Important New Research: 2015-2018 Hottest Years

This research is important because it was led be a physicist who was originally a global warming denier but whose opinion was changed by his own analysis of the data.  It's also important because the data he analyzed was a far more complete survey of earth based instruments than what created the most strenuous global warming denier, Anthony Watts, who began his denial by making claims that climate scientists were misled by the land based measurement devices.  The new research is an absolutely thorough analysis of land based measurements.

For its latest findings, the team analyzed “19 million monthly-average temperature observations from 46,000 weather stations” on land since 1850, including 205,000 monthly averages in 2018 alone. They combined that with ocean-based data, some “374 million measurements collected by ships and buoys, including 19 million observations obtained in 2018.”

The lead researcher was Richard Muller.

Berkeley Earth’s founder and scientific director, physicist Richard Muller, was a long-time climate skeptic who became a “converted skeptic” in 2012 after his team independently reviewed more than 150 years of data.

Berkeley Earth, a nonprofit research organization, provides independent analysis of global temperature records, but its findings of record global warming are especially noteworthy because the group was originally founded with $150,000 from the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation. Billionaire Charles Koch is a long-time funder of climate science denial.

This research is important because it was conducted and the conclusions arrived at by an organization that was originally global warming deniers.  Their views have been turned by the data.  This is the beginning of what is needed to bring people around who weren't sure about global warming.

The conclusions are undeniable.  The planet is warming.