Climate Study Finds Evidence Of Continued Global Warming
The Earth has been getting warmer over the past 50 years, and the past decade was the hottest in recorded history, according to the results of the 2009 State of the Climate report, which were released on Wednesday.
The findings–the work of over 300 scientists from 160 different research organizations in 48 countries–analyzed "10 key climate indicators that all point to the same finding: the scientific evidence that our world is warming is unmistakable," according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) press release dated July 28.
"For the first time, and in a single compelling comparison, the analysis brings together multiple observational records from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the ocean," Dr. Jane Lubchenco, the Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA administrator, said in the organization’s press release. "These independently produced lines of evidence all point to the same conclusion: our planet is warming."
"The relative movement of each of these indicators proves consistent with a warming world," claims the NOAA statement. "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."
The State of the Climate report also warns that the shifting climate conditions in the world could also cause more extreme weather conditions, including severe drought in some areas and violent rain storms in others. It also notes that average temperatures increased each year during the decade of the 1990s, and that the following decade was warmer still.
The average temperature has increased by one-degree Fahrenheit over the past half-century. That may not seem like much, but according to Deke Arndt, the head of the NOAA’s Climate Monitoring Branch, "it has already altered our planet”¦ Glaciers and sea ice are melting, heavy rainfall is intensifying and heat waves are more common. And, as the new report tells us, there is now evidence that over 90 percent of warming over the past 50 years has gone into our ocean."
Does this report provide concrete proof that global warming is real?
"Unequivocally yes, there is no doubt," Tom Karl, the transitional director of the planned NOAA Climate Service, told AP Science Writer Randolph E. Schmid on Wednesday.
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