Where do we start in purging climate activists from the ranks of government agencies like NASA? I have a suggestion, which I proposed in an email to Sean Duffy, the new acting head of NASA. Start by removing Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, a NASA program scientist and manager overseeing a team of scientists studying sea level rise. Why pick on her? Because she has made an audacious claim to garner media attention.  She has asserted that we could expect another 20 centimeters of global mean sea level (GMSL) by 2050. Anyone proficient in excel could dismiss her claim within five minutes.

If you graph NASA historical GSML data from 1993 to present, apply a linear and quadratic fit and extend it out to 2050, you get 175 mm and 225 mm, respectively, over 1993 values (see graph below). She is asserting 300 mm by 2050 (today’s 100mm plus another 200mm). My calculations are here. Nobody eyeballing a graph of it would ever fall for her claim. Statements like hers are not an isolated case and are clearly an outgrowth of a climate activist culture within NASA that needs to be rooted out.

Image created by author.