Okay fence sitters we are going to open up a whole new facet of our journey together. How is research conducted in the scientific community. Arranged in the order of magnitude.
1. Empirical data.
2. Proxy studies.
3. Computer simulations.
From time to time I will discuss two and three. Right now I want to talk about number one. How is empirical data collected in climate science? Temperature measurement is the best data. Simple and straight forward done by satellite or temperature readings on the ground. Can’t go wrong with that, right? As of 2007 there are 1221 USHCN sites on the continental United States. 55 % of them are MMTS stations. Maximum/minimum Temperature Stations. 21% are MMTS with CRS. Following is a link to a NOAA website on guidelines of how these sites are properly set up. This is done to minimized bias data sets.
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/coop/standard.htmThere are five basic guidelines to set up a good station.
1. 5 +or- 1 feet off the ground.
2. Level open clearing.
3. No steep slope.
4. No closer than 4 times the height to a building, fence, ect,.
5. At least 100 feet from pavement or a concrete surface.
Simple and straight forward. Here is a photo of a properly set up USHCN station along with the NASA Giss data graph for this station located at Susanville, California. Giss Station ID 425724890030
Now here is a USHCN site that is not properly set up located at Marysville, California. Giss Station ID 425745000030, and its corresponding NASA Giss graph for that station.
Notice any difference? This station violates guidelines 4 and 5. Pavement and concrete literally a foot away. A building within 15 feet not the required 4 times the height of the building. Add to that cars, AC exhaust, and a metal cell tower.
How many similar stations are out there? How many would bias the data?
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