Sunday
Nov222015
by 
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill Settled science
Nov 22, 2015 Climate: Surface Much amusement is to be had from a posting at a blog called Sudden Oak Life. The author has recorded images of the Radcliffe surface temperature station in Oxford, part of the Central England Temperature Record and one of the longest temperature records there is.
It's fair to say the quality of the record has declined since the 18th century.
Reader Comments (43)
It is unbelievable (unforgivable) that they would do this to “the longest instrumental record of temperature in the world“ and "one of, if not, the most important weather station in the world".
Nice one.
I did a quick calc a few years ago where I subtracted Stornaway from several of the other stations around the UK. Oxford showed the most warming drift from Stornaway's theoretical norm. It seems CO2 warming is very localised.
Pardon my scepticism, but the "exhaust gases" of the propane heater are surely directed into the marquee, not towards the weather station.
@ Brent Hargreaves
If I were there I would not be worried about breathing in the warmed air but I would not want to breathe in the exhaust gasses. Would you?
@ Nov 22, 2015 at 8:02 PM Brent Hargreaves
Note that the heater has an exhaust stack. I imagine that for heating an enclosed area, it is a safety requirement to avoid CO poisoning.
I've dealt with similar types of heating units, and they give off a fair amount of heat in all directions.
Just the fact that the non-insulated and leaky tent is sitting so close to the station should disqualify it. It's worse than a regular building, as far as that goes. Any time the wind is calm or from the direction of the tent, you'll see a temperature shift of several degrees.
I think it's an indirect oil-fired heater like is:
http://www.arcotherm.co.uk/heaters/indirect-diesel
The blown warm air is fresh and the hot fumes come out the chimney - so yes, the exhaust gases could potentially contaminate the temperature station readings.
"Unsettling Science" perhaps??
It's ok, they're just pre-adjusting the data. Phil Jones will still adjust it upwards again just to be on the 'safe' side.
At night the heater is connected directly to the Stevenson Screen, giving the desired result for the Warmistas.
The issue here is that Radcliffe don't seem to care about the importance of data gathering.
This site ought to be one the crowning glories of Oxford University. It ought to be Heritage transformed into Value.
But the "value" of extending a room with a Marquee is thought of first.
Mammon has conquered Radcliffe.
They aren't acolytes of Apollo and Aphrodite anymore.
Even without the marquee and heater the Stephenson screen is very poorly located - surrounded by buildings close by.
I don't imagine that Anthony Watts would rate it very highly.
Ah, a "marquee event"?
Do satellites zero on that exhaust stack?
The heater is presumably gas fired, with an electric fan. The exhaust gases come out of the flue, presumably the gas cylinder is not present, or are they small ones cunningly concealed?
The marquee is semi permanent enough to require metal framed doors, I presumed the gas heater is semi permanent too.
The grass has been cut without the gas heater present. Brown patches of grass indicate heat/chemical scorches and/or other objects being placed.
From the linked site photos, the doors to the screen are visible indicating north orientation (?). Behind the screen is a stone wall, 10-12ft high. Is this wall an original boundary wall, or kitchen garden wall? Such walls were known by gardeners to change temperatures/wind chill, heat retention etc etc. Presumably the wall predates the faculty building in the background?
Where was the Stevenson screen moved from? And when?
I just tried to repost this on the facebook page Climate Change: Science, Mitigation & Adaptation. They blocked me within minutes!
Those heaters can run on multiple fuels and most are purpose built to the fuel intended. A diesel fuel heater would typically be tagged multi-fuel as the fuel intake process heats the fuel to low pressure gaseous form. Propane and LNG heaters are similar.
The smallest I've seen these heaters is 20,000 BTU. I've read that there are smaller ones, but I've never actually seen one. 35,000 BTU heaters were common in some of the places I've worked. 60,000 to 120,000 BTU heaters are available. High quality versions are comfortable to the touch; low quality ones easily burn bare skin.
That tent looks to be 8 meters long, likely 8-10 meters across and perhaps 4 meters high. It is likely that tent will pass heat to the outside quite rapidly and is a large area to heat. Roughly the same interior as many houses with far less insulation.
There is a door on this side of the tent and there is likely at least one door on the other side. While there will be fans inside the tent for mixing and circulating the air, substantial amounts of heat are used to warm incoming air from open doors. It would not be unusual for a second heater located on another wall of the tent.
Depending on how cold that day is, I would expect a second heater with both sized around 35,000 BTU for a total of 70,000 BTU. If it gets too warm in the tent, a heater can be turned off.
Ok, I just looked at the Radcliffe Observatory on Wikipedia. There is a photo of the original building, in the snow, with a similar looking weather station. No marquee.
The actual Observatory functions of the orginal late 1700s building were moved out to South Africa in 1939 due to encroaching housing developments around the site (light and smoke pollution?)
Presumably the weather station data was not adjusted to take into account the urbanisation? Ever?
Nov 22, 2015 at 10:35 PM | Unregistered Commenter Aila,
Aye!
Them's the point.
That's why it's important.
It's an Arcotherm EC85:
http://www.arcotherm.co.uk/indirect-diesel?product_id=53
The black box at the bottom is the Diesel tank.
John Silver, thanks! Some of those smaller scorches in the grass could be from drops of diesel.
ATheoK, if it gets too hot, they could also open a door and let out the heat towards the Stevenson Screen
Aila, yes you are quite correct as M Courtney explained about heat seeking conspiracies from outer space
I've just purchased a C02 fire extinguisher.....I find myself wondering why the metal container hasn't immediately melted into a lump of iron slag? Tis pure C02 in there after all....
In fact, when I put my hand on it it actually feels quite cool......However, I'm sure it'll emit a hot flame if I ever have to discharge it in an emergency....
Golf Charlie
A park near me has a pathway through what was once a walled garden, though it now mainly contains just short grass, One long side now just has sparse hedges instead of a wall.
The whole area is larger than most walled gardens but it's very noticeable on both the hottest and coldest days, with or without wind, how much higher the temperature within the walls is compared to otherwise similar surrounding areas.
@ jones – 1:04 AM
I directed a fire extinguisher at a glass beaker containing (flaming) boiling alcohol and green leaves over a Bunsen burner. The force blew the whole thing about 4 feet across to a wall and made a mess. It did put the fire out. The class (9th grade, I think) thought it was hilarious. The school had to get the thing recharged but that was the end of it. It did make me famous with that class, though.
If tonyb doesn't check in, in the next day or so I will alert him.
~~~~
Central Washington State has a weather station series not as famous as the CET but nevertheless of interest because it has been moved around. It started somewhere near the college but at the homes of teachers (exactly where no one seems to know). For a while it was on a small hill next to a radio station. Then it moved to a lower elevation next to the sewage treatment plant (seems these are always staffed so the readings can be taken). When that plant was being moved to a new location, that weather station went to the fire department. It sat at the edge of a gravel parking lot – next to a charcoal grill. Weekends the crew would fire that up and family could come and eat with the folks on duty.
Later, the fire department building expanded into the parking lot and the weather station went farther down-slope to the new sewage facility. The temperature sensor is about 2 feet from the driveway and then shaded by a pine tree in the afternoon.
The official location for the weather station was taken from the discharge pipe where it enters the local stream, about half a mile away.
Old site, new tricks.
Anyone asked the authorities what they say about this ? Maybe on Twitter @RMS_Oxford? or phone Station director Prof Richard Washington
Better to ask, rather than us just speculating.
Interesting newspaper story about the station receiving an award from the Met Office in May 2015
They do mention on this old page the Urban Heat Island effect and high evaporation. The graphs stop in 1997-98
You have to wonder how often that grass area has been used for this type of event before , and how if even it has been accounted for in the record. for what is claimed to be a 'gold standard' station.
And if this type of issue is seen here, what issues may be seen at weather station which are a lot harder to access or subject to urban changes on a much wider scale ?
In the end we are back to the issue that in the past before SS or 'settled science' , we expected that weather prediction was problematic and that more than 72 hours ahead was little more than a guessing game. So accepted problems with the sitting of weather station and data collection has we did not make grand unquestionable claims based on this data has what was the point given the chaotic nature of weather .
Now we have those grand unquestionable claims being made, but we retain the problems with the data collection of old , to which we have added the issues of 'proxies' which are often more problematic than the originally issue , has 'magic tree rings ' are not really magic .
You have to give people credit where it is due , and to build a castle of 'settle science' not only a swamp but on land you actually made more swampy by added garbage to it, is quite a achieve
I hope they don’t rely on that site for any sort of wind data. The rule of thumb for siting anemometers is that they should be separated by at least 10x the length of the nearest obstruction to read accurately...
I'm not a Twitter but someone should tweet the photo to Amy Creese and Callum Munday. Be interesting to see the response. Bet you get blocked though.
John
I was in contact with the Met Office a couple of weeks ago concerning CET and this response directly relates to the use of Radcliffe;
"I note your thoughts on possible inconsistencies/inhomogeneities/'incongruities' also; of course with best scientific interests at heart, we do ensure as much as possible that any changes in the stations used (and currently we use Stonyhurst, Pershore College and Rothamsted) are allowed for by doing an overlap comparison, so that not just biases but changes in standard deviations of these stations are allowed for to get a series that is as closely homogeneous as possible.'
My bigger concern would be the use of Ringway for years, which of course grew to be Manchester International airport which might partially explain the 1990's CET 'hump.'
tonyb
throw up an old leaf in the autumn wind and watch it dance away..
Far more than temperature, density, local air movements are foremost determined by the moving air around it, which is in an urban environment best described as "turbulent".
you can be sure that one in 10/20 of the time, the recorder will get full blasts from the tent and the heater
tonyb, do we get to know how the Met Office do an "overlap comparison"?
If CET is the Gold Standard, it seems like cheap plated lead.
John Silver:
Thank you! That is a big beastie @ 274,000BTU.
Golf Charlie:
I'm not sure opening the door would be enough. At 274,000 BTU, I'd sit on the other side of the tent from it. I am impressed, though it must sound and feel like a turbine engine.
ATheoK, with all that diesel heat being pumped by electric fans, into an uninsulated tent, I hope this venue is used to lecture on sustainability.
Alternatively, it could be used to demonstrate the Montgolfier Brothers experiments in hot air balloons, or even Christopher Cockerell's hovercraft principle.
Either way, if you pump hot air in, warm air must escape from somewhere ...... It might even cause sufficient draught to make the anemometer spin on a cold windless day.
Ahh... did anyone check if this station actually gets used by BE or NCDC or GISS?
oh wait... you can get the data but you have to pay..
@Mosh first makes a strawman no one has suggested that the station is used to calculate GLOBAL temperatures.
But the biases are well knowntBut @Mosher seethe link I above gave to the Met Office presentation ..Johnson, Regional Network Manager for the Met Office said: This photo does also set a precedent for how we teach rigorous weather data collection.Although it is useful to add that is not used for Global temp calculations, none of the bloggers or commenters suggested it was. But above many hours earlier @climatereason pointed out it is not even used in the regular CET record any more, highlighting a mistake that the original blogger made in implying that the Radcliffe data is still used for CET
The marquee has been there so long It's on Google Earth someone pointed out on WUWT.
The interesting thing is the view shows the meteorlogical station is surrounded by walls and in the shade of the Great Observatory building ..there must have been lots of variables on the years like when scaffolding went up to repair that big building etc.
@stewgreen I'm curious where it is reported that the Radcliffe station is not part of the CET anymore. This paper by Parker et al. reports it was part of the CET network as of 1992 . . .
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/Parker_etalIJOC1992_dailyCET.pdf
@stewgreen nm, I found the paper you mention -
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/joc.1190/pdf
Apparently Radcliffe is still used in the calculation of the monthly CET.
I've revised the original post according to the comments pointing out that the Radcliffe station is no longer being used in the daily CET record. https://suddenoaklifeorg.wordpress.com/2015/11/21/global-warming-in-oxford/
I wonder if Prof. Myles Allen ever walked past the station. It may have been the inspiration for his 11K rise in global temperatures?