Roy Spencer (scientist)

Roy W. Spencer Ph.D. is a principal research scientist for the University of Alabama in Huntsville and the U.S. Science Team Leader for the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on NASA’s Aqua satellite. He has served as senior scientist for climate studies at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

He is principally known for his satellite-based temperature monitoring work, for which he was awarded the American Meteorological Society's Special Award. He is also a supporter of intelligent design [http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=080805I Faith-Based Evolution] , Roy Spencer, TCS Daily, 08 August 2005] and is skeptical of the scientific consensus that human activity is primarily responsible for global warming.

Education and work

Spencer earned a B.S. in Atmospheric Sciences from the University of Michigan in 1978 and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Meteorology from the University of Wisconsin in 1980 and 1982. [cite news | url=http://aqua.nasa.gov/about/team_spencer.php | title=Aqua Project Science | publisher=NASA |date=2008 | first= | last= | accessdate =2008-10-10 ] Spencer designed an algorithm to detect tropical cyclones and estimate their maximum sustained wind speed using the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.Fact|date=September 2008 The AMSU is microwave radiometer that can be used to detect temperature at different levels of the atmosphere. Based on gradients in temperature measurements in a given area, it is possible to estimate maximal sustained radial wind speed. [ [http://datamining.itsc.uah.edu/case_studies/cyclone.html Detecting Tropical Cyclones Using AMSU] ]

He publicly promotes his ideas on intelligent design and the weather, including four appearances on Coast to Coast AM. [cite news | url=http://www.coasttocoastam.com/guests/1162.html | title=Dr. Roy Spencer | publisher=Coast to Coast AM |date=2008 | first= | last= | accessdate =2008-10-10 ]

Climate Change Research

Spencer is proposing hypotheses on climate change and modeling them. In August, 2007, Spencer published an article in "Geophysical Research Letters" regarding cloud feedback in the tropics. [ [http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2007/2007GL029698.shtml Cloud and radiation budget changes associated with tropical intraseasonal oscillations] ] Current understanding of the climate system predicts that an increase in high-level, heat trapping clouds will accelerate the warming due to increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases. Spencer's observations in the tropics found a negative feedback, though this was on a different time scale than climate models. The feedback possibly supports Richard Lindzen's Infrared Iris hypothesis of compensating meteorological processes that tend to stabilize climate change. [cite web | author = Richard S. Lindzen, Ming-Dah Chou, and Arthur Y. Hou |journal = Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Vol. 82, No. 3, March 2001, pp 417-432 | year=2001 | url=http://www-eaps.mit.edu/faculty/lindzen/adinfriris.pdf | title = Does the Earth Have an Adaptive Infrared Iris? ]

In a subsequent press release Spencer said, "To give an idea of how strong this enhanced cooling mechanism is, if it was operating on global warming, it would reduce estimates of future warming by over 75 percent," Spencer said. "The big question that no one can answer right now is whether this enhanced cooling mechanism applies to global warming." [ [http://www.uah.edu/News/newsread.php?newsID=875 Cirrus disappearance: Warming might thin heat-trapping clouds] ]

Views on global warming

Roy Spencer describes himself as a "global warming optimist" working to quantify "Nature's thermostat".cite web |url=http://www.weatherquestions.com/Roy-Spencer-on-global-warming.htm |title="Global Warming and Nature's Thermostat" | author=Roy W. Spencer, PhD |accessdate=2008-05-12 | publisher = WeatherQuestions.com] In several articles Spencer has espoused opinions that are skeptical of the scientific opinion on global warming.

In 2006 Spencer criticized Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" saying, "For instance, Mr. Gore claims that the Earth is now warmer than it has been in thousands of years. Yet the latest National Academies of Science (NAS) report on the subject has now admitted that all we really know is that we are warmer now than we were during the last 400 years, which is mostly made up of the 'Little Ice Age.'" [ [http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=063006D Star Search by Roy Spencer] ] The NAS report summary (p.3) [ [http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11676 Surface Temperature Reconstructions for the Last 2,000 Years] ] states::"It can be said with a high level of confidence that global mean surface temperature was higher during the last few decades of the 20th century than during any comparable period during the preceding four centuries. This statement is justified by the consistency of the evidence from a wide variety of geographically diverse proxies.

:"Less confidence can be placed in large-scale surface temperature reconstructions for the period from A.D. 900 to 1600. Presently available proxy evidence indicates that temperatures at many, but not all, individual locations were higher during the past 25 years than during any period of comparable length since A.D. 900. The uncertainties associated with reconstructing hemispheric mean or global mean temperatures from these data increase substantially backward in time through this period and are not yet fully quantified."

In a New York Post opinion column on February 26, 2007, Spencer wrote: quote|Contrary to popular accounts, very few scientists in the world - possibly none - have a sufficiently thorough, "big picture" understanding of the climate system to be relied upon for a prediction of the magnitude of global warming. To the public, we all might seem like experts, but the vast majority of us work on only a small portion of the problem. [ cite news
last =Spencer
first =Roy W.
title =NOT THAT SIMPLE / GLOBAL WARMING: WHAT WE DON'T KNOW
work =New York Post
date =2007-02-26
url=http://www.nypost.com/seven/02262007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/not_that_simple_opedcolumnists_roy_w__spencer.htm?page=0
accessdate =2007-04-07 ]

In an interview with conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh on February 28, 2007, Spencer stated that he doesn't believe "catastrophic manmade global warming" is occurring. He also criticized climate models, saying "The people that have built the climate models that predict global warming believe they have sufficient physics in those models to predict the future. I believe they don't. I believe the climate system, the weather as it is today in the real world shows a stability that they do not yet have in those climate models." [ [http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_022807/content/01125102.guest.html Global Warming Update: Facts, Science Smash the Global Warming Myth ] ] Roy Spencer is also included in a film that argues against the theory of man-made global warming called "The Great Global Warming Swindle."

He has been referred to as the "official climatologist of the EIB Network" by Rush Limbaugh, who is the owner of the "Excellence In Broadcasting" network. [ [http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_092007/content/01125119.guest.html A Dispatch from Roy Spencer] , Rush Limbaugh Show website]

He testified before the Waxman committee's examination of political interference with climate science on March 19, 2007. [cite web
last =Spencer
first =Roy W.
authorlink =Roy Spencer
title =STATEMENT TO THE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
publisher =House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
date =2007-03-19
url =http://oversight.house.gov/Documents/20070320152338-19776.pdf
format =PDF
accessdate =2007-03-07 ] [cite web
title =Committee Examines Political Interference with Climate Science
publisher =House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
date =2007-03-19
url =http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1214
accessdate = ]

In 2008, Spencer published a book on climate change: "Climate Confusion: How Global Warming Hysteria Leads to Bad Science, Pandering Politicians and Misguided Policies that Hurt the Poor". [ [http://www.weatherquestions.com/Climate-Confusion-by-Roy-Spencer.htm Climate Confusion] ]

Spencer is listed as a member of the Heartland Institute and a contributor to the George C. Marshall Institute [ [http://www.exxonsecrets.org/wiki/index.php/Deniers:Scientists:Roy_W._Spencer] ] , both of which receive funding from ExxonMobil.

Views on Intelligent design

On the subject of Intelligent design, Spencer wrote in 2005, "Twenty years ago, as a PhD scientist, I intensely studied the evolution versus intelligent design controversy for about two years. And finally, despite my previous acceptance of evolutionary theory as 'fact,' I came to the realization that intelligent design, as a theory of origins, is no more religious, and no less scientific, than evolutionism. . . . In the scientific community, I am not alone. There are many fine books out there on the subject. Curiously, most of the books are written by scientists who lost faith in evolution as adults, after they learned how to apply the analytical tools they were taught in college."

ee also

* List of scientists opposing global warming consensus

Awards

*1989: MSFC Center Director’s Commendation
*1990: Alabama House of Representatives Resolution #624
*1991: NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal (with John Christy)
*1996: AMS Special Award "for developing a global, precise record of earth's temperature from operational polar-orbiting satellites, fundamentally advancing our ability to monitor climate." (with John Christy) [http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/ssl_report/SSL_earth.htm]

Publications & Selected Papers

*Scientific papers
#Spencer, R.W., et al. [http://blog.acton.org/uploads/Spencer_07GRL.pdf Cloud and radiation budget changes associated with tropical intraseasonal oscillations] - Geophys. Res. Lett, 2007
#Spencer, R.W., and W.D. Braswell, 1997: How dry is the tropical free troposphere? Implications for global warming theory. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 78.
#Christy, John R., R.W. Spencer, and W.D. Braswell, 1997: How accurate are satellite thermometers? Nature, 25 September.
#Spencer, R.W., J.R. Christy, and N.C. Grody, 1996: Analysis of "Examination of ‘Global atmospheric temperature monitoring with satellite microwave measurements’". Climatic Change, 33, 477-489.
#Spencer, R.W., W. M. Lapenta, and F. R. Robertson, 1995: Vorticity and vertical motions diagnosed from satellite deep layer temperatures. Mon. Wea. Rev., 123,1800-1810.
#Christy, J.R., R.W. Spencer, and R.T. McNider, 1995: Reducing noise in the MSU daily lower-tropospheric temperature dataset. J. Climate, 8, 888-896.
#Spencer, R.W., R.E. Hood, F.J. LaFontaine, E.A. Smith, R. Platt, J. Galliano, V.L. Griffin, and E. Lobl, 1994: High-resolution imaging of rain systems with the Advanced Microwave Precipitation Radiometer. J. Atmos. Oceanic Tech., 11, 849-857.
#Spencer, R.W., 1994: Global temperature monitoring from space. Adv. Space Res., 14, (1)69-(1)75.
#Spencer, R.W., 1993: Global oceanic precipitation from the MSU during 1979-92 and comparisons to other climatologies. J. Climate, 6, 1301-1326.
#Spencer, R.W., and J.R. Christy, 1993: Precision lower stratospheric temperature monitoring with the MSU: Technique, validation, and results 1979-91. J. Climate, 6, 1301-1326.
#Spencer, R.W., and J.R. Christy, 1992a: Precision and radiosonde validation of satellite gridpoint temperature anomalies, Part I: MSU channel 2. J. Climate, 5, 847-857.
#Spencer, R.W., and J.R. Christy, 1992b: Precision and radiosonde validation of satellite gridpoint temperature anomalies, Part II: A tropospheric retrieval and trends during 1979-90. J. Climate, 5, 858-866.
#Spencer, R.W., J.R. Christy, and N.C. Grody, 1990: Global atmospheric temperature monitoring with satellite microwave measurements: Method and results, 1979-84. J. Climate, 3, 1111-1128.
#Spencer, R.W., and J.R. Christy, 1990: Precise monitoring of global temperature trends from satellites. Science, 247, 1558-1562.
#Spencer, R.W., D.W. Martin, B.B. Hinton, and J.A. Weinman, 1983: Satellite microwave radiances correlated with radar rain rates over land. Nature, 304, 141-143.

References

External links

* [http://aqua.nasa.gov/about/team_spencer.php Roy Spencer - Aqua Satellite] NASA
* [http://www.desmogblog.com/node/1397 Roy Spencer Profile] on DeSmogBlog
* [http://www.globalwarmingheartland.org/expert.cfm?expertId=163 Roy Spencer] Heartland Institute
* [http://www.marshall.org/experts.php?id=122 Roy Spencer] from George C. Marshall InstituteArticles by Spencer
* [http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NTUzNWUzYTA4ZTkwMTVhZmM3M2NkZDc5NDhmOTRkMzA=# 'McCain's Assault on Reason, "National Review" (May 13, 2008)]
* [http://www.weatherquestions.com/Roy-Spencer-on-global-warming.htm Roy Spencer on Global Warming]
* [http://www.heartland.org/newyork08/audio/Tuesday/spencer.mp3 Roy Spencer Audio] presentation at 2008 Heartland Institute International Climate Change Conference
* [http://www.uah.edu/News/newsread.php?newsID=875 Cirrus disappearance: Warming might thin heat-trapping clouds] 2007
* [http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2007/2005JD006881.shtml Tropospheric temperature change since 1979 from tropical radiosonde and satellite measurements] Christy et al. JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 112, D06102, doi:10.1029/2005JD006881, 2007
* [http://science.nasa.gov/newhome/headlines/notebook/essd13aug98_1.htm Even with Needed Corrections, Data Still Don't Show the Expected Signature of Global Warming] [http://www.house.gov/science/spencer_10-7.html Statement Concerning the Role of Water Vapor Feedback in Global Warming] Presented to the (US) House Science Committee Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment 7 October 1997
* [http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=063006D Star Search] Article commenting on Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" movie
* [http://www.techcentralstation.com/050504H.html When Is Global Warming Really a Cooling?] article by Roy Spencer
* [http://www.nypost.com/seven/02262007/postopinion/opedcolumnists/not_that_simple_opedcolumnists_roy_w__spencer.htm "NOT THAT SIMPLE GLOBAL WARMING:] WHAT WE DON'T KNOW" By ROY W. SPENCER NY Post Feb 26, 2007
* [http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=040406C Global Warming Hysteria Has Arrived?] article by Roy Spencer at TCSDaily
* [http://www.techcentralstation.com/020604C.html Let Them Confess Their Faith] article by Roy Spencer