Olavi Kärner (Deceased)

Credentials

• Ph.D. Atmospheric Physics, Leningrad Hydrometeorological Institute (1974).¹Speakers,” 9th International Conference on Climate Change. Archived July 14, 2014. Archive.is URL: https://archive.li/L5hQx
• Dip. Mathematics,  University of Tartu, Estonia (1966)

Background

Olavi Kärner (1942-2016) was a former research associate at the Tartu Observatory in Toravere, Estonia. ²“Olavi Kärner (22.01.1942 – 25.03.2016),” EESTI ORIENTEERUMISLIIT. Translated with Google Translate. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.

According to a speaker profile on the Heartland Institute’s “International Conferences on Climate Change”, website, Kärner’s scientific interests included “time series analysis for climate studies and developments of satellite cloud classification methods for radiation budget computations.”³”Speakers,” 9th International Conference on Climate Change. Archived July 14, 2014. Archive.is URL: https://archive.li/L5hQx, ⁴“OLAVI KARNER,” Climate Conferences. Archived June 28, 2018. Archive.is URL: https://archive.li/PsDzo

Olavi Kärner contributed to the Fraser Institute‘s 2007 “Independent Summary for Policymakers,” as well as the Heartland Institute‘s “Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change” (NIPCC) reports in 2008, 2009, and 2013.⁵”Speakers, 9th International Conference on Climate Change.” Heartland Institute. Archived July 14, 2014. Archive.is URL: https://archive.li/L5hQx ⁶S.Fred Singer, editor. “Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate,” Heartland Institute, 2008. Archive URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20160405032109/https://www.heartland.org/sites/all/modules/custom/heartland_migration/files/pdfs/22835.pdf ⁷Craig Idso and S. Fred Singer. “Climate Change Reconsidered: 2009 Report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC),” Heartland Institute, 2009. Archive URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20150727200009/https://www.heartland.org/media-library/pdfs/CCR-2009/Front%20Matter.pdf ⁸Craig D. Idso, Robert M. Carter, and S. Fred Singer. “Climate Change Reconsidered II,” Heartland Institute, 2013. Archive URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20150727210233/https://www.heartland.org/media-library/pdfs/CCR-II/Appendix-2-Authors-Directory.pdf

In 2012, DeSmog published leaked Heartland Institute documents revealing that several individuals who contributed to Heartland’s Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change were paid for their work.⁹Brendan DeMelle. “Heartland Institute Exposed: Internal Documents Unmask Heart of Climate Denial Machine,” DeSmog, February 14, 2012.

Stance on Climate Change

In 2010, Kärner was a signatory of the International Climate Science Coalition’s “Climate Scientists’ Register,” which stated: ¹⁰“CLIMATE SCIENTISTS‘ REGISTER ENDORSERS,” International Climate Science Coalition. Archived August 18, 2015.

“We, the undersigned, having assessed the relevant scientific evidence, do not find convincing support for the hypothesis that human emissions of carbon dioxide are causing, or will in the foreseeable future cause, dangerous global warming.”

Key Quotes

July 2014

The following quotes are from Kärner‘s presentation at the Heartland Institute‘s 9th International Conference on Climate Change:¹¹“Videos-Olavi Karner – ICCC9 July 9, 2014,” The Heartland Institute, July 23, 2014. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.

Olavi Kärner: The IPCC was able to neglect actual variability and in order to understand that the IPCC is very far from reality [00:01:40]

[…]

[00:11:42] Yes, approximately it will take in current current concentrations about seven hundred and fifty years to double [CO2]. One, we got zero point zero three watts per meter squared annual part of it. So comparing this annual part with possible or established found satellite measurements shows that the CO2 increase has no effect for our climate. [00:12:30]

Key Deeds

December 2015

Kärner was a signatory of the “Paris Climate Challenge” (PCC), an event organized by the newly created Independent Committee on Geoethics (ICG) with the goal of “challenging the groupthink of COP21.”¹²“Expert Signatories,” Paris Climate Challenge. Archived June 29, 2018. Archive.is URL: https://archive.li/MqJ7c ¹³“About PCC15,” PCCC15.org. Archived November 25, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/iyGdB

July 7–9, 2014

Olavi Kärner was a speaker at the Heartland Institute’s 9th International Conference on Climate Change (ICCC9) in Las Vegas, Nevada.¹⁴“Speakers,” 9th International Conference on Climate Change. Archived July 14, 2014. Archive.is URL: https://archive.li/L5hQx ¹⁵“Return of Climate Denial-a-Palooza: Heartland Institute Hitches Anti-Science Wagon to Vegas FreedomFest,” DeSmog, July 7, 2014. Archived July 14, 2014.

Kärner’s topic was the “Decline of the Theory on Anthropogenic Global Warming”:

Kärner also appeared on a panel alongside Robert Armstrong and James Taylor:

2013

Kärner contributed to the Heartland Institute‘s Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) “Climate Change Reconsidered” report. Heartland’s 2009 report only had two lead authors and 35 contributors who examined material “published exclusively by climate contrarians who are paid to contribute their findings to NIPCC reports.”¹⁶“Heartland Institute and its NIPCC report fail the credibility test,” Climate Science & Policy Watch, September 9, 2013. Archive.is URL: https://archive.li/aghAC 

2009

Kärner was a contributor to and reviewer of the Heartland Institute‘s 2009 Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) report (CCR-2009), titled “Climate Change Reconsidered.” The report was co-authored and edited by S. Fred Singer and Craig Idso. ¹⁷Craig Idso and S. Fred Singer. “Climate Change Reconsidered: 2009 Report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC),” Heartland Institute, 2009. Archive URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20150727200009/https://www.heartland.org/media-library/pdfs/CCR-2009/Front%20Matter.pdf

2008

Kärner was listed as a “contributor” to the Heartland Institute’s “Summary for Policymakers of the Report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change,” titled “Nature, Not Human Activity Rules the Climate” (PDF). ¹⁸“Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate” (PDF), Heartland Institute, 2008 Archive URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20160405032109/https://www.heartland.org/sites/all/modules/custom/heartland_migration/files/pdfs/22835.pdf.

January 2, 2008

Kärner’s name appeared on a submission by the Lavoisier Group to the Garnaut Climate Change Review. One of the group’s assertions was that there was “no scientific consensus on the causal connection between anthropogenic carbon dioxide and global climate control.” The group advised a “wait and see” stance on climate change, because “[W]e do not know what the climatic future is.” ¹⁹“Submission from the Lavoisier Group to the Garnaut Climate Change Review: Issues Paper 1 Climate Change: Land use – Agriculture and Forestry” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, January 2, 2008.

2007

Kärner boasted on his Tartu Observatory web page that he participated in the industry-funded Fraser Institute’s “Independent Summary for Policymakers,”which critiqued the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change‘s Fourth Assessment Report. The project was coordinated by Ross McKitrick, and included a “writing team” of Joseph D’Aleo, Madhav Khandekar, William Kininmonth, Christopher Essex, Wibjörn Karlén, Ian Clark, Tad Murty, and James J. O’Brien.²⁰“Olavi Kärner,” Tartu Observatory. Archived June 28, 2018. Archive.is URL: https://archive.li/AeQTA

Affiliations

• Energy and Environment Journal — Author
• Heartland Institute — Conference speaker, report contributor and reviewer
• Fraser Institute — Contributed to Fraser’s 2007 “Independent Summary for Policymakers,” which critiqued the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fourth Assessment Report.

Social Media

• Olavi Kärner did not appear to be active on social media.

Publications

Books

• Sirje Keevallik, Olavi Kärner, “Effective Cloud Cover Variations,” A Deepak Pub., Hampton, Va., USA, 1993²¹ “Effective cloud cover variations” listing on WorldCat. URL: https://www.worldcat.org/title/28150618

Articles

Google Scholar lists several dozen peer-reviewed journal articles authored or co-authored by Olavi Kärner.

According to Skeptical Science, Olavi Kärner authored no peer-reviewed articles that took a negative or explicitly doubtful position on human-caused climate change.²²“Peer-reviewed skeptic papers by Olavi Karner” SkepticalScience. Accessed June 27, 2018.

Kärner’s profile page at the Tartu Observatory listed a number of papers he co-published with prominent climate change deniers, including projects for the industry-funded Fraser Institute:²³”Olavi Kärner,” Tartu Observatory. Archived June 28, 2018. Archive.is URL: https://archive.li/AeQTA

• Joseph D’Aleo, Olavi Kärner, Richard C. Willson, and Ian Clark. “Critical Topics in Global Warming,” The Fraser Institute, March 2009.
• Olavi Kärner and Ross McKitrick. ”Long-term persistence and nonstationarity in geophysical data,” The Fraser Institute, 2009.

In 2007 the journal Energy and Environment, edited at the time by climate change denier Sonja Boehmer-Christiansen, published an article by Kärner: “Temporal Variability in Local Air Temperature Series Shows Negative Feedback.”

In a 2005 story for Environmental Science and Technology Online, reporter Paul Thacker described Energy and Environment as a publication that climate change deniers went to when their papers were rejected by credible peer-reviewed scientific journals, as well as a journal where they could attack research published in those journals .²⁴Paul D. Thacker. “Skeptics get a journal” (PDF), Environmental Science and Technology Online, August 31, 2005. Retrieved from Realclimate.org. Archived December 15, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmogBlog.

Other Resources

• “Climate Denial Goes Vegas,” Media Matters, July 7, 2014.

• 1
  Speakers,” 9th International Conference on Climate Change. Archived July 14, 2014. Archive.is URL: https://archive.li/L5hQx
• 2
  “Olavi Kärner (22.01.1942 – 25.03.2016),” EESTI ORIENTEERUMISLIIT. Translated with Google Translate. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
• 3
  ”Speakers,” 9th International Conference on Climate Change. Archived July 14, 2014. Archive.is URL: https://archive.li/L5hQx
• 4
  “OLAVI KARNER,” Climate Conferences. Archived June 28, 2018. Archive.is URL: https://archive.li/PsDzo
• 5
  ”Speakers, 9th International Conference on Climate Change.” Heartland Institute. Archived July 14, 2014. Archive.is URL: https://archive.li/L5hQx
• 6
  S.Fred Singer, editor. “Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate,” Heartland Institute, 2008. Archive URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20160405032109/https://www.heartland.org/sites/all/modules/custom/heartland_migration/files/pdfs/22835.pdf
• 7
  Craig Idso and S. Fred Singer. “Climate Change Reconsidered: 2009 Report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC),” Heartland Institute, 2009. Archive URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20150727200009/https://www.heartland.org/media-library/pdfs/CCR-2009/Front%20Matter.pdf
• 8
  Craig D. Idso, Robert M. Carter, and S. Fred Singer. “Climate Change Reconsidered II,” Heartland Institute, 2013. Archive URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20150727210233/https://www.heartland.org/media-library/pdfs/CCR-II/Appendix-2-Authors-Directory.pdf
• 9
  Brendan DeMelle. “Heartland Institute Exposed: Internal Documents Unmask Heart of Climate Denial Machine,” DeSmog, February 14, 2012.
• 10
  “CLIMATE SCIENTISTS‘ REGISTER ENDORSERS,” International Climate Science Coalition. Archived August 18, 2015.
• 11
  “Videos-Olavi Karner – ICCC9 July 9, 2014,” The Heartland Institute, July 23, 2014. Archived .mp4 on file at DeSmog.
• 12
  “Expert Signatories,” Paris Climate Challenge. Archived June 29, 2018. Archive.is URL: https://archive.li/MqJ7c
• 13
  “About PCC15,” PCCC15.org. Archived November 25, 2017. Archive.is URL: https://archive.is/iyGdB
• 14
  “Speakers,” 9th International Conference on Climate Change. Archived July 14, 2014. Archive.is URL: https://archive.li/L5hQx
• 15
  “Return of Climate Denial-a-Palooza: Heartland Institute Hitches Anti-Science Wagon to Vegas FreedomFest,” DeSmog, July 7, 2014. Archived July 14, 2014.
• 16
  “Heartland Institute and its NIPCC report fail the credibility test,” Climate Science & Policy Watch, September 9, 2013. Archive.is URL: https://archive.li/aghAC
• 17
  Craig Idso and S. Fred Singer. “Climate Change Reconsidered: 2009 Report of the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC),” Heartland Institute, 2009. Archive URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20150727200009/https://www.heartland.org/media-library/pdfs/CCR-2009/Front%20Matter.pdf
• 18
  “Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate” (PDF), Heartland Institute, 2008 Archive URL: https://web.archive.org/web/20160405032109/https://www.heartland.org/sites/all/modules/custom/heartland_migration/files/pdfs/22835.pdf.
• 19
  “Submission from the Lavoisier Group to the Garnaut Climate Change Review: Issues Paper 1 Climate Change: Land use – Agriculture and Forestry” (PDF), The Lavoisier Group, January 2, 2008.
• 20
  “Olavi Kärner,” Tartu Observatory. Archived June 28, 2018. Archive.is URL: https://archive.li/AeQTA
• 21
  “Effective cloud cover variations” listing on WorldCat. URL: https://www.worldcat.org/title/28150618
• 22
  “Peer-reviewed skeptic papers by Olavi Karner” SkepticalScience. Accessed June 27, 2018.
• 23
  ”Olavi Kärner,” Tartu Observatory. Archived June 28, 2018. Archive.is URL: https://archive.li/AeQTA
• 24
  Paul D. Thacker. “Skeptics get a journal” (PDF), Environmental Science and Technology Online, August 31, 2005. Retrieved from Realclimate.org. Archived December 15, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmogBlog.