G
ganjavih
Guest
Now, let the non-scientist neo-con dismissing begin!
Panel affirms rising Earth temperature
U.S. scientific body studied warming data
By Thomas H. Maugh II and Karen Kaplan, Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times
Published June 23, 2006
After a comprehensive review of climate change data, the pre-eminent U.S. scientific body found that average temperatures on Earth have risen by an average of about 1 degree over the last century, a development that "is unprecedented for the last 400 years and potentially the last several millennia."
The report from the National Academies of Science also concluded that "human activities are responsible for much of the recent warming."
Coupled with a report last month from the Bush administration's Climate Change Science Program that found "clear evidence of human influences on the climate system," the new study signals a growing acceptance in Washington of widely held scientific views on the causes of global warming.
The academies' review focused on the controversial "hockey stick" graph, which shows Earth's temperature rising abruptly to its highest point in 1,000 years after a long period of stability.
The panel dismissed critics' charges that fraud and error are responsible for the graph's sharp upward swing, noting that many studies have confirmed its essential conclusions in the eight years since it was first published in the journal Nature.
"There is nothing in this report that should raise any doubts about the broad scientific consensus on global climate change ... or any doubts about whether any paper on the temperature records was legitimate scientific work," said Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Science Committee, who requested the study in November.
Geophysicist Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University, lead author of the study that introduced the hockey stick graph, said it's time "to put this sometimes silly debate behind us and move forward, to do what we need to do to decrease the remaining uncertainties."
Though scientists have documented global warming in myriad ways--including the melting of polar ice caps and measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide--the hockey stick stood out for summarizing the issue in an instantly recognizable way.
The graph shows a stretch of stable temperature lasting for 900 years that suddenly arcs upward in the last century, resembling a hockey stick laid on its side.
"It's a pretty profound, easy-to-understand graph," said Roger Pielke, director of the University of Colorado's Center for Science and Technology Policy Research.
The graph actually drew little attention until it was highlighted in a 2001 report by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
It also became an easy target. "If you are someone who's interested in critiquing climate science," he said, "the hockey stick would be a lightning rod."
One attack came from Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), who last year launched an investigation of Mann and his colleagues. The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee demanded information about their data and funding sources--an effort widely viewed as an attempt to intimidate the scientists.
The crux of the dispute is that humans have had thermometers for 150 years. To determine temperatures before that time, scientists have to rely on indirect measurements, or proxies, such as tree ring data, cores from boreholes in ice, glacier movements and cave deposits.
The panel affirmed that proxy measurements made over the last 150 years correlate well with actual measurements during that period. They concluded that, "with a high level of confidence," global temperatures during the last century were higher than at any time since 1600.
The report also said the panel was "less confident" that the 20th Century was the warmest century since 1000, largely because of the scarcity of data prior to 1600.
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
Panel affirms rising Earth temperature
U.S. scientific body studied warming data
By Thomas H. Maugh II and Karen Kaplan, Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times
Published June 23, 2006
After a comprehensive review of climate change data, the pre-eminent U.S. scientific body found that average temperatures on Earth have risen by an average of about 1 degree over the last century, a development that "is unprecedented for the last 400 years and potentially the last several millennia."
The report from the National Academies of Science also concluded that "human activities are responsible for much of the recent warming."
Coupled with a report last month from the Bush administration's Climate Change Science Program that found "clear evidence of human influences on the climate system," the new study signals a growing acceptance in Washington of widely held scientific views on the causes of global warming.
The academies' review focused on the controversial "hockey stick" graph, which shows Earth's temperature rising abruptly to its highest point in 1,000 years after a long period of stability.
The panel dismissed critics' charges that fraud and error are responsible for the graph's sharp upward swing, noting that many studies have confirmed its essential conclusions in the eight years since it was first published in the journal Nature.
"There is nothing in this report that should raise any doubts about the broad scientific consensus on global climate change ... or any doubts about whether any paper on the temperature records was legitimate scientific work," said Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Science Committee, who requested the study in November.
Geophysicist Michael Mann of Pennsylvania State University, lead author of the study that introduced the hockey stick graph, said it's time "to put this sometimes silly debate behind us and move forward, to do what we need to do to decrease the remaining uncertainties."
Though scientists have documented global warming in myriad ways--including the melting of polar ice caps and measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide--the hockey stick stood out for summarizing the issue in an instantly recognizable way.
The graph shows a stretch of stable temperature lasting for 900 years that suddenly arcs upward in the last century, resembling a hockey stick laid on its side.
"It's a pretty profound, easy-to-understand graph," said Roger Pielke, director of the University of Colorado's Center for Science and Technology Policy Research.
The graph actually drew little attention until it was highlighted in a 2001 report by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
It also became an easy target. "If you are someone who's interested in critiquing climate science," he said, "the hockey stick would be a lightning rod."
One attack came from Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), who last year launched an investigation of Mann and his colleagues. The chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee demanded information about their data and funding sources--an effort widely viewed as an attempt to intimidate the scientists.
The crux of the dispute is that humans have had thermometers for 150 years. To determine temperatures before that time, scientists have to rely on indirect measurements, or proxies, such as tree ring data, cores from boreholes in ice, glacier movements and cave deposits.
The panel affirmed that proxy measurements made over the last 150 years correlate well with actual measurements during that period. They concluded that, "with a high level of confidence," global temperatures during the last century were higher than at any time since 1600.
The report also said the panel was "less confident" that the 20th Century was the warmest century since 1000, largely because of the scarcity of data prior to 1600.
Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune
