In 2009, significant corruption and heat biases were discovered in NOAA stations.
The Heartland Institute’s investigation now shows that this distortion problem has worsened.
The group argues that such placement issues compromise the accuracy and reliability of the U.S. surface temperature records.
The study, assembled through satellite data and physical survey visits to NOAA stations, indicates that urbanization’s localized effects have corrupted an alarming 96% of these stations.
Most are situated close to asphalt, machinery, and various other objects that generate, trap, or amplify heat, resulting in a heat-bias.
Such station placements are in violation of NOAA’s established guidelines, thereby raising serious doubts about the strength and validity of official assertions regarding long-term climate warming trends in the U.S.
Anthony Watts, Senior Fellow at the Heartland Institute and the study’s director, commented, “With a 96 percent warm-bias in U.S. temperature measurements, it is impossible to use any statistical methods to derive an accurate climate trend for the U.S.”
He further noted, “Data from the stations that have not been corrupted by faulty placement show a rate of warming in the United States reduced by almost half compared to all stations.”
The NOAA’s own “Requirements and Standards for [National Weather Service] Climate Observations” mandate that temperature data instruments be placed “over level terrain (earth or sod) typical of the area around the station and at least 100 feet from any extensive concrete or paved surface.”
It also explicitly directs to avoid areas where rough terrain or air drainage would result in non-representative temperature data.
However, the study’s findings point to routine violations of these requirements.
The Heartland Institute, established in 1984, is a globally recognized free-market think tank.
It is known for championing the works of scientists who question the prevailing view that human activities are the prime drivers of climate change.
Read the full study.
The BBC is politically to the left of MSNBC here. For more objective British TV see GBNews. Computer models are digital alchemy. Those who create the models can set them up to produce whatever results they want them to produce. The political posture of the BBC has been an issue in British elections. The British print media still often practices real journalism instead of acting as propagadists, but Pravda of the Stalin era seems to be the role model of the BBC.
The leader of the UK's Reform Party aptly calls Net Zero "Net Stupid".