Eskimo Will wrote:


"Norman" wrote in message
...
Metman2012 wrote:

snip

No doubt there have been changes which may have been significant, but
then don't the climatologists make allowances for this. I know that even
such mundane things as SST measurement had to be adjusted by the method
and material of actually measuring the sea temp - the buckets used to get
the water had different characteristics and work was done to homogenize
the results.

Just my 2 pennyworth


As you imply, the sea surface temperature measurement can vary
significantly dependent on what method is used for the measurement.
Unfortunately, the method used is not usually recorded. For example, on
the Ocean Weather Ships (at least on the British ones) any one of the
following could be used:

- canvas bucket (usually used only in relatively benign weather)
- rubber bucket (usually used only when under way)
- thermistor loctated somewhere in the engine-room sea water
intake - direct measurement of the engine-room sea water intake
(turn on a tap and stick a thermometer into the water)

The first 2 methods sampled the water at, or very close to the surface. The
other 2 sampled the water a few metres below the surface. It was up to the
individual observer to decide which method was used at each observation. I
don't know if any comparative tests were ever made. I can't recall any
during my time on the Weather Ships.


So the years of research put into homogenizing the SST dataset was a waste of
time as vital information would be missing?

Will

I don't know how the homogenisation could be done if the method used for each
SST temperature measurement was not known.

--
Norman Lynagh
Tideswell, Derbyshire
303m a.s.l.
http://peakdistrictweather.org