3 ms·

The data points become invalid. You can't just adjust them to become valid, then you are no longer measuring. You are telling the data what to be. There is no

The data points become invalid. You can't just adjust them to become valid, then you are no longer measuring. You are telling the data what to be. There is no math that can do this, which is WHY apolitical physicists/engineers/mathtypes mock climate science. When doctors tell you normal body temperature is 98 degrees they are dumbing it down for you, instead of relying on bad sampling from the past. Not that medical science is that great either.

eesmith 9y ago
How do they become invalid? Suppose a station uses a mercury thermometer for the first 80 years then switches to a thermocouple, with an overlap of 10 years were both thermometers are run side-by-side. Suppose also that it shows that the old thermometer consistently reads 0.25° warmer than the digital one, and that calibration tests show that the new thermometer is accurate. Do all of the old data points get thrown out of the window? What's wrong with adjusting the old temperatures by 0.25°?
Oletros 9y ago
> The data points become invalid. https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/01/thorough-not-thoroughly-fabricated-the-truth-about-global-temperature-data/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/01/thorough-not-thoroug... Every data from every experiment in every field has to be adjusted, raw data is meaningless
sliverstorm 9y ago
If you're an physicist/engineer/mathtype, you should know many measurements always come with adjustments. All digital thermometers, for example, have non-linear response with temperature, and thus are linearized (adjusted) with a complex model that represents the response character of a thermistor (or any other digital temperature sensor). There's whole disciplines in engineering that deal with getting good data from imperfect sensors. Have you heard of sensor fusion? Whole field that uses multiple sensors to mutually correct error. Have you ever wondered why digital barometers come with a thermometer? No, it's not because it's convenient, it's because a raw digital barometers reading fluctuates with temperature, so the temperature sensor is used to correct the raw output.

eesmith 9y ago

How do they become invalid? Suppose a station uses a mercury thermometer for the first 80 years then switches to a thermocouple, with an overlap of 10 years were both thermometers are run side-by-side. Suppose also that it shows that the old thermometer consistently reads 0.25° warmer than the digital one, and that calibration tests show that the new thermometer is accurate. Do all of the old data points get thrown out of the window? What's wrong with adjusting the old temperatures by 0.25°?

Oletros 9y ago

> The data points become invalid. https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/01/thorough-not-thoroughly-fabricated-the-truth-about-global-temperature-data/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/01/thorough-not-thoroug... Every data from every experiment in every field has to be adjusted, raw data is meaningless

sliverstorm 9y ago

If you're an physicist/engineer/mathtype, you should know many measurements always come with adjustments. All digital thermometers, for example, have non-linear response with temperature, and thus are linearized (adjusted) with a complex model that represents the response character of a thermistor (or any other digital temperature sensor). There's whole disciplines in engineering that deal with getting good data from imperfect sensors. Have you heard of sensor fusion? Whole field that uses multiple sensors to mutually correct error. Have you ever wondered why digital barometers come with a thermometer? No, it's not because it's convenient, it's because a raw digital barometers reading fluctuates with temperature, so the temperature sensor is used to correct the raw output.