The Australian is at it again – and climate deniers hear voices
The Australian newspaper has spent the last week dispensing more misinformation about climate. It all started with a claim from climate ‘sceptic’ Jennifer Morohasy accusing the Bureau of Meteorology of fudging temperature records. Graham Readfearn has the details and, in an amusing tale of a radio interview, shows just how reliable Morohasy is:
Climate change conspiracy theories and the ABC radio interview with John Cook that never was.
The Bureau has replied to the accusations here: Bureau of Meteorology Media Statement – Climate Records.
Update 2014/09/01: An article at The Conversation explains the “fudging” process (it’s actually called homogenisation) and it’s used to adjust for changes that have occurred in the conditions at recording stations (such as changing location, cutting down trees and so on). Interestingly enough, the homogenised data actually reveal a cooling trend in northern Australia that doesn’t appear in the raw data. Just the opposite of The Australian‘s claim that the data were fudged to make warming more obvious.
Here are the homogenised data:
And here the raw data.
Science or not? 
Jennifer Morohasy is a serial pest. Of course, she not only criticizes climate science, but many other research projects investigating the impacts of human activity on the environment (even some of my own).
Morohasy’s tactics and reputation are long since spent and as much as I am grateful to Graham Readfearn for taking the time to expose her on this occasion, it shouldn’t be necessary.
Agreed, Fred. And isn’t it sad to see a once-reputable newspaper succumb so easily to her tactics. That’s how desperate they are to seek out confirmation of their anti-science position.