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:
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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.
Sure Matt (21st@9:05pm), Mann calls the man a #denier and then you think he turns around an calls him ol’ “buddy”? Didn’t know Mann is Turkish as you mention. Sounds more like you are reclassifying Mann as either deceptive, you know, a good deciever, or maybe just two faced. Guess any of those fit too. Maybe you are right there.
JimS –
Alarmists are deniers of an actual Holocaust, the people freezing to death in Europe because oif carbon taxes, and the Africans starving because corn and soybeans are diverted to ethanol and biodiesel. If these policies aren’t reversed the death toll could eventually rival that of the Nazi Holocaust. GLOBAL WARMING ALARMISM IS MASS MURDER, period.
Entertaining.
“Michael E. Mann
@MichaelEMann
@dougmcneall I disagree w/ that, as do many climate change communicators”
Climate change communicators? So he’s admitting he’s not a climate scientist! Well done Mike!
I suspect mann has begun to realize that his hopes for a cushy retirement in a high-carbon-footprint lifestyle, are rapidly being flushed (along with his hockey stick). The latrine floodgates are opening upon him and he’s flailing in panic, now.
I was trying to think of where I had heard this kind of behaviour before and then it came to me:
Lance Armstrong.
The more sh*t that was hurled his way the stronger the denials from Armstrong became. Seems to me you don’t need to resort to such behaviour if you know the truth is on your side.
We’re seeing them crack one by one.
(Just the other day a well known blogger from the warm side descended into outright madness; starting to post personal info or what he thought was personal info about his opponent on a blog).
Serious Xanax shortage on the warm side. Obamacare responsible?
Ryan says:
October 22, 2013 at 3:03 am
“I was trying to think of where I had heard this kind of behaviour before and then it came to me:
Lance Armstrong.”
Correct me if I’m wrong but Armstrong didn’t get foul-mouthed for all I know.
Matt says:
October 21, 2013 at 9:05 pm
“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”
So because a hard left Al Gore sycophant and employee uses the word – or the Left in general – makes it acceptable behaviour? In other words, you think that the Tea party are arsonists, terrorists, and have dynamite strapped to their chest?
And your call your worldview “reality”? No, your worldview is the Orwellian 5 minute hate of the day as dished up by the Left media bloc.
Stop taking the Mexican Xanax.
Mike Ozanne says October 21, 2013 at 10:59 pm:
The problem only came about, Mark, when the elevation of rank was announced in The Guardian.
“DirkH says:
October 22, 2013 at 4:40 am”
Until he got found out!
Interesting too that Prof Mann thinks that someone tweeting on his feed is raising their profile by the mere fact of interacting with the great man.
Reading his tweets, one has to wonder if Mann has a good cardiologist.
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I remember about 40 years years in Lexington Kentucky there was a diner that was actually called “The Greasy Spoon”. It was near the UK campus and was open all night.
I ate there once. The manager didn’t have to tell me not to come back.
..’In England at the time “fanny” meant the same as “cooch”.’
Still does.
As a relative newbie to the subject of Climate change I have studied very carefully the so called evidence for AGW and my opinion is that the “evidence’ is extremely thin to being below the noise floor.
To anyone that can process simple data and read what the charts are saying the above statement is obvious. The IPCC so grossly over complicates the subject (1200 pages) instead of looking at their models that are so inaccurate in their predictions as to be laughable. I am only talking about AGW and CO2 . To say that a 30 year pause in Global warming is in line with their AGW theory is beyond the pale and is to me an obvious admission of failure and a ruse to explain the last 15 years of pause to keep the money flowing.
A question I have thought about for a while is : Who is this Michael Mann ? And why is the Industrial wealth of the developed world in his hands although I suspect not for long!
How can such an unelected mediocre scientist atain such a position of trust when it is obvious to all that he obviously can’t read or play hockey.
Well, we could start by saying manners maketh Mann. But I think Steve Harley put it best.
“Mann, it was mean, it was mean. Man it was mean.”
And it’s only going to get meaner. Michael Mann is far from the only obnoxious voice on the alarmist side. It’s just that he’s such a good hater by nature. Many other leading figures such as Gore and Hansen now regularly go way over the top, while the establishment chorus of politicians and journalists are getting increasingly desperate as their singing voices are becoming ever more shrill.
Then there are the rank and file alarmists and the trolls (doubtless in the pay of Big Wind) who mount thuggish attacks anyone who comments unfavorably on their home turf such as at the Guardian’s CIF. I swear a lot of the latter group must be chat-bots or cyber-drones.
While most of us on this side are interested in science for its own sake, what we’re dealing with on the other side is a political movement aimed at carrying out an agenda. These people aren’t going to let Marquis of Queensbury rules stand in their way and they aren’t going to be very happy or polite if they are placed in a position where they are called upon to defend indefensible scientific theories and dodgy statistical analysis. So by all means, let’s keep up the pressure on them.
When I read about Drs. Mann and Hansen, I’m always reminded of Trofim Lysenko. He got a head start on his opposition, got the establishment on his side, kept coming up with more and more “ideas”, generally rubbished his rivals and denounced his critics, and, crucially, got the Lenin Academy of Agricultural Sciences to teach Lysenkoism as “the only correct theory”. It didn’t seem to matter that very little of what Lysenko prescribed actually did any good, and the overall results for Soviet agriculture were horrific.
Despite their current prominence, Hansen and Mann don’t have anything like the power or influence that Lysenko had, but the arrogance, contempt and hubris they display suggests they would grab power and influence if they could and they would use it to push through energy policies that could be just as destructive to industrial society as Lysenko’s were to agriculture.
With these thoughts in mind, I think the sooner it’s Mann Overboard the better.
Snotrocket – brilliant!!!
“The problem only came about, Mark, when the elevation of rank was announced in The Guardian.”
🙂
I’m sure that a peerage for the good Doctor would be a Barony, Baron Mannchausen has a nice ring to it.. of course many would think of him as a rank Count, or almost anyway….
At this point, anyone still publicly supporting the work or actions of Michael Mann is putting their own professional reputation at risk.
Piltdown Mann: The Story of Climate Fraud.