Al Gore presented his Inconvenient Truths at Tulane University in New Orleans a couple of days ago. According to a colleague who was there, Gore claimed that there is no legitimate scholarly alternative to his (Gore’s) world view. I’ll leave it to others to take on this claim in terms of political philosophy. Regarding the science, there are many articles that show Gore is mistaken. Below are links to 13 of them. All are from peer reviewed scientific journals, and all in one way or another either fail to support or directly contradict the claim that humans are changing the climate in ways that will be catastrophic for human health and welfare. For each article, the title hyperlinks either to the abstract, or, if freely available, the full article. Below the title is a short description of what each article says. These are just a few of the many scientific articles that contradict the claim that the scientific results support the alarmists. And more such research continues to come out each month. Of course, there are also many articles Gore can cite to support his views on climate change. But when Gore claims there is nothing to debate, it’s clear than many climate scientists think otherwise.

On the decadal rates of sea level change during the twentieth century

The rate of world sea level rise was greater during the first half of the 20th Century than during the second half.

Mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet

Antarctica is likely gaining ice on net.

Recent Sea-Level Contributions of the Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheets

Antarctic and Greenland ice mass imbalance currently contributes about 0.35 mm/year to world average sea-level rise (a rate of about 1.4 inches per century).

Greenland warming of 1920–1930 and 1995–2005

Greenland was as warm or warmer during 1915-1965 as during 1995-2005. Greenland’s temperature declined from the late 1920s to the mid 1980s.

A globally consistent reanalysis of hurricane variability and trends

No trend in world average hurricane strength or frequency from 1984-2004.

Counting Atlantic Tropical Cyclones [Hurricanes] Back to 1900

Abstract: The link between the frequency of tropical cyclones [hurricanes] and anthropogenic global warming has become an emerging focus. However, an analysis of the data shows that improved monitoring in recent years is responsible for most, if not all, of the observed trend in increasing frequency of tropical cyclones [hurricanes].

Increased tropical Atlantic wind shear in model projections of global warming

Climate models predict increased windshear due to global warming, which reduces hurricane strength.

Changing heat-related mortality in the United States

Heat-related mortality rate declined 75% between the 1960s and 1990s in the U.S., despite rising temperatures.

How Do Aerosols Affect Cloudiness and Climate?

Anthropogenic aerosol emissions may increase cloud cover by up to 5%, resulting in a substantial net cooling of Earth’s atmosphere.

The Significance of the 1976 Pacific Climate Shift in the Climatology of Alaska

Alaska cooled from 1951-1975 and from 1976-2001. Warming in Alaska from 1951-2001 occurred in one jump from 1975-1976.

Recent trends in sea level pressure in the Indian Ocean region

“It has been argued – largely on the basis of experiments with atmospheric GCMs [climate models] – that this rapid warming [of the Indian Ocean] was an important cause of remote changes in climate, in particular an increasing trend in the North Atlantic Oscillation Index and decreases in African rainfall. The clear discrepancy between the observed and simulated trends in SLP [sea-level pressure] suggests that the response of some atmospheric GCMs to the Indian Ocean warming may not provide a reliable guide to the behaviour of the real world.”

Phenomenological solar contribution to the 1900–2000 global surface warming

Changes in solar brightness contributed 45-50% of 20th Century warming, and 25-35% of warming from 1980-2000.

Comparing clouds and their seasonal variations in 10 atmospheric GCMs [general circulation models] with satellite measurements

Climate models do a poor job of predicting cloud parameters (e.g., cloudiness by latitude, percent cloud cover for various cloud types (e.g., low clouds, high clouds, thin clouds, thick clouds)) when compared against satellite measurements. Different models fail in different ways.