I’ve just discovered that the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) have enlisted top scientists to examine adjusted global warming figures. Their justification seems to be two articles by Christopher Booker, which just goes to show that when I think that an organisation like the GWPF can’t get more ridiculous, they go ahead and prove me wrong. The top scientists are here.

I’ve only personally encountered two of them. I’ve had discussions with Roger Pielke Sr in which it appeared that he did not understand the term forcing. I should add, however, that there is no question that Roger is a top scientist, with an impressive academic record. Roman Mureika was one of those who helped Nic Lewis to claim that Marotzke & Forster had made some kind of basic, embarassing mistake in their analysis. In my brief discussions with Roman, he also seemed to not understand what a forcing was, or why Marotzke & Forster hadn’t made the silly mistake that he claimed they had. I think it’s now clear that the claim was not true but – unless I’ve missed it – it has yet to be retracted. I think I’ve heard Petr Chylek’s name, but can’t remember why. The others I haven’t heard of or encountered.

The basic issue, though (well, apart from using Christopher Booker as motivation) is that this has been done before. This was the motivation behind Berkeley Earth (BEST), and what did they find? In addition to BEST, there are also the HadCRUT, JMA, NOAA, and NASA datasets, all of which produce results that are largely consistent.

So, how many times does this have to happen before people accept the basic evidence? Also, how seriously should we take an attempt that appears to be motivated by Christoper Booker? Can’t the GWPF even be bothered to try and make their motivation seem sensible? Well, okay, I guess it is tough for them to find a better motivation, so maybe it’s simply the best they could do? Who can blame them; the alternative would probably be to simply accept what almost everyone else regards as broadly correct, and that – presumably – just won’t do.