Openai/69406c31-98a8-8007-89a1-d34df67e0336

This conversation was exported from ChatGPT

gpt-5-2

User: If we move a thermometers reading time from 7 am to noon does that mean the Earth warms ?

If we move a thermometers reading time from 7 am to noon does that mean the Earth warms ?

Assistant: Short answer: No.

Short answer: No. Changing the time you read a thermometer does not mean the Earth warms. It only changes the reported temperature, not the actual climate.

Here’s the clean explanation:

Why the reading changes

If you start reading a thermometer at noon instead of 7 AM, you’ll record a warmer temperature on average—because noon is warmer than early morning. That’s just a measurement-schedule artifact, not an actual change in the planet’s temperature.

Why this matters in climate data

This exact thing used to be a problem in U.S. weather records. It’s called:

Time-of-Observation Bias (TOB) If a station switched from afternoon observation times to morning times (or vice versa), the statistics of daily max/min could artificially shift.

Climate scientists correct for this because:

• The instrument didn’t change
• The weather didn’t change
• Only the clock time changed

So they apply adjustments so we’re comparing apples to apples.

Analogy

If you weigh yourself every morning, then switch to weighing yourself right after dinner, you’ll “gain weight” — but nothing actually happened to your body.

So does the Earth warm?

No. The thermometer will report warmer values, but it does not mean the Earth warmed. It’s purely a bookkeeping quirk.

If you want a snappy FB-ready version, say:

No, it doesn’t mean the Earth warmed. It just means you checked the thermometer at a different time of day. That’s called Time-of-Observation Bias. It’s like thinking you “got heavier” because you weighed yourself after dinner instead of before breakfast.