tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093436161326155359.post1217660248617014532..comments2024-03-29T09:21:04.576+00:00Comments on Variable Variability: Self-review of problems with the HOME validation study for homogenization methodsVictor Venemahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02842816166712285801noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093436161326155359.post-14308699136558182932014-07-01T19:33:49.398+01:002014-07-01T19:33:49.398+01:00Thanks for the compliment, Daneel. In that case I ...Thanks for the compliment, Daneel. In that case I will remove the warning, "(The rest of this post describing the problems is unfortunately more technical as the average post on this blog.)", which may discourage some people from reading further. I guess my self-selected readers are relatively smart.<br />Victor Venemahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02842816166712285801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093436161326155359.post-19554480486374928642014-07-01T18:26:10.770+01:002014-07-01T18:26:10.770+01:00Quite interesting, even for a complete layman rega...Quite interesting, even for a complete layman regarding homogeneization. <br />Thanks, Victor. You have a great skill in explaining complex problems :)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07982409667756307764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093436161326155359.post-28547738028389697352014-06-27T17:30:56.083+01:002014-06-27T17:30:56.083+01:00Peter, you should know that analogies lead to mayh...Peter, you should know that analogies lead to mayhem in the climate "debate", :-) but maybe we can use it among colleagues. <br /><br />I fully agree with you. That is also why I am so enthusiastic about our ISTI benchmark mimicking the ISTI raw data holdings. That makes it possible to study discrepancies in the statistical properties of the detected inhomogeneities with unprecedented accuracy. This combined with the planned 3-year benchmarking cycle will allow us to make the validation more accurate every time.<br /><br />The more we feel we were naive a decade ago, the more we have learned. HOME contributed a lot to that learning.Victor Venemahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02842816166712285801noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9093436161326155359.post-4125541563724779722014-06-27T16:42:26.915+01:002014-06-27T16:42:26.915+01:00Health warning: This comment contains an analogy.
...Health warning: This comment contains an analogy.<br /><br />Victor, so much of science is incremental both in accretion of knowledge but also methods and capabilities. Objects in the rear view mirror are always distorted.<br /><br />Anyway, the analogy ...<br /><br />So, when I was a wee nipper of a lad growing up near the English coast every summer we would go to the coast and dangle our string with a rock and a piece of bacon over the side to try to catch some crabs (the eight legged creatures ...!). Of course, 9 times out of 10 the critter lets go before you get it up to the bucket. Darn!<br /><br />So, after a year or two you start thinking can I do this better so get some wire and fashion it into a circle and then tie chicken wire into it and now there's a surface that most of the time but not all of the time the critters now stay on if you haul it up quickly enough.<br /><br />Another year or two passes and now you think well, if I now create a second, similar, ring and weight it and have chicken wire in addition between the two then the critters who get on will never come off. And now you need your parent (or in one case their landrover and tow hitch!) to pull the net out.<br /><br />At each point what was being done was to best knowledge and in each case it was superceded based upon prior experience and knowledge advances.<br /><br />Beyond being an object microcosm of why we are over-fishing and the issue of global commons (other parents were very unimpressed!) I think this shows how in another decade we'll look back similarly on what we are doing now and nit pick. It would be extremely worrying if we were not to. Science and scientific knowledge should always advance and we can always do better.Peter Thornehttp://www.surfacetemperatures.orgnoreply@blogger.com