Name Steven Goddard | Role Blogger | |
 | ||
Steven Goddard (pseudonym for Tony Heller) is a blogger and the publisher of "Real Science," a website he established to assert that concerns over anthropogenic global warming are exaggerated. Before establishing his own blog, Goddard built his reputation as a challenger to anthropogenic climate change theories through frequent postings on the Watts Up with That? blog. Goddard wrote pseudonymously until 2014 when he revealed his true real identity on his blog. He has a BS in geology from Arizona State University and a Master's degree in electrical engineering from Rice University.
Contents
- Sea ice
- Claims of NASA manipulation of temperature data
- Claims for the cause of high Venus surface temperatures
- Claims of deliberate scientific fraud
- References
Sea ice
One of Goddard's earliest writings, an article for The Register, asserted that the National Snow and Ice Data Center's (NSIDC) data underlying a chart depicting 2008 Arctic sea ice loss was incorrect and that NSIDC seemed to demonstrate "a consistent pattern of overstatement related to Arctic ice loss." Ten days later, however, Goddard acknowledged that the data on which the graph was based was accurate. In 2012, another of Goddard's blog posts attracted attention. The post argued that increases in Antarctic sea ice balanced out decreases in Arctic sea ice, and accused the NSIDC of being "dissonant" about the topic.
Mark Serreze, director of the NSIDC, responded to the post by saying that the increases in Antarctic sea ice were "not a surprise to us".
Claims of NASA manipulation of temperature data
In June 2014, Goddard attracted considerable media attention for his claims that NASA had manipulated temperature data to make it appear that 1998 was the hottest year in United States history. In fact, he claimed, it was 1934, but NASA had started incorrectly citing 1998 as the hottest year beginning in 2000. Goddard had been promoting these claims for years before this, including in a chapter of a book by Don Easterbrook, but the mainstream media had not paid significant attention to it before then. Those who promoted the claim included Christopher Booker, in a June 21 article in the Daily Telegraph, and Fox News Channel host Steve Doocy three days later in a Fox and Friends segment.
The claim was dismissed by Politifact.com, which rated it as "pants on fire"—its lowest possible rating. Politifact contacted Berkeley Earth energy systems analyst and environmental economist Zeke Hausfather, who told them that the problem with Goddard's analysis was that it ignored the changes the network of U.S. weather stations had undergone over the last eighty years. Goddard's claims were also criticized by fellow climate skeptic Anthony Watts, who argued that his assertions of data fabrication were "wrong", and criticized him for using absolute temperatures rather than anomalies in his analysis. Watts later apologized to Goddard (Heller) and admitted that his "confirmation bias" influenced his thinking. Watts wrote " this time Steve Goddard was right and my confirmation bias prevented me from seeing that there was in fact a real issue in the data and that NCDC has dead stations that are reporting data that isn’t real: mea culpa."
In a response to Politifact on his blog, Goddard argued that while NASA has official reasons for the adjustments they make to temperature data, "their adjustments are highly subjective, and are subject to software and algorithm errors. Politifact’s claim is the result of a failure to understand the topic, for the following reasons. There is no question that the temperature record has been dramatically altered, to turn a long term cooling trend into a long term warming trend. No one disputes this. Anthony Watts was discussing a different specific topic related to missing station data, and has since admitted he was wrong. If you actually contact him, you will find that out."
Noted global warming skeptic Judith Curry initially characterized Goddard's analysis of NASA's data as "bogus." Curry analyzed the situation further and stated " I infer from this that there seems to be a real problem with the USHCN data set, or at least with some of the stations".
Claims for the cause of high Venus surface temperatures
Goddard claims that the very high surface temperatures on Venus are largely attributable to its "extremely high atmospheric pressure" and that the composition of the Venusian atmosphere, which is 96% carbon dioxide, has little influence over surface temperatures on the planet. Though he does not cite him specifically, Goddard's claim echoes the ideas outlined in a 2003 paper authored by Hans Jelbring, which also posits that surface temperatures on a planet are directly influenced by the size of the mass of the atmosphere.
Goddard's theory on the reason for high Venusian surface temperatures challenges accepted planetary science theories which contend that surface temperatures on celestial bodies with atmospheres are largely a function of the rate at which incoming light radiation is received by a celestial body and the rate at which infrared emissions from the planet's body are blocked by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Claims of deliberate scientific fraud
On his blog and Twitter feed, Goddard frequently injects his challenges to scientific theories about global warming with accusations that many climate scientists have been corrupted by a liberal political agenda, referring to them as “criminals pushing a scam” who are “blatantly lying" and dismisses anthropogenic global warming as "the biggest fraud in history."