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2-9: Trends in Climate Variables, Global Warming Update

Short Summaries of Recent Research

• Hurricane and Tropical Storm Number, Duration, and Intensity Increase in a Warmer Climate
  
  
• Hurricanes are Getting More Powerful
  
  
• Collapse of Antarctic Ice Sheet was Accelerated by Global Warming
  
  
• Mountain Snowpack Melting Earlier in the Western US
  
  
• More Hurricanes?
  
  
• Fish Seeking Cooler Water Due to Global Warming
  
  
• Changes in Global Water Cycle
  
  
• Global Warming More Easily Detected by Downward Longwave Radiation
  
  
• Scientific Consensus on Climate Change? Overwhelming.
  
  
• Are Humans Causing Climate Change?
  
  
• "Can we defuse the global warming time bomb?", Presentation of James E. Hansen to the Council on Environmental Quality, 12 June 2003.
  
  
• Resolving Discrepancies Between Satellite- and Radiosonde-Derived Temperature Trends
  
  
• Heat Accumulating in the Pacific Ocean
  
  
• Climate Change in the Western US Leads to Less Snow and Earlier Snowmelt
  
  
• Mountain Ecosystems Reveal High Vulnerability to Climate Change
  
  
• Human Contributions to Climate Change
  
  
• Climate Change due to Land-Use Change
  
  
• Satellite-derived Measurements Agree with Surface Temperature Trends
  
  
• Warm Waters of the Indian Ocean Lead to Drought in the Sahel Region just South of the Sahara Desert
  
  
• Linking Ozone Depletion to Climate Change
  
  
• Evidence of Warming at High Latitudes
  
  
• The Tropopause
  
  
• Abrupt Climate Change - Present and Future
  
  
• Migrating Earlier
  
  
• Warming in the Arctic
  
  
• Excess Greenhouse Gases may be Responsible for Drought
  
  
• View on climate change from petroleum geologists
  
  
• "Go North, You Species!"
  
  
• More Frost-Free Days in the US
  
  
• Flowering Early
  
  
• Global warming is here and we need to do something about it / En Español
  
  
• Trends in US Extreme Weather Events
  
  
• Cooling on Antarctica
  
  
• Warmer than the IPCC
  
  
• More Extreme Events in a Changing Climate
  
  
• Climate Change in Terms of Probabilities
  
  
• Estimating Uncertainty of Future Temperature Rise
  
  
• Global Warming Blamed for Increased Flooding
  
  
• Plant Responses to Global Warming
  
  
• Excess Heat in the Ocean
  
  
• Correction to satellite based temperature record changes cooling trend to a warming trend.
  
  
• Global Warming Measurements from Subsurface Temperatures
  
  
• Global Warming: Not whether it is happening but what to do about it.
  
  
• Trends in US Extreme Weather Events
  
  
• Is Warming Trend Harming Penguins?
  
  

Websites

• Extreme Weather and Climate Change (PDF)
  
  
• Most of Arctic's Near-Surface Permafrost May Thaw by 2010
  
  
• Global Warming Stalks Yosemite
  
  
• Arctic Lakes Disappearing, Climate Scientists Say
  
  
• Arctic Rivers 'Flowing Faster'
  
  
• Scientists Find Climate Change is Major Factor in Drought's Growing Reach
  
  
• UK to Pump Greenhouse Gas Under Sea
  
  
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
  
  
• Satellite-Observed Changes in the Arctic
  
  
• Surface Temperature Analysis
  
  
• Clouds Caused by Aircraft Exhaust May Warm the U.S. Climate
  
  
• Warming trend blamed for syrup season change
  
  
• Global warming and a Washington freeze
  
  
• Climate model predicts even hotter summers
  
  
• Latest monthly mean global surface air temperature
  
  
• UCAR response to request for input on McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act
  
  
• The Melting Ice of Greenland
  
  
• Global tropospheric temperatures as measured by the Microwave Sounding Units (MSU)
  
  
• From NOAA: Annual Review of 1998 Climate.
  
  
• The Global Historical Climatology Network (GHCN)
  
  
• From NOAA: Drought history and predictions
  
  
• El Niņo and global warming: What's the connection?
  
  
• Precipitation increase over the US in the 20th Century
  
  
• Trends in global average surface temperature
  
  
• Precipitation changes trend over land from 1900 to 1994
  
  
• Sea level rise due to global warming
  
  
• The great weather and flood catastrophes over the last forty years
  
  
• Thinning of the Arctic sea-ice
  
  
• Evolution of the ice-breaking date in the River Tornio (Finland)
  
  
• Changes in permafrost temperatures at various depths in Fairbanks (Alaska)
  
  
• Fact Sheet: The State of Knowledge on Global Climate Change, 1996.
  
  
• Science and Impacts of Global Warming.
  
  
• Global Change Course Earthreview - Links on the current state of the planet.
  
  
• Global Climate Change Issues Forum
  
  
• Climactic / Meteorologic Information Sources. Center for Global & Regional Environmental Research, University of Iowa.
  
  
• Experimental Climate Prediction Center, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California-San Diego.
  
  
• The Sea Ice in the Arctic is Melting; is this a sign of global warming?
  
  
• VEMAP Animations
  
  
• World Climate Data - average monthly and yearly rainfall, temperature, and pressure for over 85,000 sites worldwide.
  
  

Additional References

• Ramaswamy, V., and Co-authors, 2006: Anthropogenic and natural influences in the evolution of lower stratospheric cooling. Science, 311, 1138-1141.
  
  
• Sutton, R. T., and D. L. R. Hodson, 2005: Atlantic Ocean forcing of North American and European summer climate. Science, 309, 115-118.
  
  
• Cherry. M., 2005: Ministers agree to action warnings of soaring temperatures in Africa. Nature, 437, 1217.
  
  
• Webster, P. J., G. J. Holland, J. A. Curry, and H.-R. Chang, 2005: Changes in tropical cyclone number, duration, and intensity in a warming environment. Science, 309, 1844-1846.
  
  
• Mears, C.A., and F. J. Wenz, 2005: The effect of diurnal correction on satellite-derived lower tropospheric temperature. Science, 309, 1548-1551.
  
  
• Santer, B. D., and Coauthors, 2005: Amplification of surface temperature trends and variability in the tropical atmosphere. Science, 309, 1551-1556.
  
  
• Sherwood, S. C., J. R. Lanzante, and C. L. Meyer, 2005: Radiosonde daytime biases and late-20th century warming. Science, 309, 1556-1559.
  
  
• Smith, L.C., Y. Sheng, G.M. MacDonald, and L.D. Hinzman, 2005: Disappearing Arctic lakes. Science, 308, 1429.
  
  
• Edwards, M., and A.J. Richardson, 2004: Impact of climate change on marine pelagic phenology and trophic mismatch. Nature, 430, 881-884.
  
  
• Weart,S. R., 2003: The Discovery of Global Warming. Harvard University Press. Cambridge, MA 240 pp.
  
  
• Pielke, R.A., Sr., C. Davey, and J. Morgan, 2004: Assessing "Global Warming" with surface heat content. EOS, 85, 210-211.
  
  
• Laxon, S., N. Peacock, and D. Smith, 2003: High interannual variability of sea ice thickness in the Arctic region. Nature, 425, 947-950.
  
  
• Trends in Northern Hemisphere Temperatures over the Last 1,000 Years.
  
  
• Mudelsee, M., M. Borngren, G. Tetxzlaff, and U. Grunewald, 2003: No upward trends in the occurrence of extreme floods in central Europe. Nature, 425 166-169.
  
  
• Wilby, R. L., 2003: Past and projected trends in London's urban heat island. Weather, 58, 251-260.
  
  
• Weart, S., 2003: The discovery of rapid climate change. Physics Today, August 2003, 30-36.
  
  
• Broecker, W. S., 2003: Does the trigger for abrupt climate change reside in the ocean or in the atmosphere? Science, 300, 1519-1522.
  
  
• Shindell, D., 2003: Whither Arctic climate? Science, 299, 215-216.
  
  
• Chavez, F. P., J. Ryan, S.E. Lluch-Cota, and M. Niquen C., 2003: From anchovies to sardines and back: Multidecadal change in the Pacific Ocean. Science, 299, 217-221.
  
  
• Bard, E., 2002: Climate shock: Abrupt changes over millennial time scales. Physics Today, 55, 32-38.
  
  
• Visbeck, 2002: The ocean's role in Atlantic climate variability. Science 297, 2223-2224.
  
  
• Black, D., 2002: The rains may be a-coming. Science, 297, 528-529.
  
  
• Forest, C. E., P. H. Stone, A. P. Sokolov, M. R. Allen, and M. D. Webster, 2002: Quantifying uncertainties in climate system properties with the use of recent climate observations. Science, 295, 113-117.
  
  
• Doran, P. T., J. C. Priscu, W. B. Lyons, J. E. Walsh, A. G. Fountain, D. M. McKnight, D. L. Moorhead, R. A. Virginia, D. H. Wall, G. D. Clow, C. H. Fritsen, C. P. McKay, and A. N. Parsons, 2002: Antarctic climate cooling and terrestrial ecosystem response. Nature, 15, 517-520.
  
  
• Palmer, R. N, and J. Raisanen, 2002: Quantifying the risk of extreme seasonal precipitation events in a changing climate. Nature, 415, 512-514.
  
  
• Milly, P. C. D., R. T. Wetherald, K. A. Dunne, and T.L. Delworth, 2002: Increasing risk of great floods in a changing climate. Nature, 415, 514-517.
  
  
• Anderson, D. M., J.T. Overpeck, and A.K. Gupta, 2002: Increase in the Asian Southwest Monsoon during the past four centuries. Science, 297, 596-599.
  
  
• Christy, J.R., D. E. Parker, S. J. Brown, I. Macadam, M. Stendel, and W. B. Norris, 2001: Differential Trends in Tropical Sea Surface and Atmospheric Temperatures Since 1979. Geophys. Res. Lett., 28, 183-186.
  
  
• Strum, M., C. Racine, and K. Tape, 2001: Increasing shrub abundance in the Arctic. Nature, 411, 546-547.
  
  
• Alternative Views on the Reality of Global Warming are given in Science's Compass: Science, 292, 1063-1066
  
  
• Easterling, D. R., T. R. Karl, K. P. Gallo, D. A. Robinson, K. E. Trenberth, and A. Dai, 2000: Observed climate variability and change of relevance to the biosphere. J. Geophys. Res., 105, 101-120, 114.
  
  
• American Geophysical Union, 1999: Climate change and greenhouse gases. EOS, 80, 457-458.
  
  
• Knutson, T. R., R. E. Tuleya, and Y. Kurihara, 1998: Simulated increase of hurricane intensities in a CO2 -warmed climate. Science, 279, 1018-1020.
  
  
• Wigley, T. M. L., R. L. Smith, and B. D. Santer, 1998: Anthropogenic influence on the autocorrelation structure of hemispheric-mean temperatures. Science, 282, 1676-1679.
  
  
• Houghton, J. T., L. G. Meira Filho, B. A. Callander N. Harris, A. Kattenberg, and K. Maskell, 1996: Climate Change 1995. The Science of Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, 423-434.
  
  
• Houghton, J. T., G. J. Jenkins, and J. J. Ephraums, 1990: Climate Change, The IPCC Scientific Assessment. Cambridge University Press. p. 216-223.
  
  
• Easterling, D. R., G. A. Meehl, C. Parmesan, S. A. Changnon, T. R. Karl, and L. O. Mearns: Climate Extremes: Observations Modeling and Impacts. Science, 289, 2068-2074.