A Critical Review of Global Surface Temperature Data Products
Ross McKitrick, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics
University of Guelph
Guelph Ontario Canada
July 26, 2010

This is a preliminary version of a report to be published in fall 2010 by the Global Warming Policy Foundation ([1] http://thegwpf.org/) London, UK.

Comments and corrections are welcome: please send them to rmckitri@uoguelph.ca.

A PDF file (1.17 MB) of the preview of the report is accessible [2] here.

For anyone wondering why a professor of economics gets involved in environmental issues, purported climate change trends result in policy decisions that will ultimately cost, globally, trillions of dollars and will make or break not only the economies of nations but the world economy itself.

[3] Ross McKitrick is well qualified to write his current report on the state of the quality of the global surface temperature record and to state his well-founded concerns about the lack of confidence-inspiring quality of that record, expressed in his report, namely that,

The overall conclusion of this report is that there are serious quality problems in the surface temperature data sets that call into question whether the global temperature history, especially over land, can be considered both continuous and precise. Users should be aware of these limitations, especially in policy-sensitive applications. [Last paragraph on page 4 of the report]

Indirectly but inexorably (through vastly rising taxes and living costs), we all are users of the temperature data of unacceptable quality that is being used to justify policy decisions to address problems that quite likely are not man-made and quite likely by far not as severe as they are made out to be.

The policy decisions based on temperature trends derived from temperature data of demonstrated questionable quality will cost us as Canadians hundreds of billions of dollars and will have serious, negative impacts on our quality of life and standard of living.

We should all join in wishing Professor McKitrick the best of success in making policy makers around the world pay close attention to his well-founded concerns.

Once more, [4] read the PDF file (1.17 MB) of the preview of Ross Mckitrick’s report.