According to the story linked on Drudge, the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says the release of its Fourth Assessment report on February 2 will shock the world. It should, but not in the way Dr Pachauri implies.

As noted by the ever diligent Steve McIntyre, the IPCC in fact only plans to release the Summary for Policy Makers on February 2. The actual full report will not be released till May, and that changes to the actual report may be made after the release of the Summary “to ensure consistency with the Summary for Policymakers.”

Unbelievable, but typical of the IPCC. If you suspect that such a release strategy is ripe for abuse by spin and distortion, why yes, yes it is.

And, as Steve notes, it would be unacceptable for any other form of public release document.