Ok a simple post since I’m not up to speed today. I’ve already talked about the effort in the USA to create the Climate Reference Network (CRN) In Australia, they have something similar, called the Reference Climate Station Network.
The map below shows all the stations in country. Even though a number are near coastal population centers, they are fairly widely dispersed and many are in the middle of the outback.
By clicking on the orange dots in the image, you get details on each station, along with a photo such as this one of the GILES METEOROLOGICAL OFFICE almost dead center in the middle of the country away from urban influences:
One of the goals of my project at www.surfacestations.org is to create something similar, but with more detail.
Here is the best part about Australia’s project:
“Regular inspections by trained specialists will ensure that these stations are maintained to high standards. Detailed reports of any changes to the site and its surroundings will be made and procedures adopted to ensure that the quality of the records are not compromised. “
Does it have temperature graphs for the various locations?
Looks to me like NOAA could take a few lessons in how to conduct surface temperature science from the Aussies.
Sorry to be so negative but given the pulling of access to location data, stonewalling web demeanor, and bald hypocrisy with the “privacy” dodge — don’t count on it.
The given longitude and latitude values appear to be accurate enough to locate the stations in Google Earth. The combination of that and the photo gives one a pretty good idea of the codition and local environment of the instruments.
Actually, I will correct the previous statement a little. Some of the latitude and longitude values appear correct, but some of them appear to be worng. For example, the instruments at Casey, Antarctica appear to be a little south and west of where they are given. Look for the yellow buildings to the south and west of the given point.
Chrisl:
You can look here [1] for information on climate change observations provided by the Australian Meteorology Research Centre.
I find it interesting that while the number of “hot days” hasn’t changed greatly, the number of “hot nights” has shown a larger increase.
This series [2] shows the mean temperature and displays an obvious upward trend beginning 30 years ago. What does it all mean? That’s a good question for the climate scientists.
[1] http://www.bom.gov.au/silo/products/cli_chg/index.shtml
[2] http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/silo/reg/cli_chg/timeseries.cgi
Hi Anthony,
Well, the Australian network certainly looks better than the US one, but still isn’t perfect, see for example Wyalong Post Office.
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/change/map/stations/073054.shtml
Jos.
Earlier criticisms of the Australian network mainly centered on UHI effects. The network shown on the map above might have gone too far in the opposite direction. Time will tell. Many stations are at lighthouses or very close to the coast and the moderating influence of the sea. Also, many are at airports, where there is still some golbal discussion about the effects of traffic and tarmac. There are not many stations in between, so that if one of the above classes falls over because of a glitch, the numbers of remaining stations will be few.
But, to be fair, an early attempt was made to correct the deficiencies shown by Daly, Hughes and others.
I suspect that there will still be a problem of access to data. The Bureau of Meteorology public sites that are free online have little information about station properties other than a photo and graphs. Comments on station moves, instrument or procedural changes are hard to find unless one is in the inner circle. Requests for information are increasingly being met (by this writer, at least) by demands for payment of a fee for future information.
If adjustments are eventually made to historic data, it might be very hard to discover the nature and extent of the adjustments. At the moment I have no idea how much adjustment has gone on, or will go on, or even the coordination with satellite data.