That scientists feel the need to backup vital data offsite, out of the reach of the public administration is in itself a pretty damned scary thing. That honest, publicly employed scientists don’t trust their employer (us, the state, the government) to safeguard vital data, should be freaking everybody out.
I’m afraid this isn’t even going to register in the public mind.
Sound advice in any case. If your business is to examine possible catastrophic changes in the weather, having another copy of the data off-site (preferably halfway across the country) is a really good idea.
As the USA continues its transformation into a Third World country - businesses are not regulated by law, they’re making deals with the President (elect).
Our President (elect) and Vladimir Putin have a mutual admiration society, and the President (elect) is suggesting that our NATO allies can fend for themselves.
Japan and S. Korea?
If China wants 'em, how much are they willing to pay for Us protection?
Charming: the USA is now running a “Protection Racket” with geopolitical stability in play.
The Baltics (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) can fend for themselves. Ukraine is toast to the New! Improved! Russian Empire!
I’ll be dead soon; I sympathize with those young and healthy - you will inherit the disasters in the making.
Uust for the record, I will observe that this news was on CBC this morning. Doubtless because of the Toronto connection, but it is not being kept secret. I think it might be best if the archives were kept outside the US. Color me paranoid. Trump might accuse the downloaders of theft and insist they destroy these archives.
Well, climate scientist pretty openly admit that they adjust the raw data. So I would hope those engaging in this off site backup are copying raw data as well as adjusted data.
I am a scientist, albeit not a climatologist, and I also regularly “adjust” my raw data. I always explain what I did when I present or publish. I also always keep the raw data as well as the code that does the adjustment and the notes that justifies it. There is nothing unusual or shady here.
I understand the need to adjust data. But do hope raw data is saved.
There were some spotty issues of climate scientists refusing to release raw data that was subject to Freedom of Information requests. And that caused something of a stir. If raw data is not preserved I can only imagine what critics would say.
IMHO better science communication, including an explanation of how data adjustments are carried out, is vital. Saying “I’m a scientist. Trust me.” is not enough.