ToughStations.org:
Pouring Salt On Climate Critics "Contaminated" Wounds

Over at our sister site we've listed some very strong evidence that heat islands do not impact NASA's surface temperature records. Some of the evidence includes two independent satellite system that show the same temperature trend as the surface stations



and the observation that most of the warming is occurring at the north pole (far away from major cities).



One would think that obvious conclusion is that global warming is real and is not a set of false readings caused by urban heat islands.


Despite this, climate change critics (the word critic does not distinguish between denier and skeptic) Anthony Watts and Steve McIntyre have been harshly criticizing the surface record. They've been on a nation wide effort to photograph and critique every surface station in the US. Out of 1,221 surface stations they've already photographed and cataloged 33.09% of them. The stations have been ranked anywhere from class 1 (best) to class 5 which are described as:

Class 5 (error >= 5C) - Temperature sensor located next to/above an artificial heating source, such a building, roof top, parking lot, or concrete surface."

Professor Eli Rabett recently pointed out that John V, over at Climate Audit, analyzed the temperature records of the worst stations and the best stations.


As you can see from the picture above NASA's temperature trend (black) matches closely with both the best (red) and the worst (green) temperature stations. It would appear that even the most "contaminated" stations the climate critics use to refute global warming (whether or not they are actually part of NASA's temperature record) do a surprisingly decent job of reporting temperature trends. Clearly the surface stations are tough little instruments. It is also wise to notice that the best (red) stations match NASA's readings (black) with very high precision.

So I decided to create ToughStations.org to see just how tough these stations are. ToughStations.org will be posting pictures of the class 5 surface stations, their USHCN identification number, GHCN identification number and the surfacestations.org official critique/description. Each picture will also come with a link to surfacestations.org so you can see all of the pictures relevant to that station. ToughStations.org will post 10 stations at a time until the original 58 class 5's are all posted. Remember, these are the worst of the worst. Since NASA uses satellite photos to remove stations that are near bright lights I will try and figure out which of these stations (if any) are a part of NASA's official temperature record.

Station #1:
28815 TUCSON U OF AZ
Photo not available

Station #2
41715
CHICO UNIV FARM
electronics package within 8" of sensor, asphalt 20'
STO, CHICO UNIVERSITY FARM



For those that can't tell the box in the bottom right is a battery.

Station #3
41758 - 72290002
CHULA VISTA
building/asphalt/vehicles about 3 meters away


Station #4
42910 - 72594000
EUREKA WSO
building/asphalt @ 10 & 5 meters away, tree shading


Station #5
43747 - 74702001
HANFORD
building/asphalt @ 2 meters away large parking lot


Station #6
43761 - 72597002
HAPPY CAMP
building/asphalt/vehicles about 2 meters away


Station #7
43875-74516006
building/asphalt/vehicles about 2 m away, shading
HEALDSBURG FIRE DEPT


Station #8
44713- 74501004
LAKE SPAULDING
building 3 meters away, over rock/boat metal tower

The old location of the sensor:

And the new location of the sensor (on the tower)



Station #9
45032-72492001
asphalt about 3 m away, building 10 m
STO, CITY OF LODI


Station #10
45385
asphalt 1 m away, buildings with a/c unit 3 m
STO, MARYSVILLE FIRE DEPT



Station #11
46074-74516003
building w/ac unit about 3 meters away, asphalt 2 m
MTR, NAPA STATE HOSPITAL

Stephen McIntyre says 'Al gore is fat, should "lead a penguin army"'
He Then Indirectly Admits a Consensus.



The global warming skeptic/denier and mining executive Stephen McIntyre that runs Climate Audit has some not so nice things to say about Al Gore's presentation at the fall American Geophysical Union conference:

Gore has gotten a little stout over the years and a little jowly, as though he was subconsciously morphing into a shape more suitable to lead a penguin army.

Ladies and gentlemen, once again the Denier's have removed their gloves and are hitting below the belt. There is nothing like good old fashioned demagoguery. Yet in the comments McIntyre follows up:

.... try to be a little bit funny, not just juvenile. Gore’s a public figure and fair comment. If he chooses to comment on this blog, we will treat him politely as we expect you to treat other participants here.

So calling someone fat and and comparing their looks to a penguin is polite? Ok. What I find most interesting is it seems as if he indirectly admits there's a consensus on global warming. For all of those that don't know, the fall AGU is the largest convention on the subject of climate change. And this is how McIntyre describes the meeting:

Al Gore was welcomed by a standing ovation from about 4,000 scientists from the AGU convention.....

and here too:

Then Gore’s friend and mentor, Gore himself said, “Now is the time”, before leaving to a standing ovation.

So if global warming is a hoax, why does the "penguin general" Al Gore get a standing ovation by 4,000 scientists? For all of those who are still unsure about the consensus please read this rather long list of quotes.

Disclaimer:
Please keep in mind I do not advocate personal attacks. I'm merely pointing out the hypocrisy in those that resort to non-scientific ad hominem attacks.

Source:
Climate Audit, Day Four - Al Gore, Steve McIntyre, Thursday, December 14th, 2006 at 11:47 pm