Past Decade Warmest on Record

Earth has been growing warmer since the 1950s

Past Decade Warmest on Record According to Scientists in 48 Countries: NOAA

The 2009 State of the Climate report highlights 10 key climate indicators based on scientific evidence that the world is warming.  “More than 300 scientists from 160 research groups in 48 countries contributed to the report, which confirms that the past decade was the warmest on record and that the Earth has been growing warmer over the last 50 years.” A Report said.

This is one of a very few worthwhile studies carried out by the scientific community. Alas, they only tell you the result when it’s practically too late to do much about it.

Ten Indicators of a Heating World

Click image to enlarge. Source: NOAA

“The temperature increase of one degree Fahrenheit over the past 50 years may seem small, but it has already altered our planet,” said Deke Arndt, co-editor of the report and chief of the Climate Monitoring Branch of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center. “Glaciers and sea ice are melting, heavy rainfall is intensifying and heat waves are more common. And, as the new report tells us, there is now evidence that over 90 percent of warming over the past 50 years has gone into our ocean.”

The 10 key global heating indicators:

• RISING
  • Land Surface Air Temperature
  • Sea-surface Temperature
  • Marine Air Temperature
  • Sea Level
  • NH (March-April) Snow Cover
  • Tropospheric Temperature
  • Ocean Heat Content (0-700m)
  • Specific Humidity

• DECLINING
  • September Arctic Sea-Ice Extent
  • Glacier Mass Balance
  • Stratospheric Temperature [Stratospheric temperature decline is also influenced by ozone depletion.]

Report Highlights:

• High Resolution (10.5 MB)
• Low Resolution (2.4 MB)

Full Report:

• High Resolution (110.2 MB)
• Low Resolution (6.6 MB)