The latest news suggests that we will never be able to determine the significance of the UEA raw climate data before it was massaged for various reasons (some legit, others not):
This weekend it emerged that the unit has thrown away much of the data. Tucked away on its website is this statement: “Data storage availability in the 1980s meant that we were not able to keep the multiple sources for some sites ... We, therefore, do not hold the original raw data but only the value-added (ie, quality controlled and homogenised) data.”
If true, it is extraordinary. It means that the data on which a large part of the world’s understanding of climate change is based can never be revisited or checked. Pielke said: “Can this be serious? It is now impossible to create a new temperature index from scratch. [The unit] is basically saying, Trust us’.”
The trust is now over. The question is: how do we balance this lost data with other data and reach a satisfactory conclusion?