Posted on 02/21/2010 8:52:58 AM PST by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Arguably the most important data used for documenting global warming are surface station observations of temperature, with some stations providing records back 100 years or more. By far the most complete data available are for Northern Hemisphere land areas; the Southern Hemisphere is chronically short of data since it is mostly oceans.
But few stations around the world have complete records extending back more than a century, and even some remote land areas are devoid of measurements. For these and other reasons, analysis of “global” temperatures has required some creative data massaging. Some of the necessary adjustments include: switching from one station to another as old stations are phased out and new ones come online; adjusting for station moves or changes in equipment types; and adjusting for the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. The last problem is particularly difficult since virtually all thermometer locations have experienced an increase in manmade structures replacing natural vegetation, which inevitably introduces a spurious warming trend over time of an unknown magnitude.
There has been a lot of criticism lately of the two most publicized surface temperature datsets: those from Phil Jones (CRU) and Jim Hansen (GISS). One summary of these criticisms can be found here. These two datasets are based upon station weather data included in the Global Historical Climate Network (GHCN) database archived at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), a reduced-volume and quality-controlled dataset officially blessed by your government for climate work.
One of the most disturbing changes over time in the GHCN database is a rapid decrease in the number of stations over the last 30 years or so, after a peak in station number around 1973. This is shown in the following plot which I pilfered from this blog.
Given all of the uncertainties raised about these data, there is increasing concern that the magnitude of observed ‘global warming’ might have been overstated.
TOWARD A NEW SATELLITE-BASED SURFACE TEMPERATURE DATASET
We have started working on a new land surface temperature retrieval method based upon the Aqua satellite AMSU window channels and “dirty-window” channels. These passive microwave estimates of land surface temperature, unlike our deep-layer temperature products, will be empirically calibrated with several years of global surface thermometer data.
The satellite has the benefit of providing global coverage nearly every day. The primary disadvantages are (1) the best (Aqua) satellite data have been available only since mid-2002; and (2) the retrieval of surface temperature requires an accurate adjustment for the variable microwave emissivity of various land surfaces. Our method will be calibrated once, with no time-dependent changes, using all satellite-surface station data matchups during 2003 through 2007. Using this method, if there is any spurious drift in the surface station temperatures over time (say due to urbanization) this will not cause a drift in the satellite measurements.
Despite the shortcomings, such a dataset should provide some interesting insights into the ability of the surface thermometer network to monitor global land temperature variations. (Sea surface temperature estimates are already accurately monitored with the Aqua satellite, using data from AMSR-E).
THE INTERNATIONAL SURFACE HOURLY (ISH) DATASET
Our new satellite method requires hourly temperature data from surface stations to provide +/- 15 minute time matching between the station and the satellite observations. We are using the NOAA-merged International Surface Hourly (ISH) dataset for this purpose. While these data have not had the same level of climate quality tests the GHCN dataset has undergone, they include many more stations in recent years. And since I like to work from the original data, I can do my own quality control to see how my answers differ from the analyses performed by other groups using the GHCN data.
The ISH data include globally distributed surface weather stations since 1901, and are updated and archived at NCDC in near-real time. The data are available for free to .gov and .edu domains. (NOTE: You might get an error when you click on that link if you do not have free access. For instance, I cannot access the data from home.)
The following map shows all stations included in the ISH dataset. Note that many of these are no longer operating, so the current coverage is not nearly this complete. I have color-coded the stations by elevation (click on image for full version).
GW is bullsh!t... they just need to give it up or be jailed for organized crime.
LLS
And at this link there is a discussion related to getting decent measurements:
so lemme get this straight... will this data be used to look for global warming... until we find global warming ? all this money.. we could be on the moon by now !
Creative data...
And with GW, ignore any facts that may distract you from your agenda.
And how much is this going to cost?
This may be the Author:
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Dr. Roy Spencer is a principal research scientist for the University of Alabama in Huntsville and the U.S. Science Team Leader for the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR-E) on NASA's Aqua satellite. He holds M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in meteorology. [1]
Spencer is a prominent global warming skeptic. Since February 2004 he has been a columnist for TCS Daily writing over forty columns, almost entirely on the the topic of global warming. Until 2006, TCS Daily was run by DCI Group, a lobbying firm that works for ExxonMobil. [2]
Spencer is a speaker at the International Conference on Climate Change (2009) organized by the Heartland Institute think tank. [3]
At a 2008 talk sponsored by the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, Spencer said, "There's probably a natural reason for global warming. ... We will look back on it as a gigantic false alarm. ... The Earth isn't that sensitive to how much CO2 we put into the atmosphere. ... I think we need to consider the possibility that more carbon dioxide is better than less." [4]
Asked in December 2008 what his advice was for then-President-Elect Barack Obama, Spencer responded, "He should put off the environmentalists indefinitely. ... Tell them we have to fix the economy first before we can afford unaffordable renewable energy 'solutions.'" [5]
Read further....please.
I read it... then puked.
LLS
Some fundamental questions:
1. How precise is the data gathered?
2. How precise are the models that will use the data?
3. How objective will the scientist be who interpret the results?
The GW and AGW nuts are behind the eight ball and have something to prove. You could argue that they are desperate. And considering the recent past, they can't be trusted.
Ignore the implied links at post #10.
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“We’ve collected high-quality data from all of our instruments, and these data should eventually lead to a better understanding of Earth’s water cycle and the role it plays in our changing climate,” stated Claire Parkinson, Aqua Project Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
Aqua was launched on May 4, 2002, and soon after began providing valuable information from its massive data flow, approximately 89 gigabytes a day, allowing scientists to analyze and generate dozens of data products. The Aqua Science Team will convene at Goddard May 28-29 to present their insights, first-year results, and plans for their future research using Aqua data.
The Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS), the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) and the Humidity Sounder for Brazil (HSB) combine to form a trio of instruments that capture an ongoing, detailed picture of the Earth’s atmosphere that will eventually lead to improved short-term weather predictions, improved tracking of severe weather events like hurricanes, and advancements in climate studies.
Arctic snowstorms were successfully tracked using data from the AMSU and the HSB, the latter having been provided by the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research. In the past, tracking snowstorms in the Arctic from satellites was particularly difficult because of the underlying ice and snow surfaces. Successful tracking with Aqua data was accomplished by using channels of the AMSU and HSB that do not see through to the surface.
The European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting has shown a positive impact to the weather forecasts and plans to incorporate AIRS and the AMSU data into their operational forecast models by the end of summer 2003.
AIRS data already available to scientists include the most accurate, highest spectral resolution measurements ever taken from space of the infrared brightness (radiance) of Earth’s atmosphere. This information can be used to make more accurate predictions of weather and climate. More advanced data products are expected to become available later this year. The data will include atmospheric temperature and humidity profiles as well as additional environmental measurements on various types of clouds, particularly the thin veil of cirrus clouds that covers Earth. In addition, new data are expected on concentrations of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide and volcanic sulfur dioxide.
Precisely. What’s to keep them from cherry-picking the satellite measurements that “prove” their case and throwing away all the other measurements as statistical outliers. It’s been shown time and again that these “scientists” have cooked the terrestrial data this way — they include measurement stations which suffer from urban heat island effect and throw out the measurements from stations that don’t. These people are absolutely crooked and dishonest.
An aside: my son is a freshman at college and taking a US history course. He was telling me about the Teapot Dome scandal and I replied that he personally is living during a scandal that is at least a million times larger than Teapot Dome. He’s intrigued by the notion of living through something that will be shown to be absolutely scandalous in the history books decades from now (at least let’s hope so). Fortunately, he agrees with me on the scandalous aspects and his mind hasn’t been polluted yet by his instructors.
The original data and analysis were so flawed, that it will take years to sort out the mess.
Only, they have a VERY short period of time to complete the analysis because of the now known political aspects of AGW. The longer they take, the more “hoax” will be discredited.
Teapot Dome — will be interesting to see how the current AGW mess will be viewed in the future. The winners write the history.
I think satellite surveillance of weather/climate data's a good idea. Store the raw data, however, in several different places under several different guardians. And don't let the hysterics control the data mining.
Adding this:
Aqua, Latin for water, is a NASA Earth Science satellite mission
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Aqua, Latin for water, is a NASA Earth Science satellite mission named for the large amount of information that the mission will be collecting about the Earth's water cycle, including evaporation from the oceans, water vapor in the atmosphere, clouds, precipitation, soil moisture, sea ice, land ice, and snow cover on the land and ice. Additional variables also being measured by Aqua include radiative energy fluxes, aerosols, vegetation cover on the land, phytoplankton and dissolved organic matter in the oceans, and air, land, and water temperatures.
The Aqua mission is a part of the NASA-centered international Earth Observing System (EOS). Aqua was formerly named EOS PM, signifying its afternoon equatorial crossing time. A timeline of Aqua on-orbit progress through the initial 120 day check-out period can be found here.
Aqua was launched on May 4, 2002, and has six Earth-observing instruments on board, collecting a variety of global data sets. Aqua was the first member launched of a group of satellites termed the Afternoon Constellation, or sometimes the A-Train. The second member to be launched was Aura, in July 2004, the third member was PARASOL, in December 2004, and the fourth and fifth members are CloudSat and CALIPSO, in May 2006. PARASOL exited the A-Train orbit in December 2009. Expected upcoming missions are Glory, a NASA mission due to be launched in 2010, and GCOM-W1, a JAXA mission due to be launched in 2011. After these two missions join, the A-Train will be led by GCOM-W1, followed by Aqua, then CloudSat, CALIPSO, Glory, and, in the rear, Aura.
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