At least Dr. Ben Santer didn't threaten to 'beat the crap out of [me]'

People send me stuff. In this case it is a video by Dr. Ben Santer from the execrable online course on ‘climate denial’ aka Denial101x taught by cartoonist turned climate activist John Cook. I have made it a point to ignore John Cook’s state-sponsored hatefest on this website, but this was just too good to pass up:

santer-wuwtI find a lot of humor in this, because it shows that WUWT has an effect. If Dr. Santer has to devote so much time to suppressing WUWT in his interview, I’d say that’s an improvement in his demeanor from the pre-climategate days:

I’m really sorry that you have to go through all this stuff, Phil. Next time I see Pat Michaels at a scientific meeting, I’ll be tempted to beat the crap out of him. Very tempted. –Dr. Ben Santer, Climategate emails

In light of recent developments, Santer’s unfortunate missive pretty well sums up the left’s view of climate change thought – “submit or succumb”.

Here is the video:

Based on the number of view so far, it looks like WUWT will be providing the most views for this course, rather than John Cook’s sycophantic students.

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ozspeaksup
May 3, 2015 5:13 am

sheesh, my teeth are clenched from the no natural causes could do this statement..
when he admitted theyd NEVER had anything prior to actually be able to use to be so damn sure.

Patrick
May 3, 2015 5:26 am

I don’t see much of this in the Aussie MSM, which mostly holds the alarmist view, maybe give it a miss too? Only adding fuel to the Cook’s fire IMO!

John
May 3, 2015 5:33 am

So let me get this straight volcanos and solar cycles are not a natural variability?
I am confused. Define a natural variability for me please.

Arno Arrak
Reply to  John
May 3, 2015 6:53 am

John May 3, 2015 at 5:33 am — Both volcanoes and solar cycles have nothing to do with the Pause. I have determined that the so-called “volcanic cooling” shown on global temperature charts is simply non-existent (see “What Warming?” pp. 17-21). . What are shown as volcanic coolings are all misidentified La Nina valleys belonging to ENSO. I have checked the sunspot data for the last century and found no connection with global temperature. The last weak cycle is not going to change anything.

Pamela Gray
Reply to  Arno Arrak
May 3, 2015 1:28 pm

A perfect 10. Sure as shootin.

emsnews
Reply to  Arno Arrak
May 3, 2015 3:56 pm

You are dead wrong.
For over a century astronomers who studied the sun including my astronomer grandfather and father noticed and tracked the connection between warm cycles and sun spot activity.

Mike
Reply to  Arno Arrak
May 3, 2015 4:46 pm

Arno, you are partly correct but don’t make it a black of white issue.
http://judithcurry.com/2015/02/06/on-determination-of-tropical-feedbacks/
There was a downward trend in temps that clearly began _before_ the Pinatubo eruption. However, that does not mean there was not effect. There was. It’s not huge but it’s clearly there.
What is more important to the long term record is the _warming_ effect that follows the temporary cooling. The opposite effect is clearly seen in the stratospheric cooling and obviously caused by major eruptions.
When compared to SST we can see the “fingerprint”.comment image

Man Bearpig
Reply to  John
May 3, 2015 7:01 am

Me too. How are these not natural ? Either Santer is making it up or he has data that says Vulcanism and solar quiet spots are unnatural,

Crispin in Waterloo
Reply to  Man Bearpig
May 3, 2015 8:51 am

Do the Vulcans have a King of Climate? Maybe it’s his fault.

Reply to  Man Bearpig
May 3, 2015 9:53 am

LLAP

Roy Spencer
Reply to  John
May 3, 2015 7:10 am

I think it’s a matter of semantics. To the IPCC crowd, the sun and volcanoes are considered external forcings, while “natural variability” implies unforced internal variations in the fluid motions of the climate system.
Not defending it. Just pointing out differences in terminology.

Udar
Reply to  Roy Spencer
May 3, 2015 8:54 am

Understood. But unless there had been some significant changes in volcanic activity, or solar TSI in last 20 years, how does it matter?

Reply to  John
May 3, 2015 7:44 am

well exactly..

Shub Niggurath
Reply to  John
May 3, 2015 10:29 am

In the theory of climate volcanoes are considered an ‘external forcing’. So is man.

Reply to  John
May 3, 2015 12:46 pm

Apparently not. I took this screenshot from Washington.edu Volcanoes/solar cycles are not natural variability but forced natural change. (Though I really can’t see much difference there).
http://www.ayeshajamal.com

Reply to  Ayesha
May 3, 2015 12:52 pm

*apparently the image tag did not appear… so here’s a link to the screenshot http://i.imgur.com/3EghZLQ.png

Editor
Reply to  John
May 3, 2015 3:02 pm

Natural variability definition : something that has or may have a short term effect on climate but no long term effect on climate.
john – yes you obviously are confused. You have confused “natural variability” with “not well understood”. The climate models have comprehensive logic for natural variability. Factors that are not well understood are handled by “parameterization”. All of the natural variability is handled by “parameterization” because it is also not well understood. All “parameterization” is “constrained by observation”, and because climate has always been stable (as shown by multiple proxies such as tree rings) this means that it all reverts to the mean. That in turn gives us the above definition of “natural variability”. There is only one factor in the climate models that does not revert to the mean : man-made GHG forcing. Solar forcing is almost an exception in that the direct forcing from TSI is allowed for, but variations in TSI have been so small that solar cycles have had almost no effect in the past[*], and because the behaviour of the sun is not at all well understood there is no provision for future changes.
I hope that clears it up for you.
[*] Some people have argued that the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and the Little Ice Age (LIA) were caused by solar variation, but the models contain such a small solar effect that they cannot reproduce any such global warm or cool periods, so therefore the MWP and LIA were just local or regional not global. Note : one of the rules in climate science is that places without thermometers (ex-Europe in the past, deep ocean, etc) can be given whatever temperature is convenient.

Newsel
Reply to  Mike Jonas
May 3, 2015 7:53 pm

🙂

Alx
Reply to  John
May 3, 2015 3:29 pm

I am still trying to understand where humanity suddenly became unnatural and are no longer part of natural variability. Did humanity suddenly exempt itself from evolution, if so I missed the article. Was there the second coming and we are now all just supernatural beings that no longer interact with the natural world? Missed that one too.
I understand the difference between man-made and natural made. Nature makes trees, man makes buildings, it’s really simple. People like John Cook assert nature is a bit player in weather and climate, it is man who tells nature what weather and climate to make and apparently nature acquiesces without complaint. Quite a bit of ego there I would say. On the plus side John Cook has yet to claim man makes trees, even though in his addled mind, to him planting a seed and watching it grow may be the same as making trees.
Man is part of natural variability, but believing man is the director of weather and climate vs. man being one of many players in the epic drama called earth is extreme self-indulgence to the point of delusion.
For John Cook, maybe an intervention would help. Or maybe some drugs. Or maybe a lot of drugs. Probably a lot of drugs.

George Lawson
Reply to  John
May 4, 2015 2:38 am

No, it’s the failed computer models that you have to agree with.

Editor
May 3, 2015 5:42 am

I won’t watch the whole thing, but a few comments while he’s talking.
He says water vapor concentrations are increasing – how does that jibe with other observations of declining humidity? That’s one thing I’m not all that familiar with.
He emphasizes “internal climate variability.” That’s one of my least favorite phrases and one of the things I like about WUWT is we don’t use it much – we look at solar, cosmic, and a plethora of other effects. They may add up to “internal climate variability” but when I hear that phrase from a climate scientist, I think they should go off and learn something about it.
He also says we’ve had a lot of volcanic activity and blames some of the pause on that. The last I saw from studies of atmospheric clarity, volcanoes are are being falsely blamed. But we should keep watching!

Arno Arrak
Reply to  Ric Werme
May 3, 2015 7:10 am

Ric Werme May 3, 2015 at 5:42 AM — Santers’s “Internal Climate Variability” is just another spelling for “I have no idea.” And volcanism he babbles about is non-existent as I said to John above,

Editor
Reply to  Arno Arrak
May 3, 2015 8:06 am

From WUWT’s solar page is this plot of atmospheric transparency – http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/webdata/grad/mloapt/mlo_transmission.gif . No I don’t understand why WordPress doesn’t show my image links.
Check it out – it shows two big eruptions and nothing of any significance since 1995. For Santer to suggest otherwise is just another sign of how he and his ilk are grasping at straws because they nothing else to support their prophesies of doom.

average joe
Reply to  Arno Arrak
May 3, 2015 1:03 pm

For anyone who wants the lowdown on Santer’s fingerprint argument, have a look at the transcript from the Koonin APS Climate Change Workshop here:
http://www.aps.org/policy/statements/upload/climate-seminar-transcript.pdf
Pages 173 – 274 go into it in depth. John Christy gives his presentation on pages 330 – 391, where he discusses Santer’s fingerprint models. I highly recommend reading the whole document, or if time is short then these two sections. It was real eye opener for me on where the science is at today. Dr. Christy comes across as an honest scientist who wants more transparency into the science, he is in favor of independent auditing of climate science claims. Santer seems to be experiencing cognitive dissonance. I think the 90’s warming gave him the incontrovertible proof he was looking for, perhaps he jumped the gun a bit? He’s grasping for any straws he can find to support his argument.

lee
Reply to  Arno Arrak
May 3, 2015 6:45 pm

Santer’s fingerprint on the lens of life?

whiten
Reply to  Ric Werme
May 3, 2015 8:10 am

@Ric Werme
May 3, 2015 at 5:42 am
and
John
May 3, 2015 at 5:33 am
hello there.
Considering your comments above, I will try to explain how and what I understand from Ben in this one.
First for you to get my point is to consider that the problem with AGW is not only the temp hiatus but also the ppm of CO2 going up with no regard to the temps.
Second the human CO2 emissions are basically in g/tones….not ppm……the connection and the link between ppm(s) and g/tones exist only in the AGW scenario, where the ppm and the temps have a very strong connection and dependance and always towards the warming only.
The reality shows a 20 years of that connection been broken, ppm(s) do not seem to care about temp while still going up.
Our g/tones of CO2 can not cause the ppm to go up without warming……..but still that is happening.
Ben in mentioning the volcanoes is trying the last and the only remaining line of defence for the AGW .
Is understandable and acceptable that internal variability can cause some impact on the supposed AGW.
For example the oceans can influence a hiatus in temps but after a period of 7 to 10 years if oceans will persist in “killing” the warming also the oceans will start “killing” the ppm(s)………..more warming “killed” by the oceans then less CO2 in the atmosphere, more CO2 absorbed by the oceans..
So the hiatus can be explained by the oceans behavior only up to a decade at max……..so they already have lost the oceans.
The only thing left there is the volcanoes.
For AGW to still survive, a cooling and the CO2 ppm(s) going up in the same time, should be offered by some kind of a process or variability.
And the only thing shown that can do that is the volcanoes.
The GCMs must have confirmed that to likes of Ben.
But there is a very heavy complication with that.
Fist it means that if Ben favors this as an explanation, than Ben looses any proof that for the last two decades there is any human finger print in climate, unless Ben implies that the volcanoes are not and do not consist as natural or natural variability.
Because simply considering the reality, than we have experienced a period of the CO2 moving up from somewhere of 370ppm and at least up to 400ppm only due to volcanic activity, when the same activity at the same time has caused the hiatus through aerosols and dimming.
So every thing that Ben has been searching for these last couple of decades it was not there in the first place. (probably that is why he still keeps going back and sticks with his science and the human finger print in the past and looking at the all wrong places.)
Second, for such an event to happen there will be needed a “crazy” volcanic activity, one that will not have being missed even if we were completely “blind’ and ‘dumb”.
But never the less if it can be simulated in a GCM then it must be true and real for these guys., even while that one too still missing in the reality.
The beauty is that these guys had still to ask the GCMs for help….funny.
In the end that whole interview of Ben was only a confession and a try to separate himself from Cooks and Nucitellis kinda of science.
WUWT should be proud as an adversary when mentioned as a such, and SkS should be ashamed when trying to ally now with Ben, as that was not even mentioned in the interview, as far as I can tell.
cheers

Reply to  whiten
May 3, 2015 9:17 am

“So every thing that Ben has been searching for these last couple of decades it was not there in the first place.”
If the whole idea that CO2 “warms” the surface turns out to be not so, and in fact, H2O and CO2 both are cooling agents then I suppose Ben will always be looking in the wrong places. In fact, most everyone involved in climate “science” may well be looking in the wrong places. It reminds me of the state sponsored “science” of the old USSR called Lysenkoism — totally wrong but the only politically correct answer to give.

Reply to  whiten
May 3, 2015 9:21 am

Santer the modeller is like a carpenter with a loose board to secure. The problem can be solved with a hammer even if its not the best solution. His paycheck depends on it.

Editor
Reply to  whiten
May 3, 2015 9:41 am

> The reality shows a 20 years of that connection been broken, ppm(s) do not seem to care about temp while still going up.
I’d argue that the apparent connection in the preceding 20 years was also broken and that the temperature was climbing faster than the “it’s all CO2” hypothesis supported.
BTW, it’s tonnes (or tons), not tones.
> SkS should be ashamed when trying to ally now with Ben
SkS has no shame.

PiperPaul
Reply to  whiten
May 3, 2015 10:13 am

Insert cartoon here: Drunk looking for lost keys only under the lamppost because that’s where the light is.

whiten
Reply to  whiten
May 3, 2015 1:25 pm

Ric Werme
May 3, 2015 at 9:41 am
“I’d argue that the apparent connection in the preceding 20 years was also broken and that the temperature was climbing faster than the “it’s all CO2″ hypothesis supported.”
——————————
Yes of course you can argue that and you would have a point too, similar, but you see at that time still both were going up, not a very strong arguing against.
Is like you trying a show a bad marriage so to speak……..when I am point to a clear divorce here…….no warming but ppm(s) still going up the same……. SUCH A LONG TIME DIVORCE THAT CAN NOT EXPLAIN AGW OR BE EXPLAINED UNDER THE AGW APPROACH……
Hope you get my point in this one.
Please be so kind and do not mind my grammatical errors or typos, especially if you get the point.
Some times even the spellchecker fails me….:-)
cheers

whiten
Reply to  whiten
May 3, 2015 1:38 pm

markstoval
May 3, 2015 at 9:17 am
Very clever..:-)
Thank you for the reply…..appreciated a lot, honestly. 🙂
cheers

Reply to  whiten
May 3, 2015 3:35 pm

“…For example the oceans can influence a hiatus in temps but after a period of 7 to 10 years if oceans will persist in “killing” the warming also the oceans will start “killing” the ppm(s)………..more warming “killed” by the oceans then less CO2 in the atmosphere, more CO2 absorbed by the oceans…”
CO2’s solubility in water is an inverse ratio to the temperature of the water. CO2 is less soluble in warmer water. When the water cools, more CO2 enters solution.
The ocean can not be blamed for the hiatus, or pause. That ‘joules’ of temperature increase alarmist supposition assigns temperature accuracy to equipment that is not that accurate. Nor can cooking the data with statistics reach an ‘average’ temperature of greater accuracy than individual equipment.
Ben Santer is punch drunk.
What Santer must know, as well all allegedly competent alarmist climate scientists, is that the whole CAGW theory is busted.
Temperatures do not match predicted CO2 increased temperatures.
The whole sad soiled pit of despair known as historical climate data is based on defiled data.
GCMs, (Global Climate Models), have failed repeatedly. GCMs lack authority because there is no confidence in GCM performance; other than wasting human and super computer time.
Climate alarmists waving their hands not only fail to pull rabbits out of their, erm, hats, but they also fail to rationally explain climate whether CO2 enhanced or not.
My apologies for all of the ‘alarmist’ usages; but my other descriptives for those despicable sods make cretinism positively beneficial.

Reply to  Ric Werme
May 3, 2015 10:54 am

Ric, on water vapor Santer is half right. Observed Specific humidity in the upper troposphere (where it matters most for the water vapor feedback) is observationally rising, but not as much as models predict (which is roughly constant relative humidity). Essay Humidity is still Wet. Explains part of model oversensitivity.
Santer and Solomon’s volcanos excuse for the pause started at 25%, then got reduced in a subsequent paper to 15%. In observational reality rather than statisrical model land, it is zero. The references, explanation, and data are contained in essay Blowing Smoke in book titled the same.

ECB
May 3, 2015 5:45 am

Sorry, but the ‘lecture’ was too cringeworthy for me to endure until the segment on WUWT. IMO, any ‘lecture’ by Ben Santer must be accompanied by supporting data presentations for me to take him seriously. Affirmations from an acknowledged manipulator of the 1995 IPCC summary report is not credible.

Admin
May 3, 2015 5:51 am

Hilarious – Santer can’t predict the climate, but he expects you to believe his models can attribute observations after they occur.

RockyRoad
Reply to  Eric Worrall
May 3, 2015 6:15 am

The models can’t forecast and they can’t hindcast.
Or for those of you who would rather use the word predict, the models can’t predict and they can’t postdict.
(Both hindcast and postdict are real words so apparently this spell checker isn’t complete.)

May 3, 2015 6:03 am

I don’t like to brag, but I also teach a Clmate Science course. It’s called “Making Sense of Climate Science”. I wrote a simple post in my blog to advertise it, and I’m getting a lot of business. I suspect people search the subject and they choose my link.
This subject has to be incredibly popular. The subsequent post was called “Dark Matter” and it gets about 1/20th the number of views. I think I’m going to start naming my posts using global warming related titles. For example: “Dark Matter doesn’t cause global warming”….

Roy Spencer
Reply to  Fernando Leanme
May 3, 2015 7:12 am

Just call them all “eco-learning” courses, and you’ll be good to go.

Reply to  Fernando Leanme
May 3, 2015 9:23 am

At least with dark matter theory there is observational evidence that it exists.

harkin
Reply to  Joel O’Bryan
May 3, 2015 12:56 pm

By coincidence Santer is in the dark but it doesn’t matter.

Gordon Morrison
May 3, 2015 6:05 am

We can’t explain what that light in the sky is so it must be a UFO.
We can’t explain why the atmospheric temperature is rising so it must be human generated CO2.

Reply to  Gordon Morrison
May 3, 2015 9:59 am

We can explain why the global lower troposphere warmed from 1977 to 1997. But invoking anthropogenic CO2 provides a much more lucrative means to reach other ideological ends. Scientific method not allowed though.

M Seward
May 3, 2015 6:08 am

Skipped through the ‘interview’ just to get a sense of the guy. Sort of a Lewandowsky without the loony eyebrow movements and facial manipulations.
As far as the narrative, McDonalds brand CAGW. Yawn.
( sorry Macca’s – you don’t deserve that – you really are a victim of your own success)
I increasingly just get this wonderful dose of schedenfreud watching Cook et al as they drivel out their lines. Gosh, it must pay well. It would want to you’d think.

Reply to  M Seward
May 3, 2015 8:51 am

Where’s the beef?

cnxtim
Reply to  M Seward
May 3, 2015 8:53 am

The evidence I see in Santer is a facial complexion that cant be explained by “natural” causes, To mine, it is clear evidence of what a very clever lady described as a very “expensive” complexion – e. g. Anthropogenic Alcoholism. Gotta love those alliterations!..

Louis LeBlanc
Reply to  M Seward
May 3, 2015 10:18 am

Sorry, but it is schadenfreude. Excellent word.

dave
Reply to  Louis LeBlanc
May 4, 2015 4:59 am

“…schedenfreud…schadenfreude…”
The correction spoils it. I thought we were getting an imported term from psycho-analysis.

RWhite
May 3, 2015 6:33 am

Not a single bit of evidence is presented here. Simply a series of provably false statements. Starting with the idea that the lower troposphere has warmed recently when both satellite data sets show that it has not.

Reply to  RWhite
May 3, 2015 9:46 am

That is what I got. This guy’s main talent seems to be the ability to lie through his teeth, shamelessly and outrageously, without a stutter or pause.
Quite a talent. I bet the CAGW high priests just love him.

PiperPaul
Reply to  Menicholas
May 3, 2015 10:18 am

Punching. Don’t forget punching.

Reply to  RWhite
May 3, 2015 11:48 am

I think it started with his complaint about “early criticisms.” Not one reference for any of them, he just set up a the false controversy that he wanted to answer.
Also perhaps we can stop saying “hiatus” or “pause” as these imply we know the temp rise will continue.
and start saying plateaued, or “stabilized” global temps, since there has been no increase, and we can surmise there may well be a decline in the future.

Reply to  Bert Walker
May 3, 2015 12:05 pm

I like the word stopped to describe the global temperature rise. Stopped it is and it will stay stopped until it starts again

May 3, 2015 6:37 am

I watched about half of Santer’s talk and skimmed thru the rest. In the part about “Mr. Watts” and WUWT he misrepresents the views expressed here by Anthony, Willis, and virtually all others regarding the human contribution to the general Global Warming over the past several decades. There IS a human contribution, due to unprecedented burning of fossil fuels and changes in land use, but our contribution is a fraction of the actual warming, and in no way a threat to the overall health of our environment. There is NO “tipping point”, NO impending “catastrophe”. As I put it in a WUWT posting, GLOBAL WARMING IS REAL, BUT NOT A BIG DEAL.
(See my postings as a Guest Contributor http://wattsupwiththat.com/author/iraglickstein/)
Santer talks about computer models and how a pause of a decade or more is possible due to natural variability, but he misrepresented the total failure of virtually ALL the officia models to project the current pause, now running to 18 years and still counting. And this in the face of continual CO2 levels rising at higher rates. The official models are handcuffed to CO2 levels and therefore unable to recognize that natural variability dwarfs the effects of the Atmospheric “Greenhouse” Effect. In short, their estimate of CLIMATE SENSITIVITY (how much the surface will warm given a doubling of Atmospheric CO2) IS HIGH BY AT LEAST A FACTOR OF TWO, AND PERHAPS HIGH BY A FACTOR OF THREE OR MORE.
And, did you all notice that, except for the first 10 seconds of his 35 minute talk, Santer couldn’t look his video audience directly in the eye?
Ira Glickstein

Non Nomen
Reply to  Ira Glickstein, PhD
May 3, 2015 8:15 am

GLOBAL WARMING IS REAL, BUT NOT A BIG DEAL.

If I may suggest some refinement to that I’d rather choose the words
Global warming SEEMS real, but IS not a big deal.

Reply to  Non Nomen
May 3, 2015 9:30 am

Gglobal warming SEEMS real, but IS not a big deal.
^Anthropogenic
The null hypothesis is alive and well.

Reply to  Non Nomen
May 3, 2015 11:41 am

Thanks for your reply, Non Nomen, but the facts support my statement that Global Warming IS REAL (not simply that it SEEMS real).
The official IPCC accounting of terrestrial thermometer readings shows a net increase of about 0.8⁰C (about 1.5⁰F) since 1880. While I think “data adjustments” have increased the apparent warming by a few tenths of a degree, I accept that net warming since 1880 is at least 0.5⁰C (about 1⁰F).
The satellite record, which is certainly more precise and accurate than terrestrial thermometers, shows a net warming of about 0.3⁰C since 1979, which is also quite REAL.
Of course, that same satellite record also shows no net warming in the most recent 18 years or so, during which CO2 levels have continued their rapid rise, which invalidates the IPSS Climate Sensitivity estimate of 1.5⁰C to 4.5⁰C, and argues for a Climate Sensitivity of less than 1.0⁰C, and perhaps below 05⁰C.
Also, there is no doubt that the Atmospheric “Greenhouse” Effect is REAL, and that “Greenhouse Gasses”, particularly H2O and CO2, are responsible for the Earth Surface being around 33⁰C warmer than it would be if our Atmosphere was, for instance, pure nitrogen.
Ira Glickstein

Louis LeBlanc
Reply to  Ira Glickstein, PhD
May 3, 2015 10:24 am

Isn’t he responding to a person asking the questions off camera? And I don’t know if Santer was one of those CAGW supporters who said the failure of the models required 11 years, then 13 years, then 15 years and now he says 17 years?

Reply to  Louis LeBlanc
May 3, 2015 12:14 pm

In 2009 NOAA said 15. In 2011 Santer said 17. Its been 18.

Just an engineer
Reply to  Louis LeBlanc
May 4, 2015 11:36 am

I vote we make it an even 100 years, and all go back to enjoying life!

jorgekafkazar
Reply to  Ira Glickstein, PhD
May 3, 2015 1:29 pm

I enjoy your posts & comments, Ira. Wondered last week where you’d been lately.

Reply to  jorgekafkazar
May 3, 2015 1:50 pm

Jorgekafkazar: Thanks for your kind words and I fondly remember your past support and your informed and wise comments. For nearly a year now, I’ve been trying to fill out and document what I think may be an insight I’ve had regarding Einstein’s special and general relativity. I’m scheduled to talk about it at our Science/Technology Club here in The Villages, FL, on 22 June 2015 and I plan to post my ideas on my blog: TVPClub.blogspot.com Ira

Mark from the Midwest
May 3, 2015 6:40 am

This is good stuff, I know people who have mixed beliefs about AGW, they know about the pause, but they also counter that the “climate catastrophe crowd” can’t just be a conspiracy. All I need do is show then this and their notion of reasonable and prudent climate scientists will go poof!
As an aside, last year Climate Progress published an article about the Great Lakes “drying up” due to AGW. They used a picture at Greilickville, an unincorporated community adjacent to Traverse City. Yesterday there was a moderate north-north east wind off the West Arm of Grand Traverse and I had to use my windshield wipers on a warm sunny day because the water is so high that the breaking waves were sending spray onto M-22, at yes you guessed it, Greilickville.

Newsel
May 3, 2015 6:57 am

Anthony, you are in good company as both Judith Curry and Fred Singer also received honorable mentions.
My take-away: he resented people attacking his research and not just accepting the 1995 Chapter 8 closing remark that humans by burning fossil fuels were (adversely) changing the chemical composition of the atmosphere.
A number of his comments, given today’s attacks on Skeptic’s right of free speech, were telling as he complained of being demonized and being a target: (“going after the individual”, “Don’t try and demonize the individual scientist”, “going after the funding”, “go after the scientist” etc. etc.).
He also does not like the Freedom of Information Act (FOI) as it takes time away from actual research.
So you pesky Skeptic’s, stop asking questions, testing and asking for the data to back up those claims. The science is settled. Got it?

Bubba Cow
Reply to  Newsel
May 3, 2015 7:30 am

if science is sooo settled, should be no problem to just pony that up

Reply to  Newsel
May 3, 2015 9:53 am

It would seem to be a real stretch of language to call what he does research. He knows the results, and always has, long before he does a single thing.
Which makes him a tea leaf reader. And expert hand waver.

MichaelS
May 3, 2015 7:06 am

Lulz at the internet thug.

MichaelS
Reply to  MichaelS
May 3, 2015 7:11 am

comment image

DirkH
Reply to  MichaelS
May 3, 2015 10:34 am

…after he silenced Poincaré.

Paul Schnurr
May 3, 2015 7:31 am

To me “fingerprints” are simply observations that help provide hypotheses that need to be proven. They always seem to leave out that second part.

John Whitman
May 3, 2015 8:18 am

Ben Santer,
Since there is evidence in your video (used in the Edx online course ‘Making Sense of Climate Science Denial’) that you pay attention to WUWT blog discussions and that you think WUWT has impact on the climate science dialog, then I presume this comment will reach you.
I would like you to point to links at the WUWT blog where Anthony Watts himself explicitly or implicitly stated the positions on climate science you say in your video he holds.
Do you think a professional with integrity working at a US National Laboratory should refrain from intellectual trickery?
John

May 3, 2015 8:20 am

Isn`t Dr. Ben Santer that nice IPPC-guy who was mentioned in the leaked climategate e-mails 2009?
In the Jesse Ventura Talkshow at 19.12.2009 Santer admittet to have deleted those parts from chapter 8 of the draft of the 2. IPCC-Report 1996, which expressly negated a human caused climate change.
The so faked IPCC-Report 1995 was the crucial basis for the Kyoto-Protokoll 1997. Fred Singer wrote an Essay in 2000: media.hoover.org/documents/epp_102b.pdf
By the way: UAH 6.0 shows 0,07 K global TLT-anomaly for april 2015: Where the hell ist global warming/climate change…?

MRW
Reply to  schneefan2015
May 3, 2015 2:25 pm

schneefan2015,
Do you have a link for this: Jesse Ventura Talkshow at 19.12.2009? Thx

ferdberple
May 3, 2015 8:28 am

The free course is worth every penny.

Reply to  ferdberple
May 3, 2015 8:45 am

HaaaHaaa!

Editor
Reply to  ferdberple
May 3, 2015 9:43 am

I disagree – I’ll never get back the time I spent watching that video.

goldminor
Reply to  Ric Werme
May 3, 2015 12:11 pm

I have learned over time to not watch tripe like this. Just like after first viewing sks in the early days, I never went back there to see anything else posted there.

May 3, 2015 8:36 am

Most of these guys, like Santer, started off honest and excited about what seemed a plausible theory and were excited about the science. Hey, I too, believed we were possibly causing a serious problem early in the game. That they were naive about the ideologue opportunists in the background who were entrapping these fellows with endless research funds, exotic locales and rock star status into an enterprise they had no inkling of is clear when Santer mentioned sitting with Schneider in a Madrid bar. Schneider, sitting in his web, flattered Santer on the closing statement in the IPPC 1995 report (he still doesn’t get it) – ‘with those few words, your life will change forever’ (not exact quote). It still brings sweet memories to Santer. Let’s hall out the quote that defines Schneider for all time regarding getting the message out:
“Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest. I hope that means being both.”
(it’s part of a much larger quote that still makes him look just as bad – google it)
Let’s not forget that Schneider was also endorsing action on the “underestimated” seriousness of the cooling that was widely believed to bring us to our end in the 1970s.
Now, after a span of most of a career, the unexpteced and dreaded ‘pause’ has interrupted Santer’s and friends’ festive climate Shangri la and is slowly eating them alive, protests to the contrary. They now are desperately fending off doubts, not by dissenters but in their own minds. This natural psychological DNile makes them a tad mean, especially against skeptics whom they could pooh pooh before, and dishonest to an extreme in how they characterize skeptics and how they rationalize the pause.

Reply to  Gary Pearse
May 3, 2015 9:49 am

Well said. This makes total sense, particularly your first paragraph.

jorgekafkazar
Reply to  Gary Pearse
May 3, 2015 2:35 pm

Warmists increasingly project the evil contents of their own Shadow upon those who disagree with them. It was clear from Climategate revelations that warrmist cant would grow increasingly shrill, violent, and outré, a perfect reincarnation of Socialist Lysenkoism.

ferdberple
May 3, 2015 8:42 am

Do you think a professional with integrity working at a US National Laboratory should refrain from intellectual trickery?
===============
why stop now? for 20 years climate science has been turning gold into lead.

John Whitman
Reply to  ferdberple
May 3, 2015 11:24 am

ferdberple on May 3, 2015 at 8:42 am
– – – – – – – – –
ferdberple,
I responded to your comment directed to me. It is below at John Whitman on May 3, 2015 at 11:21 am .
John

May 3, 2015 8:46 am

In the interview with Dr Santer he says about the recent spate of warming (I won’t mention the mislabelled “pause” or “hiatus”): “Volcanoes can’t do it. The sun can’t do it. Internal climate variability can’t do it, nor can some combination of natural causes: volcanoes, the sun, and internal variability generate that complex pattern of warming low down and cooling of the upper atmosphere. The only thing that we know of that can generate that distinctive fingerprint is human-caused increase in heat-trapping greenhouse gasses, and human-caused depletion in the upper atmosphere of stratospheric ozone.”
This reminds me other similar arguments: we don’t know what caused the Big Bang – it must be God did it, or we don’t know how life originated on Earth – it must be God did it.
Over the past million years there have been ice ages about every 100KY interspersed with warm interglacials. Each of those warming periods, including the current interglacial, have been as a result of natural causes and many of then considerably warmer than at present. (http://geology.utah.gov/map-pub/survey-notes/glad-you-asked/ice-ages-what-are-they-and-what-causes-them/)
Why would those natural causes no longer influence climate since about 100 years ago?

Bill Illis
May 3, 2015 8:48 am

This is just a discussion of every “excuse” in the book.
It is just self-talk using every excuse possible trying to convince oneself you might still be right even though your brain sub-consciously knows you are wrong.
In the long-run, when global warming does not happen, they will have to face reality and there will be some psychological breaks.

FAH
May 3, 2015 8:54 am

I have looked and looked throughout my old undergraduate and graduate physics notes and just can’t find where we derived “fingerprints.” I must have missed that day.

John Whitman
Reply to  FAH
May 3, 2015 9:05 am

FAH on May 3, 2015 at 8:54 am
– – – – – –
FAH,
I think the supporters of the climate change movement trying to emulate science had little practical strategy when they said fingerprints, it makes more sense that they should have looked for footprints. N’est ce pas?
John

goldminor
Reply to  John Whitman
May 3, 2015 12:16 pm

Alternatively, climate scientists could look for their slime trails.

May 3, 2015 8:59 am

Could someone familiar with the satellite and balloon measurements comment on Santer’s claim that there is a “human fingerprint” in the vertical temperature gradient of the atmosphere?

Reply to  Michael Palmer
May 3, 2015 9:40 am

Santer is wrong. And he knows it.
See John Christy’s 2014 APS testimony for observational proof concerning three major ‘fingerprints’. Google to find either this at APS or via Climate Etc. links to APS.
1. No tropical troposphere hotspot as predicted by CMIP5 models.
2. Temperature lapse rate (vertical temperature gradient) not as predicted by CMIP5 models.
3. Lower troposphere temperature not rising as predicted by CMIP5 models (the ‘pause’).
Christy presents both satellite and radiosonde (weather balloon) data for all three.

Reply to  ristvan
May 3, 2015 12:09 pm

Thanks.

Editor
May 3, 2015 9:02 am

I’ll admit I was curious as to how many people clicked on the Cook denier-course YouTube videos. I added to those who have watched the Santer interview. Then I clicked on the main YouTube page for the course. It starts with an overview of the course.comment image
As of about 11:30AM eastern (U.S.) today, that video had about 670 views.
That’s really odd. According to Tony Thomas’s post at JoNova…
http://joannenova.com.au/2015/05/uqs-denial-101x-putting-the-stink-in-distinction/
…13,000 people had signed up for the course. So only about 5% of those who enrolled in the course took the time to view the overview.
Looking at the rest of the playlist, the viewers ranged from less than 70 to less than 700, with the interview with Michael Mann bringing down a whopping 60 views. Again, it was reported that 13,000 people enrolled in the course. Could John Cook be inflating numbers again?comment image
Odd how YouTube recommended for me the Rolling Stones “Sympathy for the Devil”.

Reply to  Bob Tisdale
May 3, 2015 9:44 am

13000 is the ‘official’ Cook/UQ estimate touted in SMH. Maybe most are not doing their homework.

goldminor
Reply to  ristvan
May 3, 2015 12:20 pm

An understanding of Common Core math would easily clear up this dilemma.

MRW
Reply to  Bob Tisdale
May 3, 2015 2:28 pm

If John Cook is a climate expert, why is he getting a masters degree in psychology?

jorgekafkazar
Reply to  MRW
May 3, 2015 3:04 pm

I don’t know about Cook, but Psychology is well known for attracting people who are a little off, mentally. The psych instructor at my university confirmed that in class. For example:
“My roomate my last two years of college was a psychology major and she said that at least 50% of her classmates were batshit insane upon arrival and she figured that was what attracted them to the study of mental illness in the first place…” –fshgrl *
Fortunately, after developing some insight, and a little therapy in the course of their studies, many of them drop out. Perhaps Cook sensibly foresees a need for extensive therapy among his many warmist familiars when the global warming bubble bursts.
* http://ask.metafilter.com/101795/Can-you-become-ill-by-studying-illness

RossP
Reply to  Bob Tisdale
May 4, 2015 12:54 am

Bob
I also wondered about the 13,000 figure.
Recently posted on JoNova’s site on that thread is this
“Pat Lane
May 4, 2015 at 3:58 pm · Reply
The map on the course site show 2206 registered as of 3:49 PM AEST 4/5/2015. I’m not sure where 13,000 came from”
So it looks like Cook is making figures up again !!!

Non Nomen
Reply to  RossP
May 4, 2015 4:51 am

He seems to have an issue with basic arithmetics. His epic 97% failure made it obvious before. May be he had a rash of recursive fury?

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