Annual Report for SEPP for 2004

The year 2004 was dominated by the subject of global warming. Although SEPP scientists also dealt with other topics (e.g., nuclear radiation; DDT, science and regulation at EPA, energy policy, space exploration), climate change occupied the main stage, in terms of university seminars, presentations at scientific conferences, briefings here and abroad, interviews for TV and radio, as well as publications in scientific and popular journals.

Briefings, technical seminars, colloquia at universities, papers presented at scientific conferences, talks and debates at professional societies, ranged geographically from California to Europe. Highlights follow; a fuller account is found on website www.sepp.org.

1. Two research papers were published in Geophysical Research Letters (9 July 2004). We analyzed atmospheric temperature data (3 data sets) and concluded that they do not support the predictions of any of the leading climate models. In particular, models predict increased warming trends in the troposphere while observations show the opposite. We are following up on this finding and expect more papers to emerge.

This first paper eliminates one of the main IPCC arguments supporting an appreciable human contribution to observed warming. The second paper focused on the difference (models vs obs) in surface temperature trends vs latitude. We found the major disparity to be in the tropics and are developing hypotheses to explain this important result.

An additional effort is underway to demonstrate that the claimed agreement between the observed temperature history of the 20th century and theoretical climate models is likely the result of "curve-fitting" through the use of several arbitrarily chosen parameters.

2. Some two dozen seminar lectures and technical talks at universities, professional meetings (AMS, ASME, IASTED. They included lectures at Harvard, Imperial College (Univ of London), Oxford University, and at the British Antarctic Survey (Cambridge).

3. Numerous Letters to Editor (including the WSJ) and op-ed articles.

4. Briefings of Presidential Science Adviser Dr. John Marburger, NOAA chief Adm Conrad Lautenbacher, and influential Washington-based scientists (former govt agency administrators). About a dozen individual briefings to political, civic, professional and industrial groups, incl groups in Holland and Belgium.

5. Organization of an international scientific project to prepare a report on climate change to counter the forthcoming IPCC Fourth Assessment report.

6. SEPP acted as informal advisers to Michael Crichton, author of best-selling techno-thriller "State of Fear." The book demolishes the hype surrounding Global Warming and exposes the motives of some of the GW promoters.

Outreach: SEPP does not lobby on behalf of political candidates or legislation. We do provide scientific information upon request in testimony to Congress or to other groups.
We expanded our web site. Readers, including students, journalists, and lawmakers, find it a good source of sound scientific information. Our weekly bulletin "The Week That Was" reaches nearly 2000 addressees: scientists, policymakers, the media and the public. We spent much time replying to comments and questions and were guests at some dozen radio talk shows. TV interviews on CNN Headline News, Fox News, and BBC.

Financial: SEPP does not solicit support from government or industry. Major contributions came from several charitable foundations; contributions from individuals ranged up to $10,000. SEPP ended 2004 with a small surplus.
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Respectfully submitted S. Fred Singer, President, SEPP

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