Dueling Datasets: Is 2014 The Hottest Year On record Or Not?

Alright now I am confused, is was 2014 the hottest year on record or not?  The Japan Meteorological Agency boldly claims that it was.  JMA has announced that 2014 was the hottest year in more than 120 years of record-keeping — by far. NOAA is expected to make a similar call in a couple of weeks and so is NASA.  However, no such announcement has been forthcoming from NASA as atmospheric temperature measurements by satellites and confirmed by weather balloons (which are the only comprehensive global temperature measurements in existence), one of the two atmospheric temperature reporting entities,Remote Sensing Systems, reported that 2014 was not the hottest year ever (since 1978, when satellite measurements began), only the sixth warmest.

Atmospheric temperature measurements by satellite did not rank 2014 as a record year despite the fact that the global average surface temperature data are likely to show that 2014 was one of the warmest years – and possibly the warmest year – on record.

An analysis of US firm Remote Sensing Systems’ (RSS) satellite instrument data for the temperature of the lower troposphere shows that 2014 was the sixth warmest year on record.

This means that the so called pause in global warming has continued through 2014 on the basis of RSS data for atmospheric temperatures. Since 1979 the long term trend in RSS data shows an increase in global atmospheric temperatures of 0.12oC per decade although this has flattened in recent years.

The global average temperature anomaly, or variance to the long-term average, for the lower troposphere in 2014 was 0.26oC compared with an anomaly of 0.55oC for 1998, the warmest year in the RSS data series which stretches back to 1979.

This week, the other reporting entity, the Earth System Science Center at the University of Alabamain Huntsville, reported that 2014 was the third warmest since 1979, barely edging out several other years such as 2002, 2005, and 2013.  Also see here at The New American “Climate Alarmists Deceive Again: 2014 Was Not Hottest on Record”

Satellite measurements of the temperature of the atmosphere rank 2014 as the third warmest year in the satellite record, according to the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH).

The global average temperature anomaly – that is, the variance to the long term average global temperature between 1981 and 2010 – for the layer of the atmosphere from the surface up to around 8km in altitude known as the lower troposphere during 2014 was 0.27^oC, according to UAH data.

This was just 0.01^oC warmer than 2005 and just a few hundredths of a degree warmer than 2013 and 2002 – such small differences as to make the 2014 result statistically indistinguishable from these other years. This suggests that the so called pause or hiatus in global warming continued through 2014, at least in the satellite record.

The UAH analysis shows that the global temperature trend from 2002 through 2014 was a warming at the rate of +0.05^oC per decade which is statistically insignificant. However, it is also the case that global temperatures have remained elevated throughout this period and that these years have averaged some 0.18^oC above the baseline provided by the 30-year long term average and contain nine of the 10 warmest years – the warmest of all being 1998.

Contrary to forecasts by the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Fourth Assessment Report (AR-4) in 2007, it has been over 18 years since there has been any statistically significant increase in global temperatures, even though, according to NOAA, carbon dioxide CO2 concentrations have increased 8.4% since 1999, from 368.04 parts per million (ppm) to 398.78 ppm (this past December’s number). Very plainly adding CO2 to the atmosphere is not causing temperature change as claimed. Further, the plateau in temperatures shows that global climate models cannot be used for reliable prediction.

The UN weather agency says the global atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide hit an all-time high in 2013. The World Meteorological Organization released on Tuesday the results of last year’s research on levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. The WMO’s assessment is based on data from weather authorities and research institutes from around the world.  The report says the average volume of CO2 in the atmosphere hit a record high of 396 parts per million last year. The figure rose by 2.9 parts per million from 2012. It’s the largest annual increase since monitoring began in 1984. The report says the concentration of nitrous oxide was 325.9 parts per billion and the volume of methane reached 1,824 parts per billion. Both are new record highs. WMO officials say emissions of heat-trapping gases need to be cut by 80 percent, to keep the rise of temperatures within one degree Celsius until 2100. They also warn that CO2 will keep dissolving into the oceans, making them more acidic. They say if this trend continues, it would affect marine ecology. UN: CO2 levels RECORD HIGH

NOAA NCDC was released today, here it is:

In 2014, the contiguous United States (CONUS) average temperature was 52.6°F, 0.5°F above the 20^th century average, and tied with 1977 as the 34^th warmest year in the 120-year period of record. 2014 was slightly warmer than 2013 for the CONUS when the annual average temperature was 52.4°F. This marks the 18^th consecutive year with an annual average temperature above the 20^th century average for the CONUS. The last year with a below-average CONUS temperature was 1996. Since 1895, when national temperature records began, the CONUS has observed an average temperature increase of 0.13°F per decade.Precipitation averaged across the CONUS in 2014 was 30.76 inches, 0.82 inch above the 20^th century average. This was the 40^th wettest year on record for the CONUS. Over the 120-year period of record, precipitation across the CONUS has increased at an average rate of 0.14 inch per decade. 

[snip] 

The CONUS had its 33rd coolest winter on record, with much of the country east of the Rockies being cooler than average, mainly due to several Arctic cold-air outbreaks. Many states had their coldest winter since the 1970s. Seven states were top 10 cold, but no state was record cold. The cold winter in the Midwest resulted in the second largest Great Lakes ice cover in the 1973-2014 record. The western U.S. was warm during winter. Arizona had its fourth warmest winter, while California was record warm. The winter was dry for the CONUS, with a precipitation total 0.97 inch below average, the 17th driest on record. Below-average precipitation was observed in the West and Southern Plains where three states had a top 10 dry winter. The dry winter exacerbated drought conditions in California, where winter is the wet season, as well as in the Southwest and Southern Plains. The winter snow cover extent was the 10th largest on record.

Wht is only Japan’s Meteorological Agency the only one making the claim “It’s Official: 2014 Was the Hottest Year Ever Measured on Earth”?  Could thishave anything to do with it?

In June 1996, the Japan Council for Sustainable Development was established. The Council, consisting of representatives from the government, industry and NGOs, aims at facilitating dialogue among the members concerning the issues of sustainable development. As an advisory body to the Government, it is mandated to follow up on the progress of measures taken under the Plan every year. The Council undertook the first review in June 1996, and identified areas which require further improvement. In the area of global warming, it called for further effective measures to meet the targets set. In the field of waste management and recycling, activities of the line ministries and other entities should be effectively linked with a socio-economic system. And, concerning nature conservation, comprehensive and programmatic measures are necessary taking also into account endowments of the nearby natural environment.

In my opinion the UN, and its Green Supporters, created the Global Warming Hoax to force the world tom accept Agenda 21 from which the idea of Sustainable Development is spelled out.  Global Warming is a Trojan Horse  being used by those who are working to impose a one world government on the world.

“Effective execution of Agenda 21 will require a profound reorientation of all human society, unlike anything the world has ever experienced a major shift in the priorities of both governments and individuals and an unprecedented redeployment of human and financial resources. This shift will demand that a concern for the environmental consequences of every human action be integrated into individual and collective decision-making at every level.” 

- excerpt, UN Agenda 21  Read more at The Green Agenda: