Quote of the week – the numerology of "dialing in" climate science

qotw_croppedThis quote from ETH Zurich is actually from another just published post, but it is so grating, so anti-science, that it deserves its very own thread to highlight it.

Here it is:

If the model data is corrected downwards, as suggested by the ETH researchers, and the measurement data is corrected upwards, as suggested by the British and Canadian researchers, then the model and actual observations are very similar.

Gosh.

This is like saying:

If we take all our economic projections for performance as suggested by our financial models, and correct it downwards, and at the same time, if we take all of our revenues and expenditures that are in the red, and adjust them upwards, out company will be on track and our investors will be satisfied.

Except, people go to jail for that sort of thing.

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Frank K.
August 19, 2014 9:10 am

This is the most perverted use of the word “corrected” I have EVER seen. Just stunning…

August 19, 2014 9:16 am

Give them enough rope.
Sure seems to apply to this deviant branch of social studies.
I would blame full scale panic.

August 19, 2014 9:20 am

I am speechless.

August 19, 2014 9:24 am

Also, if the models must be corrected downwards then wouldn’t the underlying concept of the models – CO2 warming – need to also be corrected downwards?
Wouldn’t that make the CO2 effect even less of a concern?

JohnB
August 19, 2014 9:28 am

A bit of context…
The “downward correction” is to account for the predominance of La Nina over recent years.
The “upward correction” is to account for bias due to lack of arctic temperature stations.
Unreasonable?

Eustace Cranch
August 19, 2014 9:28 am

If my bank would correct my outstanding loan amount downwards, and correct my savings account balance upwards, I’ll be in great shape.

PeterB in Indianapolis
August 19, 2014 9:28 am

So basically, if we make sh*t up to match what we think is the “right answer”, then we can finally demonstrate that our answer is right!

PeterB in Indianapolis
August 19, 2014 9:29 am

Or, to rephrase again,
Clearly the models are wrong, so we have to adjust those, but REALITY is ALSO WRONG, so we have to adjust reality as well, and then our results will look AWESOME!

August 19, 2014 9:29 am

If that pitch had been 1 foot higher and 8 inches to the right, it would have been a strike, so “YERRR OUT!”.

Vince Causey
August 19, 2014 9:31 am

It would be amusing if it wasn’t so dangerous, so insanely – in an Orwellian sense – anti science and anti human.

PeterB in Indianapolis
August 19, 2014 9:32 am

They have already been “correcting” the measured data… recent data gets corrected upwards by a bunch, and older data gets corrected downwards by a bunch, and they still haven’t been able to make reality match their models!
I hope that the next LIA comes during the lifetime of most of these morons… living through it myself would almost be worth it to see what happens to these “scholars”.

August 19, 2014 9:36 am

“Except, people go to jail for that sort of thing.”
Not if they are Chairing a Central Bank they don’t.

Auto
August 19, 2014 9:36 am

Guess I have to join in, too.
If I correct my height upwards, and my weight downwards, enough, well, blow me down, a BMI to content the medics.
So that’s all right then.
Auto

August 19, 2014 9:38 am

Those that can not believe that they have made mistakes, are destined to repeat them. This is an example. They have been “correcting” global average temperatures upward while “adjusting” CO2 sensitivity downward.

Frank K.
August 19, 2014 9:42 am

JohnB says:
August 19, 2014 at 9:28 am
A bit of context…
The “downward correction” is to account for the predominance of La Nina over recent years.
The “upward correction” is to account for bias due to lack of arctic temperature stations.
Unreasonable?

Yes it is unreasonable and totally wrong. It is not a “correction” since that would require that you actually know the “correct” value of the parameter in question. “Adjustment” would be a better term for this type of ad hoc “science”…

graphicconception
August 19, 2014 9:44 am

Hence:
2 + 2 = 5
(For small values of 5 and large values of 2.)

August 19, 2014 9:49 am

I played a game of half court basketball with a buddy yesterday. At the end of the game, I adjusted his score downwards and my score upwards and I won!

Louis
August 19, 2014 9:49 am

JohnB says:
The “downward correction” is to account for the predominance of La Nina over recent years.
The “upward correction” is to account for bias due to lack of arctic temperature stations.
Unreasonable?

Yes, it is unreasonable. If you have a lack of arctic stations, you don’t assume what the temperature would have been. For all you know, actual arctic temperatures are colder than assumed.

Doctor Gee
August 19, 2014 9:50 am

Isn’t moving the measured data upwards an implicit “hide the decline” moment?

CarlF
August 19, 2014 9:54 am

More evidence that you can’t fix stupid.

mikeishere
August 19, 2014 9:54 am

Goose meet gander department: If the model data is corrected upwards and the measurement data is corrected downwards then the model and actual observations will be even further apart than they are and thus put this sorry hoax out of its misery even faster!

Unmentionable
August 19, 2014 9:55 am

Seemed to sum it up

Bob B.
August 19, 2014 10:07 am

How many Client Scientists does it take to change a light bulb? 6.
1 to input model parameters and values to determine the wattage needed for the desired brightness of the room.
1 to obtain and screw in the bulb.
1 to measure the actual brightness obtained.
1 to adjust the model parameters upward to more closely match actual brightness.
1 to provide sunglasses to adjust apparent brightness downward to more closely match modeled brightness.
1 to declare the project a glowing success.

StefanL
August 19, 2014 10:08 am

Quote of the week ?
More like “Quote of the Year” and possibly “Quote of the Decade” !
It illustrates the whole schemozzle beautifully.

Editor
August 19, 2014 10:13 am

JohnB says:
August 19, 2014 at 9:28 am

The “downward correction” is to account for the predominance of La Nina over recent years.
The “upward correction” is to account for bias due to lack of arctic temperature stations.
Unreasonable?

Very. To start with you need to include an “upward correction” for the predominance of El Ni&ntides;os in the years before the PDO flipped negative.
Either of those “correction” provides tacit support to the inconvenient truth that “natural variability” is as big a factor as CO2, but the warmista will try to sweep that under the rug. Actually, those “corrections” are how the warmista try to sweep that under the rug and discourage attempts to identify, describe, and quantify that natural variability.

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