EXCLUSIVE: NOAA Relies On ‘Compromised’ Thermometers That Inflate US Warming Trend

Daily Caller ^ | 12/17/2015 | Michael Bastasch

[detective]

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's reliance on poorly-sited weather stations to calculate surface temperatures is inflating the warming trend of the U.S. and maybe even the rest of the world, according to a landmark study looking at three decades of data.

[Red Badger]

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/06/30/it-seems-noaa-has-de-modernized-the-official-death-valley-station-to-use-older-equipment-to-make-a-record-more-likely/

[Steely Tom]

Re-post of something I wrote in March of this year:

I've talked about this before, but permit me to repeat... Years ago, I lived in the Philadelphia area. This was in the 1980s. I had a series of jobs in the SE Pennsylvania region, and (since I'm a bit shy) would typically eat lunch alone. I'd leave work and drive to some deli, get a sandwich and eat in my car while listening to the radio. This means that I was often exploring out-of-the-way places to have privacy while I ate.

One place I used to park was behind one of the shopping malls on Route 1, north of Philly. It was either Oxford Valley Mall or Neshaminy Mall, I'm not sure which.

The spot where I parked was near the back of a Chinese restaurant. There was a large exhaust fan there; you know the type: covered with a huge aluminum housing, so it looks kind of like an enormous aluminum doorknob. About three feet in diameter, and it stuck out from the wall about two feet.

And right next to this fan, about four feet from it, was a tiny little fenced-in area, maybe five feet square, and inside this fence was a little equipment trailer. It had all kinds of sensors sticking out of it... an anemometer and wind-direction sensor sticking up, along with various louvered boxes that I presume contained thermometers, barometers, hygrometers, etc. It had a little yagi antenna pointing off in the distance, presumably telemetering information directly to some collection point via microwave link (this was before ubiquitous wireless internet access was available).

On the fence were "NO TRESPASSING FEDERAL PROPERTY" signs, and my recollection is that they identified the ownership agency as NOAA. There was an 800 number to call in case of an emergency.

This thing was literally in the shadow of the building. I remember thinking "who in their right mind would have located that thing within a couple of feet of a king-size restaurant exhaust fan." Another thing I remember thinking was "I wonder if someday we'll be hearing from the US Government that the world is getting hotter."

The siting of this thing was really unbelievable; you would have to see it to believe it. I had noticed other weather stations of this type. At least a couple were located in the median strip of the New Jersey Turnpike. One of these was located at a point very close to a large multi-unit gas turbine peaking power plant that was near the NJ Turnpike south of New Brunswick. I've tried to find this plant on Google Earth, but have not been able to; perhaps it has been dismantled. Some of you from that region may remember it though. It had a huge fuel tank next to it, the top of which rose and fell as fuel was withdrawn or replaced, depending on the season. It typically operated on the hottest days of the summer, and when it did it filled the air around it with a barely visible brownish-yellow cloud.

Anyway, there was one of these environmental instrument stations right near it, complete with its little antenna. In the summertime, there's almost no place more nasty than the median strip of the New Jersey Turnpike, and this one was located within a stone's throw of the peaking plant.

Here's the thread. It's on the same subject as the instant thread.

[Red Badger]

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/01/02/where-thermometers-go-to-die-how-not-to-measure-temperature-part-80/

[lacrew]

I’ve always wondered, with these weather stations, isn’t most of the planet covered in OCEANS? How accurate are these weather stations, if they only cover a fraction of the Earth’s surface.

[mulligan]

No surprise. Corruption and greed are the politicians handbook.

[Oratam]

They moved them from city parks to airport roof tops.

[21twelve]

At the Seattle Woodland Park Zoo they built a new building a few years ago. Has to do with the environment, ecosystems, etc. - primarily for kids. A fun place. Set into a hillside for insulation, grass-covered roof - all sorts of “green” technology.

On one side is all of the ventilation stuff like you described - big A/C fans, etc. on a bed of gravel. Within 10 feet of the fans in the fenced-in area is the weather station!

[Yo-Yo]

Anthony Watts has been working on this issue for years.

http://www.surfacestations.org/

[rockinqsranch]

“Shhhhh, you are just supposed to be afraid (so then you’ll pay up).”

Precisely. Exactly what their motive is. Scare tactics. Create a problem, and then become our hero’s by allegedly solving the problem they created. All Hail to our new, and Godless leaders.

It’s all Bullshit with a capital ‘B’.

[Nuocmam]

This is absolute “No sh_t Sherlock!” type info. Often the “Official weather station” for a port city has been the thermometer at the Customs House. In the past the Customs House was located on a pier at the waterfront. With landfill and other waterfront construction, the Customs House is now at least several hundred yards or more from the water, surrounded by concrete streets and tall buildings-one great big heat sink! I am not a climatoligist but know from common sense that pavement, comcrete or blacktop, absorb and give off a lot more heat than water, lawn or forest covered areas. Place that thermometer over the AC unit that was installed to offset the warmer condition in the Customs House and of course the temperature recorded will be higher than it was 200 years ago-not due to CO2 emissions but to change in the surroundings of the location. Either change the “Official location” or correct for the new conditions.

[Henry Hnyellar]

Yep. Not sure how the article could claim an “exclusive.”

[RaceBannon]

Jacki Daily Show has been all over the climate change lies:

Jacki is joined by Toby Mack to discuss what is next on the green movement's hit list.

She also is joined by API President & CEO Jack Gerard.

Dan Gainor, VP of MRC Business, speaks with Jacki about a new study, conducted by Media Research Center (MRC) Business division, shows that despite data showing increasing ice in Antarctica, the “Big Three” networks have buried the news and continued to hype ice melting in the Arctic, ignoring evidence that contradicts their political agenda.

Kathleen Hartnett White is in to discuss Lamar Smith and his demands on NOAA to provide internal e-mails about its global warming study.

[RaceBannon]

Jacki Daily Show has been all over the climate change lies:

Jacki is joined by Toby Mack to discuss what is next on the green movement's hit list.

She also is joined by API President & CEO Jack Gerard.

Dan Gainor, VP of MRC Business, speaks with Jacki about a new study, conducted by Media Research Center (MRC) Business division, shows that despite data showing increasing ice in Antarctica, the “Big Three” networks have buried the news and continued to hype ice melting in the Arctic, ignoring evidence that contradicts their political agenda.

Kathleen Hartnett White is in to discuss Lamar Smith and his demands on NOAA to provide internal e-mails about its global warming study.

Jacki Daily Show has been all over the climate change lies:

Jacki is joined by Toby Mack to discuss what is next on the green movement's hit list.

She also is joined by API President & CEO Jack Gerard.

Dan Gainor, VP of MRC Business, speaks with Jacki about a new study, conducted by Media Research Center (MRC) Business division, shows that despite data showing increasing ice in Antarctica, the “Big Three” networks have buried the news and continued to hype ice melting in the Arctic, ignoring evidence that contradicts their political agenda.

Kathleen Hartnett White is in to discuss Lamar Smith and his demands on NOAA to provide internal e-mails about its global warming study.

[Intolerant in NJ]

...poorly-sited weather stations to calculate surface temperatures...precisely why data from satellite observations uncontaminated by the vagaries of citing on the ground are most reliable and show no warming trends for the last twenty years....

[ottbmare]

Interestingly, the apparent rise in global temperatures ceased around 1997, which (not by coincidence) was also the time when more accurate readings from satellites came into wider use.

[MisterArtery]

I live in a central Texas town about 5 miles from the official weather monitoring facility at the airport. I have a rain gauge in the open and so far this year, I’ve recorded 50.5 inches of rain. The official total at the airport is 33. I call BS.

[TXnMA]

"Good information but this tactic has been argued over and over for years."

Correct: my granddaughter nailed GISS on their reliance on thermo stations that are now in the middle of "asphalt islands" when she was in the fifth (5th) grade.

She's a Junior now (and just transferred from our small school into a class of 600 -- as #10 in the class...)

[TXnMA]

No, he "fixed" the problem by adjusting the data from stations out in nice (unvarying) rural environments upward -- to "match" those in Urban Heat Islands.

And that ain't "new news"...

[TXnMA]

...and with a boldface, capital "S"...

[Red Badger]

While that may seem like a huge difference, it is possible. I live 5 miles from where I work.

Many times I have talked to my wife on the phone where it would be raining either here or there and not at the other.

Heck, I’ve seen it rain across the street from my house but not on my side!

The company where I work makes Hygrothermometers (among other things) for NOAA, FAA and the NWS. They measure the Dew Point and the Temperature using precision Platinum resistive temperature detectors and a electronically chilled mirror sensor.

We have systems installed all over the country and foreign places and onboard ships as well. Whenever you see these things on TV or the news, chances are I worked on it:

http://tslinc.com/systems/instruments-hygrothermometer/