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Bob Carter, a professor at James Cook University (Queensland) = and the=20 University of Adelaide (South Australia), is a paleontologist, a=20 stratigrapher, and a marine geologist.

He has been chair of the National Marine Science and = Technologies=20 Committee, director of the Australian Office of the Ocean Drilling = Program, and chair of the Earth Sciences Discipline Panel of the=20 Australian Research Council.

He is Cambridge educated.

And he is an outspoken global-warming skeptic.

Most global-warming skeptics criticize the United Nation's=20 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change on limited grounds -- = they might=20 view the science put forth by the IPCC to be at odds with science = in their=20 particular discipline, for example, or they might object to the = IPCC's=20 secrecy, or they might object to the IPCC's failure to observe = standard=20 peer-review practices. Moreover, when they object they generally = do so=20 quietly, often without naming names and only in private.

Prof. Carter objects on multiple grounds and in multiple = arenas; he=20 names names and he will set the record straight, even when those = he=20 believes to be in the wrong are fellow skeptics.

NASA chief Michael Griffin, for example, is a skeptic because = he thinks=20 that global warming may be beneficial, that it is not worth = worrying=20 about, and that, in any case, we wouldn't be able to stop it, even = if we=20 wanted to. But Dr. Griffin also thinks that a global-warming trend = is=20 certainly underway, and to this Prof. Carter takes objection.

Dr. Griffin's "opinion is unsupported by the evidence," Prof. = Carter=20 wrote in rebuttal. "The accepted global average temperature = statistics=20 used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change show that no = ground-based warming has occurred since 1998. Oddly, this = eight-year-long=20 temperature stasis has occurred despite an increase over the same = period=20 of 15 parts per million (or 4%) in atmospheric carbon dioxide.

"Second, lower-atmosphere satellite-based temperature = measurements, if=20 corrected for non-greenhouse influences such as El Nino events and = large=20 volcanic eruptions, show little, if any, global warming since = 1979, a=20 period over which atmospheric CO2 has increased by 55 ppm = (17%)."

Moreover, Prof. Carter adds, credible scientists predict global = cooling. How then can Dr. Griffin boldly assert that humans are = causing=20 global warming?

One of the most contentious areas of climate-change science = involves=20 computer General Circulation Models (GCMs), the predictive tool = that=20 generate most of the scary scenarios that arouse public alarm. = Prof.=20 Carter has long been a critic of these models, which claim to = project for=20 us what the climate will be in the year 2100.

In the past, Prof. Carter has drawn the ire of global-warming=20 proponents with his GCM critiques. Now, to his satisfaction, he = has=20 support in his critique from an unlikely source -- Kevin = Trenberth, whom=20 he thinks of as "one of the advisory high priests of the UN's=20 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change."

As Dr. Trenberth recently acknowledged to Nature journal's = Climate=20 Feedback blog, IPCC models cannot predict future climate because = they=20 don't reflect reality: "None of the models used by IPCC are = initialized to=20 the observed state and none of the climate states in the models = correspond=20 even remotely to the current observed climate," he stated.

"Moreover, the starting climate state in several of the models = may=20 depart significantly from the real climate owing to model errors. = I=20 postulate that regional climate change is impossible to deal with = properly=20 unless the models are initialized."

While these statements warrant Prof. Carter's approval , others = do not,=20 such as Dr. Trenberth's claim that people have mistakenly believed = that=20 the IPCC makes predictions: "In fact there are no predictions by = IPCC at=20 all. And there never have been," claims Dr. Trenberth.

To which Prof. Carter notes an audit at the 27th International=20 Symposium on Forecasting presented earlier this month. It found = that "in=20 apparent contradiction to claims by some climate experts that the = IPCC=20 provides 'projections' and not 'forecasts', the word 'forecast' = and its=20 derivatives occurred 37 times, and 'predict' and its derivatives = occur 90=20 times" in a chapter from the IPCC's latest report.

"There is no predictive value in the current generation of = computer=20 GCMs and therefore the alarmist IPCC statements about human-caused = global=20 warming are unjustified," he concludes. Until others conclude so = too,=20 expect Prof. Carter to continue his critiques without fear or = favour.

--- - Lawrence Solomon is executive director of Urban = Renaissance=20 Institute and Consumer Policy Institute, divisions of Energy Probe = Research Foundation.

CV OF A DENIER:

Bob Carter is a Research Professor at University of Adelaide = (South=20 Australia) and James Cook University (Queensland), where he headed = the=20 School of Earth Sciences between 1981 and 1999. He has published = more than=20 100 papers in international science journals and received numerous = awards=20 and prizes from bodies such as the Australian Research Council, = the=20 Geological Society of New Zealand, and the Royal Society of New = Zealand.=20 He received his PhD in palaeontology in 1968 from the University = of=20 Cambridge.

LawrenceSolomon@nextcity.com