Who the heck is John Christy you ask? From Wikipedia:
Christy was a lead author for the 2001 report by the IPCC. He is a distinguished professor of atmospheric science, and director of the Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He was appointed Alabama's state climatologist in 2000. For his development of a global temperature data set from satellites he was awarded NASA's Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement, and the American Meteorological Society's "Special Award."[1] In 2002, Christy was elected Fellow of the American Meteorological Society.[2]H/T Celestial Junk.