Hat's off (we think) to UK writer and consultant David Thorpe, the apparent creator for the impressive web-based spoof [2] - a definitive bit of climate change denial as reported in The Journal of Geoclimatic Studies.
Although the "journal" lists two volumes and some very tempting content*, the only research paper [3] on the website is titled: "Carbon dioxide production by benthic bacteria: the death of manmade global warming theory?" The paper reports that rising volumes of CO2 are actually caused "by saprotrophic eubacteria living in the sediments of the continental shelves fringing the Atlantic and Pacific oceans."
Unfortunately, this wonderful news is attributed to a group of scientists who can't be found, working at a series of institutions or departments that don't exist.
For example, the JGS website is registered to Dr. Hiroko Takebe at Okinawa University's Climatological Department. Alas, there is no such thing as Okinawa University. [4]
The lead researcher is listed as Daniel A. Klein at the University of Arizona. A search of the University of Arizona's faculty database [5] yields no Daniel A. Klein. Guess it won't surprise you that there's no climatology department at U of A either.
Nor does there exist [6] a Mandeep Gupta at the University of Arizona who is listed as a second author on the paper.
The spoof has already caught a couple of guileless "climate skeptics." Rumor is that well-known skeptic Benny Peiser posted the paper [7]to his discussion group, but an hour later (to his credit) sent a second message saying that it appears he was duped. [7]
This blogger [7] has fallen for it and this blogger [8] figured it out.
* Among the many other research papers touted on the site, this was our favourite:
"Submarine lightning strikes in the Hadean Zone: an unacknowledged cause of fish mortality?"
Dupe update: looks like this site popped it up [9] and then dropped it.
Here's a partial bit of their now-extinct post on google:
» A blockbuster study from the Journal of Geoclimatic Studies [10]
Clearly this study from the latest issue of Journal of Geoclimatic Studies by four climate scientists–two from the Dept. of Climatology at the University of ...
Dupe update 2: this site [11] is blindly linking to the study.
Dupe update 3: Reason Magazine [12] posted a story and then tore it down.
Here's a partial blurb from a Technorati search:
Are Bacteria the Cause of Global Warming? [13] A new report in the Journal of Geoclimatic Studies by researchers from the University of Arizona and the University of Goteborg in Sweden argues that benthic bacteria are responsible for increasesDupe update 4: This blogger [14] fell for it hook, line and sinker.
Dupe update 5: Here's another [15] bumbling blogger.
Update 6: Quote from the web developer found here: [16]
We’re just the website design company,” said David Thorpe at Cyberium [17] in Wales, listed as the administrator of the site [18]. “I don’t know anything about the content. We were just asked to put the website up.”
Dupe update 7: This blogger [19] blindly cut and paste the whole thing into a post.
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