<div>Despite the claims by some, Realclimate.org scientists do not suppress "dissenting" scientific views on that discussion and information website, nor even less than scientific "dissenting" opinion coming from the public, though they do moderate the discussions, as they must to maintain an orderly list without ugly personalized or political attacks, redundancy, or other nonsense and noise that would degrade the discussions and hinder readership. </div>
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<div>I have repeatedly read commentary by "skeptics" (I think this word to describe those who raise serious doubts about the science behind the claim that humans are altering climate is unfortunate, because all scientists are skeptics by training, or should be), both by PhDs and those of more modest education, who have posted directly to this list. Often Realclimate.org scientists will comment on, quote and offer references to notable "dissenting" content appearing on other websites, in the world of science publishing, or in the media or books. If fact, Realclimate.org is a valuable resource to research the most compelling "dissenting" views on climate change. </div>
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<div>The discussion below, "Where's the Data?" expresses "dissent" in numerous posted comments, along with offering access to "data links to sources of temperature and other climate data, codes to process it, model outputs, model codes, reconstructions, paleo-records, the codes involved in reconstructions etc."</div>
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<div>I will paste in only the beginning commentary and one response in this thread, number 32, that amazed because it reads surprisingly as if it might have been written by a certain Vision2020 participant that appears to have a passionate yet "skeptical" interest in important issues regarding climate change:</div>
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<div><a href="http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/11/wheres-the-data/">http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/11/wheres-the-data/</a></div>
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<h3 class="storytitle" id="post-1994">Where’s the data?</h3>
<div class="meta">Filed under:
<ul class="post-categories">
<li><a title="View all posts in Climate Science" href="http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/category/climate-science/" rel="category tag"><font size="2">Climate Science</font></a><font size="2"> </font>
<li><a title="View all posts in Instrumental Record" href="http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/category/climate-science/instrumental-record/" rel="category tag"><font size="2">Instrumental Record</font></a></li>
</li></ul>— group @ 27 November 2009 </div></div>
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<p>Much of the discussion in recent days has been motivated by the idea that climate science is somehow unfairly restricting access to raw data upon which scientific conclusions are based. This is a powerful meme and one that has clear resonance far beyond the people who are actually interested in analysing data themselves. However, many of the people raising this issue are not aware of what and how much data is actually available.</p>
<p>Therefore, we have set up a page of data links to sources of temperature and other climate data, codes to process it, model outputs, model codes, reconstructions, paleo-records, the codes involved in reconstructions etc. We have made a start on this on a new <a href="http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/data-sources/"><font color="#66aa55">Data Sources</font></a> page, but if anyone has other links that we’ve missed, note them in the comments and we’ll update accordingly. </p>
<p>The climate science community fully understands how important it is that data sources are made as open and transparent as possible, for research purposes as well as for other interested parties, and is actively working to increase accessibility and usability of the data. We encourage people to investigate the various graphical portals to get a feel for the data and what can be done with it. The providers of these online resources are very interested in getting feedback on any of these sites and so don’t hesitate to contact them if you want to see improvements.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> Big thank you to all for all the additional links given below. Keep them coming!</p>
<p><a title="Comment on Where’s the data?" onclick="wpopen(this.href); return false" href="http://www.realclimate.org/?comments_popup=1994"><font color="#66aa55">Comments (pop-up) (205)</font></a> </p>
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<div class="commentnumber">32</div>
<div id="comment-145212">
<div class="comment-author vcard"><cite class="fn"><font size="2">John O'Connor</font></cite> <span class="says">says:</span> </div>
<div class="comment-meta commentmetadata"><a href="http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/11/wheres-the-data/comment-page-1/#comment-145212"><font color="#66aa55">28 November 2009 at 3:55 AM</font></a></div>
<p>Gavin,</p>
<p>Calling it a powerful meme still sounds like you are in the denial stages.</p>
<p>It may be that the e-mails have been hacked “illegally” as you put it – much in the same way that the UK Parliamentary expenses were “stolen and leaked”. The reaction there was that Michael Martin instituted a police enquiry and eventually he became the first Speaker of the House to be forced out of office for 300 years.</p>
<p>The e-mail chain reveals a disturbing pattern of obfuscation etc. etc. instead of opennesss. Coupled with patters in a major media organisation here that seems to want to push only one argument and stream.</p>
<p>Personally I have a background in engineering with two Masters behind me – one involving computer simulation of a very simple eletrical system. I have 25+ years systems and software engineering experience, and enough wit to know how difficult it is to model any sort of physical system.</p>
<p>The science of modelling is a really complex field that I don’t have the bandwidth to fully understand (day job and family commitments too), but I do have an interest in it, and a very natural suspicion when I am told to simply trust models etc. etc. A very useful suspicion that has served me well professionally in the software industry in assisting to build and work on various parts of system reliability etc.</p>
<p>There has been far too much “the science is settled – trust us – we are the ones to trust”. In fact – it sounds rather like another religious institution in Ireland that has just got a well deserved pasting for what was actually very serious criminal activity. I’m not putting you guys in the same category as the irish bishops – but just to say, the manner of your communication has very similar patterns to their way of handling a serious issue.</p>
<p>Sorry if this has rambled over a number of different thoughts.</p>
<p>It is a very important topic, and you need to do justice to legitimate concerns from various fields that might not all be attached to or paid for by big oil !!!!!</p>
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<div class="reply">Vision2020 Ted Moffett</div></div></div>
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