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CRU scientists admit they threw away key data used in global warming calculations

Scientists at the University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit have admitted that they threw away much of the raw temperature data used in their predictions of global warming. The result of that action is that other scientists will not be able to verify the CRU calculations that they say show a rise in the Earth's average temperature over the past 150 years.

The data was gathered from weather stations around the world and then adjusted to take account of variables in the way they were collected. The revised figures were kept, but the originals, which were stored on paper and magnetic tape, were dumped. Officials at CRU say they tossed out the data to save space when the CRU moved to a new building.

CRU has posted a statement on its website saying: “We do not hold the original raw data but only the value-added (quality controlled and homogenised) data.”

The CRU is credited by many scientists as being the world’s leading climate and temperature research facility, but many climate change sceptics have been anxious to examine exactly how the CRU arrived at its conclusions. That is now impossible.

The admission is likely to fuel further criticism of the CRU's methods of obtaining data proported to to show asteady  rise in the Earth's temperature. The CRU has been under fire since the "climategate" scandal erupted last week when more than 1,000 emails obtained from the server used by University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit were posted to the internet.

The emails show exchanges between CRU scientists openly discussing manipulating data and how to suppress reports by other researchers that contradict their findings.

To many skeptics, the excuse of having dumped the original data will not hold water. It seems all too convenient that the data is lost and can never be challenged or verified. The question begs to be asked, when have reputable scientists ever thrown away data key to proving a theory they claim to be a matter of life and death for the planet?

 

More Global Warming Headlines:

Congress to investigate suppression of global warming report by EPA
 

Science Czar John Holdren involved in "Climategate" scandal

Global warming hoax exposed by "Climategate"

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Columbia Independent Examiner

Darren Pope is an avid follower of political events and is a true independent voice in an age of bitter partisanship. His opinions have appeared in...

Comments

  • Critical Thinker 2 years ago
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    There are now four kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, statistics and computer models

  • Andrew 2 years ago
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    It may have been necessary for them to have thrown away the raw data. If the raw data was available then they might be asked to reproduce Exactly The Same Results, in front of skeptical witnesses, as they had used in their peer-reviewed publications that were distributed to the world. This might have been impossible without using some infected modeling code, which an investigating scientist might discover.

    See also

    Anthropogenic Global Warming Virus Alert.

    www.thespoof.com/news/spoof.cfm?headline=s5i64103

  • Darren 2 years ago
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    Exactly Andrew. It at least gives the impression that the data may have been tossed out so that no one could ever verify the findings or do a side by side comparison of the CRU results and the results of contradicting experiments. It's hard to believe that anything as important as this would've been thrown in the trash simply to make room to move into a new building. The more I learn about what was going on at CRU, the more I have to doubt their conclusions. Science is supposed to be all about questioning and challenging. The scientists at CRU seem to be doing everything they can to shut down debate and to prevent any challenge to their findings. When has any good scientist ever said that they know all there is to know about a particular subject and no further questions need to be asked?

  • king 2 years ago
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    MAN MADE GLOBAL WARM?NG IS THE GREATEST HOAX!!!!!

  • spinnikerca 2 years ago
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    It certainly is questionable, particularly given the emails saying they would dump data rather than turn it over in an FOIA request. Surely they must have had some story to fall back on for that, such as having dumped it way-y-y back when they changed buildings.

  • Body Heat 2 years ago
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    On the surface this seemed like a brilliant idea.

    The CRU and their willing cohorts know that by destroying the raw data and only making available the altered data the "sceptics" would not be able to disprove their results and as such can be dismissed as "deniers".

    It's a crying shame that the whole farce is blowing up in their face.

    Their spin machine is now kicked into high gear. The talking points have been laid out "cherry picked", "out of context", "illegally obtained", etc. The establishment media has their marching orders and will do as they're told. They all have their collective fingers crossed with the hopes that this whole thing will go away in a few weeks. Copenhagen is a lost cause and they know it. They are already looking past that and getting game ready for the next summit.

  • Bryan 2 years ago
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    Andrew said:It may have been necessary for them to have thrown away the raw data.

    Exactly. It's the only conclusion that makes sense. They knew they would face less punishment even if it's proven they destroyed the files intentionally. With the data gone, there is no way to show they corrupted the results. They buried the body

  • mkurbo 2 years ago
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    The real problem continues...

    Delete files Y/N ? Yes
    Delete files Y/N ? Yes
    Delete files Y/N ? Yes
    Delete files Y/N ? Yes
    Delete files Y/N ? Yes

    “Professor, the FBI is on the phone”
    “Tell them I’m busy right now”

    Delete files Y/N ? Yes
    Delete files Y/N ? Yes
    Delete files Y/N ? Yes
    Delete files Y/N ? Yes

    “Professor, what do you want me to do with these hard drives” ?
    “Take them to a dump outside of town and burn them”

    Delete files Y/N ? Yes
    Delete files Y/N ? Yes
    Delete files Y/N ? Yes
    Delete files Y/N ? Yes
    Delete files Y/N ? Yes
    Delete files Y/N ? Yes

  • Penultimate 2 years ago
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    You either assume goron level incompetence at the IPC followed by a cover-up or out-and-out fraud akin to the Korean clone fakery. There is no middle ground that would justify those involved either keeping their jobs or considered credible researchers.

  • anonymous 2 years ago
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    Al Gore is not available for questioning.

  • Skeptic 2 years ago
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    I think a search warrant and a good bloodhound will turn up the raw data that was supposed to have been thrown away. They spent too much time working with this data to just toss it. After all they didn't toss any emails for who knows how long

  • bill 2 years ago
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    excuse me for being naive, but isnt this what got enron in trouble a few years back? stating a false claim and destroying the evidence?

  • Cedric 2 years ago
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    No scientist would ever dispose of raw data: Raw data is vastly more valuable than altered data. It's a Law.
    So we're dealing with fake scientists.

    The lost data will eventually be reconstituted by hard working scientists.
    The unscrupulous non-scientists may have decided their best tactic was to hide behind borrowed time. Since their blatant conspiracy has been on-going for years, as revealed by the emails, the dumping may have occurred a long time ago.
    Find out.

  • Steve 2 years ago
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    Anyone who works in science and works with real data knows that this stuff happens all too often. Records get misplaced, hard drives die without backups, and sometimes data are recorded on media that are no longer readable because the technology is obsolete. Archiving data is a giant pain in the rear.

    I have some 20 year old data I'd like to use but it's on 1/2 inch magnetic tape and I can't find a compatible tape drive. I once engaged in a massive and rather frantic project to convert millions of punched cards (remember them?) to IBM data cartridges (which are now no longer readable).

    I've worked in science (note: I'm a computer visualization/graphics scientist, not a climate modeler, and have worked with all sorts of scientists in a number of domains over my career) for some thirty years and have been battling this issue since just about day one.

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