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All IPCC definitions taken from Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Working Group I Contribution to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Annex I, Glossary, pp. 941-954. Cambridge University Press.

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Climate Misinformation by Source: Roy Spencer

Dr. Roy Spencer is a principal research scientist for the University of Alabama in Huntsville, as well as the U.S. Science Team Leader for the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on NASA’s Aqua satellite.  He is known for his work with the satellite-based temperature monitoring for which he and Dr. John Christy received NASA’s Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal [Wikipedia]. 

Dr. Spencer suggests that global warming is mostly due to natural internal variability, and that the climate system is quite insensitive to humanity’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Other professional affiliations: Dr. Spencer is on the board of directors of the George C. Marshall Institute, a right-wing conservative think tank on scientific issues and public policy.  He listed as an expert for the Heartland Institute, a libertarian American public policy think tank.  Dr. Spencer is also listed as an expert by the International Climate and Environmental Change Assessment Project (ICECAP), a global warming "skeptic" organization [DeSmogBlog].

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Favourite climate myths by Roy Spencer

Below are many of the climate myths used by Roy Spencer plus how often each myth has been used.

Climate myths by Spencer What the Science Says Usage
"Roy Spencer finds negative feedback" Spencer's model is too simple, excluding important factors like ocean dynamics and treats cloud feedbacks as forcings. 6
"Climate sensitivity is low"

Net positive feedback is confirmed by many different lines of evidence.

4
"It's cooling"

All the indicators show that global warming is still happening.

3
"It's a natural cycle"

No known natural forcing fits the fingerprints of observed warming except anthropogenic greenhouse gases.

2
"It's freaking cold!"

A local cold day has nothing to do with the long-term trend of increasing global temperatures.

1
"2009-2010 winter saw record cold spells"

A cold day in Chicago in winter has nothing to do with the trend of global warming.

1
"It's internal variability"

Internal variability can only account for small amounts of warming and cooling over periods of decades, and scientific studies have consistently shown that it cannot account for the global warming over the past century.

1
"IPCC is alarmist"

Numerous papers have documented how IPCC predictions are more likely to underestimate the climate response.

1
"CO2 limits will harm the economy"

The benefits of a price on carbon outweigh the costs several times over.

1
"CO2 limits will hurt the poor"

Those who contribute the least greenhouse gases will be most impacted by climate change.

1
"Al Gore got it wrong"

Al Gore's book is quite accurate, and far more accurate than contrarian books.

1
"Global warming stopped in 1998, 1995, 2002, 2007, 2010, ????"

Global temperature is still rising and 2010 was the hottest recorded.

1
"CO2 is plant food"

The effects of enhanced CO2 on terrestrial plants are variable and complex and dependent on numerous factors

1
"CO2 is not the only driver of climate"

Theory, models and direct measurement confirm CO2 is currently the main driver of climate change.

1
"Ocean acidification isn't serious"

Ocean acidification threatens entire marine food chains.

1
"It's El Niño" El Nino has no trend and so is not responsible for the trend of global warming. 1
"Infrared Iris will reduce global warming"

The iris hypothesis has not withstood the test of time - subsequent research has found that if it exists, the effect is much smaller than originally hypothesized, and may even slightly amplify rather than reducing global warming.

1

Back to Climate Misinformation by Source



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