Green Data Cabinets Feature Editorial

Global warming skeptics may start appearing like flat earth adherents with the publishing of a new report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), State of the Climate in 2009, which confirms that the past decade was the warmest on record and that the Earth has been growing warmer over the last 50 years.

The conclusions appear to give further impetus for developing and deploying green technologies and methods say observers. Heat waves will create more demand for cleaner, more efficiently-produced electricity to keep buildings cool, smart grids and more efficient structures. There will also be a push to employ telework, conference rather than travel, using transit, cycling and walking instead of driving, and limiting sprawl that destroys oxygen-generating greenspace and creates heat islands to help slow down warming.

The NOAA study, which is made up of contributions from more than 300 scientists from 160 research groups in 48 countries, draws on comprehensive multiple-sourced data for 10 key climate indicators that all point to the same finding: the scientific evidence that the planet warming is unmistakable.

Among the key findings:

*          Seven indicators are rising: air temperature over land, sea-surface temperature, air temperature over oceans, sea level, ocean heat, humidity and tropospheric temperature in the “active-weather” layer of the atmosphere closest to the Earth’s surface

*          Three indicators are declining: Arctic sea ice, glaciers and spring snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere

The data is corroborated by eyewitness accounts from longtime residents and observers in regions such as coastal British Columbia, Canada. Shrinking glaciers on Vancouver Island and on the coast range, long hot dry rainless summers followed by heavy rainy but very mild winters, evidenced by the near-absence of snow on Vancouver’s Cypress Mountain during the 2010 Winter Olympics are sharp contrast to the normal more moderate climate.

“For the first time, and in a single compelling comparison, the analysis brings together multiple observational records from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the ocean,” said Jane Lubchenco, Ph.D., under secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and NOAA administrator. “The records come from many institutions worldwide. They use data collected from diverse sources, including satellites, weather balloons, weather stations, ships, buoys and field surveys. These independently produced lines of evidence all point to the same conclusion: our planet is warming,”

The report emphasizes that human society has developed for thousands of years under one climatic state, and now a new set of climatic conditions are taking shape. These conditions are consistently warmer, and some areas are likely to see more extreme events like severe drought, torrential rain and violent storms.

“Despite the variability caused by short-term changes, the analysis conducted for this report illustrates why we are so confident the world is warming,” said Peter Stott, Ph.D., contributor to the report and head of Climate Monitoring and Attribution of the United Kingdom Met Office Hadley Centre. “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 multiple data sets and independent analyses from around the world, we see clear and unmistakable signs of a warming world.”

While year-to-year changes in temperature often reflect natural climatic variations such as El Niño/La Niña events, changes in average temperature from decade-to-decade reveal long-term trends such as global warming, said the report. Each of the last three decades has been much warmer than the decade before. At the time, the 1980s was the hottest decade on record. In the 1990s, every year was warmer than the average of the previous decade. The 2000s were warmer still.

“The temperature increase of one degree Fahrenheit over the past 50 years may seem small, but it has already altered our planet,” said Deke Arndt, co-editor of the report and chief of the Climate Monitoring Branch of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. “Glaciers and sea ice are melting, heavy rainfall is intensifying and heat waves are more common. And, as the new report tells us, there is now evidence that over 90 percent of warming over the past 50 years has gone into our ocean.”