20th Century Warmest In 1200 Years

gcranston writes "Research from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, U.K. shows that the 20th century was the warmest for the northern hemisphere since approximately 800AD. Historical climate data were calculated from weather 'proxies' such as tree rings, ice cores, and seashells from Europe, Asia, and North America, and attempted to address the shortcomings of earlier studies. The findings support the argument for global warming as a result of human interference rather than natural climate change."

Comments

Cue the misunderstandings

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's take a pool on exactly how many posts this story will receive from partisans claiming that because the earth has been this warm in the past (the 800s) through natural causes, the earth either is not unusually warm now, or if it is warm now it must be because of natural causes--

not realizing that (1) the thing that makes manmade global climate change distinguishable from natural global climate fluctuations is not how warm the earth has become, but how quickly and consistently the earth has warmed since the industrial revolution;

and (2) the problem with manmade global climate change is not how warm the earth is now, but how warm it will become if this consistent, quick rise continues...

What's your guess? 10? 40? 100?

Re:Global warming is a myth because we say it is.

[pete-classic]

You said:

It's stating the facts, not going to extreme left positions and saying humans are causing the earth to heat up.

The article said:

The researchers think their work bolsters the case that global warming due to human activity has created a change in climate unlike anything seen in more than a millennium.

What the fuck?

-Peter

Re:If only it felt like it

[spun]

That's an important point. Calling the phenomenon Global Warming is perhaps misleading. Some places will get warmer, others colder. Some will be wetter, some dryer. Dumping more energy into a chaotic system like the climate means more extreme climates, not necessarily warmer ones.