global warming is a reality
A study shows the past decade to be the hottest on record and gives evidence of increasing earth temperature for more than three decades
A major breakthrough has been achieved in confirming that global warming is a reality.
The 2009 State of the Climate Report, a major study carried out by more than 300 researchers, published on Wednesday, revealed that air and sea temperatures were rising, while Arctic sea ice, glaciers and snow cover in the northern hemisphere were all declining.
The study collected data from 10 key climate indicators, air temperature over land, sea-surface temperature, marine air temperature, sea level, ocean heat, humidity, tropospheric temperature in the “active-weather” layer of the atmosphere closest to the earth’s surface, arctic sea ice, glaciers and spring snow cover in the northern hemisphere.
It pointed to the finding that the world was warming.
The results revealed that seven key climate indicators were all rising while unfortunately three key climate indicators, arctic sea ice, glaciers and spring snow cover in the northern hemisphere were declining.
These key climate indicators were drawn up by the UK Met Office’s Hadley Centre. The records come from many institutions worldwide and data collected from various sources, including satellites, weather balloons, weather stations, ships, buoys, and field surveys.
“These independently produced lines of evidence all point to the same conclusion: our planet is warming,” news.scotsman quoted Deke Arndt, chief of the Climate Monitoring Branch of NOAA’s National Climate Data Center.
The study also confirmed that the past decade was the hottest on record and that the earth has been growing progressively warmer for more than three decades.
It shows that each of the past three decades has been warmer than that before. At the time, the 1980s was the hottest decade on record. In the 1990s, every year was warmer than the average of the previous decade, and the 2000s were warmer still.
The study was put together by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with input from more than 300 scientists from 160 research groups in 48 countries.
Dr. Peter Stott, contributor to the report and head of climate monitoring and attribution at the Hadley Centre, emphasized that long-term trends needed to be looked at, rather than year-on-year changes.
He said that “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 adding that 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,” Dr Peter Stott said.
Source: businessbhutan