date: Thu, 24 Apr 2008 19:31:25 +0100
from: "Stott, Peter" <peter.stott@metoffice.gov.uk>
subject: Record breaking years
to: <p.jones@uea.ac.uk>

   Hi Phil,

   I did an interview for More or Less on Radio 4 today on global average temperatures. I hope
   I didn't mess up too much - David was away so couldn't do it.

   Apparently James Annan has made a bet with David Whitehouse that we will/won't have a
   record breaking year by 2011 (including 2011). Problem with these records of course is that
   we don't know the global average temperature that precisely, with uncertainties of order
   0.1C.

   So the question becomes whether we should be talking about record breaking years at all,
   geiven that we're uncertain of the ranking order of the years, or at least trying to
   communicate the uncertainties in the way we present these numbers a bit more. Anyway you
   must have thought a fair bit about this !

   Peter