Changing data to agree with the narrative? The sad story of ACORN-SAT
16 hours ago Eric Worrall
Author: Bill Johnston
“… weather stations were not set-up to measure trend and change, but to monitor local weather …”
Note [1], [2], etc refer to references at the bottom of this page.
As a retired scientist and former weather observer with a keen interest in data, I have been researching Australian weather station datasets for almost two decades. I am disillusioned by the quality of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) network; suspicious of data they rely on to monitor Australia’s climate (the Australian Climate Observations Reference Network – Surface Air Temperature: ACORN-SAT), and mightily concerned about constant adjustments to datasets that universally seem to result in on-going warming.
The main problem for ACORN-SAT and its precursor high-quality datasets [1, 2], is that weather stations were not set-up to measure trend and change, but to monitor local weather, compare climates, and provide day-to-day information relevant to commerce.
While agriculture was an early beneficiary – crops to sow and limits to farming for instance, weather maps and short-term predictions were important to shipping and trade, and later for aircraft flying major air routes. Using data telegraphed by post and telegraph offices, Australia’s first weather map was published by NSW Astronomer Henry Chamberlain Russell in The Sydney Morning Herald on 5th February 1877.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/02/04/changing-data-to-agree-with-the-narrative-the-sad-story-of-acorn-sat/
