In article , says...



"Eric Swanson" wrote
Martian, what was the date on this quote? Was it before or after last
summer's
major revelations? Reference please.

2005 Ties for 2nd Warmest Year Ever, But Cause Still Uncertain

By Robert Roy Britt

LiveScience Managing Editor

posted: 06 January 2006


Thanks for the reference:
http://www.livescience.com/environme...2005_heat.html


Predictions early in 2005 that the year would be the warmest on record
turned out to be off the mark. A new study finds last year tied for the
second-warmest year since reliable records have been kept starting in the
late 1800s.

The global average temperature in 2005 was 0.54 degrees Fahrenheit (0.3
Celsius) warmer than the long-term average, tying a mark set in 2002.

But a puzzling general pattern, seen the past three decades, persisted: The
most significant warming occurred in the Arctic, where the ice cap is
shrinking at an alarming pace.

Seven times faster

Since November 1978, the Arctic atmosphere has warmed seven times faster
than the average warming trend over the southern two-thirds of the globe,
based on data from NOAA satellites.

"It just doesn't look like global warming is very global," said John
Christy, director of the Earth System Science Center at the University of
Alabama in Huntsville.

[cut]

"Obviously some part of the warming we've observed in the atmosphere over
the past 27 years is due to enhanced greenhouse gases. Simple physics tells
you that," Christy said. "But even if you acknowledge the effects of
greenhouse gases, when you look at this pattern of warming you have to say
there must also be something else at work here."

[cut]

"The computer models consistently predict that global warming due to
increasing greenhouse gases should show up as strong warming in the
tropics," Christy said.

Yet the tropical atmosphere has warmed by only about 0.3 degrees Fahrenheit
in 27 years.

It's worth noting that the results from Mears et al. at RSS shows stronger
warming in the tropics than does the latest UAH computations.

http://ams.confex.com/ams/Annual2006...per_104116.htm

--
Eric Swanson --- E-mail address: e_swanson(at)skybest.com :-)
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