The Hockey-Stick Crumbles

Well, well, well. Looks like someone has been cooking the books with climate change data, and now we have proof. Cherry-picking data is a big scientific no-no. Maybe that's why they were so reluctant to release their data, since it could then be used to prove the complete opposite of what they were claiming. If you include all the data, instead of just the bits you like, there is no evidence of global warming. Ooops.

Steve McIntyre of Climate Audit was tireless for TEN YEARS trying to get this data. He may possibly be an honorary Mountie, for he never gave up and he got his Mann. (oooo, science joke ...)

As CA readers also know, until recently, CRU staunchly refused to provide the measurement data used in Briffa’s Yamal reconstruction. Science(mag) acquiesced in this refusal in connection with Osborn and Briffa 2006. While the Yamal chronology was used in a Science article, it originated with Briffa 2000 and Science(mag) took the position that the previous journal (which had a different data policy) had jurisdiction. Briffa used the chronology Briffa et al (Phil Trans B, 2008) and the Phil Trans editors finally seized the nettle, requiring Briffa to archive the data. As noted before, Briffa asked for an extension and, when I checked earlier this year, the Yamal measurement data remained unarchived. A few days ago, I noticed that the Yamal data was finally placed online. With the information finally available, this analysis has only taken a few days.

(Translation: real scientists can't hide their data when they publish the results. Journal Philosophical Transactions B enforced this rule, and Mr. McIntyre went to town.) And looky what it shows (black line is all data, red is, um, "highly selective"). No Hockey Stick. Sorry Al, give back the Nobel.