Steve McIntyre writes: in Mann Misrepresents the EPA – Part 1:
In today’s post, I will return to my series on false claims in Mann’s lawsuit about supposed “exonerations”. ( For previous articles, see here ^). One of the most important misconduct allegations against Mann – the “amputation” of the Briffa reconstruction in IPCC TAR – was discussed recently by Judy Curry, who, in turn, covered Congressional testimony on the incident by John Christy, who had been a Lead Author of the same IPCC TAR chapter and whose recollections of the incident were both first-hand and vivid.
In one of the major graphics in the IPCC 2001 report, declining values of the Briffa reconstruction were deleted (“amputated” is Christy’s apt term), resulting in the figure giving a much greater rhetorical impression of consistency than really existed. This truncation of data had been known (and severely criticized) at Climate Audit long before Climategate. However, the incident came into an entirely new light with the release of the Climategate emails, which showed that senior IPCC officials had been concerned that the Briffa reconstruction (with its late 20th century decline) would “dilute the message” and that Mann was equally worried that showing the Briffa reconstruction would give “fodder to the skeptics”.
Christy gave the following damning summary of Mann’s conduct as IPCC TAR Lead Author:
Regarding the Hockey Stick of IPCC 2001 evidence now indicates, in my view, that an IPCC Lead Author working with a small cohort of scientists, misrepresented the temperature record of the past 1000 years by (a) promoting his own result as the best estimate, (b) neglecting studies that contradicted his, and (c) amputating another’s result so as to eliminate conflicting data and limit any serious attempt to expose the real uncertainties of these data.
Christy left out a further fundamental problem in the amputation: there was no disclosure of the amputation in the IPCC 2001 report itself.
The impropriety of deleting adverse data in an IPCC graphic was easily understood in the broader world of brokers, accountants, lawyers and fund managers and one on which there was negligible sympathy for excuses. Not only did this appear to be misconduct as far as the public was concerned, the deletion of adverse data in the IPCC graphic appeared to be an act of “omitting data or results such that the research is not accurately represented in the research record” – one of the definitions (“falsification”) of academic misconduct in the NSF and other academic misconduct codes.
Further, both the Oxburgh and Muir Russell reports concluded that the IPCC 2001 graphic was “misleading”.
However, NONE of the inquiries conducted an investigation of the incident. Each, in turn, ignored or evaded the incident. I’ll examine the evasions in today’s post. Today’s post will open consideration of the EPA documents referred to in Mann’s pleadings, a topic that is not easily summarized. Today’s discussion of the EPA documents will only be a first bite.
Read the full essay here, well worth your time: http://climateaudit.org/2014/05/09/mann-misrepresents-the-epa-part-1/
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When all you make is BS, then that is what you sell.
My only misgiving is that articles like that clumps every misdeed of Manns in to one place therefore making the Manniacs defence all that much easier for his law suit against Steyn.
Otherwise it just reinforces what a lot of us already know about the guy and the pscience he creates to support Mann Made Global Warming ™.
Regards
Mailman
Well the IPCC is a political organisation with a political agendas. One of them is to promote the political established UNFCCC. So they can’t print or say something that undermines their agendas/UNFCCC. In other words it’s just policy based crap.
So the adjusting of data and cheating is supported by the UNEP and radical environmentalists, WWF, Greenpeace etc because their political agendas to them is more important than being honest?
With political agendas and are more important.:-(
…we won’t have statistical certainty until 2020-2030
How much longer until Mickey can call the official career over, stop corrupting the next generation of would-be scientists, and “retire” with his academic pension to writing alarming books of the coming catastrophes that no one is forced to buy? As fast as the truth is coming out, he might have to do it soon.
Mann must have some powerful backers. He must be self denial. He’ll melt away one day, just like spring snow, hopefully!
Anth0ny:
In the same week as MBH98 was published I wrote an email on the ‘ClimateSkeptics’ circulation list. That email objected to the ‘hockeystick’ graph because the graph had an overlay of ‘thermometer’ data over the plotted ‘proxy’ data. This overlay was – I said – misleading because it was an ‘apples and oranges’ comparison: of course, I was not then aware of the ‘hide the decline’ (aka “Mike’s Nature trick”) issue.
Unknown to me, somebody copied my email to Michael Mann and he replied. ‘Climategate’ revealed that email from Michael Mann and it can be read here
http://www.ecowho.com/foia.php?file=3046.txt&search=medieval
Mann’s response consists solely of personal abuse against me and, importantly, it does not address the issue which I had raised immediately upon seeing the ‘hockeystick’ graph. Hence, I am certain that the graphical malpractice of the ‘hockeystick’ was both witting and deliberate.
Richard
PS I have also posted this in the thread at ClimateAudit.
On the other thread, about Holdren, was it true he was heard to say to President Obama something like ‘..if this denialism is right,[it’s not getting warmer] should we push Mann under a bus?’ They may not be joking?
for FT, Mann is not a joke!
9 May: UK Financial Times: Harry Eyres: Shout it from the rooftops
‘To what extent should climate scientists speak out in the debate on global warming?’
Certain climate scientists, such as James Hansen, long-time head of Nasa’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies in Manhattan, and Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University, have for many years rejected the idea that scientists should maintain an impartial position and avoid value-laden language or political posturing…
Michael Mann is another who believes, he wrote in The New York Times in January this year, that “it is no longer acceptable for scientists to remain on the sidelines”. In a sense his hand was forced, after a study he co-wrote in 1998, showing that the average warmth of the northern hemisphere had no precedent for at least 1,000 years, led to him being “hounded by elected officials” and “threatened with violence”. He makes a provocative parallel with the advice from the US Department of Homeland Security to citizens to report anything dangerous that they witness: “If you see something, say something.” Scientists, the overwhelming majority of them, can see a serious, ever-deepening threat: it is their responsibility to speak out…
One of the most intelligent repudiations of the idea that climate scientists are under a moral obligation to take up the role of advocates comes from Tamsin Edwards, an academic at the University of Bristol in the UK. As a climate scientist concerned about the environment, Edwards feels under pressure to be a political advocate. But she resists that pressure, believing “advocacy by climate scientists has damaged trust in the science”. Ultimately, she says, “I care more about restoring trust in science than about calling people to action.”
I respect Edwards for stating the position so clearly (she writes an excellent blog entitled All Models Are Wrong) but here I disagree with her, not on scientific grounds but on ethical ones…
Galileo, canny operator that he was, was still not content to sit on the sidelines…
Albert Einstein was another great scientist who did not let a concern for the purity of the scientific method stop him from using value-laden language, or from taking up sometimes controversial political positions…
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/be72e4fc-d50f-11e3-9187-00144feabdc0.html
from FT, About Harry Eyres:
Harry Eyres established the FT’s Slow Lane column, which celebrates the creative use of down-time, in January 2004. Before that in a varied journalistic career he was a theatre critic and arts writer for The Times (1987-1993), wine editor of Harpers & Queen (1989-1996), wine columnist for The Spectator (1984-1989) and the first and so far the only Poetry Editor of The Daily Express (1996-2001).
In addition to his journalistic work Harry Eyres is a published poet, editor of LSE Environment, the newsletter of LSE’s Centre for Environmental Policy and Governance…
what to make of this?
10 May: Centre Daily Times:Megan Caldwell: Penn State professor, climate scientist continues to rack up awards for work
(Megan Caldwell is a Penn State journalism student)
UNIVERSITY PARK — Richard Alley’s office in Penn State’s Deike Building is no one-room affair — it’s four rooms long, each filled with scientific research books…
On April 27, Alley was presented with the National Academy of Sciences’ Arthur L. Day Prize and Lectureship award at the academy in Washington…
On April 26, Alley received the National Center for Science Education’s Friend of the Planet Award at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. Penn State distinguished professor of meteorology Michael Mann will also receive the award…
http://www.centredaily.com/2014/05/10/4172311/penn-state-professor-climate-scientist.html?sp=/99/188/220/
Mann exhibited as a TAR lead author the characteristics of someone informing science outcome via pre-scientific premises. It is behavior expected of someone by the new concept of science; in which science is just a subjective servant of any currently fashionable ideology.
John
In addition to his massive and proven contribution to climate science, Mann serves an additional useful purpose in being the scapegoat for the obsessesive smearing and conspiracy theorizing of the likes of this site. It shows how very little the sceptics have (recently emphasised in neon bold by Spencer’s laughable Top Ten Sceptic arguments) when they are still trying to make capital out of a false accusation and some stolen emails from years ago.
Mcintrye should get over his obsession and do some real science.
Really informative article, thanks for linking. Contains a laugh-out-loud satirical comment about Mann’s attire, too!
@ur momisugly richardscourtney says:
May 10, 2014 at 12:50 am
Thank you for pointing out that Dr. Mann has been consistently abusive, unscientific and deliberately misleading in his work.
I have often pointed out about Dr. Mann that he is a bully. If that is in your mind, what he does is almost predictable.
Bob_L:
At May 10, 2014 at 4:59 am you say
Mann’s bullying is trivial when his “misrepresentations” are considered.
For example, in my above post here I link to this email about me from Mann
http://www.ecowho.com/foia.php?file=3046.txt&search=medieval
Mann writes there:
But I did not “mis-represent” anything. The caption of Figure 7 in MBH98 says:
Hence, as I said in my above post, I am certain that the graphical malpractice of the ‘hockeystick’ was both witting and deliberate. Furthermore, Michael Mann is not only a “bully”; his email which I have linked proves he is a liar who lies about his work.
Richard
John Whitman says:
“the characteristics of someone informing science outcome via pre-scientific premises. It is behavior expected of someone by the new concept of science; in which science is just a subjective servant of any currently fashionable ideology.”
Has this not been the case throughout human history? Seems to me that a cognitive prosthesis (ideology) of one form or another is in the nature of the human domesticate.
Richard S
You saw it right, you called it right, others confirmed you were right, Climategate emails proved you were right: the hockey stick temperature chart in MHB98 is a fabricated lie knowingly created to mislead, and it was successful in achieving that aim.
The consequences flowing from this should be borne by those responsible for creating it and knowingly using it to cause a great many others other to lose time and treasure chasing CO2 unicorns. The list of co-conspirators may be large. This is not yet over.
Mike M, I will forgive you if you repent, and bring down this house of climate cards. You have the ability to do it. Please find the moral fibre to do what it right. It is important. Many lives depend on it. The forests and animal species of Indonesia and Malaysia are being destroyed by inane, subsidized bio-oil projects that are trying to ‘undo’ the human CO2 emissions that are causing precisely nothing harmful. It is so sad to see this happening, knowing that the whole industry is all based on false and trumped up evidence, hallmarked above all by that damned fake hockey stick chart bearing your name. If you do not, these consequences will, unavoidably, also bear your name.
The impropriety of deleting adverse data in an IPCC graphic was easily understood in the broader world of brokers, accountants, lawyers and fund managers….
Really what Mann has done is really worse than anything that the stock market crowd could do, because everywhere they have the disclaimer “Past performance is not a predictor of future performance” or similar, whereas Mann is promoting the idea that global warming is a straight line continuum and he deletes the conflicting data. Further, the financial community clearly understands correlation versus causation, for instance the correlation between short women’s skirts and stock market rise is often cited as a caution not to confuse correlation with cause. Mann uses an international body to attempt to extract money from the entire developed world. Mere brokers, accountants, lawyers and fund managers can’t compete with that kind of power.
Can someone post the “reconstructed NH temperature series from 1610–1995, not updated with instrumental data from 1981–95? Or a link. Thanks. Don’t think I’ve ever seen it.
@richardscourtney I made a comment at Steve’s place in support of your conclusions re: Mann and his graphical misrepresentations. However it appears to have placed me into moderation. For which I feel a bit grubby.
– – – – – – – – –
David Norman,
My premise is that man’s natural capacity to apply reason to reality (science) is secondary to existence (reality). No ideology is a prerequisite to reason applied to reality, any ideology is problematic to the attempt of objectivity in science.
Yes, there always have been ideologies well before there were modern sciences. Yet I call what is shown by Mann’s TAR lead author characteristics ‘a new concept of science’ because it is pinned to science so broadly in the philosophy of science within virtually all of academia globally. It is pinned intrinsically to the philosophy of post-modernism (of which Ravetz’s post-normal science is a consequence). Post-modern philosophy of science puts man’s mind first then reality as a consequent to it; therefore Mann’s TAR lead author characteristics indicate his science serving his pre-science premises (some ideology).
John
zootcadillac:
re your post at May 10, 2014 at 8:18 am.
Thankyou for your support which – of course – I await leaving moderation so I can see it.
Please do not feel “grubby”. Steve is a good guy who does and has done much good work. But he likes to feel he is the ‘main man’ so tends to be dismissive of anything which he did not originate. Hence, his holding you in moderation is not surprising given the subject of your post.
Wait a while and (assuming it does not offend his site rules) after Steve has thought about it he will probably release your post.
Richard
“Can someone post the “reconstructed NH temperature series from 1610–1995….”
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v392/n6678/fig_tab/392779a0_F7.html
Also: http://climateaudit.org/2006/05/29/mbh98-figure-7-2/
There is a splice but there is also use of a dotted line to indicate it.
Derek Dinger proclaims: “In addition to his massive and proven contribution to climate science, Mann serves an additional useful purpose in being the scapegoat for the obsessesive smearing and conspiracy theorizing of the likes of this site. It shows how very little the sceptics have (recently emphasised in neon bold by Spencer’s laughable Top Ten Sceptic arguments) when they are still trying to make capital out of a false accusation and some stolen emails from years ago.”
Checkmate: http://s6.postimg.org/jb6qe15rl/Marcott_2013_Eye_Candy.jpg
Mann is a trained mathematician, now publicly promoting a blatantly false vindication of his life’s work, helping a pure artifact (of proxy data re-dating to afford sudden data drop-off at the end) turn into news headlines. And he’s trying to sue those who point this out.
Can you honestly look at that plot of input data with no blade along with Mann’s support of it and really think you are on the right side of the debate? Since nobody in their right mind could do that, we have to assume you are a fellow scammer doing damage control.