nasa and washington posts juliet

NASA and the Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin team up on some shoddy

climate reporting

Here.

Just a few comments:

1. Incredibly, the story makes no mention at all of satellite

temperature measurements.

I completely agree with Climate Skeptic here:

It is just another reason why the surface temperature measurement

system is crap, and we should be depending on satellites instead.

Can anyone come up with one single answer as to why climate

scientists eschew satellite measurements for surface temperatures

EXCEPT that the satellites don't give the dramatic answer they want

to hear? Does anyone for one second imagine that any climate

scientist would spend 5 seconds defending the surface temperature

measurement system over satellites if satellites gave higher

temperature readings?

More on the non-alarming temperatures measured by satellites is here,

here and here.

2. Note this odd claim:

While a 1-degree rise may not seem like much, it represents a major

shift in a world where average temperatures over broad regions

rarely vary more than a couple hundredths of a degree.

Where, when, and how was the data collected to back up that statement?

Can we see this data?

3. At the top of the article, we see a picture of a ringed seal, with

a note saying that its habitat is "threatened". Do we have any

evidence that ringed seal populations are declining?

An excerpt from this page:

The most numerous subspecies is the Arctic ringed seal, P. h.

hispida, found in all Arctic Ocean seas and in the Bering Sea,

ranging as far south as Newfoundland and northern Norway. Estimates

of the Arctic ringed seal population are difficult due to this

species wide distribution, however rough estimates put the

population between 2-7 million seals.

Note also that Northern Hemisphere Sea Ice Extent is currently greater

than it was last year.

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Update: Two related posts are now up at Climate Skeptic.

1. "Isn't Gavin Schmidt Out on Strikes By Now?" here.