An explanation (regrettably not mine) of the impacts of Climatgate:

After years of following the climate debate it all boils down to one simple test. And this is well reflected in the CRU Climategate emails.

If the medieval warming period (MWP) was warmer than today even though CO2 level were much, much lower than today, then the AGW hypothesis explains nothing.

Turns out that Vikings had dairy farms and were exporting cheese to Europe along well-documented trade routes FROM GREENLAND. Get it, Greenland? Today the very valleys where the Vikings raised DAIRY CATTLE are solid permafrost backed by glaciers. Greenland has no export dairy industry and hasn’t since the Earth’s climate began to cool about 900 years ago and forced the Vikings to abandon their farm settlements.

At the same time elephants seal were forced to abandon their southern breeding sites on the main body of Antarctica as the fossil record shows. So the MWP and subsequent cooling was global. Most importantly, the MWP was warmer than today with our much higher level of atmospheric CO2 concentration.

According to standard scientific method, a hypothesis is only as good as its implications and predictions. The AGW hypothesis states that CO2 is the dominant forcing factor in climate evolution. The more CO2, the warmer the climate regime. Therefore, the climate 1,000 years ago before high modern levels of atmospheric CO2 must be cooler than today for the AGW hypothesis to usefully predict observed data. Yet it was demonstrably warmer in the past.

Logically the AGW hypothesis has been slamdunk falsified, because it can be shown that the past 2,000 years of the Earth’s temperature record in no way correlates to the rise (or fall) in CO2 concentration. Note that this is not to say that a “greenhouse gas effect” doesn’t exist, it obviously does, just that it is in no way among the dominant phenomena forcing climate evolution.

An objective searcher for an empirically-based hypothesis of what really drives climate must now return to direct observation to construct a new hypothesis which makes predictions that anticipate known observations, such as features like the MWP, the LIA and why modern warming stalled mid-20th century and early 21 st century. (In retrospect, it now seems obvious that this task is probably far too great for any one “just-so” hypothesis and will require a syncretic, holistically unified theory that is probably well beyond both the state of our info and observational technologies and our grasp of complex system analysis.)

What is so damning about Climategate is that it shows Mann, Jones, Briffa, et al deeply understood the MWP was utterly devastating to the credibility of the AGW hypothesis and so conspired to create and cherry pick a data/code based “narrative” where the MWP was nothing more than a “minor blip” as Al Gore called it. They also attempted to smooth the latter Little Ice Age, so that modern warming would appear to be coming off a thousand plus years of climate stasis. Once placed in that fantasy context the AGW hypothesis appeared to function as a useful explanation.

One can well be forgiven for being fooled by the CRU conspiracy and the media’s one-sided reporting. I certain was. Yet now that the facts are exposed, to continue to believe the Earth is going to suffer an apocalypse due to carbon induced warming is more than just irrational, it’s the denialism of our post-AGW world.

Form commenter Wes George at Jennifer Marohasy's blog.

Call me a pessimist. I don't think anything will change, anyone who tries to actually do something with the information about this fraud will be attacked mercilessly. It is not now, nor has it ever been, about scientific truth, it is an issue of control. And those who seek to control others will not go quiet into that good night, they will rage against the dying of their might.

Too often when the truth leaks out about some leftist propaganda or other it is the truth tellers who are put on trial. When some eco fallacy is debunked you hear "It's for the good of the planet" or "It's for the children." Anyone who dares to stand by the truth is attacked as uncaring and evil.

Postponing Copenhagen would be the right thing to do. Any bets on if it will happen?

The climate fraud thieves are expposed for liars, cheats and frauds. I am shocked, shocked I tell you. It's over, there will be no global climate bills and no national climate bills. The jig is up, the fraud is exposed. These so-called "climate scientist" are just liars and thieves with a political agenda that could not be supported by fact so they made up the data they wanted the rest of us to believe in. This is the largest case of fraud in my life time. How many BILLIONS or Trillions of dollars spent based on nothing but lies. How many law suits will now be filed based on the idea that the climate "scientist" were nothing but liars with a poltical agenda. Repayment of the trillions spent will be up the courts. The greatest con job the world has ever seen is exposed and somebody needs to go to jail. The hackers should be given all due respect for risking their careers to expose this, they are heroes.

Nevada, what has happened is the pillars of sand have collapsed. More and more of the masses will ignore any alarmist predictions. The real scientists studying this issue how have high cover so that they can get printed in the journals, and even if not, the lower tiered journals have now moved up to be nearly equal.

Anyone seen to be ridiculing another's work will be ignored or seriously questioned.

More importantly, the CO2 theory has been falsified!!!!! Study of alternatives will be the primary mover in the next few years.

Regrettably, the death of the theory will be slow, unless the MSM actually turns against these scientists. If the MSM does not followup, then the MSM will lose even more readers and continue its own slow death.

A lot of unintended consequences, but the consequences train has left the station.

I don't notice any of the left commenting. In an earlier blog I had indicated in the comments that NASA was liberal. A left troll slamed this with no backup. Now PJM is indicating a suit against NASA for Freedom data they requested 3 years ago and has not been delivered. My original comments had been a reflection of those people I know down here that work for NASA. They will lie like a dog and are liberals.

I might note that this is not the only area in which data is mined. I had to defend several doctors in Federal court on a malpractice claim. The claim was that they did not give cholesterol advice to a patient that subsequently had an MI. I did extensive research on the subject and was able to convience the judge that there was not a connect between cholesterol and coronary artery disease. Try getting that concept into a journal, they are all controled by docs hired by the sellers of statins.

I don't think this will blow over. Not only have some of the most prominent proponents of AGW been shown as prone to academic misconduct and outright intimidation, the data and code itself residing at CRU has been indicted.

I read through some of the code comments and, as a professional software engineer with 30 years experience developing software for aerospace, desktop, and internet application, found the comments and code within to be absolutely horrifying. CRU researchers don't know what is in the different sensor data sets they use for modeling. The modeling software is not documented, nor is it understood by anyone what algorithms have been used. In many places, it is clear that the data has been manipulated without clear documentation of how and why in order to get a desirable result.

At this point, every paper written based on this data--even indirectly--has to be viewed with suspicion. Certainly every paper from CRU should be pulled, but even papers that build upon CRU results can no longer be relied upon. Furthermore, the datasets and code must all be viewed as junk until they are reviewed, validated, annotated, and released for general review.

For something as important as the claim of global disaster insisting on at least an ISO IEC 9003 Software Standard combined with industry-reviewed acceptance tests against test-case data is a minimum.

I am sure Imhofe and others are receiving many emails along these lines (I sent one) and hope that a professional investigation is done. Until that investigation has been completed, any and all cap and trade/Kyoto discussion/Copenhagen discussion must be completely off the table.

That didn't take long. I was watching Your World on Fox during a break from work. Ed Begley Jr. was on and when the host (the British guy substituting for Cavuto) asked a question Begley went berserk. You could actually see spittle flying out of his mouth. He accused the host of lying and was totally irrational. He said only peer-reviewed journals could be trusted. He must not have seen the evidence of tampering with those journals.

So... when can we expect an appology from Al Gore and a return of all the money he stole promoting this fraud?

CoRev:

It is precisely b/c the masses are ignoring the self-evident dangers of global warming that the elected officials, informed by the RIGHT scientists, must be made to act.

Since the masses are too dumb to do what's obviously in their own interest (the same problem as voting Republican), therefore, they must be saved from themselves. Thus, ACORN does the service of not only registering but voting for the masses, and the enlightened elite will help manage the economy and energy sources.

Which means no nukes (b/c they're dangerous), in favor of wind, solar, tides, etc.

It will also mean getting people to live in cities, rather than suburbs. And giving up cars in favor of mass transit. (How else does one explain forcing car companies that are in hock to give up manufacturing SUVs, which make money and sell?)

Lurking Observer, a better day is coming. Is it 2010, yet?

If you were not being sarcastic, let me add, is it 2012, yet?

CoRev:

I was being sarcastic, at least when referring to the idea that the masses are "dumb."

I was being predictive in what they will say/do, i.e., opposing nuclear power, pushing wind/solar, etc.

Meanwhile, the One has now announced he is going to go to Copenhagen.

So, to clarify:

Celebrate end of Cold War? No time. (No opportunity to apologize, I guess.)

Push Chicago for Olympics? Plenty of time.

Push for global governance on the climate? Of course.

Make time to figure out what to do about Afghanistan (specifically, whether to give your generals what they say they need to do the job you said you're going to finish?)? Oh, hey, gotta go!

My local paper (Seattle Times) still has yet to report on ClimateGate. They have seen fit to publish two AP pieces of propaganda on Global Warming and Copenhagen..but no Climategate.

However, the comment threads are full of discussions regarding Climategate and the revelation that what was thought of as science was merely dishonest advocacy.

iconoclast:

That's why they say it's not the crime, it's the cover-up.

If these idjits had come out and admitted that the current data doesn't QUITE support their claims, but the Arctic ice and shrinking glaciers do (and, c'mon, do it for the polar bears!), most folks would have paid never no mind.

But by trying to cover it up, and then trying to eliminate the evidence, they've gotten more people to pay attention to their data than would ever have occurred otherwise.

And so long as folks are looking and digging, it'll unravel ever faster.

Of course, you've got the zealots for whom nothing would disprove the self-evident nature of global warming (and the presumed right answers), but one hopes that they'll be more in the minority.

At a minimum, it's going to make cap-and-trade a lot tougher to sell.

The Media will make sure this blows over like they did with Pelosi & the CIA incident.

Rick

I don't think so. There already was a lot of debate on AGW before this scandal. Everyone watching the scientific debate knew that it was coming after the Mann Hockey Stick and the Yamal Hockey Stick were debunked.

Now we have lawsuits being filed against Nasa/GISS as well as possible criminal suits being filed in CRU. I think that there is a good chance that this has more legs than just a lying Congresscritter (that's news??).

Fortunately, any treaty the President signs would still have to be ratified by a Senate already torn by Healthcare Reform and mindful of the prospects of an upcoming election with a populace of extremely angry voters. The bloom is indeed off the rose.

Both the US Navy and the US Army believe in global warming. They both believe that it has national security components. The navy has to plan on the Arctic Ocean being ice free in the summer

"Both the US Navy and the US Army believe in global warming."

Not exactly, they have a few people that believe in it. Read about those few. Yes they have been influencing the planning, No there has been no real changes made, just planning as the Military is very apt to do for anything and everything.

Papa Ray

Both the US Navy and the US Army believe in global warming. They both believe that it has national security components. The navy has to plan on the Arctic Ocean being ice free in the summer

I wonder how much belief would exist in the Pentagon were they to know how much of what has been called climate sciences has been a fraud.

An ice-free arctic in summer is just hysterical shrieking. Nothing indicates that will occur anytime soon. Furthermore, nothing indicates humans have anything to do with the melting ice.

The past-due date on your frantic alarmism has arrived, ryan. Too few believe in the fraud any longer to actually do anything.