From the soon to be a Climate Crock of the Week department, Barry Woods writes to me in an email:
One of the insights in the climategate emails was perhaps how poisonous Michael Mann’s involvement was, for the niche area of the paleo science community (ego due to IPCC and Hockey Stick)?
This tweet from earlier this morning (now deleted, only a text version survives -Anthony) shows the immediate labeling of “denier” for another scientist who disagrees with his paleo work.
Michael E. Mann @MichaelEMann
Closet #climatechange #denier Rob Wilson, comes out of the closet big time: http://www.bishop-hill.net/blog/2013/10/21/wilson-on-millennial-temperature-reconstructions.html … #BadScience #DisingenuousBehavior
Shortly afterwards, Mann got into a long and somewhat huffy discussion with Tamsin Edwards over that labeling, here’s the opening salvo:
Also in the feed earlier this morning, (though I can’t find it now) was a Tweet from Mann backing down saying he’d withhold judgment on Rob Wilson until he confirmed those words, suggesting that Andrew Montford (Bishop Hill) had misinterpreted Wilson’s words..
That Tweet apparently has disappeared too. (A WUWT commenter found it, see below, but the original “denier” tweet is still missing -A) I wasn’t going to bother with this article until Dr. Mann started disappearing his own words.
Awful blog piece (http://t.co/61oFMFD3Ho) may well have misrepresented Rob Wilson's views. I suspend judgment, pending his disavowal of it..
— Dr. Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) October 21, 2013
Woods continues:
[About the same time] Rob Wilson, had just publicly confirmed (in comments at Bishop Hill) that he thought and had publicly told students, public, etc Mann’s recent work was a ‘crock of shit’… (his words)
“Lastly, the “crock of xxxx” statement was focussed entirely on recent work By Michael Mann w.r.t. hypothesised missing rings in tree-ring records (a whole bunch of papers listed below).
Although a rather flippant statement, I stand by it and Mann is well aware of my criticisms (privately and through the peer reviewed literature) of his recent work.
Rob”
in the comments
Here it is in full:
==================================================================
Greetings.
Although I vetted Andrew’s post, I want to clarify that my 2 hour lecture was, I hope, a critical look at all of the northern hemispheric reconstructions of past temperature to date. It was not focussed entirely on Michael Mann’s work. I described each of the major studies and tried to highlight both their strengths and weaknesses – they all have some useful information but it is important to understand the limitations of the studies as well. Of course Mann’s work was mentioned as several of his papers have been so prominent over the last 15 years but I actually spent substantially more time taking apart the D’Arrigo et al. (2006) study on which I did much of the analysis.
This was a session where I wanted the students to critically look at the different studies and specifically address what we can learn from them and how the science can move on over the next decade. Such large scale reconstructions are critically important for understanding the controls on large climate variability, but as yet, due to great uncertainties and large differences in reconstructed amplitude, they are not yet very useful at constraining modelled estimates of future temperature change.
Bar some personal comments, much of what I said is published (see papers below) and is in the public domain.
Lastly, the “crock of xxxx” statement was focussed entirely on recent work By Michael Mann w.r.t. hypothesised missing rings in tree-ring records (a whole bunch of papers listed below). Although a rather flippant statement, I stand by it and Mann is well aware of my criticisms (privately and through the peer reviewed literature) of his recent work.
Rob
I hope all the PDF links below.
NH RELATED PAPERS
Edwards, T.L., Crucifix, M. and Harrison, S.P., 2007. Using the past to constrain the future: how the palaeorecord can improve estimates of global warming. Progress in Physical Geography 31 (5), 481-500.
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~rjsw/papers/Edwardsetal2007.pdf
D’Arrigo, R., Wilson, R. and Jacoby, G. 2006. On the long-term context for late 20th century warming. Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 111, D03103, doi:10.1029/2005JD006352
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~rjsw/all%20pdfs/DArrigoetal2006a.pdf
D Frank, D., J. Esper, E. Zorita, R. Wilson. (2010). A noodle, hockey stick, and spaghetti plate: a perspective on high resolution paleoclimatology. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Climate Change. doi: 10.1002/wcc.53.
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~rjsw/all%20pdfs/Franketal2010.pdf
Trieste 2008 Paleoclimate Uncertainties Workshop, Final Report.
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/reports/trieste2008/trieste2008final.pdf
Esper J, Frank DC, Wilson RJS (2004) Climate reconstructions – low frequency ambition and high frequency ratification. EOS 85, 113, 120.
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~rjsw/all%20pdfs/Esperetal2004.pdf
Esper J, Wilson RJS, Frank DC, Moberg A, Wanner H, Luterbacher J (2005) Climate: past ranges and future changes. Quaternary Science Reviews 24, 2164-2166.
http://www.geo.uni-mainz.de/Dateien/Esper_2005_QSR.pdf
MISSING TREE-RINGS AND MAJOR VOLCANIC EVENTS
Mann et al. 2012. Underestimation of Volcanic Cooling in Tree-Ring Based Reconstructions of Hemispheric Temperatures, Nature Geoscience, 5, 202-205.
http://www.meteo.psu.edu/holocene/public_html/shared/articles/MFRNatureGeosci12.pdf
Anchukaitis, K. et al. (2012). Tree rings and volcanic cooling. Nature Geoscience. 5: 836–837. doi:10.1038/ngeo1645
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~rjsw/all%20pdfs/Anchukaitisetal2012.pdf
Mann et al. (2013). Discrepancies between the modeled and proxy-reconstructed response to volcanic forcing over the past millennium: Implications and possible mechanisms. JGR. 118, 14, p. 7617-7627.
http://www.meteo.psu.edu/holocene/public_html/Mann/articles/articles/MRSTF-JGRInPress.pdf
Esper J et al (2013) Testing the hypothesis of post-volcanic missing rings in temperature sensitive dendrochronological data. Dendrochronologia. 31 (3): 216-222.
http://www.blogs.uni-mainz.de/fb09climatology/files/2012/03/Esper_2013_Den.pdf
Esper J et al (2013) European summer temperature response to annually dated volcanic eruptions over the past nine centuries. Bulletin of Volcanology 75, 736, doi: 10.1007/s00445-013-0736-z.
http://www.blogs.uni-mainz.de/fb09climatology/files/2012/03/Esper_2013_BullVol.pdf
St. George et al. (2013). The rarity of absent growth rings in Northern Hemisphere forests
outside the American Southwest. Geophysical Research Letters 40, doi:10.1002/grl.50743
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~rjsw/all%20pdfs/Stgeorge2013.pdf
D’Arrigo, et al. (2013). Volcanic cooling signal in tree-ring temperature reconstructions for the past millennium, Journal of Geophysical Research, doi:10.1002/jgrd.50692
http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/~rjsw/all%20pdfs/D’Arrigoetal2013.pdf
Rob Wilson ==================================================================
It seems that Rob Wilson has some serious basis for the claim, and he’s sticking by it.
Ross McKitrick sums it up pretty well in a comment:
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Mann’s tweet just reveals openly what has long been his working assumption. To Mann, a “skeptic” is anyone who doesn’t accept his work uncritically, and a “denier” is anyone who actually disagrees with him.
Ross McKitrick ==================================================================
This is Rob Wilson:
Rob Wilson Earth and Environmental Sciences – Senior Lecturer
School of Geography and Geosciences
Irvine Building
St Andrews
KY16 9AL
United Kingdom
It seems he is well qualified to spot paleo-crocks:
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A tree-ring reconstruction of East Anglian (UK) hydroclimate variability over the last millennium
Cooper, R. J., Melvin, T. M., Tyers, I., Wilson, R. J. S. & Briffa, K. R. Feb 2013 In : Climate Dynamics. 40, 3-4, p. 1019-1039
Article
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Contrasting water-uptake and growth responses to drought in co-occurring riparian tree species
Singer, M. B., Stella, J., Piegay, H., Dufour, S., Wilson, R. & Johnstone, L. 2013 In : Ecohydrology. 6, 3, p. 402Article
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Orbital forcing of tree-ring data
Esper, J., Frank, D. C., Timonen, M., Zorita, E., Wilson, R., Luterbacher, J., Holzkämper, S., Fischer, N., Wagner, S., Nievergelt, D., Verstege, A. & Büntgen, U. Dec 2012 In : Nature Climate Change. 2, 12, p. 862-866
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Update: In case anyone doubts the “poisonous” nature of the rhetoric Dr. Mann uses, I’ll point out what he has begun labeling an Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who wanted to look at Mann’s UVA emails under FOIA.
Conservative @RTDNEWS refuses to endorse #Cooch for #VAGov, citing "divisive agenda..that was unbecoming in an AG" http://t.co/ggCl4RbNSz
— Dr. Michael E. Mann (@MichaelEMann) October 20, 2013
The definition of the slang word “cooch” is:
Source: http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/cooch
What a terrible misogynistic label to apply to somebody. You’d think with the recent sexual harassment scandal over Scientific American’s Bora Zivkovic and his actions, Dr. Mann would be a bit more reserved in such nasty labeling.
My advice to Dr. Mann: When you’ve tweeted yourself into a hole, stop tweeting.
Prior to this I’d always thought that being on pot was a lifestyle choice.
I now realise that it’s a fair, albeit scatalogical thumbs-down to post-normal BS!
So we’ve moved on from missing heat to missing tree rings? Is the overall new narrative going to be all about missing things?
shenanigans24 says:
October 21, 2013 at 4:49 pm
Nip is short for nipple of course.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
That thought occurred to me. That said, it was 20+ years ago. It was a greasy spoon diner across from the hotel I was in. If memory serves (and it frequently doesn’t) it was Austin. The manager came out and asked me to leave, so I did. I was too embarrassed to ask anyone, and actually forgot all about it until just now.
I think that after Mann sued Mark Steyn et all for comparing him to a sex pervert he damages his case by tweeting sexually abusive language.
MinB says:
“Not sure what Nip means in Texas, but growing up in CA it was a derogatory word for a person of Japanese (i.e., Nippon) descent. Chink was used similarly for Chinese, Gook for Vietnamese.”
I believe gook was used for Koreans originally. The story goes that the Korean word for Americans which is Miguk was heard by the Marines. As they kept hearing Koreans speak the word they took it as a self description.
And what would nonce like M.Mann know about cooch ?
(nonce, as in the slang meaning, not computer parlance)
Note the double-double entendre in Mann’s original tweet. We have “out of the closet” and “denier” all in less than 140 characters (not that I consider either attribute to be a negative per se).
Nice guy.
Well it’s about time some of the real scientists started distancing themselves from Meltdown Mann and his Crockey Stick. What took them so long?
Don’t you mess with me
But you know I’m him
Everybody knows I’m him
Well you know I’m the hoochie coochie Mann
Something tells me that Mann’s nomadic academic career is no accident. I also bet that he is invited to a lot of parties as a first time guest, but very seldom as a repeat guest.
shenanigans24 says:
October 21, 2013 at 5:59 pm
The term “gook” to refer to locals is attested among Marines during & after the Spanish-American War in the Philippines. Its etymology is obscure. It was later applied to Nicaraguans & Haitians during the Banana Wars.
Still, “American” in Korean, transliterated as “Miguk” or “Migug” is a plausible etymology, although the final consonant is almost silent when spoken. One name for Korea in Korean is “Hanguk/g”.
The ego of this twit knows no bounds.
Luke Warmist: “Is the overall new narrative going to be all about missing things?”
Always has been. It started from the absence of an ice age and has progressed to the absence of the absence of ice. They might have found this instructive, but the Wizard of Oz happens to be absent as well.
Let’s see, you berate Mann for calling Wilson a denier, but cheer Wilson for saying Mann’s work is shit. Doesn’t that seem a bit inconsistent? I am not defending Mann’s tweet, but Wilson’s comments are hardly the epitome of professionalism.
Jquip says:
October 21, 2013 at 6:54 pm
………
Thanks! Glad you cleared that up.
(I thought I was missing something :))
Does Mann actually do any real work or does he spend all his time being a raging A-hole on social media? How much are the taxpayers of Pennsylvania spending on a person that seems to do little work & the work that he does do is shoddy at best?
Mark X says:
October 21, 2013 at 6:57 pm
Let’s see, you berate Mann for calling Wilson a denier, but cheer Wilson for saying Mann’s work is shit. Doesn’t that seem a bit inconsistent?
————————————–
Not from the pov of truth, if Mann’s work is inaccurate, he should be called on it and that’s what is happening afaics.
Mark X says:
October 21, 2013 at 6:57 pm
Let’s see, you berate Mann for calling Wilson a denier, but cheer Wilson for saying Mann’s work is shit. Doesn’t that seem a bit inconsistent? I am not defending Mann’s tweet, but Wilson’s comments are hardly the epitome of professionalism.
One attacks the (a) person, the other attacks the quality of work.
A subtle, but distinct difference.
Dr. Edwards doesn’t need to “lecture” Mann about his tone; it is abundantly clear that his tone is more appropriate to an NFL defensive back on amphetamines and steroids.
In Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, there is a restaurant chain known as Salisbury House. They serve what are called “Nips”. This is a hamburger. Salisbury House is a 24 hour diner where breakfast is served all day. People in England often go for a “curry” after an evening at the pub. In Winnipeg, after a night in the bar, people would head to “Sals”.
The “Cheese Nip” is quite a good burger, as it is served plain (no condiments), yet has caramelized onions and real aged cheddar cheese, and the bun is warmed on top of the onions, cheese, and patty while they are cooking.
The quality of food from this establishment is hotly debated amongst Winnipegers, but at 3:30am, it is rarely refused.
Sorry, but you are a bit detached from reality here; you need to get more outside and see what the other kids are doing in the non-climate world.
The ‘Cooch’ is widely and casually called that, with no intent to associate him with any female private parts. E.g. I have just seen a The Young Turks clip where the host Cenk calls him Cooch short for his name, obviously in a ‘buddy’-way; that is like calling Bush ‘Dubya’, or calling a Matthew ‘Matt’ – hey, that’s me! Maybe the spelling is a bit unfortunate here, but you got to keep it real and not get your knickers in a twist over everything. Picking something seemingly clever out of a dictionary can still leave you looking stupid if you evidently don’t know what you are talking about 🙂
Mark X says: October 21, 2013 at 6:57 pm
Let’s see, you berate Mann for calling Wilson a denier, but cheer Wilson for saying Mann’s work is shit. Doesn’t that seem a bit inconsistent? I am not defending Mann’s tweet, but Wilson’s comments are hardly the epitome of professionalism.
Dang, looks like someone has borrowed my name!
Re the issue at hand, I think if Wilson had previously discussed it openly with Mann, and had made no headway, it is probably legitimate to bring attention to his view on the work. And yes, he talks about that work, not Mann himself.
Mikey’s ego is really starting to look like an epic embarrassment and liability to the warmists. Heck, it seems like Mikey is embroiled in a another brouhaha every week.
It can’t be long before they throw his sorry ass under the bus.
Matt @ur momisugly 9:05pm
Yeah Matt. Wouldn’t want you to leave here looking like you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Oh…wait. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=cooch
“I thought the word was “count”, or is that too upper class?”
The British Peerage was very careful to rename that particular rank (between Duke and Earl) as “Marquess”…….