Global Climate Change Blog

Share |

Did the IPCC Overstate its Man-Made Warming Consensus?

Jun 14, 2010; 12:05 PM ET

A prominent climate scientist with possible inside information on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says the IPCC overstated its claim about scientific consensus in regards to man-made global warming.

In a review article for Progress in Physical Geography, Mike Hulme, a climate scientist from the University of East Anglia (remember climategate?) says that claims such as '2500' of the world's leading scientists have reached a consensus that human activities are having a significant influence on climate are disingenuous.

That particular consensus judgement, as are many others in the IPCC reports, is reached by only a few dozen experts in the specific field of detection and attribution studies; other IPCC authors are experts in other fields, according to Hulme. (This part can be found on pages 10 and 11 of the linked article.)

On the flip side.....Hulme questions whether the IPCC AR4 was too conservative in reaching a consensus about future sea level rise, since many glaciologists and oceanographers think they are.

The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of AccuWeather, Inc. or AccuWeather.com

Comments

Comments left here should adhere to the AccuWeather.com Community Guidelines. Profanity, personal attacks, and spam will not be tolerated.

More Global Climate Change

  • Himalayas Experiencing Rapid Climate Change

    May 18, 2012; 11:02 AM ET

    Average annual mean temperatures in the Himalayas increased 1.5 Celsius or 0.06 Celsius per year between 1982 and 2006, which is three times greater than the average global increase for the same time period....

  • Global Mean Sea Level

    Apr 30, 2012; 2:05 PM ET

    Satellite data since 1993 shows that that there is no doubt that the global mean sea level is steadily rising......

  • Arctic Warming

    Apr 25, 2012; 1:53 PM ET

    Another indication of climate change is the warming of the Arctic....

  • It's Not the Sun!

    Apr 20, 2012; 11:04 AM ET

    Over the next week or so I am going to focus on some of the basics of climate change and specifically on climate change indicators......

About This Blog

Global Climate Change
In the AccuWeather.com Climate Change Blog, you will find links to the latest research, commentary by experts with various points of view on all aspects of Global Warming and Global Cooling.

AccuWeather.com Bloggers

5/23/2012 9:03:13 AM /blog-entry.asp 4 .75.107 (accuweather)-- [new]