Monday, January 26, 2009

Hansen Awarded High Meteorological Honor

Jan. 28 Update: Climate Progress points out that the latest attack on Hansen by the Senator from Jokelahoma is full of made-up stuff. Naturally, the cold weather blog prints the thing verbatim (scroll down to Jan. 27).

Original post:
It got virtually no attention from the mainstream press (except for the NYTi's DotEarth blog), but NASA climatologist James Hansen was awarded the highest professional honor of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) at the organization's annual meeting on Jan. 14. The Rossby Research Medal
is presented to individuals on the basis of outstanding contributions to the understanding of the structure or behavior of the atmosphere. It represents the highest honor that the Society can bestow upon an atmospheric scientist.
Hansen's award was presented
For outstanding contributions to climate modeling, understanding climate change forcings and sensitivity, and for clear communication of climate science in the public arena.
A NASA press release quotes Hansen's boss, Franco Einaudi:
The debate about global change is often emotional and controversial, and Jim has had the courage to stand up and say what others did not want to hear. He has acquired a credibility that very few scientists have. His success is due in part to his personality, in part to his scientific achievements, and in part to his refusing to sit on the sidelines of the debate.
Hansen's award has produced the expected screeching from the deniosphere, including a rant so vitriolic that it caused the author to misspell the name of his own field (meteorologosts?, charicature? Ain't you never herd of no spelchek?) Apparently, the author of the rant is so blinded by his vehemence that he can't even get the name of the DotEarth commenter he's quoting correct, referring to him both as "Craig James" and "Craig Woods." How are we supposed to believe his data?

Interestingly, the strongly skeptical WattsUpWithThat blog graciously, if ungrammatically, declares,
I’d also like to congratulate Dr. James Hansen, of NASA GISS, whom was recently awarded the 2009 Carl-Gustaf Rossby Research Medal . . .
Climate Progress provides kudos to Hansen and a set of links to his work.

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