Hide the Decline...

Well, that didn't take long!

CRU Document Hack Thoughts...

In reading various reactions to the documents hacked from CRU, I see three general trends:

• Those who, like me, feel betrayed by the corrupt science on exhibit – the manipulation of data, the suppression of honest debate, the withholding of information.  These people tend to view the CRU revelations as casting doubt on the “science” production of the CRU participants – which include most of the leading lights of pro-AGW science.
  
  
• Those who dismiss everything exposed in the CRU documents as merely the human side of science.  These folks seem to believe that all science is conducted in this fashion, and that the CRU documents simply expose this in an unusually candid fashion for the public to see.  Sheesh, I certainly hope these people are wrong!
  
  
• Those who see the CRU revelations as a blow to pro-AGW science, but think there's enough untainted science remaining to sustain their pro-AGW beliefs.  To me, this sounds like grasping at straws – the work tainted by the CRU documents is foundational work that remains, so far as I know, the only direct evidence of long-term global warming that is correlated to human activity.  I deliberately exclude climate models, as they are not observational science at all, but rather an attempt to project hypotheses into the future.  

What little coverage I've seen in the U.S. lamestream media has been superficial and oriented toward the scandalous aspects.  Nearly all the interesting analysis comes from blogs – hundreds of them.  In the U.K., the situation is different – there's more complete coverage from the media, including commentary by prominent scientists.  Compared to the U.S. coverage, it's quite impressive.

Steve McIntyre of Climate Audit is clearly enemy number one in the CRU documents.  These must be very interesting times for him.  His site has been overwhelmed with traffic, and he's set up a mirror site to handle the volume.  Some of the most interesting – and sober – analysis of the CRU documents can be found up there.  If this is a topic that interests you, I recommend monitoring his site.

It's going to be interesting to watch how this all shakes out...