Reply to “timing errors in global sea level observations” (Pan et al., 2025)

Pan et al. (2025) claim to uncover numerous timing and datum errors in the University of Hawai‘i Sea Level Center Research Quality dataset and declare that the dataset is “less reliable than previously assumed”. We argue that Pan et al. overstate the scientific implications of unresolved issues in the dataset and demonstrate that Pan et al. have failed to consider the extensive metadata accompanying the observations, which already document most of the issues Pan et al. claim to expose. We also clarify the nature of the Research Quality dataset, which is not guaranteed to be free of errors, and assert that when data and metadata are used together as intended, the dataset remains a reliable basis for scientific research.