Another Climatologist Stripped of Title

This time, for debunking incorrect, alarmist statistics: widely-publicized data on the reduction in the snowpack of the Cascades. This isn’t the first time a state climatologist has been rebuked for his views on climate change. This time, it’s the state of Washington that has stripped a climatologist of his title for failing to fall in line. But this time, it was after the climatologist actually corrected bad data (emphasis mine throughout):

The snowpack in the Cascades, it was said, shrank by 50 percent in the last half-century. It’s been presented as glaring evidence of the cost exacted by global warming — the drying up of a vital water source.

That statistic has been repeated in a government report, on environmental-advocacy Web sites and in media coverage. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels recently mentioned it in a guest column in The Seattle Times.

Here’s the problem: The number is dead wrong.

Bogus data used to support global warming alarmist claims. You don’t say? I wonder how many of those press reports, web sites, and politicians will publish a correction?

Well, that’s beside the point. If I was only writing about this story to highlight the publication of a bogus alarmist stat, understandably, few would read past the first lines since those stories are a dime a dozen. That’d be like writing about a teacher that raped a student or congressional spending bill with pork. But I digress…back to the story:

On Monday, it escalated further when University of Washington researcher and State Climatologist Philip Mote stripped a colleague of his title as associate state climatologist, triggering concerns that scientific dissent is being quashed. Losing the title doesn’t affect the man’s employment at the UW.

Why would Mote strip him of his title? Surely, it must be some grievous offense such being the source of that bogus data, right? Not so fast - the colleague, Mark Albright, is actually the one who debunked the bogus stats about snowpack:

The debate in Seattle started with Mark Albright, a part-time UW meteorologist and, until this week, the associate state climatologist.

After reading Nickels’ February essay in The Times, Albright sent an e-mail to colleagues saying he didn’t see evidence that snowpack was steadily shrinking, much less by 50 percent.

A debate ensued, with all sides quickly fessing up that the assistant, Albright, was right:

“No one believes in this 50 percent number anymore,” Mass said.

The group finally settled on a 30% reduction in snowpack (read their summary statement). They were off by nearly half. So why fire the man who revealed this grievous error?

Mote, upset that Albright was broadly distributing e-mails about the issue, last week told Albright that he would have to let Mote preview any e-mails before sending them out, if he was tying his work to the state climatologist’s office.

…When Albright refused Mote’s ultimatum, Mote barred him from associating himself with the state climatologist’s office.

Some of Albright’s colleagues are insisting he shouldn’t have lost the title:

But Mass said Albright was doing nothing wrong — simply airing his analysis and seeking feedback as he researched further.

“In all my years of doing science, I’ve never seen this sort of gag-order approach to doing science,” he said.

So they all agree the stat was bogus; Albright’s bringing it to the forefront was beneficial in that it revealed an error in the data set. Yet Albright gets the ax. Debunking the artificially inflated alarmist stats such as a “50% reduction in snowpack” isn’t going to get you very far when those publishing such stats are part of the Climate Impacts Group - a research group that relies on federal grants for their research.

Back to Philip Mote, the state climatologist that stripped Albright of his “assistant climatologist” title. What might his motivation be, you ask? We can get a hint from his views on Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, as published by the Seattle Times in February:

Still, it’s tempting to compare Mote’s work with Gore’s crusade.

Both travel a lot, armed with Macintosh computers filled with photos of shrinking glaciers and graphs of the buildup of planet-warming carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Both attended Harvard; Gore studied government, Mote physics. Both are clean-cut, with Boy Scout earnestness…

But the underlying message is clear: Climate change is happening, and humans are the biggest cause. It’s a conclusion most scientists now share.

Mote gives Gore’s presentation, featured in the hit movie “An Inconvenient Truth,” an A-minus on the science.

In a debate with George Taylor, the head of Oregon’s Climate Service, a scientist who doubts doubts humans are the primary cause of climate change, Mote rejected peer-reviewed scientific research connecting solar variability with terrestrial climate change:

Taylor said too many unanswered questions remain about the influence of things such as unusual solar activity on the climate. He questioned whether there really was a problem at all.

Mote responded that the idea that the current warming was caused by such solar activity had been debunked.

Mote’s motivation in publicizing alarmist figures runs deep: he is also a lead author of the global warming alarmist’s favorite tome: the recently published IPCC report on climate change. But he’s not just any lead author, he’s lead author of Chapter 4: Observations: Changes in Snow, Ice, and Frozen Ground. Observations of changes in snow and ice? That’s the very subject on which his data had to be corrected by the assistant now stripped of his title!

Furthermore, the “state climatologist” title may not just be for show any longer:

Gov. Christine Gregoire’s proposed budget includes $168,000 for the office over the next two years, which would provide Mote an assistant. And the Governor’s Office is asking the Legislature to make it an official, appointed position.

I guess that $168K goes a lot further when you fire the assistant.
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See Previous:

• Another Global Warming Skeptic Rebuked (February 27, 2007)
• Silencing the Skeptics (January 19, 2007)

Technorati Tags: Climate Change, Global Warming, Global Warming Skeptic, Climatologist, Philip Mote, Mark Albright