NASA Data Worse Than Climate-Gate Data, Space Agency Admits

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
57,173
18,809
146
This just keeps getting funnier and funnier. I would say it's now more than safe to assume that ALL historic temperature data is seriously flawed, and thus any claims of unprecedented warming are as well.

Time to really put the MMGW and doomsday predictions to rest.

Maybe the MMGWers can latch onto the 2012 myth now?

Oh, and the punch line? The Obama Admin has made climate research the primary mission of NASA and ditched the moon program and manned spaceflight.

For this...

NASA Data Worse Than Climate-Gate Data, Space Agency Admits
By Blake Snow
- FOXNews.com

NASA can put a man on the moon, but the space agency can't tell you what the temperature was back then.

NASA / Goddard Institute for Space Studies

Maps from NASA's GISS reveal temperatures where no data exist, thanks to mathematical extrapolation of data.
NASA was able to put a man on the moon, but the space agency can't tell you what the temperature was when it did. By its own admission, NASA's temperature records are in even worse shape than the besmirched Climate-gate data.

E-mail messages obtained by a Freedom of Information Act request reveal that NASA concluded that its own climate findings were inferior to those maintained by both the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU) -- the scandalized source of the leaked Climate-gate e-mails -- and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center.

The e-mails from 2007 reveal that when a USA Today reporter asked if NASA's data "was more accurate" than other climate-change data sets, NASA's Dr. Reto A. Ruedy replied with an unequivocal no. He said "the National Climatic Data Center's procedure of only using the best stations is more accurate," admitting that some of his own procedures led to less accurate readings.

"My recommendation to you is to continue using NCDC's data for the U.S. means and [East Anglia] data for the global means," Ruedy told the reporter.

"NASA's temperature data is worse than the Climate-gate temperature data. According to NASA," wrote Christopher Horner, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute who uncovered the e-mails. Horner is skeptical of NCDC's data as well, stating plainly: "Three out of the four temperature data sets stink."

Global warming critics call this a crucial blow to advocates' arguments that minor flaws in the "Climate-gate" data are unimportant, since all the major data sets arrive at the same conclusion -- that the Earth is getting warmer. But there's a good reason for that, the skeptics say: They all use the same data.

"There is far too much overlap among the surface temperature data sets to assert with a straight face that they independently verify each other's results," says James M. Taylor, senior fellow of environment policy at The Heartland Institute.

"The different groups have cooperated in a very friendly way to try to understand different conclusions when they arise," said Dr. James Hansen, head of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, in the same 2007 e-mail thread. Earlier this month, in an updated analysis of the surface temperature data, GISS restated that the separate analyses by the different agencies "are not independent, as they must use much of the same input observations."

Neither NASA nor NOAA responded to requests for comment. But Dr. Jeff Masters, director of meteorology at Weather Underground, still believes the validity of data from NASA, NOAA and East Anglia would be in jeopardy only if the comparative analysis didn't match. "I see no reason to question the integrity of the raw data," he says. "Since the three organizations are all using mostly the same raw data, collected by the official weather agency of each individual country, the only issue here is whether the corrections done to the raw data were done correctly by CRU."

Corrections are needed, Masters says, "since there are only a few thousand surface temperature recording sites with records going back 100+ years." As such, climate agencies estimate temperatures in various ways for areas where there aren't any thermometers, to account for the overall incomplete global picture.

"It would be nice if we had more global stations to enable the groups to do independent estimates using completely different raw data, but we don't have that luxury," Masters adds. "All three groups came up with very similar global temperature trends using mostly the same raw data but independent corrections. This should give us confidence that the three groups are probably doing reasonable corrections, given that the three final data sets match pretty well."

But NASA is somewhat less confident, having quietly decided to tweak its corrections to the climate data earlier this month.

In an updated analysis of the surface temperature data released on March 19, NASA adjusted the raw temperature station data to account for inaccurate readings caused by heat-absorbing paved surfaces and buildings in a slightly different way. NASA determines which stations are urban with nighttime satellite photos, looking for stations near light sources as seen from space.

Of course, this doesn't solve problems with NASA's data, as the newest paper admits: "Much higher resolution would be needed to check for local problems with the placement of thermometers relative to possible building obstructions," a problem repeatedly underscored by meteorologist Anthony Watts on his SurfaceStations.org Web site. Last month, Watts told FoxNews.com that "90 percent of them don't meet [the government's] old, simple rule called the '100-foot rule' for keeping thermometers 100 feet or more from biasing influence. Ninety percent of them failed that, and we've got documentation."

Still, "confidence" is not the same as scientific law, something the public obviously recognizes. According to a December survey, only 25 percent of Americans believed there was agreement within the scientific community on climate change. And unless things fundamentally change, it could remain that way, said Taylor.

"Until surface temperature data sets are truly independent of one another and are entrusted to scientists whose objectivity is beyond question, the satellite temperature record alone will not have any credibility," he said.

------------------------------

In other news, it appears the Germans have largely given up on the MMGW farce:

Achtung! Germans Giving Up on Global Warming

AP FOXNews.com

Germans citizens are rapidly losing faith in global warming following the Climate-gate scandals, according to a new report in Der Spiegel.

The report indicates that just 42 percent of Germans are worried about global warming, down substantially from the 62 percent that expressed concern with the state of the environment in 2006.

German news site The Local analyzed the results from the poll, conducted by polling company Infratest for the German newsmagazine. Many people have little faith in the information and prognosis of climate researchers, The Local explained, with a third questioned in the survey not giving them much credence.

This is thought to be largely due to mistakes and exaggerations recently discovered in a report of the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said the site.

Following the leak of numerous e-mails from a top climate-science facility, a seemingly endless catalog of mistakes, misstatements, and faulty assumptions by scientists working on the IPCC's report has been detailed in the past few months, all lumped under the Climate-gate umbrella.

According to The Local, Germany’s Leibniz Community, an umbrella organization including many climate research institutes, broke ranks by calling for the resignation of IPCC head Rajendra Pachauri.

Climate research has been put, “in a difficult situation,” said Ernst Rietschel president of the Leibniz Community. He said sceptics have been given an easy target by the IPCC and said Pachauri should take on the responsibility and resign.
 
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spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
5
76
A bank can record billions of credit card and other transactions for practically ever but these guys can't record temperature? What is wrong with this picture?
 

Corn

Diamond Member
Nov 12, 1999
6,389
29
91
Goddammit, haven't you been told already, the science is settled!!!!!!! Shut the hell up and bow down to your doomsday preaching carbon credit collecting overlords and be thankful they don't burn heretics at the stake anymore.

Fuck.
 

CrackRabbit

Lifer
Mar 30, 2001
16,642
62
91
A bank can record billions of credit card and other transactions for practically ever but these guys can't record temperature? What is wrong with this picture?

So you didn't read the article then...

That isn't surprising.
 

Schadenfroh

Elite Member
Mar 8, 2003
38,416
4
0
The lies of heretics, like Fox News, will never sway my faith that man is the primary cause of global warming.
 

Xenon

Senior member
Oct 16, 1999
774
16
81
Nasa couldn't even keep the original moon landing tapes or how they made the Apollo spacecraft. ie. if they wanted to use the same design they can't because they don't have them anymore. I don't find this hard to believe at all. What does it mean in regards to global warming? Not much, imo. The world is still warming.
 

Hacp

Lifer
Jun 8, 2005
13,923
2
81
Shush all you earth haters. There is man made global warming and the only way to solve it is to stop driving cars, eating meat, and using electricity. Al Gore said so.
 

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
5
76
So you didn't read the article then...

That isn't surprising.

Every town has records of temperatures going back 100+ years. Just use those. And how long has NOAA had buoys recording stuff? Quite a while.

-edit-
And regards to banks I bet you could still dig up ledgers from 100 years ago even if they haven't digitized them already.
 

CrackRabbit

Lifer
Mar 30, 2001
16,642
62
91
Every town has records of temperatures going back 100+ years. Just use those. And how long has NOAA had buoys recording stuff? Quite a while.

-edit-
And regards to banks I bet you could still dig up ledgers from 100 years ago even if they haven't digitized them already.

Corrections are needed, Masters says, "since there are only a few thousand surface temperature recording sites with records going back 100+ years." As such, climate agencies estimate temperatures in various ways for areas where there aren't any thermometers, to account for the overall incomplete global picture.

You should really read the article again.

Don't get me wrong, I don't agree with the doom and gloom global warming people, but blindly throwing crap out there is why people discount you so easily.
 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
57,173
18,809
146
Every town has records of temperatures going back 100+ years. Just use those. And how long has NOAA had buoys recording stuff? Quite a while.

-edit-
And regards to banks I bet you could still dig up ledgers from 100 years ago even if they haven't digitized them already.

The problem with the whole MMGW and "unprecedented warming" myths are that that historical data from local towns and cities is completely flawed. As towns and cities grew, so did their urban warm/hit spots. Buildings and pavement retain more heat not to mention air conditioners and other machinery put off a lot of heat, thus cities and towns are often many degrees warmer than rural areas.

It was this very thing that has led to all of this shit.

Has the earth warmed? Yes, but not nearly as much as they claim and the rate is no where near "unprecedented" unless you fudge data and use data flawed by urban hotspots.

Should we be celebrating the natural change? YES!!! ALL of human civilization has occurred during a very brief warming cycle. We are fucked when things go back into a deep freeze again.
 
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Jaskalas

Lifer
Jun 23, 2004
35,575
9,827
136
Nasa couldn't even keep the original moon landing tapes or how they made the Apollo spacecraft. ie. if they wanted to use the same design they can't because they don't have them anymore. I don't find this hard to believe at all. What does it mean in regards to global warming? Not much, imo. The world is still warming.

How much warming? They can't accurately tell you. Which blows out any credence to unprecedented man made warming.

Which means we sit back and enjoy the nicer weather instead of attempting to dictate oppressive carbon regimes and tyrannical energy policies against our fellow man.
 

Xenon

Senior member
Oct 16, 1999
774
16
81
The problem with the whole MMGW and "unprecedented warming" myths are that that historical data from local towns and cities is completely flawed. As towns and cities grew, so did their urban warm/hit spots. Building and pavement retain more heat, thus cities and towns are often many degrees warmer than rural areas.

It was this very thing that has led to all of this shit.

Has the earth warmed? Yes, but not nearly as much as they claim and the rate is no where near "unprecedented" unless you fudge data and use data flawed by urban hotspots.

Should we be celebrating the natural change? YES!!! ALL of human civilization has occurred during a very brief warming cycle. We are fucked when things go back into a deep freeze again.

So, you're saying that its a good thing if 100 years from now the US has a climate similiar to Mexico? That about right? I'm sure your great grandkids will thank you for making this decision for them.
 

Throckmorton

Lifer
Aug 23, 2007
16,829
3
0
The problem with the whole MMGW and "unprecedented warming" myths are that that historical data from local towns and cities is completely flawed. As towns and cities grew, so did their urban warm/hit spots. Buildings and pavement retain more heat not to mention air conditioners and other machinery put off a lot of heat, thus cities and towns are often many degrees warmer than rural areas.

It was this very thing that has led to all of this shit.

Has the earth warmed? Yes, but not nearly as much as they claim and the rate is no where near "unprecedented" unless you fudge data and use data flawed by urban hotspots.

Should we be celebrating the natural change? YES!!! ALL of human civilization has occurred during a very brief warming cycle. We are fucked when things go back into a deep freeze again.

Go back and read the threads where I explained why your logic makes no sense. Hint: I'm talking about the house insulation example
 

Xenon

Senior member
Oct 16, 1999
774
16
81
How much warming? They can't accurately tell you. Which blows out any credence to unprecedented man made warming.

Which means we sit back and enjoy the nicer weather instead of attempting to dictate oppressive carbon regimes and tyrannical energy policies against our fellow man.

Satellite data is pretty accurate and they are telling us that so far 2010 has been the warmest year on record. It may not feel like it to us here but remember land makes up a significantly smaller percentage of the earth than water.
 

werepossum

Elite Member
Jul 10, 2006
29,873
463
126
Satellite data is pretty accurate and they are telling us that so far 2010 has been the warmest year on record. It may not feel like it to us here but remember land makes up a significantly smaller percentage of the earth than water.
Satellite data for ground temperatures have to be corrected with known ground temperatures. Skew that set, skew both. This was its own little mini-scandal a few months back as people realized that the global satellite data which "verified" the ground data had in fact been adjusted using the ground temperature data rather than being independent. Then there's the fact that NASA's little trick changing the time of temperature collection went back only a couple years - but correcting it changed the "official" temperatures for decades back. These are not honest people.

Just as well that Obama made global warming NASA's primary mission, as I have no faith that NASA today could replicate the moon missions. More likely they'd get astronauts killed.
 
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Daedalus685

Golden Member
Nov 12, 2009
1,386
1
0
I wish they taught actual science in school... Oh how I wish...

'Bad' data is still useful data... All data has uncertainty... I have written papers using data I have described as 'bad' and it is still viable... It just means that I'll try harder next time. I'd love to have that perfect graph.. but that NEVER happens, I've been happy with results that have litterally exploded before, these things are common.

We are not in the business of disregarding anything... Have you people ever read a paper on some of the obscure things folks research? For fucks sake, I had to write a page about how insects threw off the equipment before!

Am I to believe that until the evidence of anything contains not one point of questionable data you folks are going to ignore it? Hell, we can all ignore all of the data that isn't agreed upon by 99% of experts and we still have PLENTY of evidence to show correlation between CO2 and warming, or warming trends over the last few years.

I have no bloody idea what TV show made science seem like some pure infallible thing but it has to stop... All we can be is pretty sure, there is no such thing as absolute certainty, as nothing in science is absolute. Folks make it seem like it is some great conspiracy... I assure you that any scientist worth his salt would LOVE to be wrong, that means they can learn... it is about understanding not fucking up the world with crazy ideas.

You know that there are competing theories to general relativity still right? We often hear about dark matter and the like but there are brilliant folks that think it is hooey and relativity is just slightly wrong. I don't hear people claiming Einstein was out to poison our minds.. What we knew was still good enough to send a probe to Neptune..

Yes, in 50 years someone will find some mechanism that works together with CO2 and all the other shit we pump into the air to warm things up... it still doesn't mean what we think now is wrong.. just incomplete, it is always incomplete.

Besides that... what self respecting engineer isn't wooed by efficiency? Why on earth would it be a bad thing to spend money on cars that don't pump out fumes when they drive? Why would it be a terrible thing to put resources into power that will allow my kids to know what a national park is?

So confused... Is it just that you folks don't like being told what to do? Thats fine but why on earth would you have a problem with stopping being so reliant on shit we dig out of the ground for our day to day lives... global warming or not all those things will run out eventually. The sensible thing is to invest now so in 100 years we don't fuck ourselves..
 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
57,173
18,809
146
Go back and read the threads where I explained why your logic makes no sense. Hint: I'm talking about the house insulation example

Oh I did. And if you think man is capable of making THAT drastic a change in the atmosphere, even if he tried to intentionally you're a fool.
 

Infohawk

Lifer
Jan 12, 2002
17,844
1
0
ALL of human civilization has occurred during a very brief warming cycle. We are fucked when things go back into a deep freeze again.

I agree. After I saw a documentary on the history of the planet I came to the conclusion that ultimately humans will want to affect the Earth's climate. But I don't think that is inconsistent with protecting the environment in the short term.
 

Hacp

Lifer
Jun 8, 2005
13,923
2
81
I wish they taught actual science in school... Oh how I wish...

'Bad' data is still useful data... All data has uncertainty... I have written papers using data I have described as 'bad' and it is still viable... It just means that I'll try harder next time. I'd love to have that perfect graph.. but that NEVER happens, I've been happy with results that have litterally exploded before, these things are common.

We are not in the business of disregarding anything... Have you people ever read a paper on some of the obscure things folks research? For fucks sake, I had to write a page about how insects threw off the equipment before!

Am I to believe that until the evidence of anything contains not one point of questionable data you folks are going to ignore it? Hell, we can all ignore all of the data that isn't agreed upon by 99% of experts and we still have PLENTY of evidence to show correlation between CO2 and warming, or warming trends over the last few years.

I have no bloody idea what TV show made science seem like some pure infallible thing but it has to stop... All we can be is pretty sure, there is no such thing as absolute certainty, as nothing in science is absolute. Folks make it seem like it is some great conspiracy... I assure you that any scientist worth his salt would LOVE to be wrong, that means they can learn... it is about understanding not fucking up the world with crazy ideas.

You know that there are competing theories to general relativity still right? We often hear about dark matter and the like but there are brilliant folks that think it is hooey and relativity is just slightly wrong. I don't hear people claiming Einstein was out to poison our minds.. What we knew was still good enough to send a probe to Neptune..

Yes, in 50 years someone will find some mechanism that works together with CO2 and all the other shit we pump into the air to warm things up... it still doesn't mean what we think now is wrong.. just incomplete, it is always incomplete.

Besides that... what self respecting engineer isn't wooed by efficiency? Why on earth would it be a bad thing to spend money on cars that don't pump out fumes when they drive? Why would it be a terrible thing to put resources into power that will allow my kids to know what a national park is?

So confused... Is it just that you folks don't like being told what to do? Thats fine but why on earth would you have a problem with stopping being so reliant on shit we dig out of the ground for our day to day lives... global warming or not all those things will run out eventually. The sensible thing is to invest now so in 100 years we don't fuck ourselves..

The troulbe is that Nasa interpolated temperatures from the grafted data thinking it was accurate. Turns out it wasn't so! Interpolate a temperature from bad data and you get two bad pieces of data.
 

Amused

Elite Member
Apr 14, 2001
57,173
18,809
146
I wish they taught actual science in school... Oh how I wish...

'Bad' data is still useful data... All data has uncertainty... I have written papers using data I have described as 'bad' and it is still viable... It just means that I'll try harder next time. I'd love to have that perfect graph.. but that NEVER happens, I've been happy with results that have litterally exploded before, these things are common.

We are not in the business of disregarding anything... Have you people ever read a paper on some of the obscure things folks research? For fucks sake, I had to write a page about how insects threw off the equipment before!

Am I to believe that until the evidence of anything contains not one point of questionable data you folks are going to ignore it? Hell, we can all ignore all of the data that isn't agreed upon by 99% of experts and we still have PLENTY of evidence to show correlation between CO2 and warming, or warming trends over the last few years.

I have no bloody idea what TV show made science seem like some pure infallible thing but it has to stop... All we can be is pretty sure, there is no such thing as absolute certainty, as nothing in science is absolute. Folks make it seem like it is some great conspiracy... I assure you that any scientist worth his salt would LOVE to be wrong, that means they can learn... it is about understanding not fucking up the world with crazy ideas.

You know that there are competing theories to general relativity still right? We often hear about dark matter and the like but there are brilliant folks that think it is hooey and relativity is just slightly wrong. I don't hear people claiming Einstein was out to poison our minds.. What we knew was still good enough to send a probe to Neptune..

Yes, in 50 years someone will find some mechanism that works together with CO2 and all the other shit we pump into the air to warm things up... it still doesn't mean what we think now is wrong.. just incomplete, it is always incomplete.

Besides that... what self respecting engineer isn't wooed by efficiency? Why on earth would it be a bad thing to spend money on cars that don't pump out fumes when they drive? Why would it be a terrible thing to put resources into power that will allow my kids to know what a national park is?

So confused... Is it just that you folks don't like being told what to do? Thats fine but why on earth would you have a problem with stopping being so reliant on shit we dig out of the ground for our day to day lives... global warming or not all those things will run out eventually. The sensible thing is to invest now so in 100 years we don't fuck ourselves..

OK, dataless,

The point is, we are being fed a HUGE amount of FUD based on bias and bad data. Period. And not only are we being fed this FUD, we are also having to pay for it through the nose.

I am all for finding an alternative to fossil fuels, and will make the switch just as soon as one comes along that is economically viable. In fact, the market WILL switch as soon as a viable alternative is found.

Until then, just stop the fear mongering, carbon taxing, guilt tripping, eco-religious bullshit.

Oh, and as for your uncertainty line, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle has an insignificant effect at macroscopic sizes, let alone on a global scale. So to claim uncertainty in the measurements in this case is pure bullshit.
 
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Daedalus685

Golden Member
Nov 12, 2009
1,386
1
0
The troulbe is that Nasa interpolated temperatures from the grafted data thinking it was accurate. Turns out it wasn't so! Interpolate a temperature from bad data and you get two bad pieces of data.

Anything you fail to measure directly has inherent uncertainty... any first year science student will have to take a class on uncertainty and know how it applies. Every single paper will have the uncertainty represented in the graphs, each time you interpolate (such as use a flawed measurement to calibrate a sensor, or apply an equation to takes some measured values and get a new value (like measuring voltage and resistance to get current)) you add to the uncertainty. Every sinlge scientist knows how to do this, everywhere... they all know what it means and they all know how to plot a trend using uncertain data. A bad pattern is still a pattern.. It is absolutely nonsensical to quote a value to a significant figure lower than the error, and no one would be allowed to publish something that did.

Even an error of +/- 50% in each and every point is still good enough to get a hell of a lot of information from. Such as warming trends, likely even a relatively good quadratic/exponential fit to it.

To add, the word is precise, not accurate. The data was not precise, you can't say if it was accurate until after the fact.
 

Hacp

Lifer
Jun 8, 2005
13,923
2
81
Anything you fail to measure directly has inherent uncertainty... any first year science student will have to take a class on uncertainty and know how it applies. Every single paper will have the uncertainty represented in the graphs, each time you interpolate (such as use a flawed measurement to calibrate a sensor, or apply an equation to takes some measured values and get a new value (like measuring voltage and resistance to get current)) you add to the uncertainty. Every sinlge scientist knows how to do this, everywhere... they all know what it means and they all know how to plot a trend using uncertain data. A bad pattern is still a pattern.. It is absolutely nonsensical to quote a value to a significant figure lower than the error, and no one would be allowed to publish something that did.

Even an error of +/- 50% in each and every point is still good enough to get a hell of a lot of information from. Such as warming trends, likely even a relatively good quadratic/exponential fit to it.

To add, the word is precise, not accurate. The data was not precise, you can't say if it was accurate until after the fact.

This isn't uncertainty. Its grafted data. They had data from trees saying that temperatures were lowering! What did they do? They cut out the data from the trees and added data from another source that said temperatures were warming.
 

Daedalus685

Golden Member
Nov 12, 2009
1,386
1
0
OK, dataless,

The point is, we are being fed a HUGE amount of FUD based on bias and bad data. Period. And not only are we being fed this FUD, we are also having to pay for it through the nose.

I am all for finding an alternative to fossil fuels, and will make the switch just as soon as one comes along that is economically viable. In fact, the market WILL switch as soon as a viable alternative is found.

Until then, just stop the fear mongering, carbon taxing, guilt tripping, eco-religious bullshit.

Oh, and as for your uncertainty line, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle has an insignificant effect at macroscopic sizes, let alone on a global scale. So to claim uncertainty in the measurements in this case is pure bullshit.

Really, you are calling me name now.... sigh.. What does dataless even mean?

and about the Heisenberg thing... If I could slap you through the screen I would...

Do you have any idea what you are talking about???? At all??? That is a quantum physics principal.. it has NOTHING to do with scientific uncertainty.. which is the founding principal of any discipline of science.... you know.. all that stuff about how a value is only as good as the measurement.. How on earth you pulled deltax*deltap >= h/4pi is beyond me...
 

Daedalus685

Golden Member
Nov 12, 2009
1,386
1
0
This isn't uncertainty. Its grafted data. They had data from trees saying that temperatures were lowering! What did they do? They cut out the data from the trees and added data from another source that said temperatures were warming.

Ok... I'm sorry... you guys don't know what uncertainty is... that is my bad


Every pint in every graph has an associated uncertainty.. if it does not the paper is invalid and no one would have ever read it. If NASA is publishing those sorts of things they should be fired... though they are not.

An error bar? have you seen one of those before?