Hot Water

UPDATE:

Well, since the time I noted the record was different from Doc. Spencer at the link below, WUWT found on ICECAP an article which shows that NOAA has ignored um…satellite data which provides a reduced global value that means no record was set.  I guess we don’t need to keep funding those inconvenient satellites.

A quote from WUWT

AMS Fellow and CCM, Joe D’Aleo of ICECAP has this to say about it:.

Icecap Note: to enable them to make the case the oceans are warming, NOAA chose to remove satellite input into their global ocean estimation and not make any attempt to operationally use Argo data in the process. This resulted in a jump of 0.2C or more and ‘a new ocean warmth record’ in July. ARGO tells us this is another example of NOAA’s inexplicable decision to corrupt data to support political agendas.
http://www.icecap.us/

Read more at WUWT – Link here. —It’s like a local newspaper advertising the superbowl(WUWT) but this appears that it may be another instance where the NOAA has overstepped science in search of headlines.

NOAA mission statement—- To boldly go where no man has gone before.

Bob Tisdale has an interesting post on it here and is quoted below:

The Hadley Centre’s HADSST2 does not show record SST anomalies for July, August, or for the Summer of 2009. Far from it. Refer to Figure 5. The Hadley Centre uses different techniques to smooth and infill missing data. The differences between the Hadley Centre and NOAA methodologies are explained in the NOAA paper about the ERSST.v3b data, “Improvements to NOAA’s Historical Merged Land-Ocean Surface Temperature Analysis (1880-2006)”.

==========

Copied entirely from the NOAA page.  Link here

The NOAA results are a little different from Dr. Spencer’s HERE.

I wonder if any scientist really believe that early ocean temps taken from buckets hoisted by rope and measured are anywhere near accurate enough to nail the old temp. record down to within 0.5 C.  I sure don’t.

It makes a good headline though

=======================

NOAA – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – NOAA: Warmest Global Sea-Surface Temperatures for August and Summer

NOAA: Warmest Global Sea-Surface Temperatures for August and Summer

September 16, 2009

East-west hemisphere anomaly.

Global surface temperature anomalies for the month of August 2009. Temperature is compared to the average global temperature from 1961-1990.

Visualization of world’s land and ocean surface temperature.

High resolution (Credit: NOAA)

The world’s ocean surface temperature was the warmest for any August on record, and the warmest on record averaged for any June-August (Northern Hemisphere summer/Southern Hemisphere winter) season according to NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The preliminary analysis is based on records dating back to 1880.

NCDC scientists also reported that the combined average global land and ocean surface temperature for August was second warmest on record, behind 1998. For the June-August 2009 season, the combined global land and ocean surface temperature was third warmest on record.

Global Highlights – Summer

  • The June-August worldwide ocean surface temperature was also the warmest on record at 62.5 degrees F, 1.04 degrees F above the 20th century average of 61.5 degrees F.
  • The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for the June-August season was 61.2 degrees F, which is the third warmest on record and 1.06 degrees F above the 20th century average of 60.1 degrees F.

Global Highlights – August

  • The worldwide ocean surface temperature of 62.4 degrees F was the warmest on record for any August, and 1.03 degrees F above the 20th century average of 61.4 degrees F.
  • Separately, the global land surface temperature of 58.2 degrees F was 1.33 degrees F above the 20th century average of 56.9 degrees F, and ranked as the fourth warmest August on record.
  • Large portions of the world’s land mass observed warmer-than-average temperatures in August. The warmest departures occurred across Australia, Europe, parts of the Middle East, northwestern Africa, and southern South America. Both Australia and New Zealand had their warmest August since their records began.
  • The Southern Hemisphere average temperatures for land and ocean surface combined were the warmest on record for August.

Other Notable Developments

Current sea ice extent as measured by NOAA’s GOES, POES, and DMSP satellites.

High resolution (Credit: NOAA)

  • For the year to date, the combined global land and ocean surface temperature of 58.3 degrees F tied with 2003 for the fifth-warmest January-August period on record. This value is 0.99 degree F above the 20th century average.
  • According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), Arctic sea ice covered an average of 2.42 million square miles during August. This is 18.4 percent below the 1979-2000 average extent, and is generally consistent with a decline of August sea ice extent since 1979.
  • NSIDC data indicated Antarctic sea ice extent in August was 2.7 percent above the 1979-2000 average. This is consistent with the trend during recent decades of modest increases in August Antarctic sea ice extent.

Watch NOAA’s visualization of the world’s land and ocean surface temperature.

NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the oceans to surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources.

======================

NOAA understands and predicts?!

12 thoughts on “Hot Water

  1. Interesting thing about past temp measurements (especially zee buckets! Hehe….) A new study recons that the 1918 El Nino (warm equatorial Pacific conditions) was under observed. If so, that could mean that, at least in that part of the world, observations have lead to erroneous past temps, which in this case would mean they over estimated the degree to which recent temps are higher than the past.

    Click to access Gieseetal2009.pdf

    And an image which shows the official Nino record with a dot marking the estimated “true” anomaly in 1918/19:

  2. In the visualization you can see +5°C for Paris. Where did they get that from? Meteo-France says something between +2°C and +3°C. France was 2.2°C warmer and Germany (from DWD) was also about 2°C warmer in August.

  3. Boris,

    If all the datasets except one show that this was not a record year, do you think the NOAA might consider mentioning that rather than the headline they put up.

    Or is it your informed opinion that NOAA experts aren’t aware of that detail.

    Who’s the denier today?

  4. The local climate research Institute, NIWA, also noted that we had near record lows for June and July. Why didn’t NOAA mention that? Or is it because the lows are just weather?

  5. 10-Oh, sorry Bob. Okay, hope this makes up for it:

    The correct citation for the above image is Bob Tisdale, of:

    http://bobtisdale.blogspot.com/

    in the post:

    http://bobtisdale.blogspot.com/2009/09/el-nino-events-are-not-getting-stronger.html

    Now, let me just say that I never do anything like that with the intention of giving the impression that I’m presenting anything other than someone else’s work. In making quick comments, most of the time I just write something up quickly barely considering such things. Which is, in retrospect, sloppy and bad practice. So, in the future, I’ll remember to not forget to remember to cite properly.

    :blush: I’m full of screw ups today. 😦

Leave a comment