BBC Exposes 'Fudge Factor' in ClimateGate Global Warming Computer Programming Code

Newsbusters ^ | December 5, 2009 | Jeff Poor

[Rufus2007]

Even the BBC didn't let this scoop get away.

A segment on the Dec. 3 broadcast of BBC's "Newsnight," showed the implications of the story behind the so-called "ClimateGate" scandal are more than just e-mails concealing data, but an incompetence analyzing the data by way of faulty computer code.

John Graham-Cumming, a British programmer known for the open source "POPFile email filtering program" explained how the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) had wholesale problems with its computer programming analyzing climate change data, with billion, if not even trillions of dollars, on the line.

...more (w/video)...

[Rufus2007]

The IPCC's incompetence on parade continues...

[steelyourfaith]

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !

[SierraWasp]

Ya but, with more “Gravitas” added to the hoax/scandal by the pre-eminent B... B... C...

[Carry_Okie]

Incompetence?

No, criminal conspiracy to defraud.

[Forgiven_Sinner]

This story is posted on Digg, a news site where you can vote on stories:

FTA: “John Graham-Cumming, a British programmer known for the open source “POPFile email filtering program” explained how the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit (CRU) had wholesale problems with its computer programming analyzing climate change data, with billion, if not even trillions of dollars, on the line.

http://digg.com/d31Bwtr

Stop by and digg it up!

[BenLurkin]

the programmer even included steps to skip over errors

I smell a rat.

[bigbob]

This is good stuff. Objectivity will go a long ways toward putting the pressure on the universities and funding agencies. Strident ideology on either side won’t be as effective as this is to those who can be flipped on this issue.

Of course a lighting bolt from Heaven wouldn’t convince those like Algore who have been lying and faking data for years.

[Upstate NY Guy]

"...the programmer even included steps to skip over errors, which shows some of the data analyzed by the East Anglia CRU is completely neglected.
"The programming language actually has a problem," Graham-Cumming said. "And they put in some code to deal with that error. Unfortunately, in doing so they produced another error. And the upshot of this is the error occurs - the underlying error, they will skip over data that they're trying to plot without any warning to the end user. So in some sense there is data that is being lost."

Smells like intentional incompetence to me. They probably hired a very gullible, second rate programmer and told him to get the results they wanted if he wanted to keep his job.

[LiberConservative]

I am a software engineer and I’m taking this scandal personally. IMO this is the biggest scandal in history.

[Caipirabob]

I am a software engineer and I’m taking this scandal personally. IMO this is the biggest scandal in history.

Agreed! When you consider the constraints under SOX compliance we deal with daily, change control and internal auditing P&P, it's unimaginable that this level of tampering could run so rampant in a major, international operation upon which nations rely on proper and correct and accurate reporting of information.

We are talking entire national economies being manipulated based upon intentionally falsified data. It's fraud perpetrated at an unimaginable level. The number of human lives impacted and the destruction of their potential quality of life can never be completely calculated.

This whole flat-Earth Global Warming scam should be crushed forever and the people associated to knowingly perpetuating it executed and then tried (in that order) for crimes against humanity.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

This whole flat-Earth Global Warming scam should be crushed forever and the people associated to knowingly perpetuating it executed and then tried (in that order) for crimes against humanity.

We can't do that....the United Nations IPCC stands behind this Fake but accurate data..../s

[Lou L]

As someone who works in IT, there's NO way that any of these programs or data processing algorithms should be running unless they're fully validated. This means that requirements and design are fully documented, and that testing is designed to meet every requirement and design element. From a documentation perspective, a layperson should be able to read and understand the validation documents with minimal explanation.

If they're staking the "future" of the planet on their analysis and forecasts, and if they're trying to place legislative restrictions on life as we know, to use non-validated systems is fraudulent.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Hell,...they wouldn’t even share data and methods with other climate scientists....

[shield]

I would say it’s a bit more than incompetence.

[Islam=Murder]

We can’t let the MSM win this.

Best ClimateGate clips (show everybody you know):

http://www.BraveNewCommie.com

[Upstate NY Guy]

Yes, it stinks of fraud. I don't think there was ever any intention of doing real science or of saving the planet. The entire effort to prove global warning was to legitimize the creation of some new world governing body to monitor and control “greenhouse gasses” - in other words to control world economies and our very lives.

God willing this hoax will become completely unraveled before they hoodwink the public into supporting a global carbon emissions treaty.

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

So the One was elected through fraud, and the whole climate fury was just fraud. Where are we as a country?

[Oatka]

Smells like intentional incompetence to me. They probably hired a very gullible, second rate programmer and told him to get the results they wanted if he wanted to keep his job.

I wasn't threatened, but years ago, as a programmer, I ran into a similar problem. The outfit I was with was one of many sub-companies who each kept funds for their particular future projects. The mother company decided they would consolidate and hold all those dormant funds so that one company could go ahead and start their project. The subs didn't want to lose the interest so they had me "rewrite" their General Ledger program to show very little was kept in their Future Projects Fund. I had to change assets into liabilities, plus signs to minuses, etc. Finally, in desperation, I told them "just tell me the numbers you want to see and I'll plug them in." "Oh no," they said, "that wouldn't be right". (!!)

[ChildOfThe60s]

The IPCC's incompetence on parade continues...

Incompetence? You are far too kind.

As it states, the programmer DELIBERATELY set it up to skip errors. I'll bet that these were not just any old random errors, but errors that would not be flattering to the desired output.

This is likely the largest, most far flung and costly conspiracy in the history of modern man. One would think all the political conspiracy buffs would be all over this. Trouble is, most of them are sitting in the pews at the Church of Global Warming.

[fours]

IMO this is the biggest scandal in history.

I want to see the code! Does anyone have links? Guess I'll start checking the torrent networks ...

BTW, the "biggest scandal in history," seriously? Step back and take a deep breath for scope. The "biggest scandal in history" is that there exists some buggy, poorly-written research code by climate scientists (i.e. not computer scientists) at the 20th best university in England (not Cambridge or Oxford), and that these scientists attempted to fudge their graphs and numbers to support a political position?

Seems to me like simply sloppy science from a crew of mediocre academics, and in total a pretty small scandal — I'd never even heard of the University of East Anglia before this. If this were NASA code, then I'd upgrade it to medium-sized scandal (though the BBC expert said he reviewed NASA code in his study and was impressed by the professional quality).