A few more comments about “Climategate”:
- The released files in question were not “hacked” from the CRU’s computers. Somebody (still anonymous) who worked there collected that information and posted it on a public bulletin board site where it was picked up. Interestingly, it appears that he first sent it to news organizations who just sat on it. Could it be that the media have a vested interest in keeping the global warming hoax alive?
- The global temperature data that the CRU was supposedly maintaining is a work of fiction, with perhaps some fact thrown in when it happens to fit the desired outcome. Examinations of the computer code that collates temperature data from multiple sources is rife with adjustments that the programmers describe in comments as “arbitrary,” “artificial,” and in at least one case, “fudge factor.” The data that comes out bears very little relationship to the data that goes in.
- One of the fundamental principles of collaborative science is that when you publish a result you also publish the raw data and the methods that you used to arrive at your result. That typically includes computer code. CRU went to great lengths to avoid releasing their raw data and their programs. We now know why: their methods weren’t scientific at all, but rather constructed to arrive at a predetermined result.
- For a very good, if somewhat heavy-handed, discussion of the information revealed by the released emails and other documents, you should definitely read Climategate: Caught Green-Handed. A link on that page will take you to the PDF.
- The Climate Research Unit website is being served from the CUR Emergency Webserver. I don’t know why. I am unable to find anything on the site regarding the leaked emails and documents. The IPCC site doesn’t appear to have anything about it, either.
- Phil Jones, director of the CRU, will step down until the completion of an independent review. If he had any integrity left, he’d resign completely. Of course, if there was any integrity in that system, his ass would have been fired a week ago.
- Michael Mann, a climate scientist and professor at Pennsylvania State University who is prominently featured in the released emails, maintains that he did nothing wrong and that nothing untoward went on. Mann, if you recall, is the primary person behind the controversial hockey stick graph that, among other things, tries to remove the Medieval Warm Period from the historical record.
- Did I mention that the global temperature data provided by the CRU, and upon which governments worldwide base important policy decisions is essentially made up? Any decision based on data provided by the CRU is now suspect.
- The malefactors at the CRU and their accomplices in government, academia, and industry have done a grave disservice to the field of climate science in particular, and all science in general. Anybody reading about what went on here is bound to wonder if all scientific research is carried out in a similar manner. In one sense, this is probably a good thing in that it should force an independent review of all government funded scientific research.
- If you realize now that you got sucked in by the global warming hype and you want to get a more balanced view of the real science, a good place to start is Anthony Watts’ Watts Up With That?. Also take a look at JunkScience.com, and the Science & Public Policy Institute.