Climategate Debate Continues. Climate Data Transparency Needed.

As Climategate goes into its second week, the vigorous debate over the validity of global temperature data continues to be at the forefront of the scandal. In addition, some prominent climate scientists are demanding reform on how global warming research is conducted after thousands of private e-mail messages and documents were stolen from a climate research facility.

Many scientists believe that the e-mail messages, which disclose the inner workings of a small network of climatologists who chart the planet’s temperature, have damaged the public’s trust in the evidence that the planet is dangerously warming, just global warming talks are set to begin in Denmark.

“This whole concept of, ‘We’re the experts, trust us,’ has clearly gone by the wayside with these e-mails,” said Judith Curry, a climate scientist at Georgia Institute of Technology.

She and other scientists argue that scientists should re-evaluate the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the panel that in 2007 concluded that humans were the dominant force driving global warming and whose findings serve as the basis for international discussions determining a new climate treaty.

The e-mail correspondence includes heated conversations about warming trends, advice on deleting controversial e-mail messages and how to distribute negative comments about climate skeptics. These emails serve as evidence of a conspiracy to suppress opposing views and withhold data from public in a scandal that has come to be known as “Climategate.”

However, questions have been raised about whether the evidence indicates that climatologists  tried to prevent distribution of articles written by climate skeptics, described  in the e-mail messages as “garbage” and “fraud.”

Many regulators believe that the affair could affect negotiations over a new global climate treaty. “This is very serious and can put the whole climate debate, including any future agreement in Copenhagen and beyond, in big question,” a leading politician said in an e-mail message. And even some environmental campaigners believe that the disclosures have damaged calls for climate action.