http://www.examiner.com/x-9111-SF-En...f-climate-gate

As we wait for Round 2 of climate gate...

A number of computer scientists and engineers are analysing computer code contained in the files leaked anonymously to the Internet last week, and it will more than likely produce more controversy than the emails that have been the subject of intense discussion so far.

In fact, if the documentation (notes written by authors and fixers of the computer code) is any indication, what we have seen so far is only prelude.

But before the storm breaks, I think we should summarise what's important in the emails.

First, prominent climate scientists, including a lead author of IPCC report sections, were willing to discuss withholding or deleting information to frustrate legitimate requests made under the Freedom of Information Act in the UK. They apparently chose who could not receive information based on the requester's identity, which may have been unlawful. They threatened to delete data--data which in fact has since disappeared. They advised each other to delete emails.

Second, these same scientists worked closely together to control channels of communication regarding climate science and global warming. They banded together to minimise or eliminate skeptical discussion. While telling the world that only peer-reviewed science should be considered legitimate, they fiercely fought to prevent skeptic writings from being peer-reviewed at all. They wrote openly about replacing an uncooperative journal editor (who was later replaced), and boycotting journals that published skeptical papers. They organised peer review so that they reviewed each others' papers.

Third, they were willing to change data so that their presentations of the state of climate looked worse. At the end of the day, this is most damning--most of the rest, even apparently illegal FOI actions, is just politics and a playground media strategy. But while world governments were imposing taxes, changing energy policies, preparing energy-based conflict policies, planning to deal with warming-based immigration, these people were content to display figures that were wrongly exaggerated to show the warming they had previously predicted but could not find in actual measurements.

I am willing to speculate that further analysis of the computer code will contribute to discussions on why they were unable to show the warming they so desperately needed to find to justify their assertions that the IPCC was too consevative, but time will certainly tell.

In the meantime, while we're waiting for the next release, it's clear that different institutions should take control of several aspects of climate research. In the UK, there are a number of bodies that might be able to sort out what's been going on. Archiving and verification, proper evaluation of previous studies--the UK has a government department called The National Archive that does this for a living, and they have recently undertaken to completely modernise how they go about things. We might ask them for assistance.

Because the way we've done things so far is not getting us to where we need to be. We know there's a problem--global warming is real, and CO2 is a contributor. But we can no longer trust the numbers we have grown accustomed to using, nor the people who generated those numbers. Time for a shake-up.