Documentation of Uncertainties and Biases Associated with Surface Temperature Measurement Sites for Climate Change Assessment

Authors

Roger A. Pielke Sr., University of Colorado, BoulderFollow
John Nielsen-Gammon, Texas A&M University, College Station
Christopher Davey, Desert Research Institute, Reno
Jim Angel, Department of Natural Resources, Champaign
Odie Bliss, Colorado State University, Fort Collins
Nolan Doesken, Colorado State University, Fort Collins
Ming Cal, The Florida State University, Tallahassee
Souleymane Fall, Purdue University, West Lafayette
Dev Niyogi, Purdue University, West Lafayette
Kevin Gallo, NOAA/NESDIS
Robert Hale, Colorado State University, Fort Collins
Kenneth Hubbard, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Xiaomao Lin, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Hong Li, University of Maryland, College Park
Sethu Raman, North Carolina State University, Raleigh

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2007

Citation

2007 American Meteorological Society

Comments

AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY JUNE 2007 BAFft | 913-928

DOI: 10.1175/BAMS-88-6-9I3

Abstract

Davey and Pielke (2005) presented photographic documentation of poor observation sites within the U.S. Historical Climate Reference Network (USHCN) with respect to monitoring long-term surface air temperature trends. [These photographs were first shown to the community at the 2002 Asheville, North Carolina, meeting of the American Association of State Climatologists (see information online at www. stateclimate.org/meetings/minutes/2002minutes).] Peterson (2006) compared the adjusted climate records of many of these stations and concluded that the similarity between the homogeneity adjusted time series from the good and poorly sited stations supports the view that even stations that do not, upon visual inspection, appear to be spatially representative can, with proper homogeneity adjustments, produce time series that are indeed representative of the climate variability and change in the region.