New images released by NASA illustrate how four different global temperature records show remarkably consistent warming around the world. Currently, global temperatures are analyzed by four major organizations: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), NOAA National Climatic Data Center, Met Office Hadley Center's Climatic Research Unit, and the Japanese Meteorological Agency. Although each organization has garnered slightly different results year-to-year, all show a consistent warming trend globally, including that the most recent decade as the warmest since record-keeping began in the late Nineteenth Century.
New images released by NASA illustrate how four different global temperature records show remarkably consistent warming around the world. Currently, global temperatures are analyzed by four major organizations: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), NOAA National Climatic Data Center, Met Office Hadley Center's Climatic Research Unit, and the Japanese Meteorological Agency.
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Although each organization has garnered slightly different results year-to-year, all show a consistent warming trend globally, including that the most recent decade as the warmest since record-keeping began in the late Nineteenth Century.
"The official records vary slightly because of subtle differences in the way we analyze the data, but they also agree extraordinarily well," said Reto Ruedy with NASA’s GISS.
For example, both NASA and the NOAA has found that last year, 2010, was tied for the warmest on record. In contrast, the Japanese Meteorological Agency found that last year was the second warmest year on record. While this may confuse the public and sow doubt about climate change findings, for scientists it's the trend—not annual records—that really count. The fact that these four different records all show extremely similar warming trends actually boosts rather than undercuts climatologists' confidence in regard to global warming.
Article continues: http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0119-hance_nasa.html
