Monday, November 17, 2008
NASA Forced to Revise Temperature Data, But Skeptics Looking Suspicous Now Too
As this UK Telegraph story explains, NASA had to revise its temperature records because it had failed to catch a reporting error from Russian stations. Because the records used September temperature readings for October, it originally seemed that last October was the hottest on record; that has now been changed.
However, there's an interesting twist to this. As the Telegraph story tells it, James Hansen* held a press conference (or at least, "announced to the world") that last October was the hottest ever; this is totally plausible, given his past history and the fact that the original, mistaken data sets said so.
Yet Gavin Schmidt claims in this "OK, you got us, big deal" post, that Hansen never made any such proclamation.
I must report, that I spent about 6 minutes using Google News' advanced search feature (where you can filter by date), and it seems Gavin is right. I can't find any news stories talking about the "hottest October on record," except for those now responding to the correction!
Can anyone resurrect the good name of the deniers? It would be bad if GISS made a bonehead move, and then the Gore Haters overplayed their winning hand by inventing Hansen anecdotes.
* UPDATE: Rereading the Telegraph article, I realized that it doesn't actually say Hansen made the announcement:
I still think that is a bit misleading, if Schmidt is right and NASA just released the data, without any commentary. The Telegraph story for sure leads the reader to believe that Hansen & Co. were making a big deal of this, and now have egg on their faces.
However, there's an interesting twist to this. As the Telegraph story tells it, James Hansen* held a press conference (or at least, "announced to the world") that last October was the hottest ever; this is totally plausible, given his past history and the fact that the original, mistaken data sets said so.
Yet Gavin Schmidt claims in this "OK, you got us, big deal" post, that Hansen never made any such proclamation.
I must report, that I spent about 6 minutes using Google News' advanced search feature (where you can filter by date), and it seems Gavin is right. I can't find any news stories talking about the "hottest October on record," except for those now responding to the correction!
Can anyone resurrect the good name of the deniers? It would be bad if GISS made a bonehead move, and then the Gore Haters overplayed their winning hand by inventing Hansen anecdotes.
* UPDATE: Rereading the Telegraph article, I realized that it doesn't actually say Hansen made the announcement:
On Monday, Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), which is run by Al Gore's chief scientific ally, Dr James Hansen, and is one of four bodies responsible for monitoring global temperatures, announced that last month was the hottest October on record.
I still think that is a bit misleading, if Schmidt is right and NASA just released the data, without any commentary. The Telegraph story for sure leads the reader to believe that Hansen & Co. were making a big deal of this, and now have egg on their faces.
Comments:
The skeptics only look suspicious if you trust Gavin Schmidt's claims about skeptics. Schmidt writes, "The amount of simply made up stuff is also impressive - the GISS press release declaring the October the 'warmest ever'? Imaginary."
The skeptics claims there was a GISS press release? Imaginary. As far as I can tell Schmidt made it up. He surely doesn't go so far as to link to anyone making thing claim.
The Telegraph got the story about the press release wrong, but that was written 5 days after Gavin made his claim.
This story demonstrates two things: 1) NASA has poor quality control. 2) Gavin Schmidt doesn't bother to support his claims, so for all we know he's making stuff up.
The skeptics claims there was a GISS press release? Imaginary. As far as I can tell Schmidt made it up. He surely doesn't go so far as to link to anyone making thing claim.
The Telegraph got the story about the press release wrong, but that was written 5 days after Gavin made his claim.
This story demonstrates two things: 1) NASA has poor quality control. 2) Gavin Schmidt doesn't bother to support his claims, so for all we know he's making stuff up.
What is it with the sneaky even-handedness?
As you can see from Daniel's comments, only one side on this issue can be right. Down with haughty fence-sitters!
As you can see from Daniel's comments, only one side on this issue can be right. Down with haughty fence-sitters!
As far as I can tell from the mag New Science, there are only two AGW experts in the world - James Hansen and Gavin Schmidt. As far as getting Schmidt to admit anything he does is inaccurate or challenges AGW (hockey stick, surprise variance of 10 year trend, GISS data accuracy/press release) - well, I have never seen him do it on RealClimate. He may be a bureaucrat, but he is no longer a real climate scientist. LOL
Post a Comment
# posted by 
: November 21, 2008 at 7:06 PM
: November 21, 2008 at 7:06 PM Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]