(Note: The material below may be excessively "science/computer nerdy", depending on your POV -- The target audience is computer-savvy science instructors and students who'd like some more ammo to fire back at global-warming deniers with.)
I've put together a package that I decided to call WattsBuster(tm), in honor of climate disinformer Anthony Watts.
When WattsBuster(tm) is set up and running, students will be able to "roll their own" global-average temperature estimates by pointing/clicking on temperature stations on a global map. As each new temperature station is selected, WattsBuster(tm) updates and displays global-average temperature estimates with that station's data, on the fly.
Temperature estimates are computed from both raw and adjusted/homogenized data, and are plotted along with the official NASA/GISS "meteorological stations" results for comparison purposes. As students click on more stations, they can watch the WattsBuster(tm) raw and adjusted/homogenized data results converge to the official NASA/GISS results surprisingly quickly.
Experimentation with WattsBuster(tm) will reveal that the NASA/GISS global-warming results can be confirmed with raw or adjusted/homogenized data from as few as 30 or so globally-scattered temperature stations, rural or urban.
Disclaimer: WattsBuster(tm) is not anywhere near a "consumer-grade" polished end product. It should be considered a "proof of concept" prototype that takes a bit of work to get up and running. (Most of the work involved is "system prepping" -- getting the prerequisite software installed on your system. Setting up the actual WattsBuster(tm) package is actually pretty simple.)
The WattsBuster(tm) package can be installed/configured to run on Linux, BSD/OS-X, and Windows systems. Installation/configuration is easiest on Linux platforms that use the Debian-based package-management system (i.e. Debian, Ubuntu, Mint...). OS-X and Windows platforms require additional prep work -- details at the bottom of this post.
WattsBuster(tm) installation/configuration is recommended for folks who are comfortable working in an "old-school" Unix/Linux command-line environment (or for those who are willing to learn how to work in a Unix/Linux command-line environment). There's not all that much you have to do at the command-line, but for folks who haven't worked in an "old school" command-line environment, it could be a bit off-putting.
WattsBuster(tm) borrows heavily from several open-source software projects: Quantum GIS, gnuplot, and a neat C++ TCP socket class that I found on-line.
More details after the jump, including a couple of images that show WattsBuster(tm) in action.
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