Real Climate Temperature “Trend” Article Gets It Wrong (Like So Many Do)
Everything that can go wrong with a time series analysis has gone wrong with the post “
Recent global warming trends: significant or paused or what?” at Real Climate. So many classic mistakes are made that I hesitate to show them all. But it’ll be worth it to do so. Be sure to read to the end where I ascribe blame.
The model is not the data
Here is the author’s Figure 2, which is the “HadCRUT4 hybrid data, which have the most sophisticated method to fill data gaps in the Arctic with the help of satellites”. Keep that “data gaps” phrase in the back of your mind; for now, let it pass.
The caption reads “Global temperature 1998 to present” and (from Fig. 1) “monthly values (crosses), 12-months running mean (red line) and linear trend line with uncertainty (blue)”.
Supposing no error or misunderstandings in the data (for now), those light gray crosses are the temperatures. They are the most important part of this plot. But you can’t tell because the data has, in effect, been replaced by a model. Two models, actually, both of which because they are so boldly and vividly colored take on vastly more importance than mere reality.
The data
happened, the models did
not. That blue line did not occur; neither has the red line anything to do with reality. These are fictions; fantasies; phantasms. The red line claims nothing; no words are devoted to it except to announce its presence; it is a mystery why it is even there. It is a distraction, a visual lie. Well, fib. There is no reason in the world to condense reality in this fashion. We already know how reality happened.
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Real Climate Temperature “Trend” Article Gets It Wrong (Like So Many Do) | William M. Briggs