Shortly after, The Science Dude recieved comments on his blog about the claim that 40% of the temperature rise was due to greenhouse gases. An update was immediately posted by The Science Dude! The “NASA Climatologist” revised his figures, not 40%, but… 25%! He said that it was due to greenhouse gas heating of the oceans, that sea level rise was “unequivical proof of this,” that the local mountains have warmed about the same which ”…can be seen in our shorter snow pack seasons.”

In a subsequent post, The Science Dude was informed that temperature variations in Orange County California were significantly influenced by the Pacific Decadal Oscillation which causes decadal changes in the amount of  cold water upwelling off the nearby coast. It was pointed out to Science Dude, that in 1977 the local temperature jumped about 5 degrees, the same time as the “Great Pacific Climate Shift” when the PDO switched from cool to warm phases.

Not to be outdone, The Science Dude fired back with a response that the poster “grossly mistated” the findings of Hartmann / Wendler, Journal of Climate.

20 minutes later the poster made the following comment, “Like I told ya Dude, get some better sources. The paper you quoted is: Hartmann, B., Wendler, G., On the significance of the 1976 Pacific climate shift in the climatology of Alaska. Journal of Climate.

You obviously did not read the paper, or even its title. Our discussion is the effect on climate in Orange County California by the Pacific Climate Shift.

DO YOU KNOW THE DIFERENCE BETWEEN ORANGE COUNTY CALIFORNIA AND ALASKA?

Let me give you a clue. Orange County: Boogie boarding the Wedge or surfing Huntington Pier. Alaska: Keep your butt in the boat and fish for Northern Halibut.”

The poster, a KBSF contributor, went on to explain Hartman / Wendler in a less “clowning” tone.

Hartman / Wendler, for those who have not read it, compared how the climate of different parts of Alaska were affected by the Pacific Climate Shift. They concluded that some areas were affected by the change in PDO more than others because the Arctic Oscillation also affects some areas of Alaska. How The Science Dude could possibly draw a link to the climate of Southern California, from a study of Alaska, is mind boggling; unless, Dr Patzert again, shot from the hip, and gave the reporter another idea off the top of his head.

The response by The Science Dude was to erase all of the (obviously embarrassing) posts and kick the poster off of his blog for being “insulting” and uncivil.

So here you have it folks, a science correspondent at a reputable and influential newspaper reporting on a subject matter that he does not understand, using sources who do not understand the subject matter and scientific citations where he didn’t even read the title, then covers his tracks when caught and called out. Sources need to be double-checked, even a tenured and respected oceanographer like Bill Patzert who really ought to know something about California climate, or at least the PDO.

Fortunately, we can, and will, turn this negative situation into a positive learning experience for all, especially the tens of thousands of school kids who consult Ponder the Maunder for school papers, debates and presentations during the school year. It is very common for us to answer such issues as, “I read about global warming in the newspaper but we shoveled snow for 4 months this year.” Now they’ll understand how the newspapers get it wrong so often.

It’s a natural cycle, folks, learn to live with it. Newspapers, and even scientists, can get it wrong.

Hartmann, B., Wendler, G., On the significance of the 1976 Pacific climate shift in the climatology of Alaska. Journal of Climate.

http://climate.gi.alaska.edu/ResearchProjects/Hartmann%20and%20Wendler%202005.pdf