Climate discovery troubles researchers

Scientists have encountered another speedbump along their way to understanding how the climate works and how it might change in the new century. \nResearchers have found a discrepancy in the way ocean water warms compared with the air just above it. In the last 20 years, water temperatures around the globe have risen faster than air temperatures. \nThe research team that discovered the discrepancy says their study underlines the need for a comprehensive and consistent system of climate observation across the globe. \nJohn Christy from the University of Alabama and colleagues examined the accuracy of methods used to determine air and water temperatures over oceans. \nChristy's team examined all available data, including 20 years of information from scientific buoys in the Pacific Ocean that record sea and air temperatures simultaneously. They found a discrepancy between the seawater and air-temperature measurements. Seawater one meter below the surface had warmed faster than air three meters above the surface, as measured since 1979. \nAccording to the team, based on their findings and the use of real air-data, the earth has warmed during the last 20 years at the rate of 0.13 degrees Celsius per decade. This is "slightly less" than the 0.18 degrees Celsius per decade if seawater proxy data is used in calculations. \nPhysics professor Ben Brabson said these findings do not undermine the fact that the earth is warming quickly. \n"Whether it is 0.13 degrees Celsius or 0.18 degrees Celsius, it is still enormously rapid when compared to the .08 degrees Celsius measurements of the last century. The change in temperature over the last 20 years has been large," he said.\nThe study, which appeared in Geophysical Research Letters, a monthly journal, goes to the heart of the debate about global warming and the human-induced climate. \nBut Christy said this was a part of the large volume of data coming from every corner of the world. \n"What is important to note is that these changes recorded on a global scale are also happening on a smaller regional scale. And regional changes will have very hazardous climactic effects on local areas," he said.\nThe journal reported that the study adds to the existing breadth of satellite data, which cover more than 95 percent of the globe, including remote ocean, desert and wilderness regions.\n"What is required is a proper, global climate observing system so that you have reliable data everywhere -- both satellites and based on the ground, and that if anyone changes their instruments, they have to run parallel experiments to ensure they haven't introduced a bias into the measurements," Christy said. \nThis is after a study released earlier in December by the scientists from Hadley Center for climactic Research, part of the UK meteorological Office, and Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the magazine Science. \nThey wrote that natural processes and human activity have contributed significantly to 20th century temperature changes. \n"More than 80 percent of observed global mean temperature variations, and more than 60 percent of 10- to 50-year land temperature variations are due to changes in external (forces)." \nGlobal mean temperature near Earth's surface has been increasing at 0.2 degrees Celsius a decade during the last three decades according to latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports.\nTaking into account anthropogenic and natural factors had helped explain the lull and rise in temperatures reported by the IPCC, as in some cases anthropogenic factors had not been taken into account, the study explained. \n"What is heartening are the formidable measurements that we are gathering from across the globe, not only from the ocean but above it as well," Brabson said. \n"The impressive data collection initiatives are testament to how serious the scientific community is taking climate change," he said.