A Canadian uncovered a faulty NASA calculation – which prompted the agency to revise its ground-based temperature records. The quietly corrected data could have an impact on the climate change debate, especially its cause. Today the National Center for Policy Analysis pointed out that with the corrections “in place NASA's ground-based temperature records for the past 120 years … show that much of the warming occurred before CO2 emissions and concentrations began to rise significantly.”

Further the NCPA underscored:

• The hottest year on record is 1934, not 1998
• The third hottest year on record was 1921, not 2006
• Three of the five hottest years on record occurred before 1940

NCPA president John Goodman wrote in an email today, “For years global warming alarmists have cited NASA findings that 1998 was the warmest year on record in the U.S. and that nine of the top 10 warmest years occurred since 1990. NASA's James Hansen even argued that the White House has censored him. Yet it turns out that Hansen got his math wrong. … The warmest year (out of the last 127 years) is 1934! And six out of the 10 warmest years occurred before 90 percent of the recent growth in greenhouse gases.”

Canadian Stephen McIntyre has twice now caused international waves about climate change. The August 14 Toronto Star reports McIntyre “earned attention in 2003 when he put out data challenging the so-called ‘hockey stick’ graph depicting a spike in global temperatures.”

McIntyre maintains a website, www.ClimateAudit.org. For his views on NASA’s error and its implications, refer to this blog entry. Also see The Washington Post’s “NASA Revisions Create a Stir in The Blogosphere” (August 15, 2007).