That's not true. Temperature measurements going back to the beginning of the instrumental record just have larger error bars (see below). Larger error bars on measurements is not equivalent to "the data cannot be trusted". Good solid skeptical scientists trying to examine the Sun's contribution to global warming accept the basic instrumental record. So does Richard Lindzen, to drop a name.
As an aside, in many, many postings (including a recent reply to you, I think) I've pointed out that El Nino years are warm years (notably 1998, which is the foundation of much of the recent argument about global warming having "stopped" over the past 8 years).
Well, I took a closer look at this whole graph above when I put it in this reply, and I said to myself, "What the heck happened in 1878?" (Also note that Krakatoa erupted in 1883 during a cooling trend, so a Krakatoa effect is not readily apparent.)
Took a bit of playing around with Google search terms, but I answered my question:
Quoting from the abstract: "The authors suggest that as a consequence of one of the strongest El Niño episodes on record—that which occurred in 1877-78—exceptional climate anomalies occurred in the United States (as well as in many other parts of the world), which may have been partly responsible for the widespread nature and severity of the 1878 yellow fever outbreak.
It sure is nice when a plan works out like that. I have never before noticed or searched on the 1877-1878 El Nino. But in case anyone wonders why I confidently predict that the next year in which a strong El Nino occurs will set a global temperature record, you only have to look at the graphs.
The only data which can be trusted is the lower atmosphere temperature figures from the satellites since 1979 shown here.
That particular data set shows a 0.17 C per decade warming trend currently.
