Watts Up With That? has the number of excuses at 52. The Hockey Schtick notes 66 excuses. At this point, do we even need to keep track? Warmists will continue to trot out excuse after excuse after excuse. That is, when they acknowledge that there is a pause, and that their computer models have failed 95% of the time.
(Watts Up With That?) Small volcanic eruptions partly explain ‘warming hiatus’
The “warming hiatus†that has occurred over the last 15 years has been partly caused by small volcanic eruptions.
Scientists have long known that volcanoes cool the atmosphere because of the sulfur dioxide that is expelled during eruptions. Droplets of sulfuric acid that form when the gas combines with oxygen in the upper atmosphere can persist for many months, reflecting sunlight away from Earth and lowering temperatures at the surface and in the lower atmosphere.
Previous research suggested that early 21st century eruptions might explain up to a third of the recent “warming hiatus.â€
New research available online in the journal Geophysical Research Letters (GRL) further identifies observational climate signals caused by recent volcanic activity. This new research complements an earlier GRL paper published in November, which relied on a combination of ground, air and satellite measurements, indicated that a series of small 21st century volcanic eruptions deflected substantially more solar radiation than previously estimated.
Anthony Watts has the links to those papers, so, you’ll have to head there to get them. But, hey, does anyone else find it interesting that the majority of excuses Blame Nature for the Pause/hiatus, while Mankind is Blamed for the warming since the end of the Little Ice Age?
Willis Eschenbach dives deeper into the papers, and one of the things he notes is that there really hasn’t been an increase in small volcanic eruptions.
The real reason for the pause – “If we ‘adjust’ the temps any more than we already have to make it look like the globe is warming, we’ll get busted.”
Kevin you do realize that Moncktons pictorial does NOT show the temps at the Earth’s surface as recorded by thermometers ?
That Thermometers show 2014 as probably being the hottest ever recordered and that 13 of the 14 hottest years on record have taken place since 2000
Teach Moncktons is showing that 2014 is not hot yet it was. It was hotter than 1998 at least according to thermmoeters at the surface of the earth
As you probably realize, the energy source that determines the Earth’s average surface temperature is our Sun. The energy leaving the Sun can vary over time (it’s a bit cooler now than previously). The energy on its way to Earth can be intercepted by atmospheric aerosols (for example from volcanoes) and clouds and effectively reflected back into space. Icy areas reflect solar energy back into space. Radiant energy from the Sun is absorbed by Earth, oceans and structures, and is released as infrared radiation back into space. Greenhouse gases (e.g., water vapor, CO2, methane) in the atmosphere absorb some of this radiation, warming the atmosphere, oceans, surfaces etc. The oceans that cover much of the Earth’s surface can hold a great amount of heat, and do. Significant heat exchanges occur between the oceans and atmosphere episodically (e.g., El Nino and La Nino and other events).
What are the “natural” physical processes that cause warming? An increase in the amount of solar energy for one. Is the Sun warmer? No. Cyclic changes in the Earth’s orbit (similar to what cause the change from glacial to interglacial). Are those changes occurring? No. A “natural” increase in greenhouse gases. Occurring? No.
Do you know of other “natural” physical processes that might be causing the warming?
The Earth continues to warm. The ice sheets continue to melt. What you call excuses, scientists call explanations for the short-term variability in climate. Over the course of a few years, the average surface temperature varies. But, the Earth continues to warm from the CO2 we’re adding to the atmosphere.