Met Office to publish man-made global warming data

The Met Office (MO) is to announce it will publish the raw data it uses to analyse man-made global warming.

It follows a row about the reliability of data from the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia which has been dubbed "Climategate".

The MO has written to 188 countries for permission to publish the historic data it says proves that the world is warming up due to man-made emissions.

A spokesman denied reports ministers had tried to block the publication.

The material, dating back 160 years from more than 1,000 weather stations around the world, is expected to be released this week.

It comes as an independent review is announced into leaked e-mails at the CRU in Norwich to see whether there is evidence of manipulation or suppression of data "at odds with acceptable scientific practice".

The MO - one of the foremost global authorities on climate change - works closely with the CRU.

The MO's database is a main source of analysis for the UN's climate change science body, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which joins talks next week at the long-awaited Copenhagen summit.

An MO spokesman denied it would spend up to three years re-examining the climate change data, and said it had already planned to publish the material long before the "Climategate" controversy broke.

But the spokesman admitted the e-mail row had made the whole exercise more urgent.
Downing Street has said Gordon Brown is "unequivocal" about the scientific case for action against climate change.

Mr Brown said the climate was the "greatest challenge" facing the world.
He is one of several world leaders, including US President Barack Obama, who will attend the Copenhagen summit aimed at cutting emissions.


News Source: news.bbc.co.uk


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