Philip Douglas Jones MCH (Making Climate History) Oral History Interview

Oral history interview with Philip Douglas Jones conducted by Thomas Simpson on 28th and 31st July 2023 as part of the Making Climate History project. Time-stamped Summary [Track 1] Parents—including father’s time in WWII [I: 00:39] Memories of early schooling [I: 08:44] Trajectory through undergrad and graduate school; access to computers at Newcastle; beginning at CRU [I: 09:19] Career driven by interests, not specific goals [I: 18:45] Geography field trips at school {I: 23:32] Recollections of Lancaster University and focus on hydrology [I: 26:45] Recollections of field trips [I: 30:53] Starting PhD at Newcastle and life there as a student [I: 35:28] Unemployment in Newcastle in the late 1970s [I: 45:59] Data access during PhD [I: 50:23] Style of student supervision [I: 53:07] Recollections of demonstrations and computer work while a PhD student [I: 54:26] Working in the computer lab during PhD [I: 55:50] Using older computers and punch cards at UEA; different experiences with computing at UEA, Lancaster and Newcastle [I: 57:01] Access to and impact of European grants [I: 1:01:21] Conception of importance of ‘climate’ during PhD [I: 1:03:37] Decision to apply to CRU [I: 1:06:56] Recollections of Hubert Lamb [I: 1:11:03] Early impressions of CRU [I: 1:15:39] Global data access, particularly US sources [I: 1:19:29] Developing Global Temperature Series [I: ~1:21:00] Network-building in America [I: 1:30:22] ‘Climate and History’ conference [I: 1:40:23] Track 2 Work on Climate Monitor [II: 00:58] Discovery of rainfall records at the Met Office [II ~8:00] General knowledge of location of datasets [II: 13:32] Early digitisation of data [II: 17:45] Funding streams from US and EU and pay structure at CRU [II: 23:20] Visits to the US [II: 32:46] Meeting in Moscow regarding global temperature series [II: ~34:00] Impressions of Soviet climatology [II: ~43.30] Relationship between time series and methods of different national groups [II: ~47:30] Japanese- and Chinese-led temperature series and data production [II: 49:14] Tree-ring workshops in Tucson [II: 52:48] Early data gridding methods and applications [II: 56:15] Data cleaning: checking and correction [II: 1:00:24] Sourcing and sources of datasets [II: 1:06:06] Recollections of Jim Hanson and his work [II; 1:09:00] Media attention (or lack thereof) to climate science [II: ~1:11:00] Detection work led by Tom Wigley and media interest in forecasting; differing evidence of climate change in poles and tropics [II: 1:19:06] Historical figures who worked on global temperature [II: 1:27:40] Guy Stewart Callendar, getting his archive at CRU [II: 1:34:26] Building out the World Weather Records with other datasets [II: 1:39:32] Russian (Soviet Union) datasets [II: 1:43:03] Track 3 Urbanization and temperature records [III: 01:08] Getting data from different countries (difficulties and work-arounds) [III: 12:54] Relationship between colonial histories and data access [III: 19:54] European funding and data access [III: 25:50] Introduction of oceanic records to global temperature models (COADS); the Bucket Problem [III: 31:06] Difficulties, absences in, and loss of data sets [III: 50:01] Antarctic temperature records [III: ~57:00] Paleo, and early understandings of it via Keith Briffa and tree rings ; role of dendrochronology in relation to other climate proxies [III: 1:09:29] Similar methods and techniques used across projects (global temp, paleo tree rings) to produce gridded data [III: 1:33:18] Knud Frydendahl boxes [III: ~1:40:00] Memories of text-based historical climatologists at CRU [III: 1:41:02] Reliability of historical sources [III: 1:48:19] Track 4 First IPCC report and the decision to include paleoclimate info; development of graphs now grabbed onto by climate skeptics [IV: 00:01] Hubert Lamb’s use of sometimes unreliable historical sources; how to evaluate primary sources [IV: 15:50]