Climate Skeptics Covered in The Deniers by Lawrence Solomon

My blog 'Green Herring' back to Faces of Climate Science start page

Lawrence Solomon ran a series in his column in Canada's National Post from late 2006 through 2007 profiling 37 authors he put forward as 'climate skeptics'--critics of various aspects of climate science. He later worked these into a book entitled The Deniers: The World Renowned Scientists Who Stood Up Against Global Warming Hysteria, Political Persecution, and Fraud**And those who are too fearful to do so. Archived copies of the original columns (along with other unrelated columns by Solomon) are available here: The Deniers column series. The book has been reviewed critically by here by George Marshall and here by Richard Littlemore of desmogblog.com. One problem with Solomon's work is that some of the people profiled do not express the kind of outright rejection of the IPCC or mainstream climate science that the title would seem to imply. Some have even complained of how their views were represented:

Sami Solanki of the Max Planck Institute rejected Solomon's treatment of his views:
A misleading account of my views was published in the Toronto National Post in March, 2007 (and is to be found at different places on the web). In contrast to what is written there I am not a denier of global warming produced by an increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases. Already at present the overwhelming source of global warming is due to manmade greenhouse gases and their influence will continue to grow in the future as their concentration increases.
Nigel Weiss of Cambridge University similarly objected to the way his views were presented, and highlights that the Post had to run a retraction at his insistence:
Following a misleading account of my views in the Toronto National Post in February 2007, a number of right-wing lobbyists have asserted that I claimed that an impending drop in solar activity would lead to global cooling that would cancel out the warming caused by greenhouse gases. On the contrary, I have always maintained that any temperature changes caused by variations in solar activity -- while interesting in themselves -- are not significant compared to the global warming that we are already experiencing, and very small compared to what will happen if we continue to burn fossil fuel at the present rate. On April 11 2007 the National Post published an apology and withdrew its allegations. They have nevertheless appeared again in the recent book `Scared to Death' by Booker and North.
Carl Wunsch was included in the Martin Durkin film The Great Global Warming Swindle but expressed strong objections to how his views were presented, on his own site (including links to other critiques of the film) and then also on realclimate.org. Despite this rebuttal, Solomon wrote about this incident in a way that appears to justify Durkin's work. (I haven't found any reply by Wunsh to Solomon's column on him.)

For the ones I see as most clearly misread or mispositioned by Solomon, I've entered (LSDeniers) in parentheses to indicate simply that they were profiled in the series, but their actual views vary considerably from how Solomon positioned them.

Notes column tinted this colour for signers of these 'activist' statements:
SCS03: 2003 'State of Climate Science' letter from 1011 scientists to U.S. congress (81 tagged)
CMOS06: 2006 statement from 120 scientists at the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (all tagged)
CMOS08: 2008 statement from 130 scientists at the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (all tagged)
RealClimate 'activist' website by ten climate scientists, founded 2004
noSw07: April 2007 letter from 37 scientists to Martin Durkin protesting inaccurate portrayal of climate science in his film The Great Global Warming Swindle (all tagged)
Bali07: 2007 appeal letter by 212 scientists from 25 countries, to delegates at the Bali climate talks (all tagged)
CCSP08: 2008 Assessment Report from the U.S. Climate Change Science Program [10 authors tagged so far; not a petition/declaration]
UCS08: 2008 Union of Concerned Scientists' declaration from 1700 U.S. scientists and economists (165 tagged)
Monaco09: Jan. 2009 Monaco Declaration on ocean acidification from 155 ocean scientists from 26 countries (152 tagged)
CLI09June 2009 Open letter to Obama and Congress calling for agressive action on climate change; signed by 20 scientists (all listed)
UKsc09: Dec. 2009 'Statement from the UK science community' re-affirming climate change science and data after East Anglia email break-in, signed by 1700 UK scientists from 67 universities and 55 other institutions (106 listed, 2010-1-17).

Notes column tinted this colour for signers of these 'skeptic' statements
SEPP92 1992 'Statement by Atmospheric Scientists on Greenhouse Warming' from the 'Science and Environment Policy Project', 46 signers
LZ95: 1995 'Leipzig Declaration' organized by Fred Singer, signed by 80 scientists and 25 weathermen
CA02: 2002 skeptics letter to Canadian P.M. Jean Chretien
CA03: 2003 skeptics letter to Canadian P.M. Paul Martin
CA06: 2006 skeptics letter to Canadian P.M. Stephen Harper
UN07: 2007 skeptics letter to U.N. Sec. General Ban Ki-Moon
TGGWS: 2007 TV film The Great Global Warming Swindle interviewees
NIPCC: 2008 Heartland Inst. document Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate, ed. S. Fred Singer, 24 listed contributors
MHND: 2008 'Manhattan Declaration' from skeptics' conference in NYC
Cato09: 2009 newspaper ad by the Cato Institute challenging President Obama's stance on climate change; 115 signers
APS09: 2009 Petition to the American Physical Society to amend their statement on climage change
CCC09: 2009 'Copenhagen Climate Challenge' 158 signers

LISTS column tinted this colour for names who did not sign any skeptic declarations, yet are included on a list of 'skeptic' names by someone else:
JIMM08: Named on 2008 list from U.S. Sen. James Inhofe's staffer Marc Morano
LSDeniers: Profiled in Lawrence Solomons's 2006-7 'The Deniers' column series in Canada's National Post

LISTS column tinted this colour for someone who did sign one of the above skeptic statements, and is also included on a list of 'skeptic' names by someone else.

Some major compilations

I've also tagged authors included in a few major compilations of climate science articles. These are not petitions or calls for action, but further illustrate the author's standing in the literature.

SotP09: Science Magazine's State of the Planet 2008-2009 collection of articles from the journal plus added analysis; covers recent climate change research published in Science
CVX: Climate Variability and Extremes
C&O: Climate Change: Critical Concepts in the Environment and Physical Geography, Frank Chambers and Michael Ogle, eds. [Routledge, 2002; 4 vols.; ISBN-13 978-0415276603] This extensive collection covers much of the early history of climate science, as well as selected highlights of more recent work.

For details on these declarations and how I've annotated for them, see notes on open letters

Names are sorted in descending order of number of published works that match the word 'climate' in Google Scholar. This total could include non-refereed pieces such as commentary, editorials, or letters to the editor. (Note that citation stats were collected by hand, over a few months, so exact order might vary slightly as papers continue to gain citations as time passes.)

Anyone working in the field of climate science should have a significant number of hits on this search. The median number for IPCC wg1 authors is 93 articles; for all of the roughly 1800 authors I've checked up to July 2009, including skeptics, the median is 56. For the 386 names I've checked so far who were signers of a climate skeptics' statement, the median is two (2).

70% of the skeptics have fewer than 10 published works that mentions of climate and 60% have fewer than five. At the top of the rankings, there are 25 skeptics who have more than the overall median of 56 works mentioning 'climate', and just 12 above the IPCC median of 93.

In the overall list, there are 908 names with 56 or more works mentioning climate, and 593 names with at least 93 works. In this light, self-declared skeptics make up only 2.75% of the first group, or 2.03% of the second.

Mouse over column heading for explanation

Rank here	Notes	Lists	Name (homepage)	PhD year	IPCC	GS queries	most cites	2nd most	3rd most	4th most	Climate total	Wikipedia?	Areas of research	Affiliation
1		LSDeniers JIMM08	14: Richard SJ Tol	1997	AR2-3 AR4 wg3	All PAPS CLIM	264	246	238	212	529	WP? W.P?	climate damage costs, statistics	FNU, U Hamburg
2		(LSDeniers) (JIMM08)	28: Hans von Storch	1979		All PAPS CLIM	987	254	173	166	406	WP? W.P?	coastal climate, impacts, SLR	U Hamburg, Inst. Of Coastal Res. GKSS
3		LSDeniers	165: David H Bromwich	1979	AR4 wg1	All PAPS CLIM	152	115	112	105	214	WP? W.P?	hydrology, polar climate	Byrd Polar Research Center, The Ohio State University, USA
4	noSw07 Bali07 UCS08	(LSDeniers) (TGGWS)	186: Carl Wunsch, FAGU, FAAAS	1966		All PAPS CLIM	428	307	303	277	206	WP? W.P?	ocean circulation, assimilation	PAOC, MIT, Cambridge, MA
5		(LSDeniers) NPFhosts	209: Stephen E Schwartz, FAGU, FAAAS	1968	AR4 wg1	All PAPS CLIM	1005	359	309	147	195	WP? W.P?	radiative forcing	Brookhaven National Lab
6	ESI01#19	LSDeniers JIMM08	221: George Kukla	1953		All PAPS CLIM	352	284	252	232	190	WP? W.P?	ice ages	Lamont-Doherty Earth Obs., Colubmia U.
7	UN07 MHND	LSDeniers JIMM08	297: Reid A Bryson	1948		All PAPS CLIM	240	149	114	92	167	WP? W.P?	regional climate of North America, India	emeritus, ex of U Wisconsin
8	SotP09	ESI01#22 LSDeniers	300: William D Nordhaus	1967		All PAPS CLIM	1503	590	459	383	165	WP? W.P?	economics of greenhouse gas mitigation	Yale U
9	SEPP92 LZ95 CA02 CA03 CA06 TGGWS UN07 Cato09 CCC09	LSDeniers JIMM08	399: Richard Lindzen, FAGU	1964		All PAPS CLIM	372	335	295	274	140	WP? W.P?	QBO, maritime clouds, iris effect?	M.I.T., Cambridge, MA
10		(LSDeniers)	610: Sami K Solanki	1987	AR4 wg1	All PAPS CLIM	166	95	101	85	103	WP? W.P?	solar magentic field	Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Germany, Switzerland
11		LSDeniers JIMM08	648: Jasper Kirkby	no cv		All PAPS CLIM	142	107	72	59	98	WP? W.P?	particle physics, cosmic rays; climate link	CERN, Switzerland
12	resigned from IPCC	(LSDeniers) (JIMM08)	697: Chris Landsea	1994	AR4 wg1 *resigned	All PAPS CLIM	514	333	138	120	93	WP? W.P?	hurricanes	NOAA
13		(LSDeniers)	804: Anastasios A Tsonis	PhD		All PAPS CLIM	260	114	98	78	81	WP? W.P?	chaos theory, attactors	U Wisconsin at Milwaukee
14	UN07 MHND Cato09 NIPCC09 CCC09	LSDeniers JIMM08	833: William M Gray	1964		All PAPS CLIM	370	361	242	210	78	WP? W.P?	hurricanes	head of Tropical Met Project, Colorado State U
15		LSDeniers	938: Rhodes Fairbridge	1941		All PAPS CLIM	310	108	80	50	70	WP? W.P?	eustatic sea level, paleo	deceased, ex of Columbia U
16		LSDeniers JIMM08	976: Henrik Svensmark	no cv		All PAPS CLIM	381	131	113	110	67	WP? W.P?	GCRs and clouds	Danish Met Inst. Copenhagen
17	SotP09 UKsc09	(LSDeniers) (JIMM08)	1035: Duncan Wingham	PhD		All PAPS CLIM	113	76	63	55	62	WP? W.P?	Antarctic ice sheet, thinning	Leeds and Bath Universities
18	NZCSC CA06 UN07 MHND NIPCC08 Cato09 NIPCC09 CCC09	LSDeniers JIMM08	1086: Robert M Carter	1968		All PAPS CLIM	59	57	49	25	57	WP? W.P?	sediments, SW Pacific	James Cook University
19		(LSDeniers)	1133: Roger Revelle	1936		All PAPS CLIM	260	102	92	66	53	WP? W.P?	global warming theory	deceased, was with Scripps, UCSD
20		LSDeniers JIMM08	1223: Claude J Allegre, FAGU, MNAS	1962		All PAPS CLIM	220	173	163	139	47	WP? W.P?	volcanic gases, isotopes, weathering	Inst. De Physique du Globe; U.Paris
21	(TGGWS) ?	(LSDeniers) (JIMM08)	1291: Eigil Friis-Christensen, FAGU	1971		All PAPS CLIM	426	390	88	87	43	WP? W.P?	GCRs, solar cycle effect on climate	Director, Danish Space Research Inst
22		(LSDeniers) got retraction	1318: Nigel O Weiss	1968?		All PAPS CLIM	180	153	141	124	40	WP? W.P?	solar variability and climate	emeritus, Cambridge U
23	SCS03 CA06 TGGWS	LSDeniers JIMM08	1366: Paul Reiter	no cv	AR3 wg2 (resigned)	All PAPS CLIM	323	138	130	126	37	WP? W.P?	medical entomology, disease vectors, malaria	Pasteur Inst., Paris
24	UN07 MHND Cato09 CCC09	LSDeniers JIMM08	1430: Cliff Ollier	PhD		All PAPS CLIM	102	42	36	33	33	WP? W.P?	landforms, weathering, tectonics	emeritus, U Western Australia
25	TGGWS	LSDeniers JIMM08	1449: Nir Shaviv	1996		All PAPS CLIM	198	62	58	42	32	WP? W.P?	GCRs	Hebrew University, Jerusalem
26	NZCSC MHND Cato09 CCC09	LSDeniers JIMM08	1596: David Bellamy	BSc		All PAPS CLIM	62	207	37	12	24	WP? W.P?	peatlands, wetland ecology	ex of World Land Trust
27	CA03 CA06 UN07 MHND	LSDeniers JIMM08	1598: Freeman Dyson, MNAS	1947 MSc		All PAPS CLIM	749	480	404	318	23	WP? W.P?	particle physics (not climate related)	retired, ex of Institute of Advanced Studies, Princeton, NJ
28	LZ95 CA03 CA06 UN07 MHND NIPCC08 NIPCC09 CCC09	LSDeniers JIMM08	1750: Zbigniew Jaworowski	1963		All PAPS CLIM	34	33	21	19	15	WP? W.P?	radioactivity risks, isotopes	Central Lab for Radiological Protection, Warsaw
29	CA06 UN07 CCC09	LSDeniers JIMM08	1837: Hendrik Tennekes	PhD		All PAPS CLIM	3179	316	234	120	10	WP? W.P?	turbulence, boundary layer	retired, ex director of Royal Netherlands Met Inst (KNMI)
30	MHND Cato09 CCC09	LSDeniers JIMM08	1874: Syun-Ichi Akasofu, FAGU	1961		All PAPS CLIM	248	242	175	173	8	WP? W.P?	solar wind, magnetosphere	U Alaska (emeritus)
31	UN07 MHND Cato09	LSDeniers JIMM08	1903: Antonio Zichichi	PhD		All PAPS CLIM	680	674	580	249	6	WP? W.P?	particle physics (not climate related)	emeritus, EMFCSC, Erice, U Bologna
32	UN07 MHND NIPCC08 NIPCC09	LSDeniers JIMM08	1914: Tom Segalstad	PhD		All PAPS CLIM	23	18	12	12	6	WP? W.P?	minerology, petrology	U Oslo
33	UN07	LSDeniers JIMM08	1921: Edward J Wegman	1968		All PAPS CLIM	296	155	106	70	5	WP? W.P?	computer science, statistics	George Mason U
34	UKsc09	LSDeniers	1932: Stephen Salter	no cv		All PAPS CLIM	50	29	22	22	5	WP? W.P?	wave power engr, ship geoengineering proposal	U Edinburgh
35	NZCSC CA03 CA06 UN07 MHND NIPCC08 Cato09 NIPCC09 CCC09	LSDeniers JIMM08	1938: Vincent R Gray	1946		All PAPS CLIM	26	15	7	2	5	WP? W.P?	coal, lumber	emeritus, ex of Colorado State U
36	GWBush NASA chief	LSDeniers JIMM08	2027: Michael D Griffin	1977		All PAPS CLIM	72	10	8	5	2	WP? W.P?	space vehicle design, CFD	was Director of NASA under GWBush
37	CCC09	LSDeniers JIMM08	2037: Habibullo Abdussamatov	no cv		All PAPS CLIM	13	8	3	2	2	WP? W.P?	solar magnetic field