29/07/2010
Global warming evidences 'unmistakable'
London: Evidences of global warming are unmistakable, according to a new report on climate change which presents a list of indicators including melting glaciers and rising sea level.
The report prepared by the British Met Office and its US equivalent has provided the "greatest evidence we have ever had" that the world is warming.
The report brings together the latest temperature readings from the top of the atmosphere to the bottom of the ocean, The Telegraph reported.
Scientists usually rely on the land temperature recorded from weather stations around the world to show global warming. Now for the first time, a study has brought together different ways of measuring changes in the climate.
The ten indicators of climate change include measurements of sea level rise taken from ships, the temperature of the upper atmosphere taken from weather balloons and field surveys of melting glaciers.
New technology also means it is possible to measure the temperature of the oceans, which absorb 90 percent of the world's heat.
The report shows "unequivocally that the world is warming and has been for more than three decades".
And despite the cold winter in Europe and north east America, this year is set to be the hottest on record.
The annual report was compiled by the Met Office and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Both the NOAA and NASA have said the first six months of this year were the hottest on record, while the Met Office believes it is the second hottest start to the year after 1998.
Peter Stott, Head of Climate Monitoring and Attribution at the Met Office, said "variability" in different regions, such as the cold winter in Britain, does not mean the rest of the world is not warming.
And he said, "greenhouse gases are the glaringly obvious explanation" for 0.56C (1F) warming over the last 50 years.
"Despite the fact people say global warming has stopped, the new data, added onto existing data, gives us the greatest evidence we have ever had," he said.
Sceptics, however, claimed that emails stolen from the University of East Anglia show scientists were willing to manipulate the land surface temperatures to show global warming.
Dr Stott said the sceptics can no longer question the land surface temperature as other records also show global warming.
Each indicator takes independent evidence from at least three different institutions in order to ensure the information is correct, he said.
Despite variations from year to year, each decade has been warmer than the last since the 1980s.
"Despite the variability caused by short term changes, the analysis conducted for this report illustrates why we are so confident the world is warming," he said.
"When we look at air temperature and other indicators of climate, we see highs and lows in the data from year to year because of natural variability.
"Understanding climate change requires looking at the longer-term record. When we follow decade-to-decade trends using different data sets and independent analyses from around the world, we see clear and unmistakable signs of a warming world."
Source: IANS
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