KEY POINTS:
Two of New Zealand's best known weather men Augie Auer and Jim Salinger are at loggerheads after last week's extreme rain and flooding in Northland.
Former MetService chief meteorologist Dr Auer called for the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa), of which Dr Salinger is principal scientist, to be disbanded.
Dr Auer said Niwa had been won over by the global warming lobby and comments made by principal Niwa scientist Dr Salinger after the flooding were "just plain silly".
Dr Salinger said after the flooding, as the climate warmed, the atmosphere could hold more moisture, increasing rainfall.
"It's likely rain will be heavier with global warming."
Dr Auer said qualified climate scientists would "cringe" at Dr Salinger's interpretation.
Dr Auer is a member of the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition which disputes climate warming is the result of increased carbon dioxide emissions.
Niwa and the MetService have been in mediation since last year due to tensions between the two organisations.
"At a time when MetService and Niwa are at such loggerheads that a mediator has had to be appointed, it's time for the Government and the Opposition parties to disband Niwa to stop its nonsense statements," Dr Auer said.
"Dr Salinger's statement is as unscientific as it is incorrect. If warming of the air encourages more moisture in the atmosphere, how come there's no rain over the deserts? The mere presence of moisture in the atmosphere will not produce rain unless there is an associated atmospheric and meteorological process, which last week was the great volume of warm, saturated tropical air that funnelled down on to New Zealand."
Dr Auer and Dr Salinger worked together before the New Zealand Meteorological Service was divided into the MetService and Niwa in 1992.
Dr Salinger said he stood by his comments.
"When the atmosphere is warmer it can hold more moisture. This is an established fact known for 100 years."
- NZPA
