July 05, 2019

Climate Change Is Not Natural

Listen Later

2 minutes

It has been the overwhelming consensus of the scientific community for a long time that human activity and other external factors are responsible for the continuing rise in global temperature. Despite this widespread agreement, there have been those who argue that natural ocean cycles might be influencing global warming over the course of multiple decades.

A new study, published in the Journal

of Climate, provides an answer to the question of how much influence

natural cycles might have, and that answer is very little to none.

The study looked at observed ocean and land temperature data since

1850 and, apart from human-induced factors such as greenhouse gas

concentrations, took into account other occurrences such as volcanic eruptions,

solar activity, and air pollution peaks.

The findings demonstrated that slow-acting ocean cycles do not explain

the long-term changes in global temperatures.

Based on the study, the researchers can state with confidence that

human factors like greenhouse gas emissions and particulate pollution, along

with year-to-year changes caused by natural phenomena like volcanic eruptions

or El Niño, are sufficient to explain virtually all the long-term changes in

temperature. The idea that the oceans

could have been driving the climate either in a colder or warmer direction for

multiple decades in the past and therefore will do so in the future is unlikely

to be correct.

A number of previous studies have compared flawed observations with

flawed modeling results to claim that naturally-occurring ocean cycles have

played a large role in global temperatures.

The new study shows that such cycles have little influence on the climate. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is really

what we need to do.

**********

Web Links

Global temperature change attributable to external factors, confirms new study

Photo, posted November 13, 2007, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

...more

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Earth Wise

By Randy Simon

4.7

1515 ratings

July 05, 2019

Climate Change Is Not Natural

Listen Later

2 minutes

It has been the overwhelming consensus of the scientific community for a long time that human activity and other external factors are responsible for the continuing rise in global temperature. Despite this widespread agreement, there have been those who argue that natural ocean cycles might be influencing global warming over the course of multiple decades.

A new study, published in the Journal

of Climate, provides an answer to the question of how much influence

natural cycles might have, and that answer is very little to none.

The study looked at observed ocean and land temperature data since

1850 and, apart from human-induced factors such as greenhouse gas

concentrations, took into account other occurrences such as volcanic eruptions,

solar activity, and air pollution peaks.

The findings demonstrated that slow-acting ocean cycles do not explain

the long-term changes in global temperatures.

Based on the study, the researchers can state with confidence that

human factors like greenhouse gas emissions and particulate pollution, along

with year-to-year changes caused by natural phenomena like volcanic eruptions

or El Niño, are sufficient to explain virtually all the long-term changes in

temperature. The idea that the oceans

could have been driving the climate either in a colder or warmer direction for

multiple decades in the past and therefore will do so in the future is unlikely

to be correct.

A number of previous studies have compared flawed observations with

flawed modeling results to claim that naturally-occurring ocean cycles have

played a large role in global temperatures.

The new study shows that such cycles have little influence on the climate. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is really

what we need to do.

**********

Web Links

Global temperature change attributable to external factors, confirms new study

Photo, posted November 13, 2007, courtesy of Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.

...more