National Geographic: And it's happening fast... An in-depth analysis of ten climate indicators all point to a marked warming over the past three decades, with the most recent decade being the hottest on record, according to the latest of the U.S. National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration's annual 'State of the Climate' reports... Reliable global climate record-keeping began in the 1880s...
Three hundred scientists analyzed data on 37 climate indicators, but homed in on 10 that the study says are especially revealing: humidity, sea-surface temperature, sea ice cover, ocean heat content, glacier cover, air temperature in the lower atmosphere, sea level, temperature over land, and temperature over oceans... Such climate shifts are already ushering in extreme weather, which plagued much of the globe in 2009...
The NOAA report -- published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society -- is different from other climate publications, because it's based on observed data, not computer models, making it the 'climate system's scorecard.'
The Globe and Mail: 'The conclusion is unmistakable -- yes, the planet is warming,' said Derek Arndt, a co-editor of the report... 'The facts speak for themselves, and speak simultaneously... They all point toward the same conclusion -- the globe is warming.' The report... pulled together data from 10 climate indicators measured by 160 research groups in 48 countries. The scientists compared the figures decade by decade as far back as possible, more than 100 years in some cases.
AP: The new report noted that continual warming will threaten coastal cities, infrastructure, water supply, health and agriculture. 'At first glance, the amount of increase each decade... may seem small,' the report said. 'But' it adds, 'the temperature increase... experienced during the past 50 years has already altered the planet. Glaciers and sea ice are melting, heavy rainfall is intensifying and heat waves are becoming more common and more intense.'...
The 10 [measures] were selected 'because they were the most obviously related indicators of global temperature,' explained Peter Thorne of the Cooperative Institute for Climate and Satellites, who helped develop the list when at the British weather service, known as the Met Office. 'What this data is doing is, it is screaming that the world is warming.'
