The addition of an esteemed Norwegian climate scientist to the London-based GWPF will help bring some sobriety back to a science that has all too often been immersed in alarmism.
The London-based Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) recently announcedProfessor Ole Humlum of Norway was joining its Academic Advisory Council.
This brings another persuasive voice to the influential think tank.
Dr. Ole Humlum is a former Professor of Physical Geography at the University Centre in Svalbard, Norway, and Emeritus Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Oslo. He is a member of the Norwegian Scientific Academy for Polar Research. Photo: GWPF.
The GWPF appointment is a move that climate science critics say will deliver some much needed sobriety to a science that has too frequently found itself immersed in activism, hysterical projections and alarmism.
In the wake of his appointment, Prof. Humlum answered some questions on climate science posed by NTZ via social media.
Sea level rise projections overblown
Concerning global sea level rise, Prof. Humlum believes the planet will see only “8-15 cm rise by the year 2100”. And though most scientists agree man is warming the planet through CO2 emissions by burning fossil fuels, Prof. Humlum wrote that the figure for CO2 climate sensitivity is completely in dispute.
Natural factors at play, modest cooling ahead
On what has driven the climate change observed over the past 40 years, Prof. Humlum wrote that it goes far beyond just CO2 and that the sun, clouds and oceans have played huge roles. Over the coming decades he thinks the planet will cool, but that “it won’t be dramatic”.
Concerning whether the 20th century warming has led to more weather extremes today, he answered: “No, not according to statistics known by me.”
“Natural climatic variations dominate”
He summarized:
On the global scale natural climatic variations dominate over effects caused by man. Climate models often claim to incorporate natural variations, but this is not correct, as can be shown by statistical analyses. Thus, the argument that only by assuming a large effect of CO2 can climate models reproduce global climate change since 1950 is invalid.”
Bringing expertise to climate science
Prof. Humlum has authored or co-authored some 100 publications on climate related topics. Few scientists are able to claim having such a broad and valuable interdisciplinary knowledge that Professor Humlum possesses. His specialties include:
- Glacial- and periglacial geomorphology
- Landforms derived from bedrock weathering, with emphasis on rock glaciers
- Reconstruction of Quaternary ice sheets, glaciers in the North Atlantic region
- Historical and modern climatology of the Arctic and North Atlantic region
- The impact of climate on societies the North Atlantic region
- Comparison and integration of different climate proxy series
- Numerical modelling in geomorphology
- Mapping Arctic and Antarctic surface temperature changes
- Modelling natural cold-climate geomorphic processes and -hazards
- Permafrost and periglacial processes
- Physical geography of Svalbard
- Snow avalanche risk in Svalbard
