

Watts has also found examples overseas, such as the weather station at Rome airport, which catches the hot exhaust fumes emitted by taxiing jets.





A weather station at Rome airport was found to catch the hot exhaust fumes emitted by taxiing jets.



The following is a popular picture used by climate change skeptics to attempt to show that there's something seriously wrong with the the surface temperature record which is used to show that the world is getting hotter.It appears to show that two weather stations with Stevenson screens are situated right at the end of the runway of Rome Ciampino . It's not hard to put two and two together and see that the wash from the engines of departing jets would cause the temperature indicated by the thermometers to be much too high.Between the two Stevenson screened boxes is an automated weather observation station used by the airport. So it too would be affected by aircraft wash.Now, any pilot will tell you that knowing the barometric pressure at the airport (as reported by the QFE code) and the local temperature are vital data in setting the altimeter correctly when landing. Aircraft altimeters work on atmospheric pressure and when approaching the airport the pilot is told the current pressure so they can set their instrument correctly.The temperature also matters because it can affect the altimeter reading when the weather is cold. Pilots need to know both accurately to land safely. So does it seem likely that at Rome airport the weather station is heated by aircraft wash?Of course not, and if you zoom out from that picture and orient it North/South (rather than South/North) you'll see a different picture:You can make our the stations near the top left-middle of the picture. They are far from the runway and positioned near an aircraft parking area.If you are going to be a skeptic go with the Wikipedia definition:. One picture does not a systematic investigation make.That picture was alluded to in a Sunday Times article this weekend:And The Daily Telegraph has a similar story:That statement is inaccurate. The weather station is not near a taxiway, it's near a parking area. And not even a parking area next to the terminal building.And even if it was, one bad thermometer doesn't mean climate change can be thrown out the window.

Labels: climate change