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Global warming “unmistakeable”
A report published this week by the US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) concluded there is “unmistakeable” evidence of global warming.
NOAA based its findings on work done by 300 scientists in 48 countries and its report confirmed that “the Earth has been growing warmer over the last 50 years.” It highlighted 10 measurable gauges of global temperature change and explained, “The relative movement of each of these indicators proves consistent with a warming world. Seven indicators are rising: air temperature over land, sea-surface temperature, air temperature over oceans, sea level, ocean heat, humidity and tropospheric temperature in the ‘active-weather’ layer of the atmosphere closest to the Earth’s surface. Three indicators are declining: Arctic sea ice, glaciers and spring snow cover in the Northern hemisphere.”
It warned that the planet, having a recent history of “thousands of years under one climatic state,” is at a far greater risk of “more extreme events like severe drought, torrential rain and violent storms.”
The report backs the findings of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) which was subject to much criticism as part of the “Climategate” controversy that blew up early this year as findings published in its 2007 Climate Change Assessment Report were scrutinised.
The NOAA’s annual “State of the Climate” report for 2009 was released yesterday as a supplement to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. NOAA is a US agency that works to understand and predict changes in the Earth’s environment. The report is published annually.
Links:
NOAA website
NOAA’s 2009 State of the Climate Report
Posted by Maia in / 08.44 pm / 29 July 2010