Augie Auer

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August H. (Augie) Auer Jr (10 June 1940 - 10 June 2007[1]) was an atmospheric scientist and meteorologist in New Zealand.

As a boy growing up in St. Louis, Missouri, Auer was reportedly fascinated by weather. After a freak winter storm caused havoc in his home town, he decided to become a meteorologist. He studied meteorology at Colorado State University before getting a job at the University of Wyoming.[2]

Auer was a Professor of Atmospheric Science at the University of Wyoming for 22 years.[3] A land use typing method to classify land as urban or rural, based on work he published in 1978, is used by the United States Environmental Protection Agency and by the Jamaican National Environment and Planning Agency.[4] His most frequently cited research paper involves ice crystals in clouds.[5]

In 1990, Auer emigrated to New Zealand, becoming Chief Meteorologist for the Meteorological Service of New Zealand Limited from 1990 to 1998.[3] He also presented the weather forecast on TV3 News for several years, often preferring to use colloquialisms instead of technical jargon. Auer has been frequently quoted in the New Zealand press regarding weather and climate issues,[6] and was regarded in New Zealand as a "well-known and colourful meteorologist".[7] In 2006, he helped found the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition in order to argue claims about man-made global warming,[8] leading the MetService to publicly disavow the views of their former Chief Meteorologist.[9] Following the transfer of "climate science" issues from the then New Zealand Meteorological Service into the "National Institute for Water and the Atmosphere" (NIWA) in 1992; Augie become critical of its statements, including those of former associate Jim Salinger.[10]

In a 19 May 2007 interview with The Timaru Herald newspaper, Auer said a combination of misinterpreted and misguided science, media hype, and political spin had created the current hysteria and it was time to put a stop to it, adding "It is time to attack the myth of global warming. According to Auer:

“ Water vapour was responsible for 95 per cent of the greenhouse effect, an effect which was vital to keep the world warm. …If we didn't have the greenhouse effect the planet would be at minus 18 deg C but because we do have the greenhouse effect it is plus 15 deg C, all the time. The other greenhouse gases: carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen dioxide, and various others including CFCs, contributed only five per cent of the effect, carbon dioxide being by far the greatest contributor at 3.6 per cent. It would be like trying to increase the temperature of bath tub full of water using one drop from an eye dropper. [11] ”

On the 10 June 2007, Auer died suddenly while dining with family in Melbourne, Australia while celebrating his 35th wedding anniversary and his 67th birthday.[12].

[edit] References

  1. ^ Weatherman Augie Auer dies in Melbourne. The New Zealand Herald (2007-06-11). Retrieved on 2007-06-11.
  2. ^ NZ Herald obituary
  3. ^ a b Speakers New Zealand Presents - Augie Auer.
  4. ^ Revision to the Guideline on Air Quality Models: Adoption of a Preferred Long Range Transport Model and Other Revisions, Federal Register 68(72), Apr. 15, 2003. Natural Resources Conservation Authority Ambient Air Quality Guideline Document, Nov. 2006. The Jamaican report writes that Auer's method for distinguishing between urban and rural land usage is preferable to other methods in applications involving dispersion of pollution because it is "directly related to the surface characteristics of the affected area that affect dispersion rates" (p. 5–16).
  5. ^ Auer, August H., Jr.; Veal, Donald L. (1970). "The Dimension of Ice Crystals in Natural Clouds". Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences 27 (6): 919–926. doi:10.1175/1520-0469(1970)027<0919:TDOICI>2.0.CO;2.  96 citations in Google Scholar.
  6. ^ Google news archive search for "Augie Auer"
  7. ^ "Climate-change debate taking a new direction", Hawke's Bay Today, May 11, 2006.
  8. ^ Group rejects 'unfounded' global warming claims, The New Zealand Herald, May 1, 2006. New science coalition to challenge global warming, National Business Review, 2006-05-01
  9. ^ "MetService keen to leave Augie out in the warm", The New Zealand Herald, Dec. 20, 2006.
  10. ^ Call for NIWA to be disbanded , 2007-03-31
  11. ^ "Global warming debunked", The Timaru Herald, 2007-05-19. Retrieved on 2007-06-11. 
  12. ^ "Controversial weatherman Augie Auer dies", stuff.co.nz, 2007-06-11. Retrieved on 2007-06-11. 

[edit] External links