Global warming? No, actually we're cooling, claim scientists

[NickB79]

73. Exactly. Global warming hasn't stopped at all

If you look at the historical record of the last 150 years, you'll see frequent episodes where we warmed rapidly for a decade, leveled off or dropped slightly for a decade, and then warmed even more then following one.

It's been a puzzle for scientists for a while, with suggestions that it had to do with solar activity, sulfur pollution from coal plants, etc.

Now they think they've figured it (mostly) out: it's the Pacific La Nina effect: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/08/28/la-nina-behind-gentler-global-warming-study-finds/

The heat we should be seeing in the atmosphere is instead being pumped into the deep oceans. Unfortunately, heating the deep oceans can result in changes in global currents, and also reduce the amount of CO2 the oceans can store in reserve (warm water holds less CO2 than cold water).

The scary thing, though, is that this effect is expected to only last to the end of this decade. And, even with a La Nina cooling trend, the planet is still seeing extreme weather effects already from climate change. As the oceans warm, they reach their CO2 saturation point more quickly, leaving more of the stuff in the air. After that: boom goes the dynamite.