Maybe they can buy some new thermometers and shelters:
Contact: David Miller FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
202-482-0013 Mar. 3, 2009
202-329-4030 (cell)
NOAA Receives $830 Million Through Recovery Act
The Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will receive $830 million in funds as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The agency will use the funds, equivalent to 20 percent of NOAA’s 2008 budget, for projects that protect life and property and conserve and protect natural resources.
The act provides $230 million for habitat restoration, navigation projects, vessel maintenance, and other activities. An additional $430 million will be dedicated for construction and repair of NOAA facilities, ships and equipment, improvements for weather forecasting and satellite development. A total of $170 million will also be directed for climate modeling activities, including supercomputing procurement and research into climate change.
“Whether providing grants for habitat restoration or issuing contracts for construction and repair of our facilities, these funds will create jobs while advancing our vital mission to the American people,” said Mary Glackin, deputy under secretary for oceans and atmosphere. “We will ensure that the Recovery Act funding is used as effectively as possible and in a manner that will allow for maximum transparency and accountability.”
Department of Commerce agencies receiving one-time funds through the act are required to submit a plan to Congress with specifics on how allocations will be spent within 60 days of the legislation being enacted. Once completed, NOAA’s plan will be available to the public at the Department of Commerce and NOAA Web sites. Requests and applications for funding will be accepted when instructions and rules are posted for specific projects.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was signed into law by President Obama on Feb. 17, 2009. It is an unprecedented effort to jumpstart our economy, create or save millions of jobs, and put a down payment on addressing long-neglected challenges so our country can thrive in the 21st century. The Act is an extraordinary response to promote economic recovery and growth, and includes measures to modernize our nation’s infrastructure, enhance energy independence, expand educational opportunities, preserve and improve affordable health care, provide tax relief, and protect those in greatest need.
NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources.
On the Web:
Recovery Act: http://www.recovery.gov
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Anthony,
This is a serious suggestion. You might put together a proposal to NOAA to review their surface stations. They have the money to do it.
REPLY: The already have an HCN modernization program in place, in its infancy. See here and here. They announced this almost a year ago while I was at NCDC. The question is: “will they”? – Anthony
RegEM can infill those missing slats so it looks like it’s time to buy new computers.
“A total of $170 million will also be directed for climate modeling activities, including supercomputing procurement and research into climate change.”
Maybe they can build a model that works this time. For $170m, I would hope so!
Looks like close to noon in the photo from the shadows, a little sunshine in the box just to help with the warming fantasy.
>NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth’s environment
Adjustments will make all your dreams come true, Dr. Hansen!
But…but if they repair that box and paint it white, it might show a lower temperature especially on sunny days.
It’s all part of the Obama economic plan. Power to the state, and not the people.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123604419092515347.html
h/t Drudge
The NOAA is a huge bureaucracy with a big budget. Clearly they have demonstrated how they manage money. Just take a look at the surface stations as exposed by Anthony.
The money is going into a black hole.
The only thing that shelter is missing is a proper peg for the nesting birds to perch on. Perhaps birdhouses are part of the habitat restoration program.
“Ed MacAulay (09:35:53) :
But…but if they repair that box and paint it white, it might show a lower temperature especially on sunny days.”
(Yelling!) May those titanium dioxide (TiO2) pigments be damned to Hell for eternity!!!
“An additional $430 million will be dedicated for construction and repair of NOAA facilities, ships and equipment, improvements for weather forecasting and satellite development.”
Let’s see, repair a weather station or upgrade an administrator’s office. Hmmm — that’s a tough one. Guess where the priorities are, facts or comfort for office jockeys?
“NOAA understands and predicts changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserves and manages our coastal and marine resources.”
They can start by getting down to reality; how about a more honest mission statement:
NOAA seeks to understand and predict changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources.
I wonder if NOAA will have to buy carbon offsets for the new supercomputer.
They should be developing thermometers that do not need boxes.
What’s more, I found out that much of the urban based temperature records of the 19th century all the way until the mid 20th century are off. Urban pollution was much denser than today’s because smoke from wood and coal fires burning in homes was blocking some sunlight at the lowest levels of our atmosphere – that is, at the street level to about 50 meters up.
This means temperature monitors were not able to gauge the full extent of the world’s temperature compared to modern thermometers.
If we could make a correction to the records there then we’d see that the warming trend is even less than the records show!
So we fix the old data to account for the smog which blocked sunlight, and we fix the data over the last 60 years to account for the growing urban heat island effect.
Instead of the widely reported 0.7C warming in the last 150 or so years, it is more likely the warming is somewhere around 0.3C.
Negligible and flattening out.
Conclusion: If it weren’t for the greenhouse gases that are in the air right now the Little Ice Age might have continued and gotten worse!
Sounds like an Obama buy off. They will use the money to promote “climate change” through distortion and propaganda … typical USSR style.
“Conclusion: If it weren’t for the greenhouse gases that are in the air right now the Little Ice Age might have continued and gotten worse!”
I’m afraid it does not work like this. The temperature drives the CO2 concentration and not the other way around. That was true thousands of years ago and it is still true today. The rise in CO2 concentration today could in fact be due to a recovery of temperatures from the Little Ice Age.
New hardware for USCHN will not solve the (major) problems caused by neglect of training, standards, maintenance, QC, and oversight.
Someone needs to carefully ‘explain’ to those in Asheville how this should be done.
And Senator Kerry has the gall to write:
“A highly organized, well-funded movement to deny the reality of global climate change has been up and running for a long time, …”
Oh, if only we skeptics had the overflow from the believers’ coffers.
From the first paragraph of this article:
“For projects that protect life and property and conserve and protect natural resources.”
Translation:
“For projects that protect the habitat of noxious small creatures at the expense of jobs and prosperity.”
Look in the background. They care more for the shape of the bushes than the condition of the equipment.
Ray,
I know that temperatures warm the oceans releasing CO2 into the atmosphere, but even rational scientists who disagree with alarmism do agree that atmospheric CO2 contributes to some warming and protects as a buffer from the cold. The difference between the alarmist and the rationalist is that the alarmist exaggerates the climate’s sensitivity to CO2 while the rationalist says CO2 is a weak greenhouse gas that contributes to very limited warming.
It’s just possible they will spend some serious money on auditing and improving weather stations. Cheaper than a sattelite or A SUPERCOMPUTER. Antony your data provides a pretty compelling case for doing so
Leon Brozyna wrote:
“They can start by getting down to reality; how about a more honest mission statement:
“‘NOAA seeks to understand and predict changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, ….'”
How about this, to be really honest:
“NOAA misunderstands but predicts changes in the Earth’s environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, ….”
“Look in the background. They care more for the shape of the bushes than the condition of the equipment.”
We can also see that there is not only a big black tarmak but also a picknik table shelter next to the sensor… and where there is picknik tables, there are bbq’s!!! This is a new effect to compound after the island effect and the ashtray effect, we now have the bbq effect.
Ignoring the anti-government posturing in the preceding comments, I don’t see a problem with the bogeyman weather station shown in the post. The thermometer is shaded and the station isn’t obstructed. Was it placed there before or after the airport was developed?
It would be interesting to see new stations adjacent to at least some of the old ones though, so we could evaluate if degradation of the enclosure had any impact on measurements. As opposed to merely assuming it.
REPLY: “Don’t see” all you want. But lack of/degradation of/ changing of/ paint is in fact measurable data. I’ve done it.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/01/14/a-typical-day-in-the-stevenson-screen-paint-test/
And, now that the shelters have aged two years, I’m running the test again to see how weathering affects it.
The point you miss is that the shelter is out of spec, yet no adjustments are made for that in the data that it measures. This “out of spec” problem is systemic with the USHCN network in the USA.
– Anthony
Aron, the way it sounded it your first comment was that we were responsible for the heating from the little ice age due to our increased carbon release. But now on second reading and your latest comment, I gues it was my mistake or that I have been slightly contaminated by the Gore-Kerry retrovirus.
Since our carbon emissions are almost neglectable compared to natural sources and that atmospheric CO2 is such a weak greenhouse gas compared to water vapor, it’s a good thing so far that the earth-sun relationship has been so far good to us.