Challenging climate scientists with questions

This past Monday while in Boulder I had the rare opportunity to sit down with two of the leading climate scientists in the world – Kevin Trenberth, distinguished senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, and Dr. Pieter Tans at NOAA's Earth System Research Lab.

O'Fishel Quest: In search of the science behind climate change

In order to be true to the scientific method, I didn't lob softballs their way, but fired many questions at them relating to counter-arguments that others have made about their positions on climate change.

I asked Trenberth about the 17-year pause in the warming, globally speaking. His response was that natural variability didn't disappear. If you look at the temperature record over the past 100 years, the warming has not been linear (straight) but more like a stair step. Based on recent data, he says this most recent stair may be about to transform into the next step.

I asked Tans if he was willing to be wrong. He told me that if he discovered something that proved everybody wrong, he would most certainly do it, as a Nobel Prize would probably be waiting!

I'll share more in the coming weeks, but I thought those were good places to start.