********************************EXCERPTS*********************************
by Steve McIntyre on October 7th, 2007
Many climateaudit readers will remember Mann's "CENSORED" directory, in which Mann calculated principal components on a network that excluded bristlecone pines (which needless to say didn't have a HS shape. Now Juckes et al introduces us to a new type of climate data: "restricted" data. The Team has introduced a novel data classification system - PG and R. Juckes et al say that the Indigirka series is R-rated and so it can't be used in their reconstruction. Yes, R-rated tree ring data. Data so salacious that you have to keep it under lock and key.
Is it only under-18s that are not allowed to see R-rated tree ring data? Can we show it here if Kristen Byrnes promises not to look?
Or are all climateaudit readers prohibited? Is this a bit like pornography that is only available to priests? You think that I am juck-ing? Here are their exact words from the Euro Hockey Team for excluding the Indigirka series:
The Indigirka series used by MSH2005 is not used here because it is not available for unrestricted use.
I wonder what went through the minds of editor Goosse when he read that this was a "restricted use" proxy? Did Goosse ask what the restrictions were? Or referee Gerd B�rger or the other two anonymous referees? Since they don't appear to have asked or weren't bothered by the answer, let's ask the question here. And, by the way, for readers who may be offended by salacious tree ring data, proceed at your own risk as the R-rated data is shown graphically in the post continuation. Yes, you too can see what the climate priests keep in their secret cupboard. If you are not over 18, please do not continue without parental guidance.
OK, sorry to disappoint you, but the issues are not salacious at all and have nothing to do with XXX-rated tree ring data. They have to do with whether Nature policies that require data to be publicly available apply to the Team and to whether a very weak rider attached to Moberg's dissemination of the Indigirka data prevented Juckes from including the Indigirka series in his composite.
Moberg et al 2005 and the Indigirka Series
The Indigirka series has been discussed here on a number of occasions, for example, here here here here among others.
The series was used in Moberg et al (Nature 2005), whose lead author was a co-author of Juckes et al. Moberg et al 2005 atttributed the Indigirka proxy to Sidorova and Naurzbaev 2002 and illustrated it in their Nature SI as follows:
Excerpt from Moberg et al 2005 SI showing Indigirka series x-axis here and in subsequent plots as years AD (not BP).
So this proxy is actually illustrated in Nature of all places. Nature has the following policy on availability of data:
An inherent principle of publication is that others should be able to replicate and build upon the authors' published claims. Therefore, a condition of publication in a Nature journal is that authors are required to make materials, data and associated protocols available in a publicly accessible database (as detailed in the sections below on this page) or, where one does not exist, to readers promptly on request….Any restrictions on the availability of materials or information must be disclosed at the time of submission of the manuscript, and the methods section of the manuscript itself should include details of how materials and information may be obtained, including any restrictions that may apply.
No such restrictions were reported in Moberg et al 2005. After the publication of Moberg et al 2005, I sought digital versions of a couple of series, including the Indigirka series, which Moberg said that he was unable to provide. I accordingly filed a Materials Complaint under the above policy. I presume that Moberg sorted things out with the data originators as a Corrigendum, was issued, stating that the data could now be obtained from the authors, and, for the Indigirka data in particular, they said:
they [the tree-ring-width data from the Indigirka river region (series G)] may, however, be obtained through A.M. [Anders Moberg]
Under Nature's data policy, of which all parties were aware, Moberg had an obligation to report any remaining "restrictions that may apply" in the Corrigendum. He did not disclose any.