Mike’s Nature Trick was to switch measurement systems when they quit providing the desired evidence of global warming. A similar trick was done in the 1990s when the IPCC abandoned tide gauges in favor of altimetry readings. This allowed the team to make the unsupportable claim that sea level rise had accelerated.
So why does altimetry give a higher rate than tide gauges? Look at the red spot below east of the Philippines.
That region of 9-12 mm/year skews the average upwards. The problem is that the error (below) under the red spot is almost as large as the claimed trend.
In other words, that big bulge in the ocean probably doesn’t actually exist, and the altimetry numbers are almost undoubtedly too high. There was never any valid reason to switch measurement systems.
?”guages” => “gauges”.
[:)]
Excellent article. It would be great to learn more about this. Any links or could you write more on it? Thanks Steven. Keep up the awesome posts. Love your sense of sardonic humor and irony.
I agree, great topic and it would be great to know more on this.
My first question is, what happened to the tide gauges? And if they are still around, can they still be used?
The tide gauges are still there, they just don’t show any increase in sea level rise rates.
More than that, I don’t care what they’re using to measure sea level or when they do it. It can’t be done to a mm accuracy. The ocean and its waves and currents are in a constant state of motion. There is no “freeze frame” to compare to another “freeze frame”. It doesn’t exist. Altimetry doesn’t give us any better idea about sea level than the gauges did. And, as Steve points out, they aren’t the same measurements.
tides not rising here:
[http://diggingintheclay.wordpress.com/2011/03/26/keeping-boms-dry-feet/#more-1621]
Sea level rise in Broome? BoM’s feet stay dry so far | Digging in the Clay
diggingintheclay.wordpress.com
I’m no scientist. Does gravity matter to satellite flight paths?
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/06/28/21178/
It must be so frustrating that despite the ‘melting’ glaciers there has been no acceleration in the rate of sea level rise throughout the 20th century up to date. I understand that they are currently ‘flattening’. How can they hide the decline?