Carl-Gustaf Rossby award, spell out what they regard as Hansen’s contribution to the understanding of the structure or behavior the atmosphere?
Congratulations Anthony.
This is a well deserved award.
Congrats Anthony — you do a great job running this top notch site.
I recommend it to everyone I run into.
Congratulations Anthony and WUWT
Congratulations on a well deserved recognition and in operating a site where science, learning, and disagreements function under an umbrella of civility.
WOOT!
High fives all around, and congrats to Anthony for a great site, and for making this community a *civil* place to discuss the science behind the climate.
Well done Anthony and team for winning this award! This site is an inspiration to all who care about the truth and how weather is recorded.
But I think you have been a bit too kind to James Hansen. He may be a great scientist – or not – but his contempt for those who see things differently should disqualify him for such an honour. My take on all this here:
http://tinyurl.com/7yzoz4
http://jennifermarohasy.com/blog/2009/01/valuing-passion-over-wisdom-hansen-awarded-highest-honour-by-american-meteorologists/
And congrats to you Jennifer, for your strong #2 showing in your category. Though I never quite figured out why there is not a “Best Australian Blog” category such as there is for the UK. Perhaps you should petition for such a category next year. – Anthony
Congrats Anthony.
I would also like to see the specifics for Dr Hansen receiving his award.
And just to lighten the mood:
It was April and the Aboriginals in a remote part of Northern Australia asked their new elder if the coming winter was going to be cold or mild.
Since he was an elder in a modern community he had never been taught the old secrets. When he looked at the sky he couldn’t tell what the winter was going to be like.
Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he told his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the tribe should collect firewood to be prepared.
But being a practical leader, after several days he had an idea.
He walked out to the telephone booth on the highway, called the Bureau of Meteorology and asked, ‘Is the coming winter in this area going to be cold?’
The meteorologist responded, ‘It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold.’
So the elder went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in order to be prepared.
A week later he called the Bureau of Meteorology again. ‘Does it still look like it is going to be a very cold winter?’
The meteorologist again replied, ‘Yes, it’s going to be a very cold winter.’
The elder again went back to his community and ordered them to collect every scrap of firewood they could find.
Two weeks later the elder called the Bureau again. ‘Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?’ he asked.
‘Absolutely,’ the man replied. ‘It’s looking more and more like it is going to be one of the coldest winters ever.’
‘How can you be so sure?’ the elder asked.
The weatherman replied, ‘Our satellites have reported that the Aboriginals in the north are collecting firewood like crazy, and that’s always a sure sign.’
You are a class act, Anthony, thanks for all the effort you put in here.
Aussie John said:
Boom, boom!
However, have you ever lived in the north of Australia? They don’t have winter, just a dry season. Of course, depending on where you are, it can get cold during the dry season, but then, it can get cold over night inland in the northern parts of Australia anyway.
Congrats Anthony on the Weblog award! Well deserved!
Re the AMS award:
One wonders whether James Hansen has made any successful technical predictions in his career – he certainly has failed to date with his global warming alarmist nonsense.
Re successful predictions, here is one that the Europeans should have heeded, as cold sets in and their inadequate alterantive energy systems fail to keep them from freezing this winter.
This disastrous scenario was predicted by Sallie Baliunas, Tim Patterson and me in September 2002, at:
http://www.apegga.org/Members/Publications/peggs/WEB11_02/kyoto_pt.htm
“The ultimate agenda of pro-Kyoto advocates is to eliminate fossil fuels, but this would result in a catastrophic shortfall in global energy supply – the wasteful, inefficient energy solutions proposed by Kyoto advocates simply cannot replace fossil fuels.”
Regards, Allan
Agreed.
Hansen has made enormous contributions to the understanding of the atmosphere … by inspiring people to study climate and atmospheric physics in order to refute his hysterical claims.
The Loser is the Winner!
Jolly good show Anthony; well deserved.
I confess I didn’t vote.
Well I did; actually; I voted long ago, by coming here to learn something, and maybe possibly teach some.
I’m always amazed by what you dig up, to dig into; and it is all germane.
Your expose of the lack of rigor in the surface station methodology, is a testament to the power of low budget science.
IMHO the 150 year old methodology of “climate science”, is a good part of the reason why we are in this fix; the biggest science scandal in history; and it isn’t likely to get fixed any time soon; but throwing the public light on it can only help.
I care only that we get the science right; who does that is not important, so long as it gets done.
You’re entitled to your opinion on Dr Hansen. If the AMS is rewarding him for causing the spending of more taxpayer funds for climate research; sadly much of it totally misspent; I can’t go along.
Each person who chooses to call him/erself a scientist has to live with their own conscience.
Frankly, those who for their own reasons choose to mislead a public, who cannot be expected to be conversant with the complexities of much of science, are not much different from bank robbers to me.
In the end, the integrity of science is the victim.
But you have a winner here Anthony, and congratulations.
George
Congratulations! Do me a favor and don’t run next year. It was a real nuisance to vote on the desktop and two laptops every day for a week!
Kudos big guy!!
And I agree that kudos are in order for Dr. Hansen. He has been an inspiration to many of us, including myself. He has inspired us to better understand the dire predictions and underlying data.