WP: World temperatures keep rising (2005 hottest on record)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9679044/

New international climate data show that 2005 is on track to be the hottest year on record, continuing a 25-year trend of rising global temperatures.

Climatologists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies calculated the record-breaking global average temperature, which now surpasses 1998's record by a tenth of a degree Fahrenheit, from readings taken at 7,200 weather stations scattered around the world.

The new analysis comes as government and independent scientists are reporting other dramatic signs of global warming, such as the record shrinkage of the Arctic sea ice cover and unprecedented high ocean temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico.

Late last month, a team of University of Colorado and NASA scientists announced that the Arctic sea ice cap shrank this summer to 200 million square miles, 500,000 square miles less than its average area between 1979 and 2000. And a scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration determined that sea surface temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico were higher in August than at any time since 1890, which may have contributed to the intense hurricanes that struck the region this year.

"At this point, people shouldn't be surprised this is happening," said Goddard atmospheric scientist David Rind, noting that 2002, 2003 and 2004 were the second, third and fourth warmest years on record.

[merwin]

1. If the ice caps are 500k less than average, what is the lowest point ever?

Or the last lowest point if this is the lowest?

[i_c_a_White_Ghost]

3. check this out

I found this site informative http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/

[Psephos]

5. Good site - thanx for the link nt

[callady]

2. This is not good

we must live our lives differently.

Americans Make More Than 14,000 Roundtrips to the Sun a Year

In 1950, U.S. drivers covered some 588 billion kilometers (365 billion miles) in 40 million cars, or almost 14,600 kilometers per car. By 2003, the average distance driven per year had grown to more than 19,000 kilometers. Multiplied by the far-larger number of vehicles now on U.S. roads, the total distance traveled had grown more than seven-fold, to 4,281 billion kilometers. That’s equivalent to 14,308 roundtrips from Earth to the sun.

The world's airlines use some 205 million tons of aviation fuel (kerosene) each year, producing greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone, sulfur dioxide, and methane. Jet fuel is the second-largest expense to airlines after labor and can amount to 20 percent of companies' operating expenses.

Planes use the most fuel, and produce the most harmful emissions, during takeoff. On short flights, as much as 25 percent of the total fuel consumed is used at this time. The most fuel-efficient route length for airlines is 4,300 kilometers, roughly a flight from Europe to the U.S. East Coast. About 45 percent of all flights in the European Union cover less than 500 kilometers.

http://www.worldwatch.org/features/vsow/2005/08/31/

[Porcupine]

6. It's a national piss in the wind, spit on your grave rally

The average U.S. citizen has absolutely no intention of giving up anything. Go to Wallyworld and ask folks what they are buying that they are willing to give up forever. They will never come up with anything substantial.

The truth is that we have to give up Wal-Mart and every other big-box giant. We can no longer afford to drive there. Our nation is bankrupt.

[lebkuchen]

4. Send "Have hammer will travel" Bush to the next Kyoto summit

...to bang a few photo-op nails and reverse the world's impression that a chimp's policies have anything whatsoever to do with this heating trend.

[soothsayer]

7. Not only the world, but the whole solar system. Can't find link

but I know I've read about it.

[Boomer]

9. I've read that, too

So evidently there is some evidence that may point to the natural warming cycle theories. Unfortunately, I don't have enough astronomical background to judge the validity of any argument for system warming.

What gets my goat, though, is that the everyone is so focused on assigning blame for climate change, but precious little attention is being spent in preparing to cope with the results.

With the thawing of peat bogs, the time to worry about cutting CO2 emmissions is over. The collapse of our infrastructure will do that anyway. We need to start promoting survival skills so that someone survives this mess.

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. "200 million square miles"? That's the whole earth, sea, land and ice

I think they must mean "2 million square miles" - a little over 5 million square kilometres. The Guardian said: "On September 21 the mean sea ice extent dropped to 2.05m square miles, the lowest on record" - http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,12374,1580613,00.html.

The drop of half a million square miles is much more significant that way, anyway.

[Moderator]

10. kick

[Orrin_73]

11. 2005 set to be second hottest year on record

How could they still claim that global warming does not exist. The evidence tells the opposite.
link

"LONDON (Reuters) - 2005 will be the second or third warmest year on record globally, Britain's national weather service said on Friday, as climate concerns build among people in polar and low-lying areas and in the insurance and utility industries.

After 1998, the four hottest years globally were the last four years, according to Met Office data going back to 1861. The second hottest year was 2002, followed by 2003, 2004 and 2001."

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

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[Initech]

13. No arguments with this one!

I've only had one thought this entire summer - "Fuck it's hot!!!!!"

Moving to the mountains sounded really good the entire summer.

[Julius Civitatus]

14. They'll always find a paid "scientist" to claim it doesn't exist

That's the modus operandi of most right-wing think tanks: spend huge amounts of cash on so-called "experts" willing to deny the obvious in exchange of ca$h.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

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[hatrack]

17. Try this link - University of East Anglia

http://www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/data/temperature/#datdow

[hatrack]

16. Only one question - which of the three or four will it be?

Fred Singer? Patrick Michaels? Michael Balling? Or will they maybe get someone who's published in the last decade and invoke Dick "Too Tall" Lindzen, now playing Right Tackle at MIT?