April 15, 2010 in Nation/World

Panel clears climate researchers

Henry Chu Los Angeles Times
 
Tags:climate changeClimategate

LONDON – Climate-change researchers accused of manipulating or hiding data in last year’s “Climategate” affair were guilty of sloppy record-keeping but not bad science, an independent panel in Britain concluded Wednesday.

Allegations that the researchers deliberately misrepresented data to promote the idea of human-caused global warming rocked the scientific community in November, just as world leaders were preparing for an international environmental summit.

The allegations, by skeptics of climate change, were based on e-mails hacked from the University of East Anglia in eastern England, including one in which a scientist wrote of using a “trick” to mask an apparent decline in recent global temperatures.

But a panel of experts tasked with examining the underlying science said it “saw no evidence of any deliberate scientific malpractice in any of the work” by the university’s Climatic Research Unit.

Instead, “we found a small group of dedicated if slightly disorganized researchers” who did not store their data and working notes as well as they could have but whose science was conducted “with integrity,” the committee said in a report released Wednesday.

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One comment on this story so far. Add yours!

  • Dazzeetrader11 on April 15 at 11:04 p.m.

    So this means they incorrectly reported data that wasn’t secure or robust and then tried to hide the results. No they didn’t “deliberately” hid the turth or the data ( this keeps them out of jail) but they messed it up anyway because of messy notes, confusing extrapolations…which leads to lousy, inaccurate conclusions. Can’t believe any data now until it’s quality assured…which it might never be due to how it was collected and managed. Shameful…

    No matter, even if the data was correct, the cyclical weather patterns continue. Getting chillier now…as usual in these cycles. Man might not have caused this but certainly won’t change it either. It’s a natural cycle. Al Gore must be nervous.
    Obama’s beyond being nervous….he doesn’t care what anyone thinks. He just “does”…

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