Climate data reliable and collected from many sources, not ruined by airports | Fact check

The claim: Most US temperature sensors are near airport runways, so climate data is unreliable

A Dec. 3, 2023, Instagram video (direct link, archive link) shows a U.S. map covered with red dots. The video zooms in to show that some of the dots are located at airports.

"Ever wondered how they're manipulating climate data?" reads text above the video. "By strategically placing the majority of temperature sensors near asphalt runways at airports."

The post garnered more than 200 likes in a week.

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Our rating: False

Most U.S. temperature sensors are not positioned near airport runways, according to government agencies. Many lines of evidence, not just land-based temperature readings, show Earth is warming.

Most US temperature sensors not located at airports

Multiple independent and international climate agencies have documented global warming caused by human greenhouse gas emissions.

Despite the claim in the post, the majority of temperature gauges that have been used to detect this warming in the U.S. are not located near airport runways.

Only around 2,500 temperature stations are located at airports in the U.S., a Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson told USA TODAY in an email.

However, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration uses more than 10,000 temperature stations to detect climate trends in the lower 48 states, according to Russell Vose, a NOAA climate scientist.

"The Federal Aviation Administration requires airports to maintain weather stations for safety reasons and NOAA is happy to collate this information," Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, told USA TODAY in an email. "However, we have thousands of U.S. weather stations ? far more than is needed to get a good estimate of the changes over time – so you can look at the data just from airports, not from airports, et cetera, and you get the same results."

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Data from U.S. temperature stations can be influenced by artificial infrastructure in their surroundings or by changes in station location, instrumentation or data collection practices. But when there are biasing influences at a station location, scientists make adjustments to appropriately account for these factors, NOAA spokesperson John Bateman told USA TODAY in an email.

The National Temperature Index provides evidence that NOAA's dataset (which includes this adjusted data) accurately reflects U.S. temperature trends, he said. The index compares the temperature record from the more than 10,000 temperature stations used by NOAA to the trend recorded by the Climate Reference Network ? a collection of more than 100 stations positioned in pristine settings that do not require adjustments.

The two trends are very similar, Bateman said.

Land-based temperature readings are one of many signs that Earth is warming

While measurements from land-based temperature stations are important, they are not the only way researchers have documented global warming. For instance, scientists have also used satellite-based measurements to document atmospheric warming.

Researchers have also detected significant ocean warming using sensors on ships, satellites and robotic instruments.

The impacts of both atmospheric and ocean warming have also been documented. These include glacial and polar ice melt, sea level rise ? due to both ice melt and the expansion of warming seawater ? and an increase in the frequency of certain extreme weather events, such as heat waves.

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The Instagram user who shared the post declined to provide evidence to support the claim.

Our fact-check sources:

• John Bateman, Dec. 11, 2023 Email exchange with USA TODAY

• Gavin Schmidt, Dec. 19, 2023 Email exchange with USA TODAY

• Russell Vose, Jan. 4, Email exchange with USA TODAY

• USA TODAY, Aug. 14, 2023 Location of temperature measurement sites doesn't prove most climate data's 'corrupt' | Fact check

• NASA Vital Signs of the Planet, accessed Jan. 4, Ocean warming

• NASA Vital Signs of the Planet, accessed Jan. 4, Causes

• NASA Vital Signs of the Planet, accessed Jan. 4, Ice sheets

• NASA Vital Signs of the Planet, accessed Jan. 4, Sea level

• NASA Earth Observatory, accessed Jan. 4, World of Change: Global Temperatures

• Carbon Brief, April 28, 2021, Melting glaciers drove ‘21% of sea level rise’ over past two decades

• Environmental Protection Agency, July 2022, Climate Change Indicators: Heat Waves

• Remote Sensing Systems, accessed Jan. 4, Upper air temperature

• Remote Sensing Systems, accessed Jan. 4, Climate analysis

• NOAA, accessed Jan. 4, National Temperature Index

• NOAA, Sept. 6, 2023, Climate Change: Ocean Heat Content

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No, global warming isn't the result of manipulated data | Fact check