GISS Has Removed ERSST.v3b As An Option On Its Map-Making Webpage

I’ve moved to WordPress.  This post can now be found at GISS Has Removed ERSST.v3b As An Option On Its Map-Making Webpage

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I had noted the addition of ERSST.v3b SST dataset to the GISS Global Maps webpage almost a year ago in the February 25, 2010 post WHEN DID GISS ADD ERSST.v3b DATA TO THEIR MAP-MAKING WEB PAGE? In a follow-up post a month later, GISS Acknowledges Addition of ERSST.v3b Data To Their GISTEMP Options, I provided a link to the draft of Hansen et al (2010) which explained the reason for the inclusion of the ERSST.v3b data on its website, even though GISS uses a combination of HADISST and Reynolds OI.v2 SST data in their GISS Land-Ocean Temperature Index (LOTI) dataset. Basically, GISS was evaluating the two SST datasets (and awaiting additional analysis), but they would continue to use the combined HADISST/Reynolds OI.v2 data “unless and until verifications show ERSST to be superior.”

Hansen et al (2010) was published on December 10, 2010, “Global surface temperature change”. [Rev. Geophys., 48, RG4004, doi:10.1029/2010RG000345] (PDF). Then, approximately two months later, GISS removed ERSST.v3b SST data as an option on its map-making webpage. See Figure 1.

http://i56.tinypic.com/10cj3bs.jpg
Figure 1

This of course raises a number of questions. Does it mean that “verifications” did not “show ERSST to be superior”? If so, in what publication was this presented? Or was the webpage simply updated incorrectly and the update failed to include the ERSST.v3b option in the drop-down menu?