BREAKING NEWS: NIWA reveals NZ original climate data missing

From the "A goat ate my homework" excuse book:

More major embarrassment for New Zealand's 'leading' climate research unit NIWA tonight, with admissions that it "does not hold copies" of the original reports documenting adjustments to New Zealand's weather stations.

The drama hit the headlines worldwide in late November when serious questions were raised about the "adjustments" NIWA had made to weather records. The adjusted data shows a strong warming trend over the past century, whereas unadjusted records had nowhere near as much warming.

NIWA promised to make its data and corrections fully available, but responding to an Official Information Act request their legal counsel has now admitted it cannot provide copies of the original adjustment records.

Now, a news release from the Climate Science Coalition is blowing the NIWA climate scientists out of the water.

The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) has been urged by the New Zealand Climate Science Coalition (NZCSC) to abandon all of its in-house adjustments to temperature records. This follows an admission by NIWA that it no longer holds the records that would support its in-house manipulation of official temperature readings.

In December, NZCSC issued a formal request for the schedule of adjustments under the Official Information Act 1982, specifically seeking copies of “the original worksheets and/or computer records used for the calculations”. On 29 January, NIWA responded that they no longer held any internal records, and merely referred to the scientific literature.

“The only inference that can be drawn from this is that NIWA has casually altered its temperature series from time to time, without ever taking the trouble to maintain a continuous record. The result is that the official temperature record has been adjusted on unknown dates for unknown reasons, so that its probative value is little above that of guesswork. In such a case, the only appropriate action would be reversion to the raw data record, perhaps accompanied by a statement of any known issues,” said Terry Dunleavy, secretary of NZCSC.

“NIWA’s website carries the raw data collected from representative temperature stations, which disclose no measurable change in average temperature over a period of 150 years. But elsewhere on the same website, NIWA displays a graph of the same 150-year period showing a sharp warming trend. The difference between these two official records is a series of undisclosed NIWA-created ‘adjustments’.

“Late last year our coalition published a paper entitled ‘Are We Feeling Warmer Yet?’ and asked NIWA to disclose the schedule detailing the dates and reasons for the adjustments. The expressed purpose of NZCSC was to replicate the calculations, in the best traditions of peer-reviewed science.

“When NIWA did not respond, Hon Rodney Hide asked Oral and Written Questions in Parliament, and attended a meeting with NIWA scientists. All to no avail, and the schedule of adjustments remained a secret. We now know why NIWA was being so evasive - the requested schedule did not exist.

“Well qualified climate scientist members of our coalition believe that NIWA has forfeited confidence in the credibility of its temperature recording procedures, and that it cannot be trusted to try to cover up its own ineptitude by in-house adjustments. What is needed is open access in the public domain to all of the known reasons for post-reading adjustments to enable independent climate analysts to make their own comparative assessments of temperature variations throughout New Zealand since the middle of the 19th century,” said Mr Dunleavy.

I kid you not, you could write a book about these shenanigans. ;) If you are interested in reading about the quality of NZ's (and probably the rest of the world's) temperature stations, you could do worse than to read this study by meteorologist Jim Hessell from back in a time before the politics of global warming had encouraged scientists to hide the data.

UPDATE: BREAKING NEWS: Major error found in flagship IPCC WG1 report

UPDATE 2: http://briefingroom.typepad.com/the_briefing_room/2010/02/breaking-news-nz-govt-blasts-ipcc-hints-un-climate-process-may-be-dumped.html

Comments

[CM]

Yeah because that describes the entire IPCC report accurately doesn't it.

[CM]

>>>CM - the main question is whether future IPCC reports will be more accurate, non-politicised and properly peer-reviewed.<<<

Absolutely. Although I'm not so sure there is much evidence that the 2007 report is politicised. Not correctly following processes doesn't equate to politicising.

>>>Some warming is evident, that is accepted, whether the rate is catastrophically alarming or unprecedented is disputed.<<<

It's not really disputed. There is a significant disconnect between what most climate scientists think and what most people believe they think.

>>>The best thing that could happen for climate science now is that all data, studies and models are published on the web and allowed to be scrutinised by all stake holders (i.e the global populace) who feel so inclined.<<<

Almost all of them are anyway. It's the most open scientific endeavour ever undertaken. But yeah, for sure, sort out the issues over intellectual property and try to get everythig out there.
I don't honestly believe it will make a difference to the idiots though. They'll still believe what they want to believe. Even in the face of facts they'll just continue to claim that it's all a big conspiracy / fraud.

[ZenTiger]

Damn the government for not getting their science from blogs! What is the world coming to!?

Signing into Copenhagen is nothing to do with science, it is a political response to the science,

So it's a case of damn the government for being keen to wipe out jobs and stress our economy for questionable gain.

It is important to realise though that the government will simply plough on regardless of public reaction. Deals will be done, and money will be transferred and we could have a referendum with an 88% result demanding the government stop, and that will do absolutely nothing, even if it seems that way at the time.

Things will get much, much, worse before they can get any better. And "getting better" will seem far more painful than leaving things alone.

The system is designed that way.

[Pete]

CM -What experience and knowledge do the Stats Dept people have about climate? That might lead you to the answer.
Actually it doesn't lead to the answer. NIWA and other climate organisations are not competent in this area. What the Stats Dept is expert in is the gathering and management of data. They don't need to know a whole lot about climate at all.
We need to separate of ownership of the data from organisations such as NIWA. This is the public temperature record and as such is not part of the intellectual property of NIWA. The data and the operations performed on it must be totally transparent.
After all many other government departments utilise information collected for them by the Stats dept.
.

[CM]

>>>Damn the government for not getting their science from blogs! What is the world coming to!?

Signing into Copenhagen is nothing to do with science, it is a political response to the science,

So it's a case of damn the government for being keen to wipe out jobs and stress our economy for questionable gain.

It is important to realise though that the government will simply plough on regardless of public reaction. Deals will be done, and money will be transferred and we could have a referendum with an 88% result demanding the government stop, and that will do absolutely nothing, even if it seems that way at the time.

Things will get much, much, worse before they can get any better. And "getting better" will seem far more painful than leaving things alone.

The system is designed that way.<<<

Serves them right for voting in that communist National government then.

[CM]

>>>Actually it doesn't lead to the answer. NIWA and other climate organisations are not competent in this area. What the Stats Dept is expert in is the gathering and management of data. They don't need to know a whole lot about climate at all.
We need to separate of ownership of the data from organisations such as NIWA. This is the public temperature record and as such is not part of the intellectual property of NIWA. The data and the operations performed on it must be totally transparent.
After all many other government departments utilise information collected for them by the Stats dept.<<<

I think we should just let Antony Watts and Ross McKitrick do all the analysis. They are the only ones who seem to get it all right. Probably because Blog Science is REAL SCIENCE. Or maybe the Center for Science and Public Policy - their pages are pretty and they repeat the main FACTS on each one which makes it EASY to DIGEST. Not like those papers from Team Science where they hide their declining careers.

[CM]

BTW For the sake of a kiddies, please let there be no more taxes.

Also:

"Here is the most important fact about climatology science: There is a massive amount of randomness in the complexities of climate, and the randomness multiplies for each interacting factor. There is no higher knowlege that turns randomness into a measurement or calculation. For this reason, all but the simplest measurements or calculations in climatology are a fraud. The fakery of pretending to reduce any question to analysis with a number is charlatanism.

Become the tortoise, not the hare by learning this most important fact about climatology science (not to be confused with climate science which has an even worse reputation). There is a massive amount of randomness, not only in climate but even in the very complexities of climate.

That randomness alone has a large mass - I don't know how much, Gary fortunately doesn't bother wasting time quantifying things. I imagine it's possibly the kind of mass that can collapse stars. But it doesn't end there. That mass of randomness multiplies you see - for each interacting factor, until it's so massive that it can probably collapse an entire galaxy of stars.

There is no higher knowledge that can turn randomness into a measurement, or even a calculation. Think of a dice - how could a higher knowledge possibly measure the result of a series of dice throws, let alone calculate anything about the behavior? This is why as Einstein proved, God never plays with dice - he just cannot be bothered wasting his time on such a random activity.

And so in conclusion, that's why climate science is a fraud."

http://denialdepot.blogspot.com/2010/01/climatology-101.html

So say we all.

[bk]

"Luke, when you need to rely on ridiculous exaggerations... it's a good sign that you're not being objective or rational." mmm gee thats pretty much what the IPCC did,rely on ridiculous exaggerations

[CM]

>>>mmm gee thats pretty much what the IPCC did,rely on ridiculous exaggerations<<<

Ian, you must be so proud of your flock.

[Michel Cejnar]

Hang on guys, this is no laughing matter. NIWA blustered, derided and blocked for months requests for adjustments to official public records used to support NZ and major global governance decisions, and now they casually say, oh, we LOST the adjustments, but how dare you not trust us. Is this right?

Well if they used standard published methodology (which by the way states adjustments at time can only be fairly arbitrary) they can blo*dy well recreate them and then publish them Failing this - the data must be expunged from the record and wherever they were quoted, the head of the unit fired, and all previous results from that unit audited.

This is not data on the price of donuts. The NZ news media have to be made to understand the gravity of accepting such scientific misconduct - no 'official' data will be believed by the public.

[NucEngineer]

And Winston looked at the sheet handed him:
“Adjustments prior to 1972 shall be -0.2 degrees and after 1998 shall be +0.3 degrees.”

Winston wondered at the adjustment to the data. At this point, no one even knows if the data, prior to his adjustments, was raw data or already adjusted one or more times previously.

It didn’t matter. All Winston was sure of is that one of the lead climatologists needed more slope to match his computer model outputs. He punched out the new Fortran cards and then dropped the old cards into the Memory Hole where they were burned.

“There!” Winston exclaimed to himself. “Now the temperature data record is correct again; all is double-plus good.”

[M. Simon]

The current incarnation is still really good. You're blatantly overstating the significance of these errors because it fits your narrative.

I expect two reports from Climbing Magazine instead of one. That would make the report twice as good. Toss in a Pachauri novel and it could be a best seller. NSFW or kids.

The one thing you have to admit is that the money is good even if the science is a bit frayed around the edges and has holes in the middle.

[CM]

The crazies sure are out in force now.

M Simon, more exaggeration simply confirms what I said.

[wuberman]

Anyone know when earth hour is this year? Or as I call it melt the electrical panel hour. Maybe the politicians will take a clue from a new record usage high this year.

[dave72]

Climate "scientists" rank just below phrenologists and astrologers. They couldn't hold a real job in industry, so they keep lying to get more government grants.

[tROUTmAN]

Stop smoking wEEd CM

[ade]

Follow the links and find the real green mafia

http://euro-med.dk/?p=11956

[CM]

>>>Climate "scientists" rank just below phrenologists and astrologers. They couldn't hold a real job in industry, so they keep lying to get more government grants.<<<

You got the funding accusation in there but otherwise that was a poor effort. Too random.
4/10

[CM]

>>>Stop smoking wEEd CM<<<

sTarT smoKIng WeEd tROUTmAN

[Tex Slim]

Guys, CM obviously prefers to remain a zombie, completely oblivious to the truth. Why waste time preaching to the perverted?

The only sad thing is there are enough like him (her?) around that this dead horse will continue to be whipped by them for some time. Hopefully the quiescent sun and rapidly cooling Earth will put an end to it, though. Time will tell!