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Does anyone have original copies of the emails that can be reproduced and annotated.

It is my understanding that much of the controversy is due to cherry-picking.

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2 Answers

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You can find a searchable database of all of the Climate Research Unit emails here:

http://www.eastangliaemails.com/index.php

There is a great deal of information in these emails. The major criticisms appear to be:

  • The email about "Mike's Nature trick" of putting instrument-based data on the end of a sequence of tree-ring-derived temperature data as a way to get around the "divergence problem" (the fact that the tree ring data is known not to be a valid proxy for temperature during that time period, post-1960 or so). This has been widely misrepresented in the media. The associated publications all explain what is going on, with the exception of a single graph that was also used for the cover of an IPCC report.

  • The researchers talking about ways to avoid giving out data in response to Freedom of Information requests. This is in part due to allegedly abusive FOI requests from climate skeptics, in part due to data that was licensed to CRU on the condition that they not redistribute it, and in part apparently due to poor data handling procedures on their part.

  • Comments in IDL code show that the initial programmer was not very good and the programmer trying to fix it was frustrated; comments that show various manipulations with fudge factors to see different outcomes. There doesn't appear to be any evidence that there was any improper manipulation that was published or used to support papers.

  • Various instances of rather catty talk about other researchers.

The Real Climate blog has gone into quite a bit of detail about context around many of the emails, including with responses to thousands of posted comments:

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/11/the-cru-hack/

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/11/the-cru-hack-context/

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/12/cru-hack-more-context/

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This page purports to have a complete copy but its very hard to verify http://www.prisonplanet.com/climatic-research-unit-hacked-e-mails-data.html

most of the quotes i have read suggest that they scientist where discussing the issues and where unsure about the results of climate change being warming or cooling.

either way its still an issue and we need to be careful with this planet and we must not let the greed of big businesses dominate our agendas.

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Dragging out the "Greedy big business" strawman again? I would have thought it had fallen apart by now from all the overuse lately. – johnfx Dec 8 at 3:20
i dont think its a strawman , directors are required to maximise profit for for their company. This is at odds with social responsibility. – Amias Dec 8 at 14:21
That is an over-simplification. You are implying that directors are required to maximize profits for their company at any cost, which, of course, is likely true for some fraction of the companies out there, but hasn't been for any I have worked for. There are tons of companies that do altruistic things like support charities, promote social causes, etc. In any case, it is ludicrous to anthromorphize a company by characterizing it as "greedy" just like it would be to call a cow gluttonous. They are what they are. – johnfx Dec 17 at 4:00

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