In:
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, American Meteorological Society, Vol. 97, No. 5 ( 2016-05-01), p. 723-733
Abstract:
There has been much recent published research about a putative “pause” or “hiatus” in global warming. We show that there are frequent fluctuations in the rate of warming around a longer-term warming trend, and that there is no evidence that identifies the recent period as unique or particularly unusual. In confirmation, we show that the notion of a pause in warming is considered to be misleading in a blind expert test. Nonetheless, the most recent fluctuation about the longer-term trend has been regarded by many as an explanatory challenge that climate science must resolve. This departs from long-standing practice, insofar as scientists have long recognized that the climate fluctuates, that linear increases in CO2 do not produce linear trends in global warming, and that 15-yr (or shorter) periods are not diagnostic of long-term trends. We suggest that the repetition of the “warming has paused” message by contrarians was adopted by the scientific community in its problem-solving and answer-seeking role and has led to undue focus on, and mislabeling of, a recent fluctuation. We present an alternative framing that could have avoided inadvertently reinforcing a misleading claim.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
0003-0007
,
1520-0477
DOI:
10.1175/BAMS-D-14-00106.1
Language:
English
Publisher:
American Meteorological Society
Publication Date:
2016
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2029396-3
detail.hit.zdb_id:
419957-1
Permalink
