RealClimate is a commentary site (blog) on climatology by a group of climate scientists for the interested public and journalists. It aims to provide a quick response to developing stories and provide the context sometimes missing in mainstream commentary. The discussion is intended to be restricted to scientific topics and to avoid political or economic implications of the science.

The web hosting for RealClimate is provided by Environmental Media Services, a non-profit public relations firm, though they exercise no control over the content. The contributing scientists are not paid for their time.

Recognition

The creation of RealClimate was noticed by the academic journals Science and Nature.

In 2005, the editors of Scientific American recognized RealClimate with a Science and Technology Web Award, writing:

A refreshing antidote to the political and economic slants that commonly color and distort news coverage of topics like the greenhouse effect, air quality, natural disasters and global warming, Real Climate is a focused, objective blog written by scientists for a brainy community that likes its climate commentary served hot. Always precise and timely, the site's resident meteorologists, geoscientists and oceanographers sound off on all news climatological, from tropical glacial retreat to "doubts about the advent of spring."

In 2006, Nature compiled a list of the 50 most popular blogs written by scientists, as measured by Technorati. RealClimate was number 3 on that list.

Members

The members of RealClimate are:

• Gavin Schmidt
• Michael E. Mann
• Eric Steig
• Raymond S. Bradley
• Stefan Rahmstorf
• Rasmus Benestad
• Caspar Ammann
• Thibault de Garidel
• David Archer
• Raymond Pierrehumbert

Other climate scientists contribute to RealClimate as guest columnists.

See also

• Climate change
• Global warming

External links

• RealClimate