Is NASA doctoring the climate data?
May 06 2008 by 
CyberCipher
The Register has a good summary of an article that recently appeared in the scientific journal Nature. Here's the link: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/02/a_tale_of_two_thermometers/ Is the data being doctored? The smoking gun in the article may be this paragraph:
"Looking at the NASA website, we can see that the person in charge of the
temperature data is the eminent Dr. James Hansen - Al Gore's science advisor and
the world's leading long-term advocate of global warming."
Continuing to the second page of the article, you will find this disturbing paragraph:
Bottom Line
"Both of the satellite data sources, as well as Had-Crut, show worldwide
temperatures falling below the IPCC estimates. Satellite data shows temperatures
near or below the 30 year average - but NASA data has somehow managed to stay on
track towards climate Armageddon. You can draw your own conclusions, but I see a
pattern that is troublesome. In science, as with any other endeavour, it is
always a good idea to have some separation between the people generating the
data and the people interpreting it."
My personal take on this: It is stuff like this that has caused a lot of good people to leave the agency (NASA) over the years.
Posted in Science | 
1 comments
May 24, 2008 at 3:42 PM
Thank you for your revealing post and link.
As the article noted, it’s fairly typical protocol for different folks to collect and analyze data sets; this precludes corrupting the source data, either accidentally or to suit the hypothesis of the analysis. Unfortunately, charging Dr. Hansen with global temperature data is akin to putting a fox in charge of the hen house-so to speak.
As NASA’s budgets have dwindled over the years (the real budget after planned ISS and shuttle mission expenditures) there has been increasing pressure to either leave (and take a job with a private firm where you may -shudder- have to earn your keep), or find some way to keep your job relevant. Owing to the number of legislators who have drank the cool-aid of global warming hysteria-and incorporated it into their arsenal of necessary lies- it’s not surprising that Hansen is attempting to milk this for all it’s worth!
It’s easy for Hansen’s minions to alter the historical data; and rely on the credibility of NASA to put said data beyond question. Fortunately, there are other, credible, data sources, both inside the US and abroad, that can be used to refute the deliberate manipulation of the facts. And, as a famous American said; facts are stubborn things!
I’ve long held that the real nature of climate change could not be assessed until a reasonable amount of reliable global temperature data had been amassed. In light of the possible sources of data corruption such as those noted in the article (i.e. proximity to cities, highways, etc.) it is reasonable to look to the satellite data for the most uniform, accurate, and global picture of what’s happening. No better illustration of this is needed than the data collected by UAH and RSS. I’m confidant that a more realistic picture will arise as the amount of collected satellite data increases.
It is unacceptable that Dr. Hansen is in charge of the global warming project at NASA. How he got there, and who appointed him, should be scrutinized carefully to try to get at the source of this global warming Manchurian candidate-so to speak. He should never have been more than a colleague amongst those consulted in the study and never the controlling entity!
In the aerospace engineering business we had a saying that came from old school accounting-figures never lie, but liars figure! There are but few choices; Hansen is either; 1) protecting his job, 2) stroking his own ego by confirming his personal belief, or 3) performing a more nefarious service by advancing someone else’s agenda.
With more people paying attention to the situation, as well as the new sources of data available across the web, it’s no surprise that the global warming apparatchiks are trying to shout down every source with their refrain; “the debate is over” and by re-branding global warming as climate change. But, as I mentioned before, facts are stubborn things. Perhaps, as a result of this expose, Dr. Hansen, as well as the entire climate change scare mongers, will find that their chickens are coming home to roost!