Posted by
reasonmclucus on Friday, May 15, 2009 4:14:45 PM
In the U.S. nearly "
9 of every 10 stations are likely reporting
higher or
rising temperatures because they are badly sited" according to a
recently published study
by KPAY-AM investigative weather
journalist Anthony Watts.
Watts and over 650 volunteers have been conducting an
extensive examination
of U.S..
weather stations to determine if they produce reliable temperatures
and posting the results of the examinations on his blog Watts Up With That.
The National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) requires that
temperature measuring equipment be at least 30 meters (100 feet) from
any artificial source of artificial heating source such as the heat
exhaust of an air conditioner or reflecting / radiating sources
such as pavement. According to Watts, 89% of the sites failed to
meet that standard.
They "found stations located next to the exhaust fans of air
conditioning units, surrounded by asphalt parking lots and roads, on
blistering-hot rooftops, and near sidewalks and buildings that absorb
and radiate heat." 68 stations were "located at wastewater
treatment
plants, where the process of waste digestion causes temperatures to be
higher than in surrounding areas."
They also noticed that changes in the technology of
temperature stations could have caused them to report a false
warming trend.
Watts says, "we found major gaps in the data record that were
filled
in with data from nearby sites, a practice that propagates and
compounds errors. We found that adjustments to the data by both NOAA
and another government agency, NASA, cause recent temperatures to look
even higher."
Supporters of the claim about global warming indicate that
temperatures rose on about 0.7 C or 1.2 F which is only
about a 0.24% increase.
Watts concludes, "The U.S. temperature record is
unreliable. The errors in the record exceed by a wide margin
the purported
rise in temperature of 0.7º C (about 1.2º F) during the
twentieth
century. Consequently, this record should not be cited as evidence of
any trend in temperature that may have occurred across the U.S. during
the past century. Since the U.S. record is thought to be 'the best in
the world,' it follows that the global database is likely similarly
compromised and unreliable."
The United States isn't the only nation with questionable
sites. Italy
also has problems.
During the 90's the U.S. was using thermometers that
tended to produce artifically high temperatures.
Dr. Benjamin Herman, Director of the
Institute of Atmospheric Physics at the University of Arizona asks on Climate Science
if anyone has corrected the inaccurate temperature readings produced by
the HO-83 Hygro-Thermometers that were used at some stations in
the
U.S. and may still in use in other parts of the world. The
problem
with the thermometers has been known for years according to an
post by Steve McIntyre
that lists numerous studies mentioning the tendency of the thermometers
to record higher than actual temperatures under some
circumstances.
Temperatures could by as much as 2 or3 F above the actual temperature.
As
I have mentioned in previous posts there are various problems with the
accuracy of the temperature data that supposedly indicates global
warming. If thermometers used in the 1990's in the United
States can
produce inaccurate data how can anyone rely on equipment in less
technologically advanced areas of the world. If modern equipment
is
inaccurate, the same is likely to be the case for equipment used 50-100
years ago. The old temperatures a century ago might have really
been warmer and colder than the record indicates.