Antarctic Warming? Part 2 – A letter from a meteorologist on the ground in Antarctica

Watts Up With That?
Friday, Jan 23, 2009

This letter below, reprinted with permission, is from Ross Hays. Ross was a CNN meteorologist for many years. He works for NASA at the Columbia Balloon Facility.

Ross Hays with Antarctica’s Mount Erebus volcano in the background

In that capacity he has spent much time in Antarctica.  He obviously can’t speak for his agency but can have an opinion which he shared with several people. It is printed below in entirety, exactly as he sent it to Eric Steig today, the lead author of the University of Washington paper highlighted in a  press release yesterday that claims there is a warming in Antarctica. There were some of the pronouncements made in the media, particularly to the Associated Press by Dr. Michael Mann, that marry that paper with “global warming”, even though no such claim was made in the press release about the scientific paper itself.

I agree with Ross Hays. In my opinion, this press release and subsequent media interviews were done for media attention. The timing is suspicious,  with the upcoming  Al Gore’s address to congress, he can now say: “We’ve now learned Antarctica is warming”. A Google News search shows about 530 articles on the UW press release in various media.

(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)

I ask my readers that share this opinion to consider writing factual letters to the editor (in your own words) or make online comments if any of these media outlets are near you. – Anthony

letter dated 1/22/09

Eric,

Let me first say that this is my own opinion and does not represent the agency I work for. I feel your study is absolutely wrong.

There are very few stations in Antarctica to begin with and only a hand full with 50 years of data. Satellite data is just approaching thirty years of available information.  In my experience as a day to day forecaster that has to travel and do field work in Antarctica the summer seasons have been getting colder. In the late 1980s helicopters were used to take our personnel to Williams Field from McMurdo Station due to the annual receding of the Ross Ice Shelf, but in the past few years the thaw has been limited and vehicles can continue to make the transition and drive on the ice. One climate note to pass along is December 2006 was the coldest December ever for McMurdo Station. In a synoptic perspective the cooler sea surface temperatures have kept the maritime storms farther offshore in the summer season and the colder more dense air has rolled from the South Pole to the ice shelf.

There was a paper presented at the AMS Conference in New Orleans last year noting over 70% of the continent was cooling due to the ozone hole. We launch balloons into the stratosphere and the anticyclone that develops over the South Pole has been displaced and slow to establish itself over the past five seasons. The pattern in the troposphere has reflected this trend with more maritime (warmer) air around the Antarctic Peninsula which is also where most of the automated weather stations are located for West Antarctica which will give you the average warmer readings and skew the data for all of West Antarctica.

With statistics you can make numbers go to almost any conclusion you want. It saddens me to see members of the scientific community do this for media coverage.

Sincerely,

Ross Hays

• 
• Social bookmarks
• 
• Email this article
• 
• Print this page

Comment Terms Of Use

7 Responses to “Antarctic Warming? Part 2 – A letter from a meteorologist on the ground in Antarctica”

1. ron shuman Says:
   January 23rd, 2009 at 5:08 am

   I hope al gorey got this letter

2. Rob in CT Says:
   January 23rd, 2009 at 9:15 am

   Hey what about Al Gore’s house? Since he got a million from his Nobel Prize can’t he go and fix it?

   http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/house.asp

   

   storky Reply:
   January 23rd, 2009 at 11:54 am

   Interesting.

   George Bush built the Crawford ranch in 1999 exclusively as a backdrop for his presidential campaign. It provided a showcase of technologies he never intended to promote. Instead, Bush encouraged laws and policies that were diametrically opposed to those environmentally responsible and energy efficient technologies demonstrated o the home.

   Meanwhile, your argument about Al Gore not greening his home is outdated:

   From the article
   Gore Completes Renovations to Tenn. Home
   http://www.newsvine.com/_news/.....-tenn-home
   - – - – - -
   . . . The former vice president has installed solar panels, a rainwater-collection system and geothermal heating. He also replaced all incandescent lights with compact fluorescent or light-emitting diode bulbs.

   “Short of tearing it down and staring anew, I don’t know how it could have been rated any higher,” said Kim Shinn of the U.S. Green Building Council, which gave the house its second-highest rating for sustainable design. . .
   - – - – - -

   Research your subject.

   

   Kenj Reply:
   January 23rd, 2009 at 12:40 pm

   Good for Al it APPEARS that he believes the bullshit he has strewn about! He still is a NWO whore none the less.

3. Idiots Abound Says:
   January 23rd, 2009 at 4:23 pm

   Watch Climate wars part 1-3 and see how stupid this website is in denying global climate change. ALL of your so called facts have been debunked!!!! Global climate change is real. Only two types of people deny climate change…paid idiots spewing propaganda…unpaid idiots spewing propaganda!!!

   http://video.google.com/videop…..2119252436

   

   Wizard-of-OZ Reply:
   January 24th, 2009 at 7:13 am

   what about the temperature on other planets rising in the last decade now falling?
   Explain that one. Also explain your new phase of “Global climate change”. Shouldnt you just say the seasonal climate change? .
   In closing, go suck a healthy mouthful of Al Gore’s jizz, shine his Nobel Prize for him and pay your carbon tax to the Rothchilds.

4. Wizard-of-OZ Says:
   January 24th, 2009 at 7:07 am

   go O-BAA-MAAA-H. Yeah, CFR, good work Bilderberg. Your sheople have been herded and fooled into this false quasi-religion of Global Warming/Climate Change so you can introduce a world carbon tax. I for one will not support it.