Mr Steketee (Weekend Australian 8 Jan 2011) needs to tread carefully in the highly manipulated world of climate and weather statistics.

Quoting data from the UN World Meteorological Organisation is suspect because the WMO jointly created the IPCC, which is dedicated to proving that anthropogenic warming is happening regardless of evidence.

The British Met Office is in disarray for its conflicting and error-prone forecasts provided to the UK, while in New Zealand the national weather body abandoned their official temperature records because of manipulation of past data by the government agency. In Australia, the BOM is no different to many other data collection agencies around the world in selective manipulation of older raw data records downwards (i.e. cooler), thus making the overall trend appear warmer to the present. This effect is also achieved by closing of thousands of data stations around the world, most in the cooler regions, thus leading to a warming bias.

Recent high-quality ice core data from Greenland shows that of the past 10,500 years, 9,100 were warmer than 2010, with no relation to CO2, while the longest instrumental record in the world in central England shows that December 2010 was the second coldest December dating back to 1659. Australian raw data shows that we have warmed only 0.6^oC since 1910, and Mr Steketee needs to look at the less alarmist bigger picture and to be better informed about the work of experts such as Professor Bob Carter.

Geoff Derrick
Sherwood Qld Australia

Addendum: Lord Monckton’s rebuttal of Steketee: http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/01/09/monckton-skewers-steketee/