Temperatures Going Up, and Up and Up

November 19, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Climate temps-jan-oct-2015

“Earth’s surface temperature has surged high into uncharted territory, thanks to a record-strength El Niño event combined with the long-term rise in temperatures due to human-caused global warming: October 2015 was Earth’s warmest month on record by a huge margin, according to data released by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) on Wednesday. October 2015 was the second consecutive month with a new all-time warmest month record: September 2015 previously held the record for the largest positive departure of temperature from average of any month among all 1630 months in the historical record that began in January 1880″

From Jeff Masters at Wunderground...

Thought you’d like to know….

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Warmest Year Ever and Going Higher

January 9, 2015 by Leave a Comment

Hate the soundtrack, hate the visuals, hate the extremism of ignorance….

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A Japanese team has confirmed that 2014 was the hottest year on record. Moreover, ten of the warmest years have occurred since 1998.

What the scientists are measuring is that average temperature of the earth’s surface, including the oceans, throughout the world. Thus, the cold winter in North America last year was offset by torrid temperatures in California, Australia, Europe and in the Pacific Ocean. 2014 was a startling half a degree F. warmer than the 20th century average.

The earth has not warmed so quickly in millions of years, and perhaps not since its volatile beginnings 4.5 billion years ago. While there have been previous epochs in which the parts per million of carbon dioxide spiked, mostly because of volcanic activity, it did not happen so rapidly but rather over hundreds of thousands or even millions of years.  Read ALL

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Australia Bakes In the New Year

January 3, 2014 by Leave a Comment

“A heatwave that has enveloped much of Australia for the past couple weeks is reaching a breaking point, but not after first smashing temperature records.

On Thursday, parts of inland Australia reached temperatures around 50 degrees Celsius, or 122 degrees Fahrenheit, before a shifting air mass is forecast to bring weekend temperatures back to averages in the mid-30s. There were reports of temperatures as high as 54 degrees Celsius, 129 degrees Fahrenheit, in the outback on Thursday.

With this unusual heat, Australia begins 2014 in the same way it ended 2013 — hot, dry, and politically uninspired to do anything about it. Australia spent much of 2013 on track to set a new record for hottest year ever.”

Think Progress

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Warmest U.S. Spring on Record: NOAA –>> Tipping Point

June 7, 2012 by Leave a Comment

“So far, 2012 has been the warmest year the United States has ever seen, with the warmest spring and the second-warmest May since record-keeping began in 1895, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported on Thursday.”

Sweating It

and Really Sweating it…

Another Arctic measurement related to climate reached a milestone this spring, NOAA reported: the concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide at Barrow, Alaska, reached 400 parts per million, the first time a monthly average for this greenhouse gas passed that level at a remote location.

The level of 450 ppm is regarded by many scientists and environmental activists as the upper limit the planet can afford if global temperature rise is to be kept to within 3.6 degrees F (2 C) this century. Some advocates suggest 350 ppm is a more appropriate target.

The 400 ppm mark for carbon dioxide in less remote locations, such as Cape May, New Jersey, has been reached for several years in the springtime, NOAA said in a statement.

But measurements of carbon dioxide over 400 ppm at remote sites like Barrow – and at six other remote Arctic sites – reflect long-term human emissions of the climate-warming gas, rather than direct emissions from a nearby population center.

The global monthly mean level of atmospheric carbon dioxide was about 394 ppm in April, compared to 336 ppm in 1979, pre-industrial levels of about 278 ppm and ice age levels of about 185 ppm.

Giant tabular icebergs surrounded by ice floe drift in Vincennes Bay in the Australian Antarctic Territory. Australia's CSIRO's atmospheric research unit has found the world is warming faster than predicted by the United Nations' top climate change body, with harmful emissions exceeding worst-case estimates.

And really, really, really sweating it...

The Earth is reaching a “tipping point” in climate change that will lead to increasingly rapid and irreversible destruction of the global environment unless its forces are controlled by concerted international action, an international group of scientists warns.

Unchecked population growth, the disappearance of critical plant and animal species, the over-exploitation of energy resources, and the rapidly warming climate are all combining to bring mounting pressure on the Earth’s environmental health, they say.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/06/06/BA1T1OT26G.DTL#ixzz1x9XMVyFM

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