Goddard, S
===
Steve Goddard
Goddard is the pseudonym of climate denialist Tony Heller, who has been active in the anti-global warming action campaign since 2008. Heller has degrees in geology and electrical engineering. He currently runs the blog Real Science, where he comments on climate research and political news. He has called it "a massive lie" that 97 percent of climate scientists agree the world is warming. He also maintains that U.S. and global temperature records have been tampered with, rendering global warming projections inaccurate.
http://www.desmogblog.com/steven-goddard
Steven Goddard
Credentials
- Bachelor of Science.
- Bachelor in Electrical Engineering.
Source:[1]
Background
Steven Goddard is a global warming skeptic and guest author at the climate change skeptic blog WattsUpWithThat(WUWT). The name "Steven Goddard" is a pseudonym, and there is a suggestion that Anthony Wattsof WUWT knows Goddard's real name. [2]
Goddard is known for a 2008 article inThe Registerwhere he posited that Arctic Sea ice is not receding and claimed that data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) showing the opposite was incorrect. Goddard later issued a retractionon his statement. [3], [4]
Romm operates a blog titled "Real Science" blog, originally Real-Science.com, and now as the Wordpress blog *Real Science*. Goddard has gone to some lengths to keep his identity hidden and his blog's web domain has been blocked from any identifying WhoIs information.
Stance on Climate Change
"Global temperatures in 2012 are cooler than they were 22 years ago. The only colder period since 1990 was after the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo.
Scientists have been quite lucky about the lack of large volcanic eruptions this century, which has allowed them to continue fooling the particularly weak-minded about global warming." [5]
Key Quotes
"The Arctic did not experience the meltdowns forecast by NSIDC and the Norwegian Polar Year Secretariat. It didn't even come close. Additionally, some current graphs and press releases from NSIDC seem less than conservative. There appears to be a consistent pattern of overstatement related to Arctic ice loss." [3]
Key Deeds
June, 2012
Goddard was quotedby Heartland senior fellow James Taylor as having showed "how dramatically the NOAA and NASA bureaucrats have doctored the U.S. temperature data during the past several decades."[6]
Goddard's only previous connection to the heartland institute is a 2008 'analysis', A Tale of Two Thermometers (PDF)where he claims to have found cooling in the HadCrut temperature record.
August 15, 2008
Steven Goddard Published an article titled "Arctic ice refuses to melt as ordered" in The Register. Goddard claimed that the National Snow and Ice Data Center plot of the extent of Arctic Sea Ice was wrong. However, on August 25, Goddard retracted his claim, saying that ". . . it is clear that the NSIDC graph is correct, and that 2008 Arctic ice is barely 10% above last year - just as NSIDC had stated."
Joe Romm at ClimateProgress reported that the retraction may have been too late, as Goddard’s article had already received over 70 references by blogs and websites skeptical of man-made climate change.
Affiliations
- **Science and Public Policy Institute (SPPI)** — Contributor. [7]
- Watts Up With That — Contributor.
Publications
Steve Goddard does not have a background in climate science. He has primarily published his articles in blogs and newspapers using a pseudonym, and it is unlikely he has ever published in a peer-reviewed journal on the subject.
Resources
- "About Me," Real Science. Accessed July 3, 2012.
- "Real Science Announces the Death of Steve Goddard," Watts Up With That, April 21, 2012.
- Steven Goddard. "Arctic ice refuses to melt as ordered," The Register, August 15, 2008.
- Joe Romm. "A new Olympic record for retraction of a denier talking point," ThinkProgress, August 25, 2008.
- Steven Goddard. "A Sure Sign Of Runaway Global Warming," Real Science, April 15, 2012.
- James Taylor. "Doctored Data, Not U.S. Temperatures, Set a Record This Year,"Forbes, June 13, 2012.
- Gareth Renowden. "Buffoons in arms: Goddard joins Monckton at SPPI," Hot Topic, October 30, 2010.
- Peter Sinclair. "New Lows: Sea Ice and 'Steven Goddard' credibility,"Climate Crock of the Week, September 14, 2011.
- Tim Lambert. "About that Arctic sea ice ...", Deltoid, August 28, 2008.
- John Cook. "Watts Up With That's ignorance regarding Antarctic sea ice," SkepticalScience, March 9, 2010.
- F. Bi. "The Steve Conspiracy? Intl." J. Inact., July 9, 2008, 1:94–95.
Tags:
Desmogblog (http://s.tt/1mnb7)
Fox News Questions Whether Government Faked Hottest Year On Record
Blog ››› January 11, 2013 10:56 AM EST ››› MAX GREENBERG
Quotes "Skeptic" Blogger Suggesting Scientists Should Go To Jail
A FoxNews.com article questioned whether 2012 was actually the hottest year on record, quoting "skeptics" who suggest a government office is manipulating data to fabricate proof of rising temperatures. In fact, statistical adjustments made by the agency are required, publicly-documented changes to correct for errors and known sources of bias in the raw data.
In January, the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) announced that 2012 was the hottest year on record in the contiguous U.S. - an announcement that Fox News ignored until one of Fox News' few liberal commentators, Bob Beckel, tried to bring it up on The Five. Soon after, FoxNews.com reporter Maxim Lott solicited the views of a few professional climate "skeptics" to claim that scientists made unjustified data adjustments to exaggerate 2012's heat.
Under the headline "Hottest year ever? Skeptics question revisions to climate data," Lott quoted Roy Spencer, a rare climate contrarian scientist who considers it his job to "minimize the role of government," and Steve Goddard, a climate denier-cum-birther writing under a pseudonym, to cast doubt on the temperature record. According to Goddard, the U.S. only "appears" to have warmed as a result of the agency's adjustments, making the data "meaningless garbage." Lott gave the final word to former television weatherman and blogger Anthony Watts, who said, "In the business and trading world, people go to jail for such manipulations of data."
But the NCDC has publicly explained that it needs to make adjustments to the raw temperature data to account for flaws that can result, for example, when stations are moved, are measuring temperatures at different times of day, or are measuring temperature with different instruments. The NCDC carefully applies these adjustments after publishing their methods in multiple peer-reviewed papers. As several scientists tried to explain to FoxNews.com, these adjustments make the temperature data more accurate:
Government climate scientist Peter Thorne, speaking in his personal capacity, said that there was consensus for the adjustments.
"These have been shown through at least three papers that have appeared in the past 12 months to be an improvement," he said.
NOAA spokesman Scott Smullen agreed.
"These kinds of improvements get us even closer to the true climate signal, and help our nation even more accurately understand its climate history," he said.
Peter Thorne, a climate scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites who was quoted by FoxNews.com, wrote in an email to Media Mattersthat recent changes to the data served to improve accuracy. The changes were posted prominently by NCDC in the September 2012 State of the Climate report and, according to Thorne, were "supported by extensive documentation" and "flagged with significant due process undertaken prior to release."
John Abraham, an IPCC reviewer concluded that Fox News had "misinformed its readers about climate change again."
UPDATE (1/14/13): Skeptical Science notes that Spencer's own satellite data lists 2012 as the hottest year on record for the contiguous U.S., and states that "If climate contrarians dispute the validity of any of the adjustments made by NCDC, they should subject their criticisms to the scientific peer-review process rather than making unsubstantiated and unjustified accusations of malfeasance in the mainstream media."
Posted in Climate Change, Environment & Science
Network/Outlet FoxNews.com
Person Anthony Watts, Maxim Lott