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NASA Releases Massive Climate Change Data Set

An anonymous reader writes: NASA is releasing global climate change projections to help scientists and planners better understand local and global effects of hazards. The data includes both historical measurements from around the world and simulated projections based on those measurements. "The NASA climate projections provide a detailed view of future temperature and precipitation patterns around the world at a 15.5 mile (25 kilometer) resolution, covering the time period from 1950 to 2100. The 11-terabyte dataset provides daily estimates of maximum and minimum temperatures and precipitation over the entire globe." You can download them and look through the projections yourself at NASA's Climate Model Data Services page.

36 of 310 comments (clear)

  1. Visualisation tools? by coastwalker · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I see only the raw data on the link. I think that farmers would be interested in their local projections but we need tools to see them.

    --
    Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
    1. Re:Visualisation tools? by JackieBrown · · Score: 2

      Did you check all 11 terabytes? Kidding

    2. Re:Visualisation tools? by bschorr · · Score: 2

      The data is useful, but it's only valuable if it can be put into some kind of meaningful context and converted into information.

      --
      -B-
    3. Re:Visualisation tools? by nobdoor · · Score: 3, Informative

      I've visualized the resultant data from NASA's 2006 CESM model runs here:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

      I'm currently downloading the remaining years through 2100, which I'll upload and link to tomorrow.

      If you guys are interested in doing this yourself, I can give instructions. VAPOR (the visualization tool used here) is open source and cross platform (Windows, OSX, Linux). What sets it apart from other visualization tools is its ability to handle large data sets, which is useful here unless you're on a supercomputer.

    4. Re:Visualisation tools? by Stuarticus · · Score: 2

      That's why I get all my news from Slashdot, a bias free zone.

      --
      If you think someone isn't free to have a different definition of "freedom" you may be a tyrant.
  2. I see something by Minwee · · Score: 2, Funny

    There.s a 0.1 degree difference in the maximum temperature in Fargo for today.

    Clearly, all of science must be wrong and I can pretty much make up anything I like and claim it is reality.

    Winning!

  3. Projections based on what? by BCGlorfindel · · Score: 4, Interesting

    More data is always good, but presenting any uncertainty and conditions on predictions is vital. Not only so we make properly informed decisions, but also so we don't tarnish trust by misrepresented predictions.

    Climate models are really great science, but are also really ripe for this sort of problematic viewing from the public. Not just the laymen, but informed and educated public as well. To just quickly read and peruse climate model summaries you'd get the impression that confidence in models is really high. The reality is that confidence in PORTIONS of the models is really high. The whole however still has a long ways to go.

    The IPCC fifth assessment report in chapter 9 notes the following:
    Model tuning aims to match observed climate system behaviour and so is connected to judgements as to what constitutes a skilful representation of the Earth’s climate. For instance, maintaining the global mean top of the atmosphere (TOA) energy balance in a simulation of pre-industrial climate is essential to prevent the climate system from drifting to an unrealistic state. The models used in this report almost universally contain adjustments to parameters in their treatment of clouds to fulfil this important constraint of the climate system (Watanabe et al., 2010; Donner et al., 2011; Gent et al., 2011; Golaz et al., 2011; Martin et al., 2011; Hazeleger et al., 2012; Mauritsen et al., 2012; Hourdin et al., 2013).

    That's taken context and backed up by over a dozen citations to relevant journal articles on model tuning. The short version is that tuning Top Of Atmosphere energy is still a required step to avoid climate models running out to unrealistic states. The journal articles all confirm this. With TOA energy being the ultimate overall driving force behind climate change, our predictions are still subject to the fact we aren't yet able to predict TOA energy. Without that we can make guesses what TOA energy might do, but the confidence in them is nothing like the confidence in other components of climate. Failing to qualify this though could leave us 20 years from now pointing at the AR5 projections and asking what went so terribly wrong with them, and the answer is that they had things largely right, save that TOA energy rose faster or slower than anticipated. That's in essence already the conversation over the IPCC First assessment projections from the 20+ years ago.

    1. Re:Projections based on what? by silentcoder · · Score: 5, Insightful

      >Considering we don't know what the temperature will be tomorrow, or whether it will rain at my house, I'm pretty sure we don't know what the climate will be in 100 years. So, not settled in my book.

      That's a ridiculously stupid claim to make. Climate is a LOT simpler than weather. Many, many orders of magnitude simpler. Why ? Because climate is an average.

      If I ask you to predict the final results of a high school student randomly chosen, odds are you'd get it wrong almost every time.
      If I give you a bunch of background information on him and his grades up until now, you'll get it right more often but almost never 100% for all subjects and there will still be outliers that surprize you.
      Predicting a kid's final results is HARD -even with lots of data.

      On the other hand - if I ask you to predict the average grade distribution for the state of New York for an entire high-school senior class and you say "It will be a normal-distribution" you will be right almost every time ! In fact, we're so confident in that outcome that if it's anything else that is - in and off itself - legally considered proof that there was large-scale cheating in the exam !

      Same principle - even when it's VERY hard to predict a single data point, predicting an AVERAGE of those data points is far easier.
      Climate is an average of weather over long periods (30 years typically). That's a LOT simpler to predict than the individual weather points that make it up.

      --
      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
    2. Re:Projections based on what? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 2

      Slashdot ran a recent post [slashdot.org] about this exact issue, where Ebola models predicted much higher numbers than actually occurred.
      As soon as people know about the "model" they start acting against it, so in the end the model is wrong: always.

      Considering we don't know what the temperature will be tomorrow, or whether it will rain at my house, I'm pretty sure we don't know what the climate will be in 100 years. So, not settled ...
      The weather tomorrow has nothing to do with the climate in 100 years. So yes, settled!

      Think about your bank account. What is there tomorrow has nothing to do with what might be there in 100 years. And that is even fully under YOUR OWN CONTROL!

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    3. Re:Projections based on what? by fgouget · · Score: 2

      Considering we don't know what the temperature will be tomorrow, or whether it will rain at my house, I'm pretty sure we don't know what the climate will be in 100 years. So, not settled in my book.

      Time to put your money where your mouth is. Let's enter a bet.

      For each of the next ten years I bet that will not be enough naturally fallen snow(*) in order for the Markstein ski station to open on the 14th of July. Every year I'm wrong I'll give you $10,000. Every year I'm right you'll give me $1,000.

      So if I'm wrong just once you'll come out ahead and given that we don't even know what the temperature will be tomorrow, surely I'm bound to be wrong at least once. So your not entering the bet will be your own admission that even you can make climate predictions ten years into the future.

      (*) No, bringing in trucks of snow or building an ice factory to cover the ground does not count.

    4. Re:Projections based on what? by penguinoid · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Considering you can't even predict whether you'll die tomorrow, it seems ridiculous to claim you'll be dead in 100 years.

      --
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    5. Re:Projections based on what? by silentcoder · · Score: 2

      Anyone who has taken thermodynamics also knows that if you reduce the rate at which energy leaves a system then the total energy in the system will go up over time.
      Anybody who understands complexity theory knows that this is absolutely guaranteed to cause feedback loops in a complex system which accelerates the effect.

      That's the problem with climate change denial - the evidence you would need to disprove climate change would also disprove all of physics AND chemistry.
      Sure there is a chance it's wrong - but in a universe where it IS wrong, cars and powerplants don't work so the question is never asked - after all, why would anybody build CO2 producing engines in a universe where they don't serve any useful purpose ?

      --
      Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
  4. Is this the un"adjusted" raw data? by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Is this the un"adjusted" raw data, or does it have the various "adjustments" that have been applied to the historical data before in past releases?

    In my opinion, to conduct proper science on climatological measurements, the raw measurements should be available to all, to let everyone apply any "adjustments" and "corrections" they believe are necessary - and justified - taking them into account. Then each can properly check the works of their predecessors, and reach their own conclusions, without incorporating unknown distortions from previous work.

    If the maintainers of the archive believe adjustments are needed to deal with some measurement pathology, they are welcome to also release an open correction dataset or tool in parallel.

    With the low price and high speed of modern digital storage and processing devices, data set size and complexity is no excuse for withholding the raw data.

    --
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    1. Re:Is this the un"adjusted" raw data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      While snarky. The only proper way is what the gp said to do. It will remove much of the 'hidden agendas' and whatnot. It will let us get down to 'is this real or not' (probably). But it lets everyone see what is going on. These dudes are asking for *LOTS* of money to do this. It is worth looking thru. It lets people make their own adjustments or undo ones where the data didnt fit some model (and was discarded). The only proper way to do this sort of science is in the open.

    2. Re:Is this the un"adjusted" raw data? by PvtVoid · · Score: 4, Funny

      Is this the un"adjusted" raw data, or does it have the various "adjustments" that have been applied to the historical data before in past releases?

      Bwaahhahahah! Do you think they would actually release the real data? As we all know, governments are putting so much cash into climate change research that the money has totally distorted the scientific process. Hence the global conspiracy to secure as much as one million dollars of research money by the evil scientists, using any means available to hoodwink the public.

      Expect no truth from them. You must find it yourself, thermometer in hand. The truth is out there.

    3. Re:Is this the un"adjusted" raw data? by riverat1 · · Score: 5, Informative

      In my opinion, to conduct proper science on climatological measurements, the raw measurements should be available to all, ...

      Raw data is available on line. Most people are too lazy to look for it and even if they got it they wouldn't have a clue how to use it. The techniques used to make the adjustments are all out in the open too. Again, most people are too lazy or lack the technical knowledge to fully understand the adjustment methodology.

      Complaining about lack of raw data or hidden adjustment methodology just shows you haven't taken the time to even investigate if those claims are founded on anything and are relying on someone else telling you that is true.

      Here are the links for Berkeley Earth which is one of the more straightforward web sites to track down the data:

      Berkeley Earth - About the data set

      Berkeley Earth - Source files

    4. Re:Is this the un"adjusted" raw data? by Gadget_Guy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      NASA has become too political -- I am unable to trust their prediction models.

      That is complete rubbish. You might have political reasons to dislike the data, models and predictions presented by NASA, but what evidence do you have that NASA has manipulated any of their work for political reasons? How have they "become too political" when they haven't changed what they do or say? If their results match the results of the rest of the scientific community but not what the Republican party says, are they being political or are the Republicans just wrong?

      We keep hearing accusations that they (and others) fudge their figures to get more funding, but in a world where institutions that contradict the views of those in charge get defunded and disbanded, why would they mislead the public in such a suicidal manner?

    5. Re:Is this the un"adjusted" raw data? by ClickOnThis · · Score: 4, Interesting

      In my opinion, to conduct proper science on climatological measurements, the raw measurements should be available to all, to let everyone apply any "adjustments" and "corrections" they believe are necessary - and justified - taking them into account. Then each can properly check the works of their predecessors, and reach their own conclusions, without incorporating unknown distortions from previous work.

      Well, how "raw" do you want that data to be? Individual bits of the satellite telemetry? Scribbled notes in a scientist's lab-book? Actual tree-ring samples, and not just?

      Most "raw" data is unintelligble to anyone but the experimenters, until it is processed into a form suitable for sharing with others. Instrument calibrations, systematic effects, elimination of confounding factors, etc... all of these need to be performed by the scientists who are closest to the data and the instruments that provided it.

      Like it or not, the data needs to be curated in some way, before it can be consumed meaningfully by the larger community.

      If the maintainers of the archive believe adjustments are needed to deal with some measurement pathology, they are welcome to also release an open correction dataset or tool in parallel.

      Many scientists do, if it makes sense in context. See above.

      With the low price and high speed of modern digital storage and processing devices, data set size and complexity is no excuse for withholding the raw data.

      The size and complexity of some raw datasets can in fact make it unfeasible to provide in a meaningful way. Again, see above.

      --
      If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
    6. Re:Is this the un"adjusted" raw data? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Poe's Law: If you hadn't dropped the Dr. Evil reference this would've been indistinguishable from the rantings of an actual climate change denialist.

      It's absolutely baffling - That people will actually believe that 98% of all the world's scientists are engaged in a mass conspiracy to commit the largest fraud the world has ever seen, while at the same time believing that the handful of corporations and billionaires who fund denialism are just innocently asking questions. Particuarly so since corporations have engaged in this exact same behavior before: The climate change denialism meme is absolutely indistinguishable from the tobacco industry's "no proven smoking-cancer connection" meme and the lead industry's "aw, shucks, lead is harmless!" meme: They find literally one or two sellouts to spread FUD and delay the necessary corrective action. It really was just one or two people coming up with "studies" showing that there was no connection between smoking and cancer, or that childhood lead exposure didn't cause brain damage.

      The only difference this time is that unlike tobacco (a problem you can 99% solve by yourself by simply not smoking) or TEL (which has essentially resolved itself in only 40 years, without any extensive remedial action), climate change is a ball that took a hundred years to set in motion. It's already too late to prevent some amount of damage (2*c by 2100 is basically a done deal) but the window to prevent catastrophe is starting to close. When you reach 4-6*c it's not a question of IF things like the meltdown of siberia and alaska (leading to massive methane emissions from resumed anaerobic decomposition), the meltdown of greenland, the collapse of the west antarctic ice sheet, huge methane calthrate blowouts, or the collapse of the global ocean food chain are going to happen, it's a question of HOW SOON.

    7. Re:Is this the un"adjusted" raw data? by dywolf · · Score: 5, Interesting

      if they gave you the unadjusted data you would think global warming was 20% worse (warmer) than it is, because the overall effect of the adjustments has been to reduce the apparent warming shown in the data.

      and again the whole "just give us the data" argument seems silly. I mean, sure, they could give it to you (indeed if you dig the data is out there).

      but based on what precise qualifications will you be basing your second guessing ?

      --
      The guy who said the election was rigged won the presidency with the second-most votes.
    8. Re:Is this the un"adjusted" raw data? by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 4, Informative

      the raw measurements should be available to all
      Actually, that is the case. Go to the relevant research institutes web sites and download it. Pretty simple.

      You are a troll, right?

      We have an international treaty since roughly 50 years that makes all "western"(at least) weather and climate data freely (free as: for no charge) available for every one (commercial and non commercial use!!).

      Every idiot posting about raw data should know that instead of repeating old /. myths

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    9. Re:Is this the un"adjusted" raw data? by riverat1 · · Score: 2

      Of course the source I cited does not suffer from the problem you cited. The CRU data is only a small part of their data. Maybe the original IPCC report was based largely on CRU data but that is no longer the case. If you think the whole global warming edifice falls apart if you don't use the CRU data you're dreaming.

  5. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Because this is how science works. You look at the data, you look at it again. Then let other look at.

    Nothing is ever "settled" this isn't the hysterical bible beaters that think a 2000 year old book holds all the answers.

    SCIENCE is abouting questioning everything.

  6. Does it matter? by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Quite frankly, this topic has left all semblance of being in touch with reality. It does simply not matter how much proof you find for or against climate change. Neither side will give a shit about scientific data after they've invested pretty much everything and their reputation for it.

    I really, really hope the deniers are right. Sadly, I'm terribly afraid they ain't.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  7. your opinion is worthless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    In my opinion, to conduct proper science on climatological measurements, the raw measurements should be available to all, to let everyone apply any "adjustments" and "corrections" they believe are necessary - and justified - taking them into account. Then each can properly check the works of their predecessors, and reach their own conclusions, without incorporating unknown distortions from previous work.

    Your uninformed, uneducated opinion is worthless because you have zero understanding of data collection.

    Do you even understand what "unadjusted data" means?

    The answer is no, you don't; you are in fact completely ignorant on the subject.

    Perhaps you need to enroll in college with an ABET accredited engineering school, take 2 years of engineering and physics courses followed by a year of instrumentation courses then you might start to understand what is going on.

    There's a reason why scientists agree on what is happening, and the republitarians deny it--Its called ignorance.

    1. Re:your opinion is worthless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You read one chapter of a textbook dealing with a subject you know nothing about. You didn't understand it. Based on this, you conclude that the entire field and others related to it are wrong?

      For those who wonder why the world is such a clusterf*ck these days, look no further. This guy is not only out there, but there are millions more like him, and they're probably all breeding.

      God help us all.

  8. Re:Projections. by JackieBrown · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The ability for us to leave our planet holds great benifits for humanity.

    Plus, the technolgy created as a result of the space program has already shown benifits to humanity.

  9. Re:Why? by Merk42 · · Score: 2

    Settled? Hardly...

    and until we're able to have a parallel Earth and tell everyone on one Earth "pollute all you want" and the other Earth "don't pollute at all" and leave it for many years it never will be settled.

  10. Yeah, it matters by jfengel · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's true: every denier is a worthless idiot, and the vast majority of those who accept anthropogenic climate change has a poor understanding of how and why it works. That's perhaps 90-95% of everybody discussing the question.

    But there are still perhaps 5-10% of people who have at least a rough grasp of what's going on, and they're capable of actually discussing the real questions. Not the stupid questions, which are a waste of everybody's time, but real ones, like "how can we refine the models?" and "what are we going to do about it?" The latter may seem irrelevant, since government action is stymied by denialists, and individual actions are largely unimportant. (I'm glad you bought a Prius, and it is helping a bit, but not nearly enough by several orders of magnitude.)

    Still... as bad as it is, stuff does get done. If we're locked in by chemistry and the suicide pact that our Constitution has turned into, we can at least take mitigating actions. The earlier we know about how agriculture is going to change, the better. We can take at least minor defensive measures for our flooded coastal cities. The US military needs to prepare for the various wars that are driven, in part, by climate-change driven poverty. It's even worthwhile to consider the "winners", like those Canadian farmers who will be able to take land that hasn't been touched and which finally has a growing season long enough.

    It's not optimal; it's not even as good as is pragmatically feasible. But it's the best we can do in that paradox of democracy, where somehow all of us collectively are supposed to be smarter than the average of us individually. The majority of deniers and the majority of well-meaning but clueless (albeit correct) believers roughly cancel out and hopefully, hopefully it leaves a tiny minority able to do something that's better than not knowing at all. Thin gruel, but it's the best we can get.

    1. Re:Yeah, it matters by riverat1 · · Score: 2

      When I put a pot of water on the stove I can't predict accurately where the bubbles of water vapor will form when it comes to a boil but I can make a pretty good estimate of how long it will take to start boiling.

  11. Re:Projections. by silentcoder · · Score: 4, Insightful

    No war in Iraq -> No ISIS today.

    ISIS exists only because of the crapshoot that Bush created with his stupid war.

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    Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
  12. Re:Projections. by bigfinger76 · · Score: 2

    Nice strawman. No.

  13. Re:Make it easier please by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    That's basically what the IPCC reports are, and if that's still too much detail they have a ~10 page summary for policy makers which summarizes the IPCC report into a series of predictions, estimates and assessments

  14. Obligatory XKCD by AF_Cheddar_Head · · Score: 4, Interesting
  15. Re:Projections. by dave420 · · Score: 2

    Them starting in Iraq and moving to Syria doesn't even figure in your appraisal of the situation, does it? They started in Iraq as "Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad", which joined Al Qaeda in 2004. They fought during the Iraq invasion, which gave them lots of experience in battle, and access to the spoils of war. They then joined another Iraqi group - Mujahideen Shura Council - to form the "Islamic State of Iraq" in 2006. In 2011 delegates were sent to Syria, in a group called "Jabhat an-Nuá£rah li-Ahli ash-ShÄm" or "al-Nusra Front", and dug in. In 2013 this group then formally merged back with ISI to form ISIL.

    So yeah, no war in Iraq, no ISIS. It's not even up for discussion any more - their history has been well documented, and is available to anyone who cares to learn. They started in Iraq and Bush gave them just what they wanted - an insurgency in which to grab as much as they can. This is all before they were even in Syria.

  16. Re:Why? by dave420 · · Score: 2

    That AGW is happening is settled. It was settled the moment Arrhenius worked out how CO2 acts as a greenhouse gas. What is not settled is the details - but they are getting more and more accurate as time goes on. Clearly some answers are needed, but nothing is at all likely to disprove AGW.