Now that’s good-faith disclosure.

From the Climategate 2.0 collection, NASA’s Gavin Schmidt and and Michael Mann’s RealClimate collaborator complains about persistent skeptics and finally offers a solution:

… Frankly, I would simply put the whole CRU database (in an as-impenetrable-as-possible form) up on the web site along with a brief history of it’s provenance (and the role of the NMSs) and be done with it. [Emphasis added]

The full e-mail is below.

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Subject: Jones et al

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Mike, This current situation is a little tricky. As we saw with the

whole HS affair, very few things have traction like the idea that data

is being withheld (possibly only suppression of free speech is as

powerful). You don’t need to know your PC from your elbow to see that as

an issue and so it easily catches fire among those who would like to see

the whole issue go away but who don’t know anything about it.

However, the listing of the sites and sources etc. is completely

peripheral to the real motivations (as you and Kevin correctly note).

Phil is being targeted solely because of the three databases for the

global SAT trends, his is the only one for which the raw data is not

available. All of the issues could be examined using the NOAA or GISS

analyses but what would be the point? The idea is not to find out

anything interesting, but to keep pushing the ‘data is being hidden’

meme. If Phil were to release the whole database, they would spend a

week trying to do something, but then get bored and move on to someone

else who is apparently hiding something.

These games that are being played with the FOIA requests and the like

aren’t going to stop – just playing those games is enough for these

people, regardless of the response, because the very fact they’re doing

it leads people to think the data is hidden.

The current situation where they ask ridiculous and irrelevant questions

and the response is well-meaning but ‘lawyerly’ just feeds the fire.

They aren’t interested in asking questions that can be answered, but in

asking questions that just put Phil on the defensive. The less he can

respond, the happier they will be.

Frankly, I would simply put the whole CRU database (in an

as-impenetrable-as-possible form) up on the web site along with a brief

history of it’s provenance (and the role of the NMSs) and be done with

it. If specific NMS contracts forbid posting of their raw data, then he

should remove the ones that he contractually can’t post and direct

peoples attentions to the NMS’s concerned. Why should Phil be the fall

guy for nutty ‘commercial’ restrictions imposed by various governments?

Bottom line: This isn’t going to stop.

Gavin

PS. feel free to forward to Phil et al if you like.