Hacked Email Scientists Exonerated of Misconduct for a Third Time

A third and final independent review of the hacked emails of scientists at the UK's premier Climatic Research Unit (CRU) declared on Wednesday that it "did not find any evidence" of improper behavior that would undermine the consensus on human-caused global warming.

"On the specific allegations made against the behavior of CRU scientists, we find that their rigor and honesty as scientists are not in doubt," the 160-page Independent Climate Change Emails Review said.

However, the British panel of experts said there were signs of "unhelpfulness" in handling "legitimate" requests for data.

"There has been a consistent pattern of failing to display the proper degree of openness," the review stated.

Last December, more than 1,000 private emails by over 160 authors, some dating back 13 years, were leaked or stolen from a computer server at the University of East Anglia's CRU and posted online. The controversy, called Climategate, stirred a global uproar.

Global warming skeptics seized on the scandal to cast doubt on the climate consensus and inflame public debate weeks before the UN Copenhagen summit.

They said the correspondence revealed attempts by scientists to suppress and doctor raw temperature data and computer code in an attempt to overstate their case for a warming world.

This week's review knocked down that claim, however.

"Any independent researcher may freely obtain the primary [weather] station data," it said. "It is impossible for a third party to withhold access to the data." 

Scientists involved said the new study, funded by the University of East Anglia and led by Sir Muir Russell, a former senior servant and vice chancellor of Glasgow University, should put to rest many of the skeptics' allegations.

Phil Jones, head of CRU, who was linked to nearly 200 of the primary emails, said he was "extremely relieved" with the study.

"We have maintained all along that our science is honest and sound and this has been vindicated now by three different independent external bodies," Jones said.

Third Time's a Charm?

The report marks the third and final inquiry into the cache of hacked material.

The first was released in March by the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee. The second, completed in April, was conducted by a group of independent researchers recommended by the Royal Society, a national science academy in Britain, and led by Ron Oxburgh, a former geologist and Shell chair.

All three audits have exonerated the British and American researchers involved of any willful impropriety. But none carry more weight than the so-called Russell Review.

Russell and his four-member team, who boast "100 years' collective expertise of scientific research," were asked by the University of East Anglia on December 3, to examine the conduct of CRU researchers and inspect allegations of data manipulation.

CRU uses temperature data recorded at 4,000 of the world's 7,000 land-based weather stations worldwide, the study said.