[LINK] O/t Global Temperature Change

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

Hi all,

If you're anything like me, you look for the absolute best research you
can find, and tend to be guided by it. For me, this article is probably
the best (most authoratitive, clearest, widely cited, etc) i have found
on climate change. I'd be pleased to know of other such you may suggest. 

'Global Temperature Change'

By: James Hansen, Makiko Sato, Reto Ruedy, Ken Lo, David W. Lea, and
    Martin Medina-Elizade (2006)

- Author Affiliations

NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 
Columbia University Earth Institute, and 
Department of Earth Science, University of California

Abstract:

"Global surface temperature has increased ≈0.2°C per decade in the past
30 years, similar to the warming rate predicted in the 1980s in initial
global climate model simulations with transient greenhouse gas changes. 

Warming is larger in the Western Equatorial Pacific than in the Eastern 
Equatorial Pacific over the past century, and we suggest that the 
increased West–East temperature gradient may have increased the 
likelihood of strong El Niños, such as those of 1983 and 1998. Comparison 
of measured sea surface temperatures in the Western Pacific with 
paleoclimate data suggests that this critical ocean region, and probably 
the planet as a whole, is approximately as warm now as at the Holocene 
maximum, and within ≈1°C of the maximum temperature of the past million 
years. 

We conclude that global warming of more than ≈1°C, relative to 2000, will 
constitute “dangerous” climate change as judged from likely effects on 
sea level and extermination of species."

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA:
<http://www.pnas.org/content/103/39/14288.short?rss=1&ssource=mfc>
--

Cheers,
Stephen