Dr. Phil Jones has gone from relative obscurity to worldwide prominence as the central figure in the Climategate email scandal. His actions and those of other climate scientists as revealed by the messages have cast a pall over the state of climate science and the manmade climate change theory. In interviews conducted in recent days, Jones shockingly reveals his own doubts about the science.
The world has been told the ‘science is settled’ and the ‘consensus’ of the scientific community is solid – man is the primary driver of climate change on the earth. Skeptics that have pointed out problems with the data and climate computer models. They have said that the lack of warming in the past 10 years despite increases in carbon dioxide show the science is not as solid as it has been portrayed.
Until this past year those that had their doubts were largely ignored. The email scandal and recent revelations of significant problems with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) reports have given rise to new doubts.
In interviews with the BBC and “Nature” over the past week, Jones gives credence to many of the arguments of skeptics and acknowledges the science may not be as solid as the world has been led to believe.
The BBC asked Jones about how the rate of warming from 1975 to 1998 was identical to warming recorded previously from 1860 to 1880 and 1910 to 1940.
Jones acknowledged that the warming in earlier periods was at nearly identical rates as later periods. “The warming rates are not statistically significantly different,” he said. The fact similar rates of warming were recorded before significant CO2 emissions casts a doubt on the argument that CO2 is driving the warming.
Jones admitted that there had been ‘no statistically significant’ warming over the last 15 years. He however maintains that is simply an interruption of warming that will continue.
That wasn’t all Jones said. He continued Medieval Warm Period and questions about the accuracy of climate data. Be sure to visit the Climate Change Examiner for the complete story.
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