No offense to NASA, but as far as maintaining the official US surface temperature records, it’s the job of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
And according to the official NOAA record, the 10 hottest years begin with 1998, followed by 2006.
But according to recent histrionics from the climate change denial industry, 1998 is no longer the hottest year in the US. However, this correction was made by the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) who is not officially charged with maintaining US temperature data.
There is an important distinction to be made between NOAA and NASA when it comes to temperature data. In a recent conversation with a top climate scientist I was told that the majority of climate scientists rely on NOAA‘s data, not NASA‘s.
This of course will not faze the climate denial industry. They’ll continue to think that a minor correction in regional data (data not used by most climate scientists), somehow brings into question the overwhelming scientific evidence for human-induced climate change.
NOAA or NASA? It’s splitting hairs over what is clearly a minor adjustment being blown way out of proportion by some with a vested interest in delaying action on carbon emissions.
Even the Junk Man Steve Milloy states that “I [he] am [is] prepared to acknowledge that Mr. McIntyre’s discovery amounts to what a New York Times reporter calls a ‘statistically meaningless’ rearrangement of data.”
But some, like Brett Bozell’s oil-industry-backed echo chamber, are more than happy to continue beating the denier drum on this one.
