date: Thu, 11 Apr 2002 10:30:10 -0400 from: Edward Cook subject: Re: ECS and MH letter to: Keith Briffa Hi Keith, Thanks for the comments. I did indeed try to keep the verbiage on a civil level, which is not always easy to do. I agree with you that Mike seems to be overwhelmingly concerned about what the greenhouse sceptics might think. Frankly, I just ignore the bastards like John Daly. Mike should do the same. Cheers, Ed >Ed >I have read the Mann et al letter and your response twice. Bottom >line answer to your primary request is that there are no factual >errors . >My overall opinion is that you are just about right in balancing >firm response to get the record straight with a need to keep >composure and preserving the probability of continuing constructive >interaction with Mann (and his diminishing support). Perhaps the one >point I would make though, is that you underplay the questionable >nature of much of Mann's verbiage ,in as much it is a response to >imagined rather than real conflict between your Science paper and >his reconstruction. Most of his comments I feel are addressing what >he imagines (rightly or wrongly ) the greenhouse sceptics will say >about recent warming after reading your paper , not what you >actually say. His reiteration of the point that unprecedented change >still stands is the primary example. You say temperatures about 1000 >years ago "approach" those up to 1990. This is reasonable - and if >the reader studies your two chronology comparison , it is clear that >the MWP is not strongly hemispherically represented >contemporaneously. >Malcolm's comments are really quite irritating - given that we (you >and I) have pioneered an honest approach to making explicit the >problems . It is not as though we don't know. Mike could be a lot >more open about the real uncertainty of his early temperature >estimates (as we discussed in our first perspectives piece). Anyway >, go ahead and distribute the piece and let's see what happens. >cheers >Keith > >-- >Professor Keith Briffa, >Climatic Research Unit >University of East Anglia >Norwich, NR4 7TJ, U.K. > >Phone: +44-1603-593909 >Fax: +44-1603-507784 > >http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/people/briffa/ -- ================================= Dr. Edward R. Cook Doherty Senior Scholar Tree-Ring Laboratory Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Palisades, New York 10964 USA Phone: 1-845-365-8618 Fax: 1-845-365-8152 Email: drdendro@ldeo.columbia.edu =================================