Remaining Vigilant to Scientific Truth
A DailyTech blog entry has been making the news & blogosphere rounds this week in which the author discusses a potential Y2K bug that has reportedly been found in NASA's data regarding global temperatures. The study is (or so it says here) the basis for ongoing media stories saying that 1998 is the warmest year on record, but the new information (if it's accurate) states that the corrected data shows 1934 to be warmest, and that it also disturbs the upward trend, instead showing half of the "warmest years" to be in the early part of the 20th century.
But the article also goes on to say that this would only impact the overall warming trend by 1-2%. Which really begs the question of whether this is really an important piece of information, or just more ammunition for what Newsweek this week called the organized effort to deny global warming.
http://www.dailytech.com/Blogger+finds+Y2K+bug+in+NASA+Climate+Data/article8383.htm
My opinion is that there have become evangelists on both sides of this issue and it's important that science remain vigilant to the truth, however inconvenient or messy or complex that happens to be. I think if we do that, eventually the world will come around and take the proper, necessary actions. If that means having to correct erroneous data from time to time, so be it. Best to be up front about these things. Transparency is key.