2000-2009: Warmest Decade on Record: BBC

"The first decade of this century is "by far" the warmest since instrumental records began, say the UK Met Office and World Meteorological Organization.

Their analyses also show that 2009 will almost certainly be the fifth warmest in the 160-year record.

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The US space agency Nasa suggests that a new global temperature record will be set "in the next one or two years".

snip

The WMO said global temperatures were 0.44C (0.79F) above the long-term average.

"We've seen above average temperatures in most continents, and only in North America were there conditions that were cooler than average," said WMO secretary-general Michel Jarraud."

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<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8400905.stm>

"We are in a warming trend - we have no doubt about it."

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The WMO uses three temperature sets - one from the UK Met Office and the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit (CRU), and two from the US, maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) and the space agency Nasa.

Asked whether the controversy surrounding e-mails hacked from CRU could have any bearing on the results, Mr Jarraud replied that all three datasets showed the same result.

Vicky Pope from the UK Met Office made the same point: "The datasets are all independent, and they all show warming

K & R

Thanks for the thread, amborin.

In some cases there is comfort in denial as this is such a huge emotional, forbidding prospect for people/humanity/society to accept and changing is difficult and I believe with others, it's just a cold blooded, cynical and mercenary denial.

I believe the second group of people believe they will survive regardless, this can be controlled and that humanity needs culling. I believe they're wrong on all counts.

plus, the second group is in part funding much of the dis-information, etc.

;)

Are there any other trends where it has warmed up (like, before humans) or cooled down in drastic (if you will) ways? And if so, could we have (or will we) be able to stop those changes?

"350 parts per million is what many scientists, climate experts, and progressive national governments are now saying is the safe upper limit for CO2 in our atmosphere.

Accelerating arctic warming and other early climate impacts have led scientists to conclude that we are already above the safe zone at our current 390ppm, and that unless we are able to rapidly return to 350 ppm this century, we risk reaching tipping points and irreversible impacts such as the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and major methane releases from increased permafrost melt.

There are three numbers you need to really understand global warming, 275, 390, and 350.

For all of human history until about 200 years ago, our atmosphere contained 275 parts per million of carbon dioxide. Parts per million is simply a way of measuring the concentration of different gases, and means the ratio of the number of carbon dioxide molecules to all of the molecules in the atmosphere. 275 ppm CO2 is a useful amount—without some CO2 and other greenhouse gases that trap heat in our atmosphere, our planet would be too cold for humans to inhabit...."

<http://www.350.org/about/science>

have contained the dynamic of the Industrial Age with all it's environmental implications.

it's whatever the hell you want it to be.

Let us know when you are done adjusting the data to suit your agenda.