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This just released prestigious report is not going to please the IPCC scientists. It calls for a profound change of course in climate research.

Snip of the report’s front cover.

The Research Council Of Norway has conducted a comprehensive evaluation (see right side bar) of the status of climate science in Norway and released their results. The document: Norwegian Climate Research – An Evaluation writes, “This evaluation provides a critical review of Norwegian climate research in an international perspective and recommends measures to enhance the quality, efficiency and relevance of future climate research.”

Hat-tip to Dr Sebastian Lüning and Dr. Jan-Erik Solheim.

In early 2011, the Norwegian Research Council (RCN) appointed a committee to review Norwegian climate research. The aim of the evaluation was to provide a critical review of Norwegian climate research in an international perspective and to recommend measures to enhance the quality, efficiency and relevance of future climate research.

Key findings of the report are found on page 22, and include the following (my emphasis):

Although the expressed political needs regarding science results primarily relate to the impact of anthropogenic greenhouse gasses, there is also a need for increased research on the impact of human activity on land cover and land-use change, especially in relation to the albedo and the biogeochemical and hydrological cycles. Furthermore, a good understanding of the climate system cannot be reached without a dedicated effort to understand the contribution to climate change from natural climate processes. The geological history very clearly documents a strong climate forcing associated with solar variability, although the exact mechanism has not been identified. This should call for a coherent international effort, but surprisingly, the worldwide scientific effort to increase our understanding of the natural variations is very limited, and this is most probably related to the limited funding available for basic, not agenda-driven research. Therefore, in addition to implementing the recommendations of Klima21, this committee recommends an increased effort in research on the natural causes of climate change, in particular the activity variations of the sun, the mechanism of cloud formation, and the multi-decadal variations in ocean current systems. 2.1.1.7 Summary of key findings Largely funded by RCN, Norway has developed internationally recognised top competency in many of the scientific disciplines that are necessary for understanding current climate and its development. In particular, the numerical comprehensive climate and Earth system models are highly regarded. Less effort has been devoted to studying and explaining the natural causes of climate change because these have been regarded as having a relatively minor impact on the climate system and global temperature compared with the effect of man-made greenhouse gasses. In setting priorities, Norwegian climate research is in harmony with the mainstream of international climate science, but, taking into account the strong competencies in a wide spectrum of disciplines, an increased effort to understand the basic natural climate processes could be advantageous for Norwegian climate research.

Moreover, page 9 adds that: “…more effort is needed to understand natural climate variability in order to better quantify the uncertainty in predicting future climate.”

Obviously the Research Council of Norway feels the climate models are inadequate and need a good dose of improvement and getting back to reality.

Clearly the report shows that more and more scientists are now realizing that a course correction is needed in climate research, and that the focus has to shift to natural causes.