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Saturday, January 30, 2010

Bogus Himalayan Melting Glacier Report Was Based on Student Dissertation and Mountaineering Mag Article

The screw-up over the Himalayan glaciers has triggered an outcry all across the thinking world. Some are already using the word "Glaciergate" in reference to the scandal over the bogus claim in the fourth IPCC assessment report, which the UN climate body publishes every five years. The prediction that glaciers in the Himalayas would all disappear by 2035 was wrong, they were off by around 300 years.  A main reason for the mistake, I kid you not, was the numbers were transposed, instead of 2035 it was 2305. But don't worry the Global warming moonbats say they are sorry and it wont happen again.

Feel better now? Well Don't.  Guess where the UN's IPCC got its information about the ice disappearing from the mountaintops across the world? The IPCC based its claims about mountian ice disappearing from a student's dissertation and an article in a mountaineering magazine.

...In its most recent report, it stated that observed reductions in mountain ice in the Andes, Alps and Africa was being caused by global warming, citing two papers as the source of the information.


However, it can be revealed that one of the sources quoted was a feature article published in a popular magazine for climbers which was based on anecdotal evidence from mountaineers about the changes they were witnessing on the mountainsides around them.


The other was a dissertation written by a geography student, studying for the equivalent of a master's degree, at the University of Berne in Switzerland that quoted interviews with mountain guides in the Alps.


The revelations, uncovered by The Sunday Telegraph, have raised fresh questions about the quality of the information contained in the report, which was published in 2007.
...This week scientists from around the world leapt to the defence of the IPCC, insisting that despite the errors, which they describe as minor, the majority of the science presented in the IPCC report is sound and its conclusions are unaffected.


But some researchers have expressed exasperation at the IPCC's use of unsubstantiated claims and sources outside of the scientific literature.
Scientific consensus? More like scientific "Old wives tales."

Professor Richard Tol, one of the report's authors who is based at the Economic and Social Research Institute in Dublin, Ireland, said: "These are essentially a collection of anecdotes.


"Why did they do this? It is quite astounding. Although there have probably been no policy decisions made on the basis of this, it is illustrative of how sloppy Working Group Two (the panel of experts within the IPCC responsible for drawing up this section of the report) has been.


"There is no way current climbers and mountain guides can give anecdotal evidence back to the 1900s, so what they claim is complete nonsense."
...The claims about disappearing mountain ice were contained within a table entitled "Selected observed effects due to changes in the cryosphere produced by warming".


It states that reductions in mountain ice have been observed from the loss of ice climbs in the Andes, Alps and in Africa between 1900 and 2000.


The report also states that the section is intended to "assess studies that have been published since the TAR (Third Assessment Report) of observed changes and their effects".


But neither the dissertation or the magazine article cited as sources for this information were ever subject to the rigorous scientific review process that research published in scientific journals must undergo.


The magazine article, which was written by Mark Bowen, a climber and author of two books on climate change, appeared in Climbing magazine in 2002. It quoted anecdotal evidence from climbers of retreating glaciers and the loss of ice from climbs since the 1970s.


Mr Bowen said: "I am surprised that they have cited an article from a climbing magazine, but there is no reason why anecdotal evidence from climbers should be disregarded as they are spending a great deal of time in places that other people rarely go and so notice the changes."
The dissertation paper, written by professional mountain guide and climate change campaigner Dario-Andri Schworer while he was studying for a geography degree, quotes observations from interviews with around 80 mountain guides in the Bernina region of the Swiss Alps.
Just another piece of evidence proving that the global warming moonbats will pull any piece of information, valid or not, to try an prove their man made global warming hoax. 

If you want to read the entire article Click Here

1 comment:

Ed Darrell said...

Actually, both of the references were scientific, and solid science. The critics somehow "forget" to note they have no rebuttal. They fail to note that the masters thesis is peer-reviewed stuff. And they fail to mention that the magazine article was written by a Ph.D. in physics with two books on climate change published by major publishers.

Read the facts here:
http://timpanogos.wordpress.com/2010/01/31/wattsupgate-denialists-claim-all-knowledge-is-wrong/