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Hackers heat up climate change debate
Source: Agencies |
November 23, 2009, Monday
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COMPUTER hackers have broken into a server at a climate change research center in Britain and posted hundreds of private e-mails and documents online -- stoking debate over whether some scientists have overstated the case for man-made climate change.
The University of East Anglia, in eastern England, said that the hackers had entered the server and stolen data at its Climatic Research Unit, a leading global research center on climate change.
The university said police are investigating the theft of the information, but could not confirm if all the materials posted online are genuine.
More than a decade of correspondence between leading British and United States scientists is included in about 1,000 e-mails and 3,000 documents posted on Websites following the security breach last week.
Some climate change skeptics and bloggers claim the information shows scientists have overstated the case for global warming, and allege the documents contain proof that some researchers have attempted to manipulate scientific data.
The furor over the leaked data comes weeks before the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen, when 192 nations will seek to reach a binding treaty to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases worldwide. Many officials, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, regard the prospects of a pact being sealed at the meeting as bleak.
In one leaked e-mail, the research center's Director Phil Jones writes to colleagues about graphs showing climate statistics over the last 1,000 years. He alludes to a technique used by a fellow scientist to "hide the decline" in recent global temperatures.
Some evidence appears to show a halt in rising temperatures from about 1960, but is contradicted by other evidence of global warming.
The University of East Anglia said that information published on the Internet had been selected deliberately to undermine "the strong consensus that human activity is affecting the world's climate in ways that are potentially dangerous."
The University of East Anglia, in eastern England, said that the hackers had entered the server and stolen data at its Climatic Research Unit, a leading global research center on climate change.
The university said police are investigating the theft of the information, but could not confirm if all the materials posted online are genuine.
More than a decade of correspondence between leading British and United States scientists is included in about 1,000 e-mails and 3,000 documents posted on Websites following the security breach last week.
Some climate change skeptics and bloggers claim the information shows scientists have overstated the case for global warming, and allege the documents contain proof that some researchers have attempted to manipulate scientific data.
The furor over the leaked data comes weeks before the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen, when 192 nations will seek to reach a binding treaty to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases worldwide. Many officials, including UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, regard the prospects of a pact being sealed at the meeting as bleak.
In one leaked e-mail, the research center's Director Phil Jones writes to colleagues about graphs showing climate statistics over the last 1,000 years. He alludes to a technique used by a fellow scientist to "hide the decline" in recent global temperatures.
Some evidence appears to show a halt in rising temperatures from about 1960, but is contradicted by other evidence of global warming.
The University of East Anglia said that information published on the Internet had been selected deliberately to undermine "the strong consensus that human activity is affecting the world's climate in ways that are potentially dangerous."
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