Friday, November 26, 2010

Slowing or not? It'll take awhile to hash this out

I'm going to have to do more reading about this, but there are two different reports out that a) global warming is slowing, and b) that the data showing global warming is slowing are wrong.

Hooo-eee.

Here's part 1: Global warming has slowed down over the past 10 years, say scientists

Not all for good reasons: "Scientists say one of the major factors is the rise in heavy industry and pollutant 'aerosols', particularly in Asia," the article states.

Here's part 2: Data suggesting global warming slow-down is wrong


Meat of the argument:

The change in methodology [of measuring sea surface temperature] lead climate experts to believe that the rate of warming had slowed down from 0.16 °C per cent per decade to 0.09 °C per decade, a change of 0.07 °C,which is quite a big deal in the grand scheme of things.

The claim has now been brought into question by John Kennedy and colleagues at the UK Met Office who have now found that the real slowdown was significantly smaller.

Kennedy suggests that the change in the way the temperatures are measured could account for up to 0.03 °C of the change.



Meanwhile, back in the States:

NASA study finds Earth's lakes are warming


"Researchers Philipp Schneider and Simon Hook of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., used satellite data to measure the surface temperatures of 167 large lakes worldwide.

They reported an average warming rate of 0.81 degrees Fahrenheit per decade, with some lakes warming as much as 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit per decade. The warming trend was global, and the greatest increases were in the mid- to high-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere."

Two new global warming studies spell trouble for Lake Tahoe

Besides melting snowpack, the lake itself is warming up (as discovered by the study immediately above):

Lakes in the the Northern Hemisphere’s mid and upper latitudes showed the most warming. That includes Lake Tahoe, which has heated up by 3 degrees Celsius since 1985, putting it behind only Russia’s Lake Ladoga.


I just can't wait to see how this whole shebang will get spun by Morano, McIntyre, Watts, as well as the lesser lights.

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