I ain't heard from the climate change deniers lately.
source: Discovery News
The record-breaking highs we're feeling now could soon become the norm.
The sweltering heat baking the eastern United States is part of a global trend. Last month was the warmest June on record, and so far, 2010 is the warmest year ever recorded, according to data released yesterday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.
The data represent an average of surface temperature measurements over both land and oceans worldwide.
These findings and those of other agencies that track global temperatures paint the same picture, said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
"The point of the matter is that global warming has not stopped," he said.
Average temperatures for 2010 to date were 1.22 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the 20th-century average, NOAA reported.
"The interesting thing about it is the temperature anomaly map for June shows it was pretty much warm everywhere over land except for a few places," said David Easterling, of NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., which released the data. "That's somewhat of an uncommon pattern to see almost all the land mass being that warm."
Only the U.S. Pacific Northwest, northern Europe and southern China were cooler than average, according to NOAA.
As the Earth continues to heat up from rising levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, the planet is likely to see more record-breaking years. "As we continue to get warmer, the odds of any given year breaking the record are pretty high," Easterling said.
Indeed, four of the five warmest years on record have come in the last decade. The reigning warmest year on record is 2005, followed by 1998, 2003, 2006 and 2009, Easterling said.
"We always will have that possibility of cold snaps and really warm snaps. But as we move through time, the possibility of the really cold snaps go down. The probability of the really warm snaps goes up," Serreze said.
"One of the things to really watch out for this year is going to be the hurricanes in the Atlantic," said Kevin Trenberth, head of the climate analysis section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.
"The Atlantic has been unusually warm. The last time it was this warm and it was record-breaking, that's when we had the record-breaking hurricane season that led to Katrina and Rita and we ran out of alphabet," he added. "This year the temperatures in the Atlantic are higher than they were in 2005."
Those who find this year's temperatures uncomfortably warm should prepare for more of the same, he added.
"Will we set a new record next year? Who knows?" Trenberth said. "But as we go through the coming decades, what we're seeing this year will start to become closer to the norm."
source: Discovery News
The record-breaking highs we're feeling now could soon become the norm.
The sweltering heat baking the eastern United States is part of a global trend. Last month was the warmest June on record, and so far, 2010 is the warmest year ever recorded, according to data released yesterday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.
The data represent an average of surface temperature measurements over both land and oceans worldwide.
These findings and those of other agencies that track global temperatures paint the same picture, said Mark Serreze, director of the National Snow and Ice Data Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
"The point of the matter is that global warming has not stopped," he said.
Average temperatures for 2010 to date were 1.22 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the 20th-century average, NOAA reported.
"The interesting thing about it is the temperature anomaly map for June shows it was pretty much warm everywhere over land except for a few places," said David Easterling, of NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., which released the data. "That's somewhat of an uncommon pattern to see almost all the land mass being that warm."
Only the U.S. Pacific Northwest, northern Europe and southern China were cooler than average, according to NOAA.
As the Earth continues to heat up from rising levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere, the planet is likely to see more record-breaking years. "As we continue to get warmer, the odds of any given year breaking the record are pretty high," Easterling said.
Indeed, four of the five warmest years on record have come in the last decade. The reigning warmest year on record is 2005, followed by 1998, 2003, 2006 and 2009, Easterling said.
"We always will have that possibility of cold snaps and really warm snaps. But as we move through time, the possibility of the really cold snaps go down. The probability of the really warm snaps goes up," Serreze said.
"One of the things to really watch out for this year is going to be the hurricanes in the Atlantic," said Kevin Trenberth, head of the climate analysis section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo.
"The Atlantic has been unusually warm. The last time it was this warm and it was record-breaking, that's when we had the record-breaking hurricane season that led to Katrina and Rita and we ran out of alphabet," he added. "This year the temperatures in the Atlantic are higher than they were in 2005."
Those who find this year's temperatures uncomfortably warm should prepare for more of the same, he added.
"Will we set a new record next year? Who knows?" Trenberth said. "But as we go through the coming decades, what we're seeing this year will start to become closer to the norm."
