2015 Smashed the Record for Warmest Year

[TasteTheRainbow 8,726]

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/01/20/463709775/a-scorcher-2015-shatters-record-as-warmest-year-nasa-and-noaa-say

The jump from the old record was the largest since record-keeping began.

That cold spot off of Greenland is of particular concern. The slowing of the current that keeps Europe warm had devastating consequences for the region last time it slowed. Now it's happening again due to freshwater injection from Greenland's accelerating melt.

Jump from 2014 to 2015 is enormous, for a few reasons.

Edited January 21, 2016 by TasteTheRainbow

[Admiral Deathrain 5,232]

Time for an ice age in Europe soon, I am afraid. Not that it suprises me. I fear my lifetime will be really interesting to history, but not too nice to actually witness.

[TasteTheRainbow 8,726]

Time for an ice age in Europe soon, I am afraid. Not that it suprises me. I fear my lifetime will be really interesting to history, but not too nice to actually witness.

It's a possibility. That cold spot is record cold this year. Nobody really expected that to happen this early.

[loki_tbc 359]

This is one of the reasons I am intentionally not having kids and spending all my money on x-wing and booze. Since we are past the point of stopping this, I intend on dying long before it matters too much to me.

 

No way could I die in peace knowing I left my kids in a mad max / soylent green type of world.

[TasteTheRainbow 8,726]

We can still stop 12C warming and the end of civilization. We just probably can't stop 2 or 3C and the associated calamities anymore. I have young kids. I worry more about their kids than them. It'll be awhile before the real stability-breaking disasters unfold.

[treybert 893]

But it's snowing outside.

 

/sarcasm

[Robin Graves 6,054]

Don't worry guys! It's all a myth! 

 

/more_ sarcasm

 

 

Donald Thrump will save us!

 

/all_of_the_sarcasm

[T70 Driver 1,344]

Warmest year since they started recording in 1880. 130 years....on a planet that's estimated to be over 4.5 billion years old. Yeah what's been recorded is just a little tiny blip in the history of this big blue marble. When someone can tell me what the normal temperature of the Earth is, then I'll take the climate change people seriously. How do they know that the planet hasn't been cooler than its normal temperature and the warming that they're seeing is a return to normal levels?

[TasteTheRainbow 8,726]

Warmest year since they started recording in 1880. 130 years....on a planet that's estimated to be over 4.5 billion years old. Yeah what's been recorded is just a little tiny blip in the history of this big blue marble. When someone can tell me what the normal temperature of the Earth is, then I'll take the climate change people seriously. How do they know that the planet hasn't been cooler than its normal temperature and the warming that they're seeing is a return to normal levels?

We have very reliable global temperature estimates going back far longer than our species has existed.

In climate it's not the temps that gets you. It's how far that temp is removed from the temperature norms your society and species is built upon. More importantly it's the speed of change that is dangerous. Current warming speed is probably unprecedented in the history of the planet outside of mass extinctions. Current temps have probably already exceeded any temps experienced by the species and unless we starte leaving fossil fuels in the ground they will warm another 5-11C.

Here is how fast and large modern warming is. It stops in 1990, warming did not.

Here's CO2 and temps back 800,000 years. Notice modern CO2 is way, way off-chart and rising.

Edited January 22, 2016 by TasteTheRainbow

[Admiral Deathrain 5,232]

Warmest year since they started recording in 1880. 130 years....on a planet that's estimated to be over 4.5 billion years old. Yeah what's been recorded is just a little tiny blip in the history of this big blue marble. When someone can tell me what the normal temperature of the Earth is, then I'll take the climate change people seriously. How do they know that the planet hasn't been cooler than its normal temperature and the warming that they're seeing is a return to normal levels?

Problem is that the polar ice is melting regardless of wether this is natural or manmade, sooner or later disrupting the gulf stream and bringing an ice age upon Europe. That might reverse the effects of global warming, who knows - kind of a natural balancing effort, that is going to screw me over hard!

 

Interesting times await, but they won't necessarily be pleasent.

[WokeUpDead 868]

No ice age, I'm fed up with shoveling the snow as of now!

 

as nice as it looks, I'd like to have spring soon. we can skip the warmer parts of summer to rebalance ;-)

[WarriorPoet 352]

as nice as it looks, I'd like to have spring soon. we can skip the warmer parts of summer to rebalance ;-)

Winter is coming.

The "SNOW!" thread definitely made me wonder if something official had leaked

Edited January 22, 2016 by WarriorPoet

[TasteTheRainbow 8,726]

Some notes about the last time it was this hot.

https://theconversation.com/the-last-time-earth-was-this-hot-hippos-lived-in-britain-thats-130-000-years-ago-53398

[Vorpal Sword 14,685]

Warmest year since they started recording in 1880. 130 years....on a planet that's estimated to be over 4.5 billion years old. Yeah what's been recorded is just a little tiny blip in the history of this big blue marble. When someone can tell me what the normal temperature of the Earth is, then I'll take the climate change people seriously. How do they know that the planet hasn't been cooler than its normal temperature and the warming that they're seeing is a return to normal levels?

It's dangerous for us regardless of the "normal" temperature of the Earth*, because our civilization is built on a number of assumptions about climate--including not just temperature, but rainfall patterns, sea level, ocean and atmospheric currents, etc. Those assumptions are based on the conditions over the past few centuries, but the vast majority of scientists agree they're losing their validity.

(*As TasteTheRainbow points out, we actually do have good evidence for what climate was like in the distant past. But that's largely irrelevant to the question of how dangerous it is for our assumptions to suddenly be wrong.)

[Biophysical 15,761]

Another note is that water has a very large heat capacity, which means it takes a lot of energy to increase its temperature compared to say, air or granite. Consequently those big red blobs in the various oceans mean the have a lot more heat energy. Generally speaking warm oceans mean warm air, which mixes with air that is less warm, and that's a storm.

[TasteTheRainbow 8,726]

But it's snowing outside.

 

/sarcasm

There is also this eye-popping chart from the offices of Senator Cruz. Warming disprovinated.

[Darth Chuck 532]

This just reinforces my belief we need to get off this rock and into the Solar System as soon as possible.  The eventually will be a breaking point where we either become a space-faring species or go extinct (or regress to the point of pre-fossil fuel technology).  My guess is that is around 100 or so years from now.  This planet can't support current population growth and resource consumption.

[TasteTheRainbow 8,726]

This just reinforces my belief we need to get off this rock and into the Solar System as soon as possible. The eventually will be a breaking point where we either become a space-faring species or go extinct (or regress to the point of pre-fossil fuel technology). My guess is that is around 100 or so years from now. This planet can't support current population growth and resource consumption.

Have you read The Mote in God's Eye? If we can break one planet we can certainly break any others we infect until we change our behavior.

Edited March 12, 2016 by TasteTheRainbow

[TasteTheRainbow 8,726]

Just in case anyone hears that crock about global warming stopping around 1997:

NASA GISS temps through February 2016 are out and they are crazy.

[WarriorPoet 352]

Dayyum! Even for an El Niño season, that appears to be unprecedented (at least from that segment on the graph).

[TasteTheRainbow 8,726]

Dayyum! Even for an El Niño season, that appears to be unprecedented (at least from that segment on the graph).

"Wow" -Director of GISS

[Admiral Deathrain 5,232]

 

This just reinforces my belief we need to get off this rock and into the Solar System as soon as possible. The eventually will be a breaking point where we either become a space-faring species or go extinct (or regress to the point of pre-fossil fuel technology). My guess is that is around 100 or so years from now. This planet can't support current population growth and resource consumption.

Have you read The Mote in God's Eye? If we can break one planet we can certainly break any others we infect until we change our behavior.

 

Sure, but that shouldn't concern us as a species. Our ultimate goal is our survival and not the preservation of the universe - that is ultimately doomed anyways. Even one "backup" population would be an important step, more would be even safer. I do hope that something is done about this before the realization how vulnerable planets are becomes inevitable.

[Stilgod 1,686]

Don't worry guys! It's all a myth! 

 

/more_ sarcasm

 

 

Donald Thrump will save us!

 

/all_of_the_sarcasm

*Drumpf