The Newly-Discovered Jarvykortta Proxy -- II

This post is a rewrite of an essay I published on 28 Nov. 2009, The Newly-Discovered Jarvykortta Proxy: Relevant to the Tiljander Varve Series? It's been edited and reformatted for clarity. I assume that a fictional monastery exists alongside a fictional "Jarvykortta River" (cf. the real Lake Korttajarvi) in fictional Ruritania (cf. Finland). The point is to explore whether a proxy series can be inadvertently used in an upside-down orientation. The example illustrates that Yes, such an error is quite possible. I argue that a data series refers back to one or more physical attributes. Care should be taken to see that such data are used in the orientation that makes logical sense, with respect to what they represent in the physical world.

Another Scientist Commends Mann et al. '08 -- Tiljander Notwithstanding

Last week, Roger Pielke Sr. headlined a critical email on his site, Guest Post By Chick Keller On The Content and Tone Of My Weblog. Dr. Keller is the retired Director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Branch of the University of California’s Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP). He's made significant contributions to the peer-reviewed literature on climate change (PDF).

While I am not a regular reader of Pielke's blog, such efforts to establish dialog among 'Consensus scientists,' 'skeptics,' and 'lukewarmers' are commendable. Given my own interests, I was most taken by the following paragraph from Chick Keller's post.