Hackers have stolen zillions of emails from CRU. The climate skeptic world is in such a froth that the climateaudit servers have slowed to a crawl. Patrick Michaels has declared it a “mushroom cloud.”
I rather think that this will prove to be a dud. We’ll find out that a few scientists are human, and lots of things will be taken out of context. At the end of the day, climate science will still rest on diverse data from more than a single research center. We won’t suddenly discover that it’s all a hoax and climate sensitivity is Lindzen’s 0.5C, nor will we know any better whether it’s 1.5 or 6C.
We’ll still be searching for a strategy that works either way.
This highlights the importance of transparency and open review process. I still believe in IPCC.
I understand that people out there may be scared by what they perceive as serious flaws (and is also being depicted as deliberate misinterpretation, which is more serious). However, the IPCC reports are probably the most widely peer-reviewed scientific papers in history. Seriousness and intellectual honesty should make sure we don’t throw out the baby with the bath water, simply because of personal rants in personal emails.
It’s been suggested to me I should include a disclaimer in my own blog, in order to make it clear for readers that my opinions are mine and mine alone, and that they are not sanctioned by either the Uni or my sponsors. Opinion, it seems, can be judged these days (despite my parents teaching me otherwise when I was a kid)…