As if global warming wasn’t already a controversial problem, the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has decided to add fuel to the pyre by publishing a study which debunked the common theory that global temperatures haven’t really risen in the past two decades, which was almost universally panned by critics and scientists in the hours since.
The paper, published yesterday in Science magazine, claimed that new temperature measuring techniques have shown that global temperature rise in the last two decades has remained as steady as in the late 20th century; contradicting a 2013 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) study which pushed forward the idea that temperature rise has significantly slowed down in the 21st century, leading to a global warming hiatus
However, the study has received intense criticism almost immediately after publication, with one of its most vehement rebuttal coming from UK think tank Global Warming Policy Forum. The GWPF goes as far as considering the paper as an “express report” which is nowhere near the requirements of being taken serious, and also accuses its authors of adjusting temperature measurements to fit their theory without any solid basis.
Apparently, the research – conducted under lead author Tom Karl, director of the National Center for Environmental Information – tried to justify its measurements by exploiting what it viewed as a loophole: the fact that temperature measurements are mostly made at land rather than at sea, where the temperature increase could allegedly be better observed. The measurement adjustments were explained by the fact that the methods used for measuring ocean temperatures have evolved over time and weren’t actually accurate in the past, tending to show lower than actual temperatures.
The measurements contrast with all other prior land temperature measurements (including satellite ones), so you can see why fellow scientists were quite eager to see the exact scientific reasoning behind the paper’s theory. However, the reasoning provided for this new measurement has appalled many in the few hours since it has been published.
The GWPF posted an 8-point rebuttal of the paper Thursday night on its website, detailing the unreliable methods, erroneous assumptions and unexplained temperature adjustments done by the authors. It criticizes the fact that the authors did not include any data measurements from the Argo array, the largest oceanic temperature profiling fleet in the world. The GWPF also argues that while adjusting temperatures due to change in measuring instruments over the years is valid, the sheer magnitude of the adjustments is never explained in the paper, leaving the impression that they were handpicked just to prove the theory it was putting forward.
Image Source: Breitbart
