Keith Briffa
Keith R. Briffa (* 1952) is a climatologist employed by the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia. In his professional work, he focuses on the climate change in late Holocene, with a special focus on northern portions of Europe and Asia. Briffa's preferred method is dendroclimatology, a set of procedures to decode the information about the past climate from the width of the tree rings.
"Climategate" controversy
Keith Briffa is one of the most important climate scientists associated with the "Climategate" CRU emails.
His colleague Tom Wigley summarized the relevant questions and offered the following warning:
"But Keith does seem to have got himself into a mess. ... But, more generally, (even if it *is* irrelevant) how does Keith explain the McIntyre plot that compares Yamal-12 with Yamal-all? And how does he explain the apparent "selection" of the less well-replicated chronology rather that the later (better replicated) chronology? ... And the issue of with-holding data is still a hot potato, one that affects both you and Keith (and Mann)." [1]
However, some independent observers have described Briffa as one of the most ethically responsible members of the CRU unit which is also a reason why he has been speculated to have been the whistleblower who leaked the CRU documents and e-mails. See e.g. Australia's The Herald Sun [2].
Selected publications
- Osborn T.J. and K.R. Briffa (2006). "The spatial extent of 20th-century warmth in the context of the past 1200 years". Science. 311 (5762): 841. doi:10.1126/science.1120514.
- Briffa K.R.; et al. (2008). "Trends in recent temperature and radial tree growth spanning 2000 years across northwest Eurasia". Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B. 363 (1501): 2269–82. doi:10.1098/rstb.2007.2199.
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(help) - Briffa K.R.; et al. (2002). "Unusual twentieth-century summer warmth in a 1,000-year temperature record from Siberia". Nature. 376: 156–9. doi:10.1038/376156a0.
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(help) - Briffa, K.R. (2000). "Annual climate variability in the Holocene: interpreting the message of ancient trees". Quaternary Science Reviews (1–5): 87–105. doi:10.1016/S0277-3791(99)00056-6.
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