Weather data has been misinterpreted

The new talking-point darling of global-warming scoffers is, as Gary Ellis puts it in “Global warming debunked” (Mardh 8), that “in the past 15 years, global temperatures are level.” (Hisses to the editor who affixed that “case-closed” headline.) A careful look at East Anglia University's temperature graph - based on actual statistics, see http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/ - will reveal how data has been willfully misinterpreted to produce this beloved and ubiquitous canard.

For the years in question - carefully chosen, I am sure - the graph shows very hot years interspersed with really hot years, all noticeably warmer than anything before, say, 1990. Remove the spikes, connect the remaining dots, and voila! - the direction is clearly up, up and away.

Moreover, whatever your view of global-warming claims, you can't deny that there is a direct, linear, doesn't-take-a-rocket-scientist relationship between excess carbon and ocean acidification, itself a dire threat to the planet that has been examined in several Gazette articles.

I will leave it to another to take on today's (March 22) apparently-weekly installment in The Gazette's “Let's keep this non-debate alive” series. I think it is safe to note that the frequency of weather-related instances of nonsense is increasing.

Cindy Adhikari

Cedar Rapids