cc: t.osborn@uea
date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 15:34:23 +0100
from: Keith Briffa <k.briffa@uea.ac.uk>
subject: Re: Science commentary
to: "Raymond S. Bradley" <rbradley@geo.umass.edu>

Ray
  thanks again for taking the trouble to look through this . We are
expecting a revised version from Science and as soon as it arrives we will
consider all the points and try to incorporate ammendments to satisfy
everyone I hope. How about forwarding the last Mann message to me so I can
reply directly?! Best wishes
                                                                         Keith

At 09:49 AM 4/19/99 -0400, you wrote:
>I've just ploughed through the mountain of email regarding your Science
>"perspectives" article.  For what it is worth (probably not much) I will
>add my comments on this (amazingly) controversial commentary.  In the
>context of what you were asked to do by Science, I don't find the overall
>perspective too problematical.  Clearly, it is YOUR perspective and you are
>entitled to express it if so invited.  However, there are a few topics that
>might be worth revising.  
>1.  You could point out that the SH data we use contributes to explaining
>the variance of NH temperature, or leave out the sentence on p. 2, para 2:
>"Four of the records..."
>2.  You should mention that some reconstructions undertake verification (ie
>Mann et al 98, 99, & [crudely] Bradley & Jones...not sure about the
>others...) & point out how important that is...
>3.  As you point out the limitations of long-term tree ring data (ie
>replication, standardization etc) it would be appropriate to say to what
>extent these issues are a problem or not, in Mann et al 99 vis a vis other
>efforts.
>4. Mike's point re the baseline for comparing records is right.  You should
>align them on the basis of the calibration periods, more or less...
>5. You should expand on the caption to say which are "NH" annual/seasonal/
>extra-tropical etc...
>6.  Mike's point that the late Holocene decline should be visible in your
>2ka reconstruction  makes no sense to me.  I think it is quite likely that
>the penultimate millennium showed a warming trend.  Nevertheless, I wonder
>if comparing this series with the others is worth it, given the limited
>data set it represents, lack of verification, & other limitations you
>elaborate on earlier....
>
>Ray
>
>
>
>Raymond S. Bradley
>Professor and Head of Department
>Department of Geosciences
>University of Massachusetts
>Amherst, MA 01003-5820
>Tel: 413-545-2120
>Fax: 413-545-1200
>Climate System Research Center: 413-545-0659
>Climate System Research Center Web Site:
><http://www.geo.umass.edu/climate/climate.html
>
>
--
Dr. Keith Briffa, Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia, 
Norwich, NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom   
Phone: +44-1603-592090    Fax: +44-1603-507784

