UPDATE: 11:30AM 4/12/12 Predictably, Andrew Revkin from the New York Times joins in with the poo-pooing consensus saying it is “utterly unremarkable ” (yet he writes a article about it – go figure). From Revkin’s shuttered in world of living in the woods (he didn’t even know what the TV show Seinfeld was until I brought it to his attention in Climategate2), that’s probably true, but Andy, here is one of your favorite consensus buzzphrases that can be applied: it is an unprecedented letter. There’s no denying that. – Anthony
==========
From the Daily Caller, in my opinion, a load of “hooey” from NASA’s chief scientist, particularly since James Hansen doesn’t bother with peer review much anymore, he just publishes opinions and protopapers to his Columbia University website and a compliant MSM repeats them as if they were in fact peer reviewed. Further, Hansen has never accepted an offer to debate, and he probably won’t. Clearly NASA’s chief scientist is clueless about what is going on.
NASA swipes back at former astronauts over climate change
NASA is swiping back at a group of nearly 50 of its former scientists and astronauts who wrote to accuse the space agency of advocating the “extreme” position that global warming is the result of man-made carbon dioxide.
In a March 28 letter addressed to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, 49 former employees said the “unbridled advocacy of CO2 being the major cause of climate change is unbecoming of NASA’s history of making an objective assessment of all available scientific data prior to making decisions or public statements.”
But NASA responded on Wednesday by saying they don’t “draw conclusions and issue ‘claims’ about research findings.”
“We support open scientific inquiry and discussion,” NASA chief scientist Waleed Abdalati said in a statement provided to The Daily Caller.
“If the authors of this letter disagree with specific scientific conclusions made public by NASA scientists, we encourage them to join the debate in the scientific literature or public forums rather than restrict any discourse,” Abdalati said.
He added: “NASA sponsors research into many areas of cutting-edge scientific inquiry, including the relationship between carbon dioxide and climate.”
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NASA’s Global Climate Change site:
http://climate.nasa.gov/
“Evidence” section:
http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
Yes, someone was lazy and the first two links are the same, only going to the IPCC home page.
Ref 4: Church, J. A. and N.J. White (2006), A 20th century acceleration in global sea level rise, Geophysical Research Letters, 33, L01602, doi:10.1029/2005GL024826.
The global sea level estimate described in this work can be downloaded
from the CSIRO website.
Someone better let them know how that rate of global sea level rise has slowed down of late.
Refs:
So when are they going to notice that global warming has basically stalled for over a decade?
There’s a brief “Glacial retreat” section, with a nice picture with caption “The disappearing snowcap of Mount Kilimanjaro, from space.” When it has been chewed over to death on this site, using peer-reviewed published research, that Kilimanjaro is a land-use change issue unrelated to “global warming”.
Ref: http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/extremes/cei/
Intense rainfall events? If a deluge fell in a forest in 1940 and NOAA wasn’t there to measure it, did it happen?
With “evidence” of this caliber presented by NASA, I can easily understand while some people can be slightly upset.
And that’s without clicking on the NASA’s Role tab and finding out “Venus had been roasted by a super-charged greenhouse effect.” I thought by current research it was only Hansen that still believed Venus had a runaway greenhouse effect. Oh well, who cares about current data and research when there’s a message to deliver? Not NASA, that much is clear.
Can Abdalati show us the reaserch or into cutting-edge scientific inquiry that supporters Hansen’s infamous boiling oceans or coal death train claims ?
Climate at NASA for Kids is replete with conclusions and claims, accompanied by some really scary pictures and predictions. Is NASA challenging the little children to participate in an open debate with their scientists, or merely taking advantage of their malleability?
Open enquiry is a good thing. Eventually finding answers that apply to this universe is also a good thing.
REPLY: no, spell check is fine, PEBKAC, and it is spreading. – Anthony
=======
nob, speel chack as nobe workink
Something tells me he is probably part of the new priority NASA mission of building ties to the Muslim world.
http://washingtonexaminer.com/politics/2010/07/nasas-new-mission-building-ties-muslim-world/12425
“I will be representing all of the science in the agency, ensuring that it is aligned with and fulfills the administration’s science objectives, and advocating for NASA science in the context of those broader government science agendas,” he said.
http://www.colorado.edu/news/releases/2010/12/13/cu-boulder-professor-waleed-abdalati-named-chief-scientist-nasa
That certainly doesn’t fill me with confidence that science is even a concern. Call me cynical and biased but he sounds like a typical bureaucratic advocate for the politics of Obama and not someone interested in actual science.
@Mike M
>>With NASA receiving about $1.2 BILLION this year SPECIFICALLY designated for “Combatting Climate Change” – I’d be surprised if Dr, Abdalati had not said what he did.
Hmmm. I’m confused. I had heard that NASA had been repurposed to do Muslim outreach. So what are they, a goodwill agency, space engineering agency, or climate research agency?
Do they even know what they are now? Does the government? Do the taxpayers? Hey! We’re payin’ for this stuff!
We should all remember that NASA chief scientist Waleed Abdalati was appointed by Obama for “outreach” to the Muslum world and not for any space or scientific reason.
Al Gore makes a cheap imitation of a Michael Moore type movie, and is ready with the popcorn and Carbon Indulgences in the Lobby. Jim Hansen gets himself arrested, while in the employ of NASA, at a coal-fired electric plant, and somehow NASA is none-the-wiser.
Where is the CO2 science behind this, if any?
As I have pointed out in several posts including in tips, this guy is not a scientist, but a CAGW propagandist. What in the world is a cryosphere “expert” doing as NASAs chief scientist? I guess “what in the world” is right. NASA no longer cares about space.
Now all we need is an anotated list of quotes from NASA funded researchers who were trying/advocating restricting the debate and smother opposition research in the peer reviewed literature, to prove his statement is asserting the exact opposite of reality.
Publish that as a direct response to his statement and invite the NASA climate folks to an open debate of the science.
Call his bluff!
Larry
WHO ARE THESE GUYS? and
WHY ARE THEY THERE?
Poor NASA space heroes.
The climate scare folks have taken over their institution.
Wasn’t NASA supposed to be the National Aeronautics and Space Administration?
What are ice and climate people like Abdalati, Hansen and Schmidt doing there anyway?
Is the place used for political appointments?
We should get rid ASAP of the people who trash one of our science treasures…
Have done several searches for this guy and never seem to come up with a birth place. His NASA bio shows nothing as several other sites I found.
Anyone know ?
This reminds me of The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy, if the engineers where on the C Ark, then scientists like Hansen would be on the B Ark. The only one to be launched into deep space…and with good reason…
speel chek does not work for me here on WUWT but works fine on other forums.
(firefox 11.0)
Larry
kadaka (KD Knoebel) says:
April 12, 2012 at 12:13 pm
You raise a very good point. Why is NASA allowed to continue its blatant CAGW propoganda on their website? Not only that Government agency but also CSIRO, NIWA and others who have been shown to manipulate data and present propaganda to suit their warmista agenda. As you say most of their global warming propaganda has already been debunked by WUWT. The probem is that they are presented as piecemeal posts over a long period of time. The question is how to pull together all these relevant WUWT posts such a way as to have maximum impact.
It is an unprecedented letter. There’s no denying that. – Anthony
=======================
Any citizen can verify that the Heartland Institute presently hosts, on its own web site, one hundred and thirty four policy-related documents that refer to “open letters”. Moreover, several of the “open letter” documents that the Heartland Institute presently hosts—for example, letters to the American Physical Society, to the Canadian Prime Minister, to the Secretary General of the United Nations, to the Speaker of the House, and to “US Senators”—substantially duplicate the substance of the most recent “open letter” to NASA. So perhaps the word “repeated letter” might be more accurate than “unprecedented letter”?
REPLY: My goodness your zeal to defend the consensus makes you appear dense. Show me a letter like this from 49 people who worked at NASA, including people like Chris Craft, who have never spoken out before, and you might have a point – Anthony
How many whopping engineering mistakes has NASA made? Space telescope mirror, a mars orbiter metric mistake, a couple space shuttles, come to mind. Doing a search on “NASA error” bring a lot more to light including a balloon launch mishap in Australia where the person in charge called 911 when his balloon hit a car.
Just thought, does NASA now stand for,
Not A Space Agency?
Before the bashing of Dr. Waleed Abdalati escalates, Wikipedia has his bona fide list:
Sounds like someone who’s more engineer than a pure-theory scientist, who has actually gotten his hands dirty and worked with tech beyond a keyboard and monitor.
So let’s cut him some slack and not trash him so much over a statement that upper management expected him to issue, okay?
BarryW says:
from April 12, 2012 at 10:58 am
“But what does all this have to do with NASA’s prime mission of Moslem outreach?”
I’m sure that Waleed Abdalati is on top that priority!
I’m getting caned over at the Guardian, is it because I’m wrong?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/apr/12/attacks-climate-science-nasa-staff
NASA does post a Climate Uncertainties Page on their Climate website but its not very detailed.
NASA: Global Climate Change
http://climate.nasa.gov/uncertainties/
Climate Uncertainties Page includes:
– Solar Irradiance
– Aerosols, Dust, Smoke, and Soot
– Clouds
– Carbon Cycle
– Ocean Circulation
– Precipitation
– Sea Level Rise
The response to those who sent the letter describing their concerns about the credibility of NASA, in promoting climate change, showed no professional recognition of the service, creditability and historical importance of these scientists and astronauts or appreciation for their concerns.
Rather than thank them for their concerns, NASA responded to the courtesy of those who sent the letter by telling them to not bother NASA and if I read it right to go public with their concerns.
Quote: “If the authors of this letter disagree with specific scientific conclusions made public by NASA scientists, we encourage them to join the debate in the scientific literature or public forums rather than restrict any discourse,” Abdalati said.”
MuslimLink Canada is proud of this appointment…
http://www.muslimlink.ca/biz-tech/biz-tech/nasas-new-chief-scientist-is-muslim
“In his new posting, Dr. Abdalati will serve as NASA Administrator Charles Bolden’s, chief adviser on the agency’s science programs, planning and science investments.
He will also work with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the Office of Management and Budget.”
This was a PC chess move.
Science and Politics don’t mix well.
My stomach wants to hurl chunks.
After the idiots make a mess, science will win…
eventually…