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.
I usually agree with you 100%. This time is closer to 66%.
Congratulations are not due a proven fraud. Especially by those whom he would jail for the crime of pointing out his fraud.
Terry Ward
That was a great post.
Are you aware of this record? The met office keep trying to stop using it but I keep reminding them
http://hadobs.metoffice.com//hadcet/cetml1659on.dat
Looking through Callendars archives it is obvious he and Manley had a considerable collaboration and it appears that temperatures might have been adjusted as a result. What effect that has overall I can’t say at this stage as I am still ploughing through the digital documents.
TonyB
Congratulations, Anthony! And, I would like to second Phil’s statement about your civility. I think you set a high standard in that regard that those of us on both sides of the debates, including myself, would do well to work harder to try to emulate!
REPLY: Thank you Joel, the goal is to be able to disagree, without being disagreeable. – Anthony
Congratulations locally, Anthony, here again, although I may radically disagree with your opinion that James Hansen has made outstanding contributions to the understanding of the structure or behavior of the atmosphere. 😉
Congrats on this award. You earned it.
Mr.Watts, you are a scholar and a gentleman and a practitioner of good sportmanship. Unfortunately those people who suffer from CO2 phobia are unable to extent similar courtesies toward you and other skeptics.
Thanks for providing an awesome website.
I agree that Anthony is a stellar guide on the path of civility. I’ll testify to his inspiration to me in that regard.
Now, back to snark; when will you fools finally give up Hansen?
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This is my official, on the record, not subject to change or update, congrats to Mr. Watts and everyone who contributes to Wattsupwiththat.
People eventually want to hear the truth, even though scientific-sounding assertions sound good for awhile.
This is a site where it’s all on the table. This is good. 😉
Andrew ♫
Congratulations Anthony! A good win for science.
As far as Hansen goes, he is not a good choice at all to win anything except a one way ticket to Palookaville. He is a disgrace to NASA and the US and should be gone, with prejudice, as far as I’m concerned.
I have statistically analyzed the regressed association between the bell-shaped increase in WUWT blog stats, the number of stoichastically obsessed alarmist WUWT contributors, and the vociferous late vote rally by Pharyrlrstywhatevr and determined, with a very high level of confidence, that WUWT will win in 2009. Therefore, I wish to express congratulations on 2008 and 2009, just to be the first to predict it.
However,
David Ball (20:56:08) :
Regarding Hansen, I must fervently disagree. When he said that those who disagree with him should be jailed was the clincher for me. That is unforgivable and very revealing.
When he stated to a British journalist that denialists would only go away when dead did it for me.
Outstanding! Congrats Anthony etal, This award will draw more well earned publicity to your site. A good thing.
Anthony,
As a long time silent student of your superb work, today I was delighted to see your post on receiving Best Science Blog in the 2008 Weblog awards.
Your germane (love that word) research, balanced findings and the respectful conversation forum that you evoke delivers important understanding of climate and related issues that we are all concerned about.
as I vist you site almost I am constantly inspired by the fact based rigor of your analytically succinct and enlightening writings. The great minds that respond to you are also a great testament to you too.
In time, I believe your legacy will be much greater than this truly momentous award to you that so many voted on. I also look forward to that day too.
We done and well deserved.
Sincerely
Gordon Wood
PS A quick note to Aussie John. I feel sure now that Indigo Jones must have used the same satellite.
Congratulations!
This column is always my first blog read of the day – always informative and entertaining.
Keep up the good work
Congratulations!!
Congratulations Anthony and team. A very well deserved win for both science and civility. Thank you for sharing your inquisitiveness with us and for creating such an excellent “must read” blog.
Tip of the hat to WUWT! You guys have done a phenomenal job at confronting the insanity that is AGW!
W00t!
Congratulations on the win, Anthony. I am still thinking “Must vote” every time I turn the PC on. Long may your site continue in its championing of accurate science.
TonyB (05:00:45)
That hadobs central England record is most interesting.
The early years the record is to the half-degree Celsius, abruptly changing to a tenth-degree in Jan 1699. It stays that way until it switches back to the half-degree in Jan 1707. It switches back (permanently) to tenth-degree in Nov 1722. Given that Anders Celsius did not even invent his scale until 1744, I wonder what sort of number crunching was involved to get the originally recorded figure to the nearest 0.5C, and why it was not all converted to the tenth-degree format. The modern style temperature measurement scales were not devised until the 1700s, starting with the Newton Scale, so I am curious as to how the earlier figures were arrived at in the first place.
An excellent post from Andy Revkin’s blog
January 14, 2009 9:44 pm
http://community.nytimes.com/blogs/comments/dotearth/2009/01/14/weather-mavens-honor-climate-maven.html?permid=17#comment17
I am a Fellow of the American Meteorological Society and have just recently retired after a 40 year career as a television meteorologist. For the last two years of my career, I wrote a blog from the skeptics point of view in regards to AGW.
I came to this position largely through the writings of Dr. Richard Lindzen from MIT, Dr. Roger Pielke Sr. from Colorado State, Dr. Roy Spencer from UAH and yes, Dr. Joe D’Aleo. I believe Dr. Hansen would label these people as “court jesters” as he does anyone who criticizes his work, although doesn’t science progress through critical evaluation of another’s work by such excellent scientists as those mentioned?
I agree with Dr. D’Aleo that it is indeed a sad day for the AMS when the society awards a man whose work has been shown to contain errors (such as proclaiming this past October the warmest October of record when September data was used). I believe Dr. Hansen’s political ideology has taken over his science and renders him no longer qualified to be the keeper of the global temperature data.
I have found it interesting that in my experience, many (if not a majority) of meteorologists involved in day to day operational forecasting question the catastrophic scenarios put forth by people like Dr. Hansen, whose educational background by the way is in physics and astronomy, not meteorology or climatology. Perhaps because the operational people live and die by the forecasts they make there has been a great distrust of computer models develop over the years. We need models that work and shun the climate models that we know don’t incorporate many of the driving forces behind the weather and ultimately climate, such as El Nino, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and the Atlantic Multidecal Oscillation. Those climate models have certainly missed the cooling of this decade and Dr. Hansen’s forecast of a super El Nino for the 2006-07 winter turned out to be as wrong as if I had made of forecast of snow and it turned out to be sunny. But yet he never seems to be held accountable, unlike those of us who live and die daily by those wretched models.
— Craig Woods, Grand Rapids
Take a bow, Anthony. A well-deserved win.
Can’t say the same for Mr. H, unfortunately, who seems to have forgotten what true science is. I doubt the thousands of AMS members had much, if any say in it.
Well done to all involved in making WUWT what it has become.
Anthony, your magnanimity to James Hansen is admirable, despite many reasons to be anything but that.
Oh Boy! I’ve got some quality reading tonight, having been too busy this week for anything but a quick nightly glance at all the posts (and voting of course).
Congratulations and well deserved, Anthony!
As to the good Dr. Hansen, I’d put his latest kudo right up there with Al Gore’s Nobel Prize; an embarrassment to anyone interested in “scientific truth” for its own sake.
Claude Harvey
Congratulations. Anthony & the community deserves it! We’re getting stronger each day!
Now, I cannot say the same about Hansen. His behaviour in the recent UK trial is all what is needed to classify him.
Ecotretas
TonyB (05:00:45) :
“Terry Ward
That was a great post.
Are you aware of this record? The met office keep trying to stop using it but I keep reminding them
http://hadobs.metoffice.com//hadcet/cetml1659on.dat”
Thanks for that link TonyB. Winston Smith obviously hasn’t reached that one yet.
I cannot quite believe the “New” Met Office site – even the colours make me feel ill. I had never been exposed to Manley’s connection to Callendar and am looking for all his work now. I am focussed on CO2 as I believe there should be far more science and far less “it was settled in the 19th century” bullying.
A recent find on “The Science Blog Of The Year” both outstanding and astounding –
http://www.globalwarmingskeptics.info/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=585&p=4175#p4175
:O
Terry
I have been contributing to that thread at globalwarmingsceptics as you may have noticed. If you click onto the web site graphs on that page you will see the readings that I plotted from Ernst Beck’s data. I have been corresponding with him for a couple of months and have done a lot of work on the history of its use during the 19th century and the stuff from Derek on that thread is very interesting.
Beck is definitely on to something. You may have missed the various threads re Beck and the co2 readings. Personally I think the modern co2 readings are much the same as they have always been and the ice cores are wrong at 280ppm.
I don’t know how much you know of the subject-let me know as I have a lot of references and you may have some I am unaware of. Anna V who often posts here has a particular interest in co2 as well.
TonyB
Tony – I was so excited I missed everyone’s names on that blog. I am just blotting paper for that stuff since I realized that water (present in ice at all temps/pressures has a vastly different affinity to CO2 than O” and N2 amongst others 😉
I have to put the kids to bed but will be back…..
Congratulations Anthony!
Also very magnanimous of you to recognize Hansens’ award.
I’m sure PZ Meyers will be along anytime now to congratulate you…
…right after the National Weather Service announces a flying pig advisory.