Prominent U.S. Scientists Submit Brief In Climate Science Court Hearing

Three prominent skeptical scientists have submitted their climate report to the federal court for the landmark March 21 climate science trial hearing.

See: Federal court will hold first-ever hearing on ‘climate change’ science – “A federal judge in San Francisco has ordered parties in a landmark global warming lawsuit to hold what could be the first-ever U.S. court hearing on the science of climate change.”

Full submitted skeptical scientists report: Tutorial Professor Presentation

Excerpts:

Professors William Happer, Steven E. Koonin, and Richard S. Lindzen respectfully ask the Court to accept their presentation (attached to this motion as Exhibit A) in response to the Court’s questions. The professors would be honored to participate directly in the tutorial if the Court desires.

William Happer is the Cyrus Fogg Bracket Professor of Physics Emeritus at Princeton University. Dr. Happer also has extensive experience advising the government on energy research and policy, having served President George H.W. Bush’s administration as the director of energy research in the Department of Energy.

Steven E. Koonin is the founding director of New York University’s Center for Urban Science and Progress. Dr. Koonin previously served as the second Under Secretary for Science at the U.S. Department of Energy in President Barack Obama’s administration. In this role, Dr. Koonin oversaw science, energy, and security activities.

Richard S. Lindzen is a Professor Emeritus in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Lindzen’s research involves studies of the role of the tropics in mid-latitude weather and global heat transport, the moisture budget and its role in global change, the origins of ice ages, seasonal effects in atmospheric transport, stratospheric waves, and the observational determination of climate sensitivity. Each of the professors has been elected to the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, a highly selective nonprofit organization recognizing the country’s most distinguished researchers.

The Court’s specified questions include topics that have been the subject of the professors’ study and analysis for decades. These men have been thought and policy leaders in the scientific community and in the administrations of two different U.S. Presidents. They have extensive research experience with the specific issues the Court identified. As such, they offer a valuable perspective on

these issues.

The attached presentation contains three sections: (1) an overview; (2) responses to the Court’s questions; and (3) biographies of the professors.

The short overview section makes the following points: (1) the climate is always changing; changes like those of the past half-century are common in the geologic record, driven by powerful natural phenomena; (2) human influences on the climate are a small (1%) perturbation to natural energy flows; (3) it is not possible to tell how much of the modest recent warming can be ascribed to human influences; and (4) there have been no detrimental changes observed in most salient climate variables and projections of future changes are highly uncertain.

The second section carefully goes through each of the questions the Court has raised. Accordingly, Professors William Happer, Steven E. Koonin, and Richard S. Lindzen respectfully request that the Court accept for consideration their attached presentation. They also are available to participate in the tutorial if the Court desires.

March 19, 2018

The Honorable Judge William H. Alsup

United States District Court

Northern District of California

Your Honor:

We write to offer a presentation in response to your request for a tutorial on the best science available on global warming and climate change. We appreciate your willingness to dig more deeply into technical issues, since wise societal decisions require an understanding of this complex and nuanced subject. As independent senior scientists and educators long involved in climate matters, we are well-positioned to offer a clear and informed perspective on what is known, and unknown, about the earth’s changing climate. During our individual careers, we have provided scientific advice on diverse complex decisions, always striving to be dispassionate and “call it like we see it.” That ethos not only best informs decisions, which must consider the science in the context of many other factors, but also preserves the integrity of science, preventing its degradation by bias or agenda. Upon hearing of your request for a tutorial, we three came together spontaneously with the goal of providing such advice. You will find that our presentation, while crafted for this purpose, is consistent

with our past publications. None of us has received any compensation for the considerable effort expended in its preparation.

Our brief consists of three sections. Section I is a tutorial overview of climate science, covering the most essential concepts and results and highlighting fundamental problems with the claimed scientific “consensus.” Section II provides detailed answers to the eight specific questions you asked that the tutorial cover; we appreciate that these questions focus attention on the underlying basics, an essential foundation for evaluating derivative claims. Finally, Section III contains our biographical sketches.

We appreciate your willingness to consider our input, and we would, of course, be happy to provide any further information you might find useful.

Respectfully,

Dr. William Happer – Princeton University

Dr. Steven E. Koonin – New York University

Dr. Richard S. Lindzen – Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Section I: Climate science overview

Our overview of climate science is framed through four statements:

1. The climate is always changing; changes like those of the past half-century are common in the geologic record, driven by powerful natural phenomena

2. Human influences on the climate are a small (1%) perturbation to natural energy flows

3. It is not possible to tell how much of the modest recent warming can be ascribed to human influences

4. There have been no detrimental changes observed in the most salient climate variables and today’s projections of future changes are highly uncertain

We offer supporting evidence for each of these statements drawn almost exclusively from the Climate Science Special Report (CSSR) issued by the US government in November, 2017 or from the Fifth Assessment Report (AR5) issued in 2013-14 by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or from the refereed primary literature.