Recent reports suggest that the current warming hiatus is likely to end soon, and that global warming will resume. In an article recently published in The Economist, Brad Plumer of the Washington Post states that “the urgent necessity of acting to retard warming has not abated.”
Over the past few years, the media has reported on a slowdown in global warming. While this is true, it is important to note that this is not a continuous process, and that there is evidence of hiatuses in climate records. This has been seized upon by those who deny the effects of climate change, such as Marc Morano of the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow, who has received funding from ExxonMobil and Richard Mellon Scaife.
However, the claims of Morano and others have been debunked by scientists such as Peter Laut and Rasmus Benestad. It is likely that the current warming hiatus will soon be over, and that global warming will resume. This means that the need for action to reduce the impact of fossil fuels and protect the melting Arctic remains as urgent as ever.
According to Dr. Gavin Schmidt of NASA, the night-time temperature has risen faster than the day-time temperature, a fact which was discussed at a Nordic Meteorology Meeting in Copenhagen in 2002. Despite this, Svensmark declared in press materials that his team had discovered that cosmic rays play the major part in climate change without waiting for credible quantitative results. This was echoed by Peter Ferrara in Forbes magazine, who wrote that global warming alarmists were wrong and that the Earth was cooling. The Heartland Institute, a conservative/libertarian organization, has become a focal point for climate realists. This was followed by a Russian claim that worldwide cooling would start next year and last 200 to 250 years. John Casey is set to release evidence that the past sea level rise was caused by the Sun with little impact from greenhouse gas-type emissions.
However, the 2012 State of the Climate report released by the American Meteorological Society found that 2012 was among the 10 warmest years on record. Despite this, the ‘cooling crowd’ has been vocal in their claims, and the media has given this story significant coverage. This has caused public opinion polls to show a high level of complacency about climate change in America.
The 2012 State of Climate report’s highlights are listed below:
- The 2012 events supported the long-term global warming trend.
- The amount of carbon is increasing, and CO2 is at an all-time high.
- Sea levels are still increasing and reached records in 2012.
- The Arctic is still warming twice as quickly as lower latitudes are.
- Sea ice in the Arctic is melting at historic rates. This is the big news of 2012 since the area underwent extraordinary change and the sea ice extent decreased to its lowest level since satellite recordings first started 34 years ago. Arctic ice mass is 54% lower than it was in 1980.
- Greenland More than 97% of the ice sheet displayed summertime melting in some manner. This exceeds the average melt extent between 1981 and 2010 by four times.
- Alaska: Permafrost temperatures there surpassed previous records.
- The ocean’s heat content is still very high.
- As a result of rising greenhouse gas concentrations and a decrease in stratospheric ozone, which tend to cool the stratosphere while warming the planet’s near-surface layers, chilly temperatures were at record highs in the lower stratosphere (6–10 miles above Earth’s surface).
As the world grapples with the issue of climate change, one question remains: is the media’s coverage of ‘cooling’ referring to the cooling of the stratosphere? If so, then the ‘cooling crowd’ may be vindicated.
On August 21st, John Casey will hold a news conference in Miami to present his evidence on global cooling, lack of human-caused global warming, and solar causation of climate change. This follows the recent release of climate change evidence by the American Meteorological Society, which has been met with scepticism by some right-wing commentators who accuse the Society’s scientists of being ‘leftist’. It will be interesting to see what evidence Casey presents and how it is received.
