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Global Warming Real
And Worsening
By Patrick Connole
Link
1-15-00
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Earth is warming and at a sharply faster rate in the
last 20 years than in previous decades, according to a major study released
Thursday by the National Academy of Science's National Research Council
(NRC).
Environmental groups said the findings are a blunt rejection of global
warming skeptics, who believe warming trends are not proven by scientific
data.
The new evidence released by independent scientists for the NRC said Earth's
surface temperature rose about 0.7 to 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit in the last
century.
In the last 20 years, the earth's surface temperature was estimated to have
risen by 0.5 to 0.7 degrees Fahrenheit.
``In the opinion of the panel, the warming trend in global-surface
temperature observations during the past 20 years is undoubtedly real and is
substantially greater than the average rate of warming during the 20th
century'' as a whole, according to the report filed by an 11-member panel.
The rate of warming for the century was also 30 percent greater than prior
observations made by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an
international organization.
Still, even with the new information, disparities exist between measurements
of earth surface temperatures -- which are clearly rising -- and upper-air
temperatures, which for some reason are not showing the same rise.
``Data collected by satellites and balloon-borne instruments since 1979
showed little warming of the low to mid-troposphere, the atmospheric layer
extending to about 5 miles from Earth's surface,'' the NRC report said.
Authors of the report, however, warned against making too much of the
disparities, noting the contradictions do not damage the premise that Earth
is increasingly warmer.
``The differences between surface and upper-air trends in no way invalidates
the conclusion that the Earth's temperature is rising,'' said John Wallace,
panel chair and professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of
Washington in Seattle.
``But the rapid increase in Earth's surface temperature over the past 20
years is not necessarily representative of how the atmosphere is responding
to long-term, human-induced changes, such as increasing amounts of carbon
dioxide and other greenhouse gases,'' he said.
Proving for certain that the globe is warming is a key factor behind efforts
to finalize the Kyoto Protocol, the agreement among industrialized nations to
cut sharply consumption of fossil fuels blamed for quickening the warming
trend.
Wallace said nations should develop an improved climate monitoring system to
resolve the uncertainties in the data and provide policymakers with the best
information available.
Environmental group Ozone Action said the report was ``the nail in the coffin
of doubt'' about the reality of a warming trend.
It said environmental signs of warming are clear, noting this week Boston
broke its record for consecutive days without snowfall, and a recent report
that sea ice in Arctic water is shrinking by 14,000 square miles per year.
But those who doubt the warming trend said the only thing rising over the
past decade is the political spin on the issue, especially by the Clinton
administration.
``The report itself does not call for energy-restricting international
treaties, like the Kyoto Protocol. It calls for increased monitoring of
everything from temperatures, to ozone levels, to water vapor, to aerosols in
order to determine what is really going on with the climate,'' said Myron
Ebell, global warming expert for the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
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