NASA Scientist James Hansen Releases Source Code: Skeptics Rejoice

The computer source code used to determine the global instrumental temperature average has been released by James Hansen. Steve McIntyre on his blog, climateaudit.org (CA) noted the release. The code, a mixture of FORTRAN, C and Python languages, is being closely examined by the CA crew.

What I was pleased to see is that the code was released on both Hansen's Columbia University site and the NASA Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS) site as well. A welcome bit of professionalism sorely needed.

The code was written for UNIX and Linux machines for those interested in playing with the code. Some of the main areas of concern for the CA crew are the combination of sites with differing years of recording, potential rounding errors and the application of correction factors for various site biases. Unless something amazing is found, it is doubtful that more than a tenth of a degree C error will be found should any corrections need to be made to the global average.

Site selection is another concern of the CA crew. There are sites that have cooling trends not included in the data base for calculating the temperature average. The CA crew will be looking closely at the sites included and excluded to determine if the selection may have biased the average.

Do not hold your breath waiting for sudden salvation from the climate change monster. Be prudent and save energy where you can. There will be more to talk about in the global warming arena soon once the source code has been analyzed. While a slight downward trend is expected, it may not have much significance.

Visit climateaudit.org for more details and links to the Columbia University and NASA GISS websites.

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