OPINION:
The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) now states that 2014 was the hottest year on record. They proclaimed this back on January 16. NOAA actually lists three sets of global temperature data, one based on a network of surface thermometers and two based on satellite readings. The two satellite data sets show 2014 as being third and sixth. Moreover, the thermometers ranked 2014 only 0.04 degrees Celsius ahead of the previous hottest year on record, which is (barely) within their nominal margin of measurement error of 0.05 degrees Celsius.
NASA and the Hadley Center in Britain also maintain global temperature readings based on networks of surface thermometers. Both of these also show 2014 as ’number one,’ but only by 0.01 degrees Celsius and 0.02 degrees Celsius — well within the measurement error. An equally weighted average of the annual temperature readings from the five data sets would show 2014 as being the fourth hottest year on record.
I don’t know whether the satellites or the surface thermometers provide a better measure of global temperature, but scientists should acknowledge the discrepancies in their data and come up with a better way of ’ranking’ years on temperature, taking account of all available sources of information instead of grabbing onto whichever source of data yields a newsworthy result. To sum up: The statement that “2014 is the hottest year on record” is not a fact, but rather a highly selective interpretation of severely conflicting sources of data.
DENNIS EVANS
Silver Spring
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