What is meant by global warming

Every year around this time, there’s a flurry of activity in the world’s major meteorological agencies as they prepare to release official global temperature figures for the previous year. This year, there’s particular interest as it looks likely 2014 will be the hottest year on record. First out the blocks with the official data was the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). Earlier this month, it confirmed 2014 had Why so many records? While global temperature is a simple enough idea, measuring it is harder than you might think. We take a look at how scientists measure global temperature. The basics To get a complete picture of Earth’s temperature, scientists combine measurements from the air above land and the ocean surface collected by ships, buoys and sometimes satellites, too. The temperature at each land and ocean station is compared daily to what is ‘normal’ for that location and time, typically the long-term average over a 30-year period. The differences are called an ‘anomalies’ and they help scientists evaluate how temperature is changing over time. A ‘positive’ anomaly means the temperature is warmer than the long-term average, a ‘negative’ anomaly means it’s cooler. Daily anomalies are averaged together over a whole month. These are, in turn, used to work out temperature anomalies from season-to-season and year-to-year. Four major datasets Scientists use four major datasets to study global temperature. The UK Met Office Hadley Centre and the University of East Ang...

Just the FAQs, USA TODAY Summer sea ice in the Arctic Ocean might be a thing of the past by the 2030s, no matter what we do to curb emissions of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, an In fact, an ice-free Arctic each September is likely already "baked" into Earth's climate system, according to study lead author "We found ice-free conditions will occur even in a low-emission scenario," Min told USA TODAY. Min and his co-authors used computer models to predict what will happen to the Arctic as the Earth's temperature rises over the next several decades. The new study, published in the peer-reviewed British journal Fact check: What is sea ice? Why is it important? Sea ice is frozen ocean water that melts each summer, then refreezes each winter. Sea ice in the Arctic has been declining for years, particularly during September, when it generally reaches its lowest coverage of the year. And previous international research projected it would be virtually ice-free by late in the century if higher greenhouse gas emissions continued unabated. Arctic sea ice has been declining rapidly throughout all seasons in recent decades, and there has been an increased decline since 2000, the study said. Sea ice affects Arctic communities and wildlife such as polar bears and walruses, and it helps regulate the planet’s temperature by influencing the circulation of the atmosphere and ocean. Human impact on sea ice decline The human impact on declining sea ice in the Arctic can be seen...

Global warming is the current increase in temperature of the Earth's surface (both land and water) as well as it's atmosphere. Average temperatures around the world have risen by 0.75°C (1.4°F) over the last 100 years about two thirds of this increase has occurred since 1975.In the past, when the Earth experienced increases in temperature it was the result of natural causes but today it is being caused by the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere produced by human activities.