OOPS! We Did It Again!

Bloomberg.com: News:

"Arctic Sea Ice Underestimated for Weeks Due to Faulty Sensor
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By Alex Morales

Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- A glitch in satellite sensors caused scientists to underestimate the extent of Arctic sea ice by 500,000 square kilometers (193,000 square miles), a California- size area, the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center said.

The error, due to a problem called “sensor drift,” began in early January and caused a slowly growing underestimation of sea ice extent until mid-February. That’s when “puzzled readers” alerted the NSIDC about data showing ice-covered areas as stretches of open ocean, the Boulder, Colorado-based group said on its Web site.

“Sensor drift, although infrequent, does occasionally occur and it is one of the things that we account for during quality- control measures prior to archiving the data,” the center said. “Although we believe that data prior to early January are reliable, we will conduct a full quality check.’’"

Have you ever heard of a single time when an "error" resulted in an under reporting of global temperatures? Whether it's NASA's seven year over reporting, the placement of vast numbers of temperature observation posts across the US near man-made heat sources, or proven errors in the models used by the infamous United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the errors are alway made in one direction. This suggests fraud, not human error. For a great compendium on this topic, read today's IBD Editorial.