I ask because 'The Tall Bloke' reckons she's a bit dodgy, know wot I mean, John? Like, you'd need ter check the mileage twice over, see! Just kidding, I'm sure Prof. Haigh is impeccably honest in her personal dealings but when it comes to a scientific dispute she does need to be watched most carefully.
The other day you may have noticed dear old Boris going off on one of his inconsequential rambles this time on the subject of so-called global warming of which, he intimated, he had some severe doubts. This provoked Prof. Haigh into dashing off a letter to The Telegraph:
SIR – As a professor of atmospheric physics, at Imperial College London, I’m delighted that Boris Johnson maintains his interest in weather and climate (“It’s snowing, and it really feels like the start of a mini ice age”, Comment, January 21), but he should be wary of drawing generalised conclusions from his observations. He suggests that the cold weather is due to declining solar activity – but the sun is more active now than it has been since 2009, and about the same as it was in 2004 and 1998. What we have is the lovely variability of British weather sitting on top of a long-term global average warming due to greenhouse gas increases. This is not an issue of opinion, but one of basic physics.
We don’t need to invoke mysterious solar particles to understand long-term trends.
Professor Joanna Haigh
London SW7
Naughty, Professor Haigh, I can only give you an 'E' for Effort for that one!
You see, what she has done is to take the top of the very weak and feeble peak of the current sunspot cycle #24 and compared it to a couple of points only halfway up and halfway down on the preceeding cycle #23! The proper comparison would have been between the peaks of both which would have shown a remarkable drop in activity - which may, or may not, be a factor in global climate.
To paraphrase the learn-ed Professor rather naughtily: 'What we have is the lovely variability of British HAFs sitting on top of a mirage of non-existent long-term global average warming not due very much to greenhouse gas increases'. Yes, that's more like it!
These 'cli-scies', honestly, it's the way they tell 'em!
H/T to Paul Matthews, a commenter on the Telegraph blogs who kept his eye on the pea!
