Climate scientist steps down amid raging e-mail controversy

Professor Phil Jones, director, Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the British university said that he stands by his findings, but will step aside while there is an internal investigation being conducted.

Jones was quoted by BBC News as saying that after much consideration he has decided to step down “from the director's role during the course of the independent review”.

"What is most important is that CRU continues its world-leading research with as little interruption and diversion as possible,” he added.

Professor Peter Liss will become acting director till the time the issue is being probed.

An inquiry underway
An investigation is already underway to find out if the scientist at CRU manipulated the data to promote their theory that global warming is there and humans are responsible for it.

The officials are scrutinizing the data, verifying whether the university responded properly to the request by Freedom of Information.

Michael Mann, a climate scientist and a faculty member at Penn State University, is often referred to in the e-mails. He is under inquiry by the university.

Sen. James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican, has called for a Senate hearing on the hacked e-mails. Further House committee hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, where John Holdren, White House Science Adviser, will be questioned about the hacked e-mails.

Holdren has figured prominently in the e-mails sent and received in October 2003.

In one of the e-mails, Holdren stated that he supported view of Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University that humans are responsible for global warming.

“I append here an e-mail correspondence I have engaged in over the past few days trying to educate a Soon/Baliunas supporter who originally wrote to me asking how I could think that Soon and Baliunas are wrong and Mann et al. are right,” read an e-mail from Holdren.

Evidence of data manipulation
The climate change skeptics have seized upon the leaked document to verify that scientists at the British university have squelched the views of dissenting researchers to promote their theory.

Mann’s work on reconstructing global temperatures comes as the biggest evidence that state scientists have manipulated facts to discredit global warming skeptics.

“I've just completed Mike's Nature trick of adding in the real temps to each series for the last 20 years (ie from 1981 onwards) amd from 1961 for Keith's to hide the decline,” stated an e-mail from Jones in November 1999. In this conversation, Mann is referred to as a Mike.

In one of the e-mails, Jones wrote that he was worried about the Freedom of Information request seeking data. He wrote, “And don't leave stuff lying around on ftp sites - you never know who is trawling them. The two MMs have been after the CRU station data for years. If they ever hear there is a Freedom of Information Act now in the UK, I think I'll delete the file rather than send to anyone.”

In another e-mail, Jones states that they should keep out of scientific journals that dissent with their findings that global warming is manmade.

Scientists refute claims
The scientists at CRU are standing by their findings, and assert that there has been selective use of e-mails and the conversation has been taken out of context.

“My colleagues and I accept that some of the published emails do not read well. Some were clearly written in the heat of the moment, others use colloquialisms frequently used between close colleagues,” said Jones.

Further, the e-mail hack has just taken place right before the climate change summit in Copenhagen in December and they believe the aim of the leakage is to undermine the summit.

A group of scientists, running the RealClimate Web site, have stated posting links to the data to make their findings as transparent as possible.