Earth System Science: The warming hole
The upcoming IPCC working group 1 report highlights something interesting about global climate trends – the eastern United States is an anomaly. For a blob centered roughly on Alabama (and encompassing DC and the white house), things haven’t got significantly warmer between 1901 and 2005. It looks like the only other place in the world for which that’s true is over the water just south of Greenland.
In more recent years, the eastern US hasn’t fallen victim to warmer days (though it has seen warmer nights). The most significant change is that it’s wetter. More cloudy days over the capital might not be hammering home the message that climate change is real and the world is getting warmer…
Comments
You cannot expect to argue for or against climate change on the grounds that people feel hotter or colder over the course on a year or a decade.
All decisions made should be base on hard scientific evidence only, not on anecdotal reports. Scientists must not use such reports to argue their case, or for grantsmanship, and if they do they risk damaging the credibility of science forever.
The scientific community must work together to control the hype and hysteria that climate change is causing, or we will all suffer from hastily cobbled together reactionary legislation which will be bad for economies, the environment and science's credibility. Scientists must take the lead in this issue, not economists, environmental activists or Hollywood.
Posted by: Kevin Hicks | November 15, 2006 10:32 PM