Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology has corrected errors in historical Bureau temperature records after an analysis found duplicated readings, including August 1907 minimum temperatures that appeared in the August 1867 record for Sydney Observatory.

Key Takeaways

  • The Bureau said the duplicated records accounted for fewer than 200 values in a database of seven million.
  • The agency rejected allegations of fraudulent conduct and manual data manipulation.
  • The analysis’s lead author stood by his work, while a climate scientist said its conclusions had been overstated.

What was found in Bureau temperature records

The errors were confirmed and corrected by the Bureau, which said the duplicated records represented approximately 0.003% of the seven million values in its database.

The agency said the confirmed errors could potentially be attributable to the use of punch-card computers in the 1960s. It described the number of errors as statistically irrelevant.

Agency rejects fraud allegations

A 39-page analysis alleged widespread data anomalies and human intervention. The Bureau rejected allegations of fraudulent conduct and said claims of manual manipulation were false and unsubstantiated.

Sarah Perkins-Kirkpatrick, a professor of climate science at the Australian National University, said the conclusions of the analysis had been blown out of proportion.

The analysis’s lead author, Tom Berger, stood by his work. In an email dated October 26, 2026, he said his experience in computer analytics and statistical modelling qualified him to undertake the task.

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