It really is official now: 2014 was the warmest year in a record stretching back to 1880. The news came in an unusual joint press conference by both NASA and NOAA. This follows the release of data by the Japan Meteorological Agency earlier this month showing essentially the same thing. Is this the end of a slowdown in the rise of global average temperatures at the surface? It is too soon to tell. But recent research by Diane Thompson of the National Center for Atmospheric Research, published in the journal Nature Geoscience, suggests that no matter what happens in the short term, global warming is probably primed to eventually take off with a vengeance. Her conclusion emerges from some fascinating scientific detective work involving a single piece of coral plucked from the waters of Tarawa atoll in the tropical Pacific. - Tom Yulsman, Discover
Posted on: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 20:13:15 +0000
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