Stolen Climate Emails Update
EmailOn Wednesday night’s broadcast, we reported on the political controversy surrounding e-mails recently stolen from a climate research center in Britain. Penn State professor Michael Mann, one of the researchers whose messages were hacked, took issue with our characterization of one of the stolen messages.
In that e-mail from 1999, professor Phil Jones of the University of East Anglia wrote, “I've just completed Mike's Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) amd (sic) from 1961 for Keith's to hide the decline.”
Our report said the message “credits Mann with a ‘trick’ to ‘hide the decline’” in temperature data. But Mann clarifies that while the trick was indeed a reference to a technique he used in a 1998 study for the journal Nature, the notion of hiding any decline in the temperature data refers entirely to the work of another scientist.
We regret any confusion. For further background on the e-mails at issue, the non-partisan Union of Concerned Scientists has some useful information.
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I just looked at the temperature history for the earth from the precambrian period to now. We are actually in a cold period that is due for a temperature rise. The magnetic field is also weakening which would allow more solar energy to reach the earth’s surface. We are also in an active solar cycle.
Posted by: Huh | December 15, 2009, 12:32 pm 12:32 pm
I can’t tell if Huh’s post was a viciously sarcastic attack on the Internet Forum Expert In Everything or sincere delusion. Either way, thanks for the chuckle!
Posted by: jhw539 | December 15, 2009, 12:35 pm 12:35 pm
Hey Jahaw-one-short-of-540, the magnetic field is weakening.
Soon more cosmic rays will hit the earth causing more mutations in the planet’s life-forms.
Maybe you’ll be one of those lucky ones.
: o )
Posted by: Noz | December 15, 2009, 1:28 pm 1:28 pm
One short of 540 also knows a thing or two about sarcasm. That’s all he does.
Of course, a lot of people (including myself) are not slow on the sarcasm either.
That’s half the fun!
Posted by: ddg | December 15, 2009, 2:33 pm 2:33 pm
Yes, we are deff in a long term cooling trend. How I pine for the days of the MWP….temps approx .3C warmer than present. And the Roman warm period temps would do much to sooth these old bones…approx .7C warmer than now. And of course, the grand daddy of them all, the Holocene Optimum….2.2C warmer than current temps.
Could we be so veryyyyy lucky to approach those temps again before we continue to the next Ice Age?
Posted by: Sigurdur | December 15, 2009, 6:26 pm 6:26 pm
Precambrian Period (540-4600 million years ago)****WOW!! I didn’t know they kept records that long.
Posted by: d | December 15, 2009, 10:07 pm 10:07 pm
“Precambrian Period (540-4600 million years ago)****WOW!! I didn’t know they kept records that long.”
We don’t even have accurate records going back 150 years. Honestly, do you trust a temperature reading from the Civil war?
So scientists use “proxies” to calculate temperature, ice cores, tree rings, etc.
It seems that that many of the scientists aren’t forthcoming with their methods and original data. That’s a big problem. And that many of the proxies aren’t matching temperatures where we have good data (eg. 1961 and newer). So, if the proxy isn’t good for when we know the temperature, how is it good for when we couldn’t possibly measure the temperature.
Posted by: Joe.Scientist | December 16, 2009, 12:05 am 12:05 am
This report is another example of how journalism is dead and ABC news is mostly propaganda. All someone has to do is follow your link to the Union of Concerned Scientists to see that they are in no way a nonpartisan group. And as to their argument about the tree rings – any investigative reporter should know as most non-scientists know – the tree rings are mostly an indication of rainfall and drought – only a severe temperature event would likely affect them and any extrapolated conclusions would be very debateable.
You lose again !!!!
Posted by: Brad Bretzin | December 16, 2009, 2:10 pm 2:10 pm
Follow the money trail, it leads to Al Gore, Goldman Sachs….etc.
Posted by: John W | December 16, 2009, 4:56 pm 4:56 pm