Pachauri calls Indian govt. report on melting Himalayan glaciers as “voodoo science”
January 9th, 2010 - 3:42 pm ICT by ANI
- London, January 9 (ANI): Rajendra Pachauri, the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has described the Indian government report that criticized the claim by IPCC over the faster than expected melting of Himalayan glaciers, as “voodoo science”.
In 1999, Indian glaciologist Syed Hasnain, of Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, had said in an interview that all the glaciers in the central and eastern Himalayas could disappear by 2035.
Hasnain, who was then chairman of the International Commission on Snow and Ice’s working group on Himalayan glaciology, has never repeated the prediction in a peer-reviewed journal.
He now says the comment was “speculative”.
But, the claim found its way into the IPCC fourth assessment report published in 2007. Moreover, the claim was extrapolated to include all glaciers in the Himalayas.
Chapter 10 of the report says, “Glaciers in the Himalayas are receding faster than in any other part of the world.”
The inclusion of this statement has angered many glaciologists, who regard it as unjustified.
Vijay Raina, a leading Indian glaciologist, attacked the claim in a report published by the Indian government in November.
India’s environment minister, Jairam Ramesh, accused the IPCC of being “alarmist”.
But, according to a report in New Scientist, Rajendra Pachauri, the IPCC’s chairman, has hit back, denouncing the Indian government report as “voodoo science” lacking peer review.
He adds that “we have a very clear idea of what is happening” in the Himalayas.
Also, the lead author of the IPCC chapter, Indian glaciologist Murari Lal, told New Scientist that he “outright rejected” the notion that the IPCC was off the mark on Himalayan glaciers.
“The IPCC authors did exactly what was expected from them,” he said.
“We relied rather heavily on grey (not peer-reviewed) literature, including the WWF report,” Lal said. “The error, if any, lies with Dr Hasnain’s assertion and not with the IPCC authors,” he added.
But, Hasnain rejects that and blames the IPCC for misusing a remark he made to a journalist.
“The magic number of 2035 has not (been) mentioned in any research papers written by me, as no peer-reviewed journal will accept speculative figures,” he told New Scientist.
“It is not proper for IPCC to include references from popular magazines or newspapers,” Hasnain added. (ANI)
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Posted in Health Science, |
January 31st, 2010 at 3:17 am
Global Warming now resembles a religion much more than a science. It even comes complete with an initial Eden-like rainforest, Mankind’s fall from grace through an Original Sin of enjoying the fruits of the Tree of Knowledge (the industrial revolution) and a great flood sent to destroy Mankind for our evil industry.
Only large donations to the high priests of the UN-IPCC, can wash away our collective guilt. Mankind may be saved from the apocalyptic wrath of AGW - but only if we repent and change our sinful ways.
Only with a religion could you have so many of the Global Warming apocalyptic stories and “science” discredited, and yet still have true believers continuing to keep the faith.
It is time to wake up & start examining the facts & science critically. Unless, you prefer to have faith in the new apocalypse, prophesied to come and punish Mankind for our terrible sins?…
The world is ending, Repent before it is too late!
February 24th, 2010 at 5:45 am
It’s Time to Reconsider the World that’s been Pulled Over Your Eyes…
Since the now discredited IPCC has been pushing Global Warming Alarmism down our throats for 20 years. It is time to take a hard look at the facts and to stop believing these scare stories.
Alarmist Fiction Vs. the Facts:
“Polar sea ice levels are actually decreasing rapidly. Polar bears are starving as a result of not being able to get out onto it to hunt. Sea Levels are rising fast and will soon drown Bangladesh, London and many Island nations”
No - Polar sea ice levels are not decreasing rapidly - quite the opposite:
According to the US National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado, Arctic summer sea ice has increased by 409,000 square miles, or 26 per cent, since 2007.
No - Polar Bears are not starving - they are increasing very rapidly:
The global polar bear population has at least quadrupled in 40 years. Estimates from about 1970 - when they tightly regulated hunting, suggested about 5-6,000, and now the estimate is about 25,000.
No - sea levels are not rising at all.
The world’s leading authority on sea levels is the Swedish geologist and physicist Nils-Axel Morner, formerly chairman of the International Commission on Sea Level Change. And the verdict of Dr Morner is that all this talk about the sea rising is nothing but a colossal scare story.
Despite fluctuations down as well as up, “the sea is not rising,” he says. “It hasn’t risen in 50 years.”
No - Bangladesh isn’t drowning it’s gaining 20 sq kms annually!
Data shows that Bangladesh’s landmass is increasing, contradicting IPCC forecasts that the South Asian nation will be under the waves by the end of the century, experts say.
Scientists from the Dhaka-based Center for Environment and Geographic Information Services (CEGIS) have studied 32 years of satellite images and say Bangladesh’s landmass has increased by 20 square kilometres annually.