2013. január 29., kedd

CLIMATE 365 Campaign



Shake shake shake, shake your annual global temperature variations. While NASA’s analysis of average global temperatures shows changes from year to year, the long-term trend still shows rising global temperatures, compared to a baseline average from 1951-1980. In fact the last year that experienced an average global temperature cooler than the 1951-1980 average was 1976, when the U.S. was marking its bicentennial and K.C. and the Sunshine Band were at the top of the charts. Creative commons disco ball photo courtesy of marfis75 on flickr.


Each year, four international science institutions compile temperature data from thousands of stations around the world and make independent judgments about whether the year was warmer or cooler than average. “The official records vary slightly because of subtle differences in the way we analyze the data,” said Reto Ruedy, climate scientist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. “But they also agree extraordinarily well.” All four records show peaks and valleys in sync with each other. All show rapid warming in the past few decades. All show the last decade has been the warmest on record. Note: An updated version of this graph was posted on 1/25.

The year 2012 was the ninth warmest in a NASA analysis of global temperatures that stretches back to 1880. In itself, that sounds fairly unremarkable. But, as climate scientists note, what’s important is the long-term trend. The 10 hottest years in the 132-year record have all occurred since 1998, and nine of the 10 have occurred since 2002. “What matters is, this decade is warmer than the last decade, and that decade was warmer than the decade before,” said Gavin Schmidt, a climatologist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. “The planet is warming.” 
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