The death on Saturday of Sydney Schanberg at age 82 should sadden us not only for the loss of one of our most renowned journalists but also for what his story reveals about the nature of our national media. Time to push back against the global warming Nazis February 20th, 2014 by Roy W. Global warming exploded in January — Ima. Geo. With an El Ni. But accumulating greenhouse gases are the long- run cause of global warming. The pattern of temperature anomalies around the globe in January shows particular abnormal warmth in the high northern latitudes, across Canada, Greenland and Siberia. Overall, the global average temperature was 1. C, or slightly more than 2 degrees F, warmer than the long- term average. That’s slightly more than 2 degrees F. Henri-Philibert-Gaspard Darcy was a French hydraulic engineer who first derived the equation (now known as Darcy's law) that governs the laminar (nonturbulent) flow of fluids in. Young, Neil - Cow Palace 1986 - Ltd. 7452160, Registered Charity No. 1140352, Accredited Museum No. LIFE OF SIR HENRY PARKES. Australian Statesman by. LYNE (Formerly of the Sydney Morning Herald) AUTHOR OF 'INDUSTRIES OF NEW SOUTH WALES', 'NEW GUINEA', ETC., ETC. The previous record for January, set in 2. C, or 1. 7. 1 F above average. NASA’s climate record goes back to 1. The super El Ni. You can see it’s direct influence in the form of that spear of very warm Pacific Ocean water jutting out from South America along the equator, with associated warmth over the continent itself. SEE ALSO: If a La Ni. Karl, director of NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, pointed out in a recent press briefing about 2. The trend over time is why we’re having a record warm year. El Ni. But the spike for this month, and for all of 2. Source: NASA GISSThe black line in the graph above shows the annual mean temperature anomaly, and it takes us only through 2. So it does not include January 2. But the overall trend is clear. The red line showing the 5- year running mean smooths out the year- to- year natural variations — like those caused by warm El Ni. As a result, it shows the long- term trend even better. Source: NASA GISSThe map at the top of this post shows that extreme warmth in the high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere played a key role in driving global temperatures up in January of 2. So does the graph to the right. From there to about - 6. The map above shows this too. Continuing toward the right — meaning farther and farther north — a sudden jump in temperature occurs at about 6. That’s about the same latitude as Achorage, Alaska, and Oslo, Norway. Known as the Arctic Oscillation, or AO, it went strongly negative in January, yielding higher atmospheric pressure over the Arctic and lower in the mid- latitudes. Meanwhile, the pattern of high and low pressure systems tended to pump relatively warm air up into the Arctic. This is believed to result from positive feedbacks on temperature. Chief among these feedbacks is one involving Arctic sea ice. Here’s how it works: Warming of the atmosphere resulting largely from our emissions of greenhouse gases has caused Arctic sea ice to retreat in extent. The result: increasing amounts of dark sea water are exposed. In summer, sunlight that would ordinarily bounce off bright ice and snow now strikes the increasing extent of open water. Dark surfaces are very good at absorbing energy, so waters warm. And some of that warmth is re- radiated into the atmosphere, thereby magnifying warming in the Arctic. Amplification of human- caused global warming has caused significant ecological impacts in the high north, as well as impacts on local, indigenous communities. SEE ALSO: Whispers of ecological change in the Arctic are trying to tell us something. As soon as I hear from them, I’ll update this post. So please check back. I asked him how he would describe the record- setting month, and the possible roles El Ni. I didn’t ask anything about climate change. He got back to me today, and here was his response: We generally don’t comment on single months because there is a lot of variability there and our main focus is on the long term trends, not the vagaries of weather. For short term variability you are better off talking to meteorologists, not us. So here’s my take: NASA GISS is funded by taxpayer dollars to do these analyses, and it makes them public every month. By not providing any expert guidance in interpreting what the data mean, GISS scientists are missing an opportunity to do public education that would prevent just the sort of misinterpretation they may well fear. I also don’t believe any of my questions were beyond Gavin Schmidt’s expertise. That said, his reply did get me to thinking about the way I handle weather, on the one hand, and climate on the other. As a science journalist who writes about these issues very often, I find that it is all too easy to forget to make the distinction crystal clear. I also worry that writing about each monthly report could be misleading. A single month does not constitute climate. Twelve months times 1. By focusing on such a small time period — four weeks — am I helping to sow confusion on this issue? I surely do not want to. In this post, I did try to put the monthly report on global temperatures into the context of the long- term trend. And I also tried to explain proximate meteorological factors, such as the Arctic Oscillation. I thought I was finding the right balance between explaining weather and providing the long- term climatic context. But perhaps I need to do better. With all of this in mind, I’m thinking about doing an entire post on weather and climate — an explainer that could help us all sort out the complexities. We’ll see. In the meantime, please weigh in with your own thoughts below. I have just one request: Feel free to criticize me, but no ad hominem attacks please — on me or anyone else. Stick to the issues at hand. And I will be grateful.
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