NASA and the NOAA: are they politically motivated?

By Alex Perkins

In a joint press release published on January 16, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) declared 2014 as the “warmest year in modern record”. Acting in a highly misleading manner, NASA and the NOAA failed to report that the statistics used as a basis to for their claims were only respectively, 48% and 38% likely to be accurate.

Utilizing two systems for measuring surface temperature, NASA and NOAA claim that 2014 was the warmest year on record – by .04º Celsius. Like all large aggregations of data, the surface temperature systems are subject to a margin of error. In this case, the margin of error is statistically significant. When applied, the margin shows that it is statistically impossible to distinguish 2005, 2010, 2014 or any year after 2000 as the “hottest year” on record.

The two largest satellite temperature measuring systems in the U.S., RSS and UAH, support this position. These satellite systems, unlike the surface monitors used by NASA and NOAA, record atmospheric temperatures at various altitudes along with sea and land based temperatures by measuring radiances in various wavelength bands. Until 2000, NASA and NOAA utilized the records of these satellites because the data aligned with their political position about global warming.  Once the satellite records began to show global temperatures tapering off after 2000, NASA and NOAA began to discredit and distance themselves from the satellite systems. Yet, according to many leading climatologists, the RSS and UAH satellite systems offer more accurate and more comprehensive data for modeling global temperature than the land-based surface monitors used by NASA and NOAA. These satellite systems cover a more expansive area of the global landscape and their data is less prone to manipulation.

NASA and NOAA have regrettably dipped their toes into the public policy arena. Their reckless science has gained traction among major news sources. It’s no wonder that NASA is currently facing defunding threats when the work they do can be so easily be revealed to be inaccurate and blatantly false.