University To Release All Climate Research Data

The University of East Anglia has promised to release all its raw climate change data to the public, and launch an inquiry into how private emails from climate scientists were leaked to anti-climate change blogs.

The university promised to publish all the data used by its Climatic Research Unit once it is freed from “non-publication agreements” – but reiterated its view that the so-called “ClimateGate” sparked by the email leak, is a manufactured controversy.

“It is well known within the scientific community and particularly those who are sceptical of climate change that over 95 percent of the raw station data has been accessible through the Global Historical Climatology Network for several years,” said the the University’s pro-vice-chancellor of research, Trevor Davies in a statement. “We are quite clearly not hiding information which seems to be the speculation on some blogs and by some media commentators”.

The head of the Unit, professor Phil Jones, strongly denied accusations his team had manipulated the data: “Our global temperature series tallies with those of other, completely independent, groups of scientists working for NASA and the National Climate Data Center in the United States, among others,” he said. “Even if you were to ignore our findings, theirs show the same results. The facts speak for themselves; there is no need for anyone to manipulate them.”

The raw data is actually owned by government bodies round the world, like the UK’s Met Office, and is normally published under contract with these bodies. To defuse the row, the University is arranging with the Met Office to get permission to publish all the data.

“We are grateful for the necessary support of the Met Office in requesting the permissions for releasing the information but understand that responses may take several months and that some countries may refuse permission due to the economic value of the data,” said professor Davies.

The data will support the theory of man-made climate change, despite sceptics’ claims, said the professor: “The interactions of the atmosphere, oceans, land, and ice mean that the strongly-increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere do not produce a uniform year-on-year increase in global temperature. On time-scales of five to ten years, however, there is a broad scientific consensus that the Earth will continue to warm, with attendant changes in the climate, for the foreseeable future.”

Explanations of the basic theory appear in many places, such as this recent page on Ars Technica.

Inquiry

The source of the original leak has still not been made public, and the University is expected to announce an inquiry, according to reports on the BBC, however, some fear any inquiry would be used by climate sceptics to further undermine the Unit, and get its figures disallowed.

“We hope to be able to announce something this week on the inquiry but not today,” the University of East Anglia’s press office told eWEEK Europe.

“The publication of a selection of stolen data is the latest example of a sustained and, in some instances, a vexatious campaign which may have been designed to distract from reasoned debate about the nature of the urgent action which world governments must consider to mitigate, and adapt to, climate change,” said professor Davies.

Climate sceptics have also alleged that the CRU has obstructed requests for data under the Freedom of Information Act. Retired electrical engineer David Holland is seeking prosecutions against its scientists, according to the Telegraph.

“We have been bombarded by Freedom of Information requests,” said professor Jones. “This information is not ours to give without the permission of the meteorological services involved. We have responded to these Freedom of Information requests appropriately and with the knowledge and guidance of the Information Commissioner.”

Whatever the outcome of the continuing controversy, world governments will be meeting in December in Copenhagen to discuss a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The UK will begin a scheme to reduce output by carbon trading in 2010.

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