Global Temperatures

by Kerby Anderson, Point of View: We have heard lots of discussion these last few weeks about temperature data that was manipulated in order to provide evidence for man-made global warming. But it would be wise to revisit a previous discussion about temperature data that was misinterpreted. In the film "An Inconvenient Truth" Al Gore states that nine of the ten hottest years in the continental U.S. have occurred in 1995 or later. And the hottest year on record was 1998.

This was one of the most powerful statements he made in his documentary. But two years ago we found out that it was wrong. A Canadian mathematician by the name of Stephen McIntyre looked at the temperature data collected by NASA and found an error. It turns out the hottest year was actually 1934. And if you look at the 15 hottest years in America, they are spread over seven decades.

Once this data hit the news, you had two predictable reactions. Both of them are wrong. Some used this new data as justification for calling global warming a "scientific hoax." This is certainly not justified. We now hopefully have more accurate data and can begin to understand what is taking place on our planet.

The other reaction was to simply suggest that this modification of temperature data for America was insignificant. After all, the U.S. accounts for just two percent of the world's land mass. So they argue that any reevaluation of our temperatures doesn't mean much when we are looking at global temperatures.

The problem with that view is simple: if U.S. temperatures registered by one of the most sophisticated systems of temperature monitoring are wrong, so might other temperatures taken around the world. McIntyre notes that many of these stations in China, Indonesia, Brazil, and elsewhere are in urban areas that would be affected by the same errors as he found in the U.S.

So this revised U.S. temperature model for the last few decades is very different from the original U.S. model and should be the one we are talking about. What we are finding is while some of the data was manipulated, other data was misinterpreted. Perhaps it is time to go back and check all the data. I'm Kerby Anderson, and that's my point of view.

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