Thanks for the link - Looks like we were both right not to trust the Mail then.
what he actually said was (paraphrasing), if you take a very small dataset, the significance is still there but is not as great as if you look a the dataset for much longer periods.
Hardly anything we didnt already know.
:zzz:
well, thats some of what he said.
G - There is a debate over whether the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) was global or not. If it were to be conclusively shown that it was a global phenomenon, would you accept that this would undermine the premise that mean surface atmospheric temperatures during the latter part of the 20th Century were unprecedented?
truncated for brevity:
"Of course, if the MWP was shown to be global in extent and as warm or warmer than today (based on an equivalent coverage over the NH and SH) then obviously the late-20th century warmth would not be unprecedented."
A - Do you agree that according to the global temperature record used by the IPCC, the rates of global warming from 1860-1880, 1910-1940 and 1975-1998 were identical?
dumped mealy mouthing....
"So, in answer to the question, the warming rates for all 4 periods are similar and not statistically significantly different from each other."
Yet co2 levels rose greatly. hmmm...
B - Do you agree that from 1995 to the present there has been no statistically-significant global warming
"Yes, but only just. "
He goes on with this:
"I also calculated the trend for the period 1995 to 2009. This trend (0.12C per decade) is positive, but not significant at the 95% significance level."
I would like to see him calculate the trend dropping the 98 el nino event (a natural event and see what the trend is then).
D - Do you agree that natural influences could have contributed significantly to the global warming observed from 1975-1998, and, if so, please could you specify each natural influence and express its radiative forcing over the period in Watts per square metre.
"This area is slightly outside my area of expertise."
Nuff said.
Oh wait, he wasnt done....
"When considering changes over this period we need to consider all possible factors (so human and natural influences as well as natural internal variability of the climate system). Natural influences (from volcanoes and the Sun) over this period could have contributed to the change over this period."
Hence my request for him to drop the 98 el nino from question B.
N - When scientists say "the debate on climate change is over", what exactly do they mean - and what don't they mean?
"It would be supposition on my behalf to know whether all scientists who say the debate is over are saying that for the same reason. I don't believe the vast majority of climate scientists think this. This is not my view. There is still much that needs to be undertaken to reduce uncertainties, not just for the future, but for the instrumental (and especially the palaeoclimatic) past as well. "
Well there ya go. Phil Jones admits the debate on climate change is not over in his mind.
Maybe hes been reading this site:
http://www.co2science.org/data/mwp/mwpp.php
Doesnt matter to me who funds the site, they seem to be pulling published, peer reviewed papers from respected journals for their sources.
Maybe hes been reading this site:
http://kenskingdom.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/giss-manipulates-climate-data-in-mackay/
Or this:
http://scrippsnews.ucsd.edu/Releases/?releaseID=1046
maybe this:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/01/100127134721.htm