Briffa Confirms MWP In Southern Hemisphere

 

From the Climategate collection, a revealing email from Keith Briffa to Jonathan Overpeck, which makes suggested changes to one of Overpeck’s papers.

date: Wed Feb 15 16:43:41 2006
from: Keith Briffa <REDACTED>
subject: bullets
to: REDACTED
Peck
do not think you will like what I say here , but I am going to give straight answers to
your questions.

3) I suggest this should be taken together , the sparse evidence of Southern Hemisphere temperatures prior to the period of instrumental records indicates that overall warming has occurred during the last
350 years, but the even fewer longer regional records indicate earlier periods that are as warm, or warmer than, 20th century means.

 

Mann’s Hockey Stick has always relied on the claim that the undoubted warmth in Northerly latitudes during the MWP was offset by a cooler climate  elsewhere. Briffa is clear that what little data there is in the Southern Hemisphere says the opposite.

This raises two questions :-

1) Why did Mann come to the conclusion he did when the evidence pointed in the opposite direction?

2) Did Overpeck alter his paper to reflect Briffa’s criticisms?

 

The link to email 4871 is here.