Fred has just circulated this email of a shortly to be released Science Editorial
SCIENCE EDITORIAL #13-2010 (April 24, 2010)
By S. Fred Singer, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project
Let’s keep our eyes on the ball.
We need to trace the path taken by Phil Jones (and by Jim Hansen of NASA-GISS and by NOAA-NCDC) in distilling the raw thermometer readings from thousands of stations into a single number — the magical “global mean surface temperature” We need to document the process of how they selected stations. And we need to understand the kinds of corrections and adjustments they made.
The crucial period is 1979 to 1997 – the era of weather satellite data, which can provide an independent cross check. It is also the period during which the surface temperatures seemed to show a sustained rise – the “blade” of the infamous “hockeystick” graph.
In parallel, we need to examine the available proxy data for the same period. I predict they will not duplicate the claimed temperature rise of the surface
Doing all this is not a small job – it will take two teams of skilled and dedicated people. But it must be done to achieve closure — and we will learn what’s behind “hiding the decline” and “Mike [Mann]’s Nature trick.”
This will be done — if necessary, at the direction of the US Congress, provided the Nov 2010 elections produce a change in control. It’s probably the best investment the government can make in climate research. Trillions of dollars are at stake here.
I agree Fred. I have been trying to get attention on these critical issues. A great start for people is to read the Dr Fred Wood 1988 critique of Jones et al 1986 – it was a pity he concentrated on the USA and not the USSR.
People must not confuse the Jones and GISS data. Anybody serious about tracing ing “..the path taken by Phil Jones..” should be familiar with the two DoE documentation books – TR022 and TR027, linked at my pages.
Thanks to those who have emailed wondering at the lack of posts for over six weeks. I have just been very busy on other projects – and hey – ClimateGate has rolled on so well.
Why not include this investigation as part of the discovery phase of the states’ (Texas, etc) lawsuit against the EPA for declaring CO2 a pollutant?
I have no idea about timing of the legal proceedings you mention Steve. But these projects red is envisaging will not happen quickly. I was glad to see Fred come onboard so specifically to the concept of an investigation into exactly what Jones has done – and taking the timespan back where it must be. Remembering that the last documentation books your US DoE published by Jones et al were in 1991.
The two British Committes have been fizzers so far. The Science and Technology Committee was a whitewash and the Oxburgh Report written by the head of “Climate Change Capital” Lord Oxburgh was, surprise, also a squib. No critics gave evidence to the Oxburgh Inquiry and the House Committe did not address the Science.
The British Inquiry model is derived from the Legal Model which has serious problems in discovering the truth. It is too concerned with procedural fairness and can be easily manipulated to block the truth. The British play this game of “not telling lies but also not telling the truth” very well as any viewer of the TV series “Yes, Minister” will tell you.