New US/UK report says that there is 'unmistakable' scientific evidence of warming world
Thu 29 July 2010
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Scientific evidence that our world is warming is unmistakable has been released in the ‘2009 State of the Climate’ report, issued by US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Meanwhile, a Dutch environmental agency reports that global CO2 emissions rose 3% in 2009, counter to earlier expectations.
The report draws on data from 10 key climate indicators that all point to that same finding — the world is warming.
The 10 indicators of temperature have been compiled by the Met Office Hadley Centre, drawing on the work of more than 100 scientists from more than 20 institutions. They provide, in a one place, a snapshot of our world and spell out a single conclusion that the climate is unequivocally warming.
Relying on data from multiple sources, each indicator proved consistent with a warming world. Seven indicators are rising and three are declining.
The rising indicators include:
1.Air temperature over land
2.Sea-surface temperature
3.Marine air temperature
4.Sea-level
5.Ocean heat
6.Humidity
7.Tropospheric temperature in the ‘active-weather’ layer of the atmosphere closest to the Earth’s surface
Declining indicators include:
1.Arctic sea-ice
2.Glaciers
3.Spring snow cover in the northern hemisphere
Dr Peter Stott, Met Office Head of Climate Monitoring and Attribution and contributor to the report said: “Despite the variability caused by short-term changes, the analysis conducted for this report illustrates why we are so confident the world is warming.
“When we look at air temperature and other indicators of climate, we see highs and lows in the data from year-to-year because of natural variability. Understanding climate change requires looking at the longer-term record. When we follow decade-to-decade trends using different data sets and independent analyses from around the world, we see clear and unmistakable signs of a warming world.”
According to a separate report by the Dutch environmental assessment agency PBL said that global CO2 emissions did not fall last year as had been predicted by the International Energy Agency (IEA). CO2 cuts due to the recession were offset by strong emission increases in China and India.
In October, the IEA predicted that global CO2 emissions could fall in 2009 by as much as 3%. But a PBL report published on Thursday, which looks at emissions from energy use and cement and chemicals production, shows these emissions remained flat.
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