cc: "Davies Trevor Prof (ENV)" <T.D.Davies@uea.ac.uk>
date: Fri Nov  6 15:10:34 2009
from: Phil Jones <p.jones@uea.ac.uk>
subject: Recent climate claims in some media web sites
to: "Watson, Robert (SEG)" <Robert.Watson@defra.gsi.gov.uk>

      Bob,

      Jacquie and Alastair alerted me that you'd noted the claims on some media sites over the
   past month. They are not just affecting CRU/UEA but the Met Office, Hadley Centre as well.
   There have been two basic issues
    1. A tree-ring chronology developed by Russian colleagues at Yamal.  Keith Briffa has
   responded to this on the CRU web site.
    [1]http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/people/briffa/yamal2009/
    The skeptics are still going on about this and refuting what he is saying. Yamal is used
   in 3 of the long reconstructions in spaghetti plots and then it is one of 20. Its omission
   would not change anything.
    It is important to keep the moral high ground in all this. Keith will be writing a
   peer-review journal paper which he hopes to submit around March/April. It is important that
   science gets published in the normal way - in the literature. Blog sites are not the way
   this should be done. I know things are moving this way, but there needs to be something
   fixed. Blog sites are moving targets, issues change from day to day. We can't do science
   this way.
    On this and the second issue - the chief skeptic (Stephen McIntyre) is sensible enough to
   realize that the global temperature series is robust and the millennial reconstructions are
   also, but to a lesser extent. They refuse to develop their own, refuse to publish their
   results - because they know that if they did the series would look much the same. So they
   knock away at the edges at issues that are unimportant but give them some media attention
   amongst people who are ready to accept conspiracy theories. They are also trying to waste
   our time with their claims, so we've chosen to barely respond and only through our web
   site.
    2. The second issue is the release of the station temperature data by ourselves and the
   Met Office.
    UEA has had about 60 FOI requests about this and the Met Office has had about 20.
    The Met Office HC are going to send a letter around to all Met Services to check that we
   can release the versions of their data we have. This is the crucial thing - we're using the
   data we have for France, which isn't the same as the data the French has for France. France
   was a random choice of country.
      What is important to global average temperatures is the marine data. I think skeptics
   realize this, but it is much harder for them to do any work in this area.
      There was a PQ in the House earlier this week (see below). I was asked to respond as was
   John Mitchell. I said that the Met Office were going to ask all other Met Services the
   question above.
    If you want to talk about any of this - give me a call or email.
    The timing of all this relates to me to issues in the US and Copenhagen.  Keith and I have
   had some really nasty personal emails, but I think we've yet to reach the number that Mike
   Mann or Ben Santer have had.
    Cheers
    Phil
    Regarding claims of refusal to release station data used in near surface temperature
   records.
   Peter Thorne suggested I should let you know about a question made in parliament yesterday
   during the Copenhagen/climate debate and the response by  the Minister of State,
   Department of Energy and Climate Change - Joan Ruddock.
   [2]http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm091105/debtext/91105-0014.h
   tm
   Column 1052
   Peter Lilley :-
   "I hope that the Minister will tell us what is happening about the Met Office Hadley
   centre's refusal to publish the basic figures it has received from around the world that it
   uses to calculate its estimates of the rise in surface temperatures throughout the world."
   [3]http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm091105/debtext/91105-0020.h
   tm
   Column 1090
   Joan Ruddock :-
   "The right hon. Gentleman stated that the Met Office had not made data available, and we
   have taken steps to try to make that happen. The Met Office has written to all those who
   provided data to ask whether they will agree to
   release those data."

   Prof. Phil Jones
   Climatic Research Unit        Telephone +44 (0) 1603 592090
   School of Environmental Sciences    Fax +44 (0) 1603 507784
   University of East Anglia
   Norwich                          Email    p.jones@uea.ac.uk
   NR4 7TJ
   UK
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