Researchers Refute Global Surface Warming Hiatus

Warming rate this century “virtually identical” to the 2nd half of 20th century —NOAA

Researchers at National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) say new evidence show global surface temperatures did not plateau this century, and that there was no “pause” in global surface warming.

The warming rate this century is “virtually identical” to the 20th century, they report in a new study published by Science.

Abstract: Much study has been devoted to the possible causes of an apparent decrease in the upward trend of global surface temperatures since 1998, a phenomenon that has been dubbed the global warming “hiatus.” Here we present an updated global surface temperature analysis that reveals that global trends are higher than reported by the IPCC, especially in recent decades, and that the central estimate for the rate of warming during the first 15 years of the 21st century is at least as great as the last half of the 20th century. These results do not support the notion of a “slowdown” in the increase of global surface temperature.

For 1998–2014, NOAA’s new global trend is 0.106± 0.058°C dec⁻¹, and for 2000–2014 it is 0.116± 0.067°C dec⁻¹,  which is similar to the warming over the second half of the 20th century.

However, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) had concluded that global average temperatures increased by about 0.05°C dec⁻¹ between 1998 and 2012, compared to an average of 0.11°C dec⁻¹ between 1951 and 2012.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report (1) concluded that the global surface temperature “has shown a much smaller increasing linear trend over the past 15 years [1998-2012] than over the past 30 to 60 years.” The more recent trend was “estimated to be around one-third to one-half of the trend over 1951-2012.” The apparent slowdown was termed a “hiatus,” and inspired a suite of physical explanations for its cause, including changes in radiative forcing, deep ocean heat uptake, and atmospheric circulation changes.

In fact, the latest data shows a figure of 0.116°C dec⁻¹ for 2000-2014, compared with 0.113°C dec⁻¹ for 1950-1999.

“Our new analysis now shows the trend over the period 1950-1999, a time widely agreed as having significant anthropogenic global warming, is virtually indistinguishable with the trend over the period 2000-2014.”

Based on NOAA’s latest analysis, therefore, the IPCC’s 2013 statement—that the global surface temperature “has shown a much smaller increasing linear trend over the past 15 years than over the past 30 to 60 years” —is invalid, said the director of NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center (NCDC).

Science DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa5632 –

Published Online June 4 2015

Global Disasters/ Significant Events – June 5, 2015

More than 200 killed after explosion destroys service station in Accra, Ghana

President Mahama has described the incident as “catastrophic” and “almost unprecedented,” announcing  three days of mourning, beginning on Monday, after the incident was declared a national disaster.

An extreme rain event which began on Monday has paralyzed  much of the Ghanaian capital Accra, blocking roads, cutting off power and flooding scores of homes.

Floodwater  helped cause the fire, said the fire service.

The flood “caused the diesel and petrol to flow away from the gas station, and fire from a nearby house led to the explosion,” a spokesman told the AP.

Many of the victims in the service station were sheltering from the downpours when the explosion occurred.

Dozens killed in E. Ukraine as fighting flares up

Dozens of people have been killed in E Ukraine over the past day as fighting flared up, Ukrainian authorities said Thursday,  said a report.

Millions of US government employees hit by data breach

Chinese hackers are suspected of carrying out a “massive breach” of data, which could potentially affect every federal agency, officials said.

Personal records of four million former and current government employees “may have been breached,” officials said.

Strong Earthquake Strikes Borneo, Malaysia

M6.0 quake strikes near Mount Kinabalu, Borneo

Centered at 6.014°N, 116.563°E, about 54km (34mi) E of Kota Kinabalu, capital of the Malaysian state of Sabah, the quake occurred at a depth of 10.0 km (6.2 mi), USGS/EHP reported.

EQ Details

Magnitude: 6.0Mw
Location: 6.014°N, 116.563°E; depth = 10.0km
Time: 23:15:43 (UTC) on 2015-06-04
Nearby cities:

• 12km (7mi) WNW of Ranau, Malaysia
• 40km (25mi) SSE of Kota Belud, Malaysia
• 52km (32mi) ENE of Donggongon, Malaysia
• 54km (34mi) E of Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
• 214km (133mi) NE of Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

Red Cross Raised $500Million for Haiti ­and Built Six Homes

Where is the money?

After the devastating 2010 earthquake that struck Haiti, Western hemisphere’s poorest country, the Red Cross received about $500 million in donations.

“In late 2011, the Red Cross launched a multimillion-dollar project to transform the desperately poor area, which was hit hard by the earthquake that struck Haiti the year before. The main focus of the project — called LAMIKA, an acronym in Creole for ‘A Better Life in My Neighborhood’ — was building hundreds of permanent homes,” according to a report by ProPublica and NPR.

“Today, not one home has been built in Campeche [a neighborhood that sprawls up a steep hillside in Haiti’s capital city, Port-au-Prince.] Many residents live in shacks made of rusty sheet metal, without access to drinkable water, electricity or basic sanitation. When it rains, their homes flood and residents bail out mud and water.”

The Red Cross claims it has provided homes to at least 130,000 people. But the investigation found that the group has built only six homes in all of Haiti.

Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern unveiled ambitious plans to “develop brand-new communities,” after the earthquake devastated the country. “None has ever been built,” says the report.

Red Cross saw the Haiti earthquake disaster as “a spectacular fundraising opportunity,” says a former official who helped with the fundraising. “Michelle Obama, the NFL and a long list of celebrities appealed for donations to the group”

Now, the Red Cross refuses to release details of how it has spent the hundreds of millions of dollars donated for Haiti. But the investigation reveals that far less money reached the quake victims than the Red Cross has claimed.

More…

Related Links

• Haiti Earthquake Disaster
• Scam after disaster striking Haiti
• Disasters, Donations, Deceptions: Red Cross has another ‘Trade Secret’   June 27, 2014