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John Mason

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    New Research

    in Climate Change

    Posted

    Hi John. There is a huge difference between questioning the science and rubbishing the science and those that question the science are still tarred with the same brush as those who rubbish it. The climate models are throwing out questionable data at times and there are a million and one excuses why they get it wrong. Solar influence is one such mechanism that we have modelled wrongly for years and then there is the rounding of figures which can cause huge amounts of differences in the output. These have been ignored in the past by people who wouldn't accept they were wrong but yet claimed "the science was settled". When this happens, is there any wonder why there is so much scepticism?

    Hi Prof,

    There sure is! At Skeptical Science we soon spot those out simply to rubbish science - quite a few are "known operatives" in any case. Questions on the other hand are always welcome - provided they are posted in the right thread where they are on-topic, they will usually be answered.

    Sure the climate models are far from perfect. They improve as time goes by, but don't confuse excuses with reasons - if they underperform either way (and for example they grossly underestimated Arctic sea-ice loss) we need to and do try and work out the reasons for that, rather than saying the dog ate the homework.

    Is science ever settled? I don't think so, at least in terms of details. Certain principles have withstood the test of time in all of the scientific disciplines, but there are always uncertainties to clear up, and climatology is no exception to this. It requires scepticism to identify and attempt to address uncertainties - without it we would still be wondering how to make wheels!

    Cheers - John

    New Research

    in Climate Change

    Posted

    Posted ImageJohn Mason, on 23 January 2012 - 13:21 , said:

    Hi all,

    Just dropping by to say hello to Vill and to suggest that he might enjoy reading the following recent guest-post on SkS, by Kate from Climatesight:

    http://www.skeptical...odels-work.html

    Cheers - John

    Vill said: "thanks John, I guess now that you have tracked me down we can say that I have been Dev'd again right!"

    My advice is to follow the link I provided, because it would help you to understand climate models, which you clearly do not, having confused them with economic models, which are far more fail-prone because, despite its myriad complexities, the climate is rather more straightforward than a bunch of panicking financiers!

    I've known you are on here for ages, but thought I might be able to offer some guidance that would help you see the difference in computer models as developed for completely different situations - climatology vs. economics. Hence posting the link to where I mostly hang out these days, with those scurrilous Antipodean pro-science types! I rather like them because the arena is - mostly - science.

    Cheers - John

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