06/07 WINTER WARMTH BREAKS ALL RECORDS

[Anonymous]

Winter warmth breaks all records
Winter
in the northern hemisphere this year has been the warmest since records
began more than 125 years ago, a US government agency says.The combined
land and ocean surface temperature from December to February was 0.72C
(1.3F) above average.The National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration said El Nino, a seasonal warming of parts of the Pacific
Ocean, had also contributed to the warmth.Weather experts predict that
2007 could be the hottest year on record.NOAA said that temperatures
are continuing to rise by a fifth of a degree every decade. The 10
warmest years on record have occurred since 1995.

Greenhouse gases
“Contributing
factors were the long-term trend toward warmer temperatures as well as
a moderate El Nino in the Pacific,” said Jay Lawrimore of NOAA’s
National Climatic Data Center.He added: “We don’t say this winter is
evidence of the influence of greenhouse gases.”However, Mr Lawrimore
said the research was part of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) process, which released a report last month that found
global climate change “very likely” has a human cause.”We know as a
part of that, the conclusions have been reached and the warming trend
is due in part to rises in greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.The IPCC
panel concluded that it was at least 90% certain that human emissions
of greenhouse gases rather than natural variations are warming the
planet’s surface.They projected that temperatures would probably rise
by between 1.8C and 4C by the end of the century, though increases as
small as 1.1C (2F) or as large as 6.4C (11.5F) were possible.

[Author]

March 21, 2007 at 10:06 AM