LONDON — An investigation by a panel of scientists into the so-called “Climategate” leaked e-mail flap found no evidence of scientific malpractice at the University of East Anglia, the British school at the center of the probe.
The inquiry, the second of three into research at the school in eastern England, said methods used by the university to compile historical records of global temperatures were “fair and satisfactory.” It also said allegations of deliberate misrepresentation of data derived from tree rings weren’t valid.
“There was no hint of tailoring results to a particular agenda,” the scientists said in a report posted Wednesday on the school’s website. “Their sole aim was to establish as robust a record of temperatures in recent centuries as possible.”
Thousands of e-mails stolen from the school’s server in November showed scientists discussing a “trick” to hide a decline in temperatures and blocking some papers from inclusion in the most comprehensive United Nations report into climate change. That fueled criticism from skeptics of man’s contribution to global warming of data being manipulated.
The panel said the school’s “sins were of omission rather than commission” in not keeping fuller records of their methods. They also said the scientists should work more closely with professional statisticians carrying out their analysis of temperatures.
The probe was carried out by a panel of six scientists based at universities in Britain, the United States and Switzerland and was chaired by Ron Oxburgh, former chairman of Shell Transport & Trading and a member of the House of Lords. The members were appointed by the university at the recommendation of the Royal Society, the British national science academy.
