I recently came across an article about climate change via NASA’s website, and I was not surprised by what I saw. According to their site, “The analysis found 2010 approximately 1.13 F warmer than the average global surface temperature from 1951 to 1980. To measure climate change, scientists look at long-term trends. The temperature trend, including data from 2010, shows the climate has warmed by approximately 0.36 F per decade since the late 1970s.”
To the average person 1.13 F of an increase may seem insignificant, but remember we are talking about the ENTIRE world. Scientists against global warming will say that climate change is normal. Which is true, but to date we have not seen this much fluctuation in our natural climate statistics. Generally what we see is a period of 90,000 years of cooling and then 10,000 years of warming (see Milankovitch cycles). We should be starting to cool in our present time, but we are seeing an increase in temperatures.
James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies says, “If the warming trend continues, as is expected, if greenhouse gases continue to increase, the 2010 record will not stand for long.” Which means for us that parts of the world will continue to see hotter summers and colder winters. You may not think it is an issue to note, but the future of our children are at stake.
If you don’t believe the statistics then take a look at this from NASA’s website.
In 2010, global temperatures continued to rise. A new analysis from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies shows that 2010 tied with 2005 as the warmest year on record, and was part of the warmest decade on record. Credit: NASA/Earth Observatory/Robert Simmon
According to NASA’s website, ” The analysis produced at GISS is compiled from weather data from more than 1000 meteorological stations around the world, satellite observations of sea surface temperature and Antarctic research station measurements. A computer program uses the data to calculate temperature anomalies — the difference between surface temperature in a given month and the average temperature for the same period during 1951 to 1980. This three-decade period acts as a baseline for the analysis.”
Once again I find myself angered at how people refuse to believe the facts. There are still people that deny global warming based on word of mouth. Well here it is people my mouth is linking you to the facts and the data available. What we need to do is get our government to research our alternative energy sources instead of keeping the big oil companies happy. Our research budget for alternative energies has been cut by 80% and that is unacceptable.
Writing on behalf of the Earth,
RW
Links to NASA’s article: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2010-warmest-year.html
Bigger picture of anomalies: Annual temperature anomalies
The District of Misery 