Warm-period correction.I'd like to correct a point about my research with Stephen McIntyre Stephen McIntyre is the primary author of Climate Audit, a blog devoted to the analysis and discussion of climate data. He is most prominent as a critic of the temperature record of the past 1000 years, particularly the work of Michael Mann, and the data quality of NASA's Goddard concerning the IPCC See IMS Forum. global warming global warming, the gradual increase of the temperature of the earth's lower atmosphere as a result of the increase in greenhouse gases since the Industrial Revolution. "hockey stick" graph in the article "Global Warming: Too Hot or Not?" (September 18 issue). In your article you said we "confirmed the Medieval Warm Period Medieval Warm Period n. The period from about 1000 to 1400 in which global temperatures are thought to have been a few degrees warmer than those of the preceding and following periods. was at least as warm as today, if not warmer." We did not attempt to settle this particular debate. What we argued was that the claim that the 1990s was the warmest decade, and 1998 was the warmest year of the millennium, could not be supported by the data and methods behind the hockey-stick graph. In particular, a statistical flaw in the methods biases the shape of the graph and understates the uncertainties. The portion of the graph prior to the late 1700s is no more informative about the past climate than random numbers. Our arguments on these points have been upheld by two independent investigative panels, one organized by the U.S. National Research Council and the other led by the Chairman of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Theoretical and Applied Statistics. DR. ROSS MCKITRICK Associate Professor Department of Economics University of Guelph The University of Guelph is a medium-sized university located in Guelph, Ontario, established in 1964. While the U of G offers degrees in many different disciplines, the university is best known for its focus on life sciences, based in part on a long-standing history of Guelph Ontario Canada |
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