2010: tied with 2005 for warmest year in history
The year 2010 was tied with 2005 as Earth's warmest year in history, according to separate calculations performed by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Temperatures during 2010 were 1.12°F (0.62°C) above the 20th century average. Reliable global temperature records go back to 1880. NOAA reported that the Northern Hemisphere had its warmest year on record in 2010, the Southern Hemisphere its 6th warmest, land areas their 2nd warmest, and the oceans their 3rd warmest. Global satellite-measured temperatures of the lowest 8 km of the atmosphere during 2010 were virtually tied with 1998 for warmest on record, according to the University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH). The 1998 temperatures were 0.01°C warmer than 2010, but the difference is so small that the two years should be considered tied for first place. These measurements are very sensitive to the effect of major El Niño events that warm the waters and atmosphere over the Eastern Pacific. Thus the 1998 El Niño--the strongest such event ever recorded--set a global lower atmospheric temperature record that had been impossible to match until 2010.
Figure 1. Departure of temperature from average for 2010. Image credit: NOAA's National Climatic Data Center.
Earth's warmest temperatures in 2010, relative to average, occurred in western Greenland and eastern Canada, where record-duration sea ice loss contributed to temperatures that were 9°F (5°C) above average for the year (Figure 1.) The coolest temperatures, relative to average, were in central Siberia, 5.4°F (3°C) below average. In addition to being the warmest year on record globally, it was also the wettest (Figure 4.)
Figure 2. The latest rankings by NOAA of the hottest years globally since 1880. Earth's ten hottest years have all come since 1998, and the decade of the 2000s was by far the warmest decade in the historical record. Image credit: NOAA's National Climatic Data Center.
Figure 3. Global departure of temperature from average for 1880-2010, as computed by NASA.
Figure 4. Global departure of precipitation from average for 1900 - 2010. The year 2010 set a new record for wettest year in Earth's history. The difference in precipitation from average in 2010 was about 13% higher than that of the previous record wettest year, 1956. Image credit: NOAA's National Climatic Data Center.
A record warm year during a deep solar minimum: an unusual occurrence
The 2010 record warmth was unusual in that it occurred during a period when energy from the sun was at its lowest levels since satellite measurements began in the 1970s. The 11-year sunspot cycle causes a 0.1% variation in the amount of energy reaching the Earth. White et al. (1997) found that sea surface temperatures varied by about 0.04 - 0.07°C on time scales of 11 - 22 years due to this change in solar energy, with temperatures lagging the sunspot cycle by 1.5 - 3 years (because the ocean is slow to heat up and cool down in response.) So, although solar activity began to pick up somewhat in 2010, the 1.5 - 3 year lag in ocean temperature response meant that the record low solar activity of 2008 - 2009 was what affected global temperatures in 2010. Given that the departure of Earth's temperature from average during 2010 was 0.62°C, this difference would have been perhaps 10% greater had we been 2 - 3 years past the peak of the 11-year sunspot cycle. The previous global temperature record, set in 2005, occurred 3 - 5 years after the twin-peaked previous solar cycle. It is very difficult to get a record warm year during a deep solar minimum, making the 2010 record one likely to be broken later this decade as the sun begins to exert a greater warming influence on the planet.
Figure 5. During 2008 - 2009, the energy from the sun arriving at the top of Earth's atmosphere (Total Solar Irradiance, or TSI) as measured by satellites fell to its lowest value since satellite measurements began in 1978. Image credit: Physikalisch-Meteorologisches Observatorium Davos World Radiation Center.
References
Skepticalscience.com has an in-depth discussion of Solar activity & climate: is the sun causing global warming?
Wunderground climate change blogger Dr. Ricky Rood has a comprehensive 5-part series on how the sun affects climate.
Gray, L.J., J. Beer, M. Geller, J.D. Haigh, M. Lockwood, 2010, "Solar Influences on Climate", Accepted in Rev. Geophys, 2010.
White, W.B., J. Lean, D.R. Cayan and M.D. Dettinger (1997), Response of global upper ocean temperature to changing solar irradiance, J. Geophys. Res., 102, 3255-3266.
Thunderstorms hurl antimatter into space
NASA announced this week that mature thunderstorms can produce antimatter when exceptionally powerful lightning bolts occur. The antimattter beams were detected by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. The amount of antimatter produced is tiny, though, and probably not enough to help power a starship.
"Cap'n, we're running low on antimatter to power the warp engines. Can you fly in low over those thunderstorms to replenish our reserves? We'll use the transporters to gather the antimatter and funnel it into the antimatter containment vessel."
"OK, Scotty!"
I'll have a new post on Tuesday.
Jeff Masters
Reader Comments
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Evening, Press. How it be?
Howdy, pal...Who's in charge here?!
LMBO. The inmates?
Lol. I must chuckle a bit at your refusal to admit that I have given sources for my data all of these past two weeks, and gave it when asked for by anyone. You cannot question the validity of those sources for they were the same ones used by you and others. You won't even admit that you have already read the material that you are asking me to dig up for you now, holding onto it as the last "mistake" I have made in scientific analysis. And yet, if I ask you to cite any post at all during the last couple weeks that I have made where I didn't properly source my data, you refuse to do that as well, because you wouldn't be able to find one.
This back and forth isn't going anywhere. I'll say goodnight now for my flight leaves early tomorrow.
Stay civil, folks. Enjoy the evening.
Link
TOKYO (AFP) – Japanese researchers will launch a project this year to resurrect the long-extinct mammoth by using cloning technology to bring the ancient pachyderm back to life in around five years time.
The researchers will try to revive the species by obtaining tissue this summer from the carcass of a mammoth preserved in a Russian research laboratory, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.
"Preparations to realise this goal have been made," Akira Iritani, leader of the team and a professor emeritus of Kyoto University, told the mass-circulation daily.
Under the plan, the nuclei of mammoth cells will be inserted into an elephant's egg cell from which the nuclei have been removed, to create an embryo containing mammoth genes, the report said.
Civil... the feds are not returning our money until after February 15.
I worked on taxes tonight since in theory I get a big refund from the solar panels....
Obama and company says we are broke and can't pay out until February 15 at the earliest according to tax software.
Um....
Not paying debts immediately is a sign the US should be downgraded to junk status.... since it
WASTES ENERGY
While strictly against human cloningsince it can only lead to slavery...
Why not?
Mankind keeps experimenting.... that flask is going to blow in his face
If they find a preserved cell in the Arctic, you can be sure that they will try it....
That mammoth cell was preserved in the Russian permafrost...
LOL
Hannible already tried that
go hug a dang tree.
Personally, I like to defend my family and friends against the wicked.
Interesting article.
I have kind of the opposite take on the elections. Mind you I can appreciate anybody who doesn't see the opportunity...
There is opportunity. Reagan signed the Montreal protocol...
I am definitely not impressed that my tax return cannot be filed right now.
The enemy sends ultrasonic/infrared commands to em and they attack the Boss.....
Who cares about the EPA? Dr. Hansen has gotten mad.
The future does belong to the Chinese. Why? Are they environmentally friendly? Heck no... how many coal fired electric plants come on per week?
Are they moving towards a renewable based economy in 115 or so years?
Yes...
Infinitely faster than the US, where I cannot even get my tax refund until after February
lol
If you try that i will report you and i mean it really i mean it
cloning t rex bad... mammoths just smell.
I'm glad I can consider you, someone that I uphold for being very smart, but yet not arrogant and full of yourself, because you don't portray human understanding for science like we are God.
That's a rare feat these days!
Nebraska ethics... go plant a tree.
This week was the Eastern Redbud... while waiting for weather dependent things, hopefully 2 Mexican plums go in the ground next week.
Learn from Nebraskans (how conservative are they?).
Trees are very good things.
* 13:35 22 April 2009 by Andy Coghlan
It's clone-mania again, for the second time in just a few weeks. This time, it's fertility expert Panayiotis Zavos, founder of the private Zavos Organization in Lexington, Kentucky, claiming that he made 14 human cloned embryos and transferred 11 of them into the wombs of women.
None of the embryos survived this time (allegedly), but "the cloned child is coming", Zavos told The Independent newspaper in the UK. "There is absolutely no way that it will not happen."
The New Scientst Link
We discussed this at dinner. My Chinese ethnic children have been to the zoo quite a bit and the topic of elephant did come up.
Yup.
And they are the most conservative voting of folks.
Conservation is conservative.... from a Nebraskan
Hey, I guess I have more in common with environmentalists than I thought! lol
Well, you can be sure they will find the way to clone one, maybe with a Comodo dragon... Like Keeper said, that will be an excellent ultimate weapon to release to an enemy... and any Defense department from any of the Big Global Bosses will most likely experiment with it....
Gnite All
lol don't worry, I'm not against trees, I love the woods. I am an outdoorsman/hunter and I do the best I can to support laws that protect the wilderness and preserve it. I do whatever I can to resist the greedy big business machine that loves to destroy nature in Florida just so filthy rich executives can make a few more million to add to their multimillion dollar empires. Its downright disgusting.
So for the record, I used tree hugging as a figure of speech, because I am certainly not against trees, I am a county boy, and I call the trees my home. I personally don't like the artificial urbanization that most of us modern people dwell in.
Heck if I lived in Nebraska, that's all I would do is plant trees, because they sure lack them! lol
Wide open planes are boring, the planet would be a lot more boring without trees.
I'm not actually a Conservative either by the way, I am a moderate, or a Neutral, because I believe liberalism is needed for changing law that is poor or needs improvement, as well as preserving nature. And I also believe Conservatism is needed to protect laws in this country that are good and have made the nation great.
does anyone know if i can be charger for using the "tether" app on my sprint blackberry?
thanks!
Better than the folks who posted videos... I can listen to videos and type this.
Nebraskans plant trees.... Kansas... bloody Kansas. Ask Grothar... he knows about the history of the Kansas/Nebraska act
The latest lyric was heaven waits... for you! (as opposed to "me").
"But I flew too high" (Icarus... folks from Kansas, and even Nebraska, can make allusions).
"And if i claim to be a wise man, it surely means that i don't know"
How nebraskan... i am a moron :)
I had 3.67 inches of rain at my place in Central Florida, I got my much needed and very well appreciated rains today!
0.79"
Now that is good news....3.67 is a lot of rain.
Not 3.67, but sure beats nothing :)
It's not a funding issue. It's because just a couple of weeks ago, congress changed tax code that affects 2010 returns with itemized deductions. Now the IRS has to change all the forms, instructions, training, etc.
http://www.facebook.com/US.NOAA.NationalHurricaneCenter.gov?v=wall
I highly suggest that anyone who belittles the other side extremely should take up this wager or "be damned for a faintheart, sheltering behind your money and the [blog]."
[NB: as soon as I have time to figure out what my position is on this financially, I will partake.]
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