Researcher: NASA Hiding Climate Data

FYI,

"Researcher: NASA Hiding Climate Data"
Washington Times
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/dec/03/researcher-says-nasa-hiding-climate-data

: The fight over global warming science is about to cross the
: Atlantic with a U.S. researcher poised to sue NASA, demanding
: release of the same kind of climate data that has landed a leading
: British center in hot water over charges it skewed its data.

: Chris Horner, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise
: Institute, said NASA has refused for two years to provide
: information under the Freedom of Information Act that would show
: how the agency has shaped its climate data and would explain why
: the agency has repeatedly had to correct its data going as far back
: as the 1930s.

: "I assume that what is there is highly damaging," Mr. Horner said.
: "These guys are quite clearly bound and determined not to reveal
: their internal discussions about this."

: The numbers matter. Under pressure in 2007, NASA recalculated its
: data and found that 1934, not 1998, was the hottest year in its
: records for the contiguous 48 states. NASA later changed that data
: again, and now 1998 and 2006 are tied for first, with 1934 slightly
: cooler.

: Mr. Horner, a noted global warming skeptic and author of The
: Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming and Environmentalism,
: wants a look at the data and the discussions that went into those
: changes. He said he's given the agency until the end of the year to
: comply or else he'll sue to compel the information's release.

: His fight mirrors one in Europe that has sprung up over the the
: University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit in the UK after
: thousands of e-mails from the center were obtained and appear to
: show researchers shaving their data to make it conform to their
: expectation, and show efforts to try to drive global warming
: skeptics out of the conversation.

: The center's chief has stepped down pending an investigation into
: the e-mails.

: The center has also had to acknowledge in response to a freedom of
: information request under British law that it tossed out much of
: the raw data that it used to draw up the temperature models that
: have underpinned much of the science behind global warming.

: Mr. Horner suspects the same sort of data-shaving has happened at
: NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), another leading
: global warming research center.

: Mark Hess, public affairs director for the Goddard Space Flight
: Center which runs the GISS laboratory, said they are working on Mr.
: Horner's request, though he couldn't say why they have taken so
: long.

: "We're collecting the information and will respond with all the
: responsive relevant information to all of his requests," Mr. Hess
: said. "It's just a process you have to go through where you have to
: collect data that's responsive."

: He said he was unfamiliar with the British controversy and couldn't
: say whether NASA was susceptible to the same challenges to its
: data. The White House has dismissed the British e-mails as
: irrelevant.

: But Republicans on Capitol Hill say the revelations deserve a
: congressional investigation. Republican leaders also sent a letter
: to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson
: Wednesday telling her she should withdraw a series of EPA rules
: until the global warming science can be better substantiated. For
: now, climate scientists are rallying around the British researchers.

: NASA's GISS was forced to update its data in 2007 after questions
: were raised by Steve McIntyre, who runs ClimateAudit.com.

: GISS had initially listed the warmest years as 1998, 1934, 2006,
: 1921 and 1931. After Mr. McIntyre's questions GISS rejiggered the
: list and 1934 was warmest, followed by 1998, 1921, 2006 and then
: 1931. But since then, the list has been rewritten again so it now
: runs 1998, 2006, 1934, 1921, 1999.

: Mr. Horner said he's seeking the data itself, but he also wants to
: see the chain of e-mails from scientists discussing the changes.

: The Freedom of Information Act requires agencies to respond to
: requests within 20 days. Mr. Horner says he's never received an
: official acknowledgement of his three separate FOIA requests, but
: has received e-mails showing the agency is aware of them.

: He said he has provided NASA with a notice of intent to sue under
: FOIA, but said he also hopes members of Congress get involved and
: demand the information be released.

: NASA and CRU data are considered the backbone of much of the
: science that suggests the earth is warming due to manmade
: greenhouse gas emissions. NASA argues its data suggests this decade
: has been the warmest on record.

: On the other hand, data from the University of Alabama-Huntsville
: suggests temperatures have been relatively flat for most of this
: decade.

Mark Reiff