Bureau Defends Climate Data After Audit Claims — SkimNews
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- Bureau of Meteorology maintains its ACORN-SAT dataset is accurate, stating claims of human intervention in temperature records are 'false and unsubstantiated' and based on 'several misunderstandings'.
- The Australian published an eight-part series based on a 'forensic audit' by Tom Berger and Geoff Sherrington, alleging 'widespread errors' and 'patterns of human intervention' in the bureau’s historical temperature data.
- ACORN-SAT uses data from 112 weather stations with quality controls to remove local effects like station moves, and does not include pre-1910 data in its climate change analysis.
- Bureau spokesperson confirmed fewer than 200 of 7 million observations in ACORN-SAT had duplicate entries, all from pre-1946 handwritten records digitised before the 1980s, with minimal impact on long-term trends.
- Graham Lloyd, The Australian’s environment editor, highlighted a claimed duplication of August 1907 Sydney temperature data into 1867, though this period falls outside the bureau’s official climate analysis timeframe.
- Andrew Wilkie, independent MP, said he felt uncomfortable being associated with the story, calling The Australian’s coverage 'feverish' and 'red meat to its audience', and affirmed his trust in the bureau.
Why it matters: The credibility of Australia’s official climate data is under renewed public scrutiny, despite independent reviews and peer-reviewed methods. If public trust erodes, it could delay policy action on emissions, even though the alleged data issues affect less than 0.003% of records and do not alter the 1.5°C warming trend since 1910.
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