The problem with much of the global warming debate/hysteria has to do with the accuracy of the measurement of surface temperature, which is warmer than the space measurements. What is the problem ? One is what is called Urban Heat Islands, or UHI, and represents the confounding effect of large masses of concrete which absorb and retain heat from the sun. To avoid this factor, there has been emphasis on using rural locations for heat sensors. This introduces the problem of airports, often the site of “rural” temperature monitor stations. The black tarmac, used by airports for parking aircraft and even for landing strips in smaller airports, is even worse as a heat island than big cities. It absorbs heat from sunlight and retains it. How many rural monitoring stations in the US are NOT located at airports ?
Answer- None !
NOAA says that 345 of the stations it passes on to GISS are rural and presumably free of UHI influence. Fifteen of those stations are located in the US. However, only 201 of those rural stations are not located at an airport, and therefore presumably free of UHI effects (including tarmac heat sinks). In the US, only one of the fifteen stations is listed as both rural, and not located at an airport: Ely / Yelland in Nevada.
Doh!!! As noted above, that station is located at an airport – confirmed not just by Google Earth, but also by NOAA’s NCDC website as well! This means that all of the US temperatures – including those for Alaska and Hawaii – were collected from either an airport (the bulk of the data) or an urban location.
Why is this extra, extra important ?
Why are “dark” stations important? Recall that GISS uses dark stations to adjust for UHI in the urban stations. With only 128 dark stations available, none being in the US, it would seem this is an impossible task.
Fortunately, GISS adjustment rules allow old data to be used in adjusting new data. The older “non-reporting” rural weather stations continue to adjust reporting urban stations, even though the most recent two years of overlap is missing.
Once again, we are dependent on computer simulations while we decide whether to destroy the US economy to reduce global temperature by 0.09 degree F in 2050.
This is insanity but the AGW zealots may have finally overreached with Cap and Tax.