General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFebruary Smashes Earth's All-Time Global Heat Record by a Jaw-Dropping Margin
Because there is so much land in the Northern Hemisphere, and since land temperatures rise and fall more sharply with the seasons than ocean temperatures, global readings tend to average about 4°C cooler in January and February than they do in July or August. Thus, February is not atop the pack in terms of absolute warmest global temperature: that record was set in July 2015. The real significance of the February record is in its departure from the seasonal norms that people, plants, animals, and the Earth system are accustomed to dealing with at a given time of year. Drawing from NASAs graph of long-term temperature trends, if we add 0.2°C as a conservative estimate of the amount of human-produced warming that occurred between the late 1800s and 1951-1980, then the February result winds up at 1.55°C above average. If we use 0.4°C as a higher-end estimate, then February sits at 1.75°C above average. Either way, this result is a true shocker, and yet another reminder of the incessant long-term rise in global temperature resulting from human-produced greenhouse gases. Averaged on a yearly basis, global temperatures are now around 1.0°C beyond where they stood in the late 19th century, when industrialization was ramping up. Michael Mann (Pennsylvania State University) notes that the human-induced warming is even greater if you reach back to the very start of the Industrial Revolution. Making matters worse, if we manage to stabilize emissions of carbon dioxide at current rates, we are still committed to at least 0.5°C of additional atmospheric warming as heat stored in the ocean makes its way into the air, as recently emphasized by Jerry Meehl (National Center for Atmospheric Research). In short, we are now hurtling at a frightening pace toward the globally agreed maximum of 2.0°C warming over pre-industrial levels.
http://www.wunderground.com/blog/JeffMasters/february-smashes-earths-alltime-global-heat-record-by-a-jawdropping
HerbChestnut
(3,649 posts)It's worth noting that this is a record for *recorded* history. Earth has been much warmer in periods in its history.
erlewyne
(1,115 posts)It had to be in the late 1970's when we were all being poisoned
by Lake Erie fish.
Somebody got a brainstorm .... we never had these tests 50 years ago.
So they tested catfish that lived 50 years in a Toledo Zoo aquarium
and got the same high mercury readings.
What goes around comes around and we ain't Jack Schitt.
We are way too small to create climate change. I live in the country
and my only problem is neighbors burning trash.
The waters around the world are a different story. Do not pollute!!!
HerbChestnut
(3,649 posts)We are almost certainly impacting the earth's climate. The changes in temperature that we're seeing now are occurring at an incredibly fast rate relative to the Earth's history. It's just that there have been much warmer temperatures (and significantly different climates). Let's put it this way, the Earth doesn't care if temperatures rise. The Earth will be fine. Our way of life, however, will change drastically.
erlewyne
(1,115 posts)We need you and your view (which is correct).
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)It is a point, but hardly a comfort.
Erlewyne, I can't change your conviction, but I can express mine that it is completely and extremely irresponsibly wrong.
Delphinus
(11,830 posts)should be what everyone focuses on - the Earth, indeed, will be fine; we, however, will need to learn a different way of life.
ronnie624
(5,764 posts)Abridge your ignorance.
http://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/
Skittles
(153,160 posts)please educate yourself
GliderGuider
(21,088 posts)Think that attitude is mind-bendingly stupid.
MrMickeysMom
(20,453 posts)7 billion world population...
Michael Mann's hockey stick graph shows the extent of this since the industrial revolution....
Next?
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)Coal contains trace amounts of mercury; burn billions of tons of the stuff to create electricity, and it ends up in lakes and streams and the water table.
hatrack
(59,584 posts)Can't wait for more reassurance that humans cannot change their environment. . . .
Duppers
(28,120 posts)I cannot abide some types of ignorance.
truebrit71
(20,805 posts)For homo sapiens anyway.... The planet MAY be fine, but humans are doomed.
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)based on what we know from ice core and tree ring data. It's probably safe to say that earth HASN'T been much warmer at any period in its history that coincided with widespread human civilisation.
forest444
(5,902 posts)We can still mitigate the impact going forward somewhat; but most of the calamities that will hit low-lying northern hemisphere coastlines and certain other areas are already practically guaranteed to take place.
This is why, among other things, so many Miami metro area billionaires are unloading their properties and development rights to Latin American crooks and Russian plutocrats.
Duppers
(28,120 posts)to the fact that their oceanfront properties will be worthless.
roamer65
(36,745 posts)Billion of cubic feet of methane right into the atmosphere.
mountain grammy
(26,620 posts)in varying amounts. The price we pay for clean burning natural gas. Bad trade.