NASA’s Goddard Institute Says Global Warming Has Become Reality
WASHINGTON — NASA scientists are reporting new global warming data indicating that 2012 was the ninth hottest year since 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures.
Since the year 2000, the nine warmest years on record have all occurred, with 2010 and 2005 ranking as the hottest years in the 132-years since records have been kept.
The Goddard Institute for Space Studies monitors global surface temperatures on an ongoing basis compared temperatures around the World in 2012 to the average global temperature from the mid-20th century, analyzing data that shows that the Earth continues to experience warmer temperatures than several decades ago.
The average temperature in 2012 was about 58.3 degrees Fahrenheit, which is 1.0 F hotter than the mid-20th century baseline. The average global temperature has risen about 1.4 F since 1880.
Weather patterns normally cause fluctuations in average temperature on a year to year basis, but the continued increase in greenhouse gas levels in the Earth’s atmosphere most assuredly will manifest itself in a long-term rise in global temperatures.
Each successive year will not necessarily be warmer than the year before, but on the current course of greenhouse gas increases, scientists expect each successive decade to be warmer than the previous decade.
“One more year of numbers isn’t in itself significant,” Goddard climatologist Gavin Schmidt said. “What matters is this decade is warmer than the last decade, and that decade was warmer than the decade before. The planet is warming. The reason it’s warming is because we are pumping increasing amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.”
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that traps heat and is a major risk factor for the increase in the Earth’s climate. It occurs naturally and also is emitted by the burning of the different fossil fuels for the energy needs of the world. Driven by increasing man-made emissions, the level of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere has been rising consistently for decades.
The carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere was about 285 parts per million in 1880, the first year in the Goddard temperature record. By 1960, the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, measured at NOAA’s Mauna Loa Observatory, was about 315 parts per million. Today, that measurement exceeds 390 parts per million.
While the rest of the Planet was experiencing relatively warm temperatures in 2012, the U.S. recorded its warmest year on record.
“The U.S. temperatures in the summer of 2012 are an example of a new trend of outlying seasonal extremes that are warmer than the hottest seasonal temperatures of the mid-20th century,” said Goddard Director James E. Hansen. “The climate dice are now loaded. Some seasons still will be cooler than the long-term average, but the perceptive person should notice that the frequency of unusually warm extremes is increasing. It is the extremes that have the most impact on people and other life on the planet.”
The temperature analysis produced at Goddard is compiled from weather data from more than 1,000 meteorological stations around the world, satellite observations of sea-surface temperature, and Antarctic research station measurements. A publicly available computer program is used to calculate the difference between surface temperature in a given month and the average temperature for the same place during 1951 to 1980. This three-decade period functions as a baseline for the analysis. The last year that experienced cooler temperatures than the 1951 to 1980 average was 1976.
Global warming deniers in the U.S., as well as high ranking Republicans in the House and Senate, have been trying to repudiate scientific global warming data for years now, but I don’t think they will try to challenge NASA’s data.
Jim Donahue
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Million bulks of fresh water from the rivers of nile, amazon, congo, mississippi, niger, yangtze, yenisei, danube, orinoco and other thousands of river around the world discharges into the sea each day. Question…Why is it sea level is not rising?
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NASA is lieing. Global warming is a fantasy. Their so-called consensus science is a pseudoscience. Let’s see what real science has to say about it. First, let us agree that the entire case for man-made global warming rests on the greenhouse theory. When you add carbon dioxide to atmosphere it starts to absorb outgoing long-wave radiation, the captured radiation turns to heat, warms the air, and we have global warming. Or so Arrhenius told us. The physical basis of it is the absorption of radiation which is a measurable quantity. If you can measure how much the atmosphere absorbs, then add carbon dioxide and measure it again, the difference will tell you if it is true that absorption is taking place. Fortunately, NOAA has been making such measurements for us. They send up radiosondes which measure the amount of long-wave radiation escaping into space. In parallel, we have been measuring the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and know exactly how much was there at any given time. In 2010 Ferenc Miskolczi used NOAA weather balloon database going back to 1948 to study the absorption of long-wave radiation by the atmosphere. He found that the transparency of the atmosphere to long-wave radiation had not changed at all for the previous 61 years despite a substantial increase of carbon dioxide in the air. And no measurable absorption means no warming and no greenhouse effect, Arrhenius be damned. I should explain that no measurable absorption does not mean no absorption by carbon dioxide. It did absorb but as Miskolczi has told us, the amount of water vapor in the air diminished at the same time and effectively nullified the effect of CO2 absorption that took place. This is called negative water vapor feedback, the exact opposite of what IPCC tells us is happening. It is an empirical observation not derived from any theory and overrides any theoretical predictions that do not agree with it. With that, the greenhouse theory of global warming is dead and their “climate science” turns out to be a pseudoscience. QED
Arno, why would NASA be “lieing” (sic)? You really think NASA, NOAA, NAS, and people all over the world are creating a hoax? A conspiracy?
Just when the theory that we never landed on the moon dies out, and flat Earth theory goes away, we have the theory that CO2 doesn’t warm the planet. I guess nut cases always need some conspiracy to believe in…
Unbelievable that the first four comments are so idiotic. I have heard that Koch and Exxon and co do fund people to put up these kinds of comments. They would be funny if they were not such a sad commentary on the human race’s capacity for self delusion.
Martin ~ Not only are the climate change deniers trolling the internet, they are regular guests on all of the “news” talk shows. Just like big tobacco, the oil and coal industry will continue to deny the terrible reality of the results of a carbon based society until the truth becomes so apparent it’ll be too late to turn back.
Carrie, it is already too late, unfortunately.
“I don’t think they will try to challenge NASA’s data.”
Of course they will challenge that data, its easy to challenge. The data goes back to 1880, there are no global temperature measurements before satellites. Satellites began taking global temp measurements in 1979. Even after 1979, the temperature data is regularly challenged. The author of this article must think that a single thermometer reading in 1880 represents the temp of the entire planet. LOL!
Climate alarmists are the true anti-science climate deniers. Their alarmism is based on the fundamental belief that the climate always stays the same.
The author of this article doesn’t think anything of the sort. Temperature readings were taken in lots of places, as far back as 1880, not just in the U.S. And if you bothered to follow the link to the source, you would have read for your self how they came about their temperature models for the study. Oh and by the way, nobody disputes NASA, because getting into a pissing contest with NASA doesn’t look good on one’s resume, if you catch my drift. Enjoy
Um, so I can’t question NASA, because they are NASA. Wow, where did you buy your science degree? I gotta get me one of them science degrees too so I be smart like you.
cheers
Based on the photo that accompanies this article GISS offices in Mew York are under water and Gavin swims with the fish.
There has been a slight cooling over the past 9 millennia, but data shows a standard deviation of .94 C.. Between 1900 and 2000 it varied by about 0.9oC, which is, therefore, within the range of natural variation. And that, in simple terms, is why there is scepticism about the thesis that carbon dioxide is causing global warming – there is no clear signal of any such warming effect.
NASA, I didn’t think you were funded to make money from the global warming scam.
9th hottest year – not surprising considering we’re in a warmish period as we come out of the “little Ice Age”. Tell me what’s unexpected about this.