Trevor Davies, the university’s vice chancellor for research, said the investigation would cover data security “and any other relevant issues.’’ He said the specific terms of the review will be announced later in the week.
Jones has been accused by skeptics of human-produced climate change of manipulating data to support his research. Many have pointed to a leaked e-mail in which Jones writes that he had used a “trick’’ to “hide the decline’’ in a chart detailing recent global temperatures. Jones has denied manipulating evidence and insisted his comment had been misunderstood.
But the correspondence from Jones and others - which appears to include discussions of how to keep critical work out of peer-reviewed journals and efforts to shield scientists’ data and methodology from outside scrutiny - has been seized upon by those who are fighting efforts to impose caps on emissions of carbon dioxide as evidence of a scientific conspiracy.
Senator James Inhofe, an Oklahoma Republican and a vocal skeptic of human-produced global warming, called yesterday for Senate hearings on the e-mails. In a letter to Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat who chairs the environment committee, Inhofe said the e-mails could have far-reaching policy implications. Both Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency are taking action to curb global warming based on a report that uses data produced by the Climate Research Unit.
