Follow Up On Landsea/IPCC
January 24th, 2005Posted by: Roger Pielke, Jr.
Several news stories have come out flowing Chris Landsea’s
"http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/prometheus/archives/science_policy_general/000318chris_landsea_leaves.html">resignation
from the IPCC last week. These news stories provide some additional
information that allows for some insight into the scientific dispute
between Landsea and NCAR’s Kevin Trenberth, as well as into the broader
political context of the IPCC.
The Scientific Dispute
Landsea wrote in his letter that he resigned from the IPCC, in part,
because “It is beyond me why my colleagues would utilize the media to push
an unsupported agenda that recent hurricane activity has been due to
global warming,” and one of those colleagues, Trenberth, was the Lead
Author for the IPCC responsible for writing the chapter on hurricanes to
which Landsea was to contribute. In an
"http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29397-2005Jan22.html">article
in yesterday’s Washington Post Trenberth again asserted that the very
active 2004 hurricane season was influenced by global warming:
“Trenberth, who in an interview Friday called Landsea’s charges
“ridiculous,” said he participated last fall in a media conference call
organized by Harvard University professors “to correct misleading
impressions that global warming had played no role at all in last year’s
hurricane season.” He added he would have welcomed opposing views in the
assessment, even though he believes “if global warming is happening, how
can hurricanes not be affected? It’s part of the overall system.”"
And Sunday’s Boulder Daily Camera contained a similar
"http://www.dailycamera.com/bdc/science/article/0,1713,BDC_2432_3491666,00.html">report:
“In a telephone interview with the Camera, Trenberth said the [Harvard]
press conference had been called to rebut statements by Landsea and others
who have said “global warming had nothing to do with hurricanes.”"