Doha: Global warming is slowing down, says Met Office Global warming is slowing down, the Met Office has said, although this year will be the ninth warmest on record.

The Telegraph , Thursday, November 29, 2012
Correspondent :
The latest statistics compiled by NASA, the Met Office and the University of East Anglia suggest the average temperature for 2012 will be about 14.45C.

This is 0.45C above the 1961 to 1990 average and makes 2012 the ninth warmest year in records going back to 1850, according to the World Meteorological Organization.

The announcement comes as almost 200 countries gather in Doha, Qatar for the latest round of United Nations climate change talks.

Environmentalists insisted that the findings add to the urgency of the talks, that aim to slow down global warming by limiting global carbon emissions.

However 2012 is cooler than the average for the past decade, that was pushed up by soaring temperatures in 2010 and 2005.

Dr Peter Stott, Head of Climate Monitoring and Attribution at the Met Office, said the past decade has been the warmest on record.

But he pointed out that warming has slowed down since 2000, in comparison to the rapid warming of the world since the 1970s.

“Although the first decade of the 21st century was the warmest on record, warming has not been as rapid since 2000 as over the longer period since the 1970s,” he said.

Dr Stott said that 2011 and 2012 have been cooler because of La Nina pattern in the southern oceans.

Global warming in the last decade may have slowed because of pollution, especially in the Far East, reducing the amount of heat that reaches the UK.

Also a change in currents mean that more heat may have been absorbed into the deep oceans in the last ten years, said Dr Stott.

“This variability in global temperatures is not unusual, with several periods lasting a decade or more with little or no warming since the instrumental record began. We are investigating why the temperature rise at the surface has slowed in recent years, including how ocean heat content changes and the effects of aerosols from atmospheric pollution may have influenced global climate.”

Dr Stott warned that global warming could speed up again at any time, and insisted that the general pattern of warming is not in doubt.

"Global warming is happening. Yet again we have a year (2012) in the hottest ten years on record.

"It has slowed down but it will speed up at some point."

Extreme weather events this year pointed out by the WMO included the drought in the US and Superstorm Sandy.

Michel Jarraud, WMO Secretary-General, said Arctic sea ice also reached a record low this year.

“Naturally occurring climate variability due to phenomena such as El Niño and La Niña impact on temperatures and precipitation on a seasonal to annual scale. But they do not alter the underlying long-term trend of rising temperatures due to climate change as a result of human activities,” he said

 
SOURCE : http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/9708144/Doha-Global-warming-is-slowing-down-says-Met-Office.html
 


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