Nov 22, 2009 7:00 am US/Eastern
E-Mail Hacks Heat Up Global Warming Debate
Systems At Top Global Warming Research Unit Hacked, Correspondences Posted Online
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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One of the world's most influential global warming research groups had their servers hacked and e-mail exchanges leaked. (File)
AP
The debate between skeptics and supporters of global warming has heated up recently as hackers managed to get a hold of e-mail correspondences between some of the world's leading scientists involved in researching the issue. The anonymous group posted many of the purported e-mails on the Internet.
At the center of the story is the claim that scientists at the
University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) in Britain were attempting to fudge temperature data to help bolster the theory that humans are to blame for global warming.
Officials from the research unit confirmed Saturday that their servers were
hacked, but say they cannot confirm the authenticity of all the e-mails
posted online.
More than a decade of correspondence between leading British and U.S. scientists is included in about 1,000 e-mails and 3,000 documents posted on Web sites following the security breach last week.
In one leaked e-mail, the research center's director, Phil Jones, writes to colleagues about graphs showing climate statistics over the last millennium.
The particular part of the e-mail purportedly supporting the claims of data tampering reads:
"I've just completed Mike's Nature trick of adding in the real temps to
each series for the last 20 years (i.e., from 1981 onwards) and from 1961
for Keith's to hide the decline. ..."
Some evidence appears to show a halt in a rise of global temperatures from about 1960, but is contradicted by other evidence which appears to show a rise in temperatures is continuing, according to the Associated Press.
"Mike" in the e-mail is apparently Michael Mann, a professor at Pennsylvania State University whose work has appeared in the journal "Nature." It was unclear who Jones was referring to as "Keith."
The university commented on the hack and the purported "smoking gun" in
a press release, which confirms that the document is genuine. Jones, Director offered an explanation for the e-mail alluding to a "trick":
(The e-mail) has caused a great
deal of ill-informed comment, but has been taken completely out of
context and I want to put the record straight.
The word 'trick' was used here colloquially as in a clever thing to
do. It is ludicrous to suggest that it refers to anything untoward.
Mixed Reactions To Leaked Documents
Andrew C. Revkin of the New York Times writes:
The evidence pointing to a growing human contribution to global warming is so widely accepted that the hacked material is unlikely to erode the overall argument. However, the documents will undoubtedly raise questions about the quality of research on some specific questions and the actions of some scientists.
Mann spoke to Revkin, confirming that the e-mail was indeed real. He noted, however, that the term "trick" didn't necessarily point to anything malicious, but that the writer was just refering to a good way to solve a problem.
Mann also told the
Washington Post that critics are "taking these words totally out of context..."
Another expert the Washington Post spoke with, Myron Ebell, claims the illegally obtained documents do indeed show that the researchers are in cahoots to solidify the theory that humans are the cause of climate change.
"It is clear that some of the 'world's leading climate scientists,' as they are always described, are more dedicated to promoting the alarmist political agenda than in scientific research," Ebell told the Washington Post. Ebell is the director of energy and global warming policy for the
Competitive Enterprise Institute, which is funded in part by energy companies, according to the paper.
According to the British publication the
Telegraph, the documents were first uploaded to a Russian server before being swept across the Internet.
The Telegraph reports:
An anonymous statement accompanying the emails said: "We feel that climate
science is too important to be kept under wraps. We hereby release a random
selection of correspondence, code, and documents. Hopefully it will give
some insight into the science and the people behind it."
CRU researchers played a key role in the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) Fourth Assessment
Report, which is considered to be the most authoritative report of its
kind, according to BBC News.
As IPCC explains on its Web site:
The Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change is the leading body for
the assessment of climate change, established by the United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization
(WMO) to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current
state of climate change and its potential environmental and
socio-economic consequences.
The hack comes ahead of the United Nation's much anticipated
Climate Change Conference being held Dec. 7-18 in Copenhagen, when 192 nations will seek to reach a binding treaty to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases worldwide.
The
United Nations News Center published a story Nov. 19 on the upcoming conference, which reads:
With just 17 days left before the United
Nations climate change summit in Copenhagen, a top UN official today
predicted success for a framework accord including specific reduction
targets from the United States, the only hold-out among industrialized
nations, with a formal treaty to follow within six months.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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