2008: The year the world will cool down

[Max]

2008: The year the world will cool down

Last updated at 16:44pm on 7th April 2008 Comments (9)
The world will experience global cooling this year, according a leading climate scientist.


The head of the World Meteorological Organisation said La Nina - the weather phenomenon which is cooling the Pacific - is likely to trigger a small drop in average global temperatures compared with last year.
The prediction - which follows a bitterly cold winter in China and the Arctic - is prompting some sceptics to question the theory of climate change.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770

[Adrian]

Short term cooling associated with La Nina is a regular event that is entirely predictable and does not refute globa warming theory in any way, just as the short term warming associated with El Nino does not confirm global warming theory.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7329799.stm

Global temperatures for 2008 will be slightly cooler than last year as a result of the cold La Nina current in the Pacific, UN meteorologists
have said.
The World Meteorological Organization's secretary-general, Michel Jarraud, told the BBC it was likely that La Nina would continue into the summer. But this year's temperatures would still be way above the average

El Nino warms the planet when it happens; La Nina cools it. This year, the Pacific is in the grip of a powerful La Nina.
It has contributed to torrential rains in Australia and to some of the coldest temperatures in memory in snow-bound parts of China.
Mr Jarraud told the BBC that the effect was likely to continue into the summer, depressing temperatures globally by a fraction of a degree. This would mean that temperatures have not risen globally since 1998 when El Nino warmed the world.

A minority of scientists question whether this means global warming has peaked and argue the Earth has proved more resilient to greenhouse gases than predicted.

But Mr Jarraud insisted this was not the case and noted that 2008 temperatures would still be well above average for the century.
"When you look at climate change you should not look at any particular year," he said. "You should look at trends over a pretty long period and the trend of temperature globally is still very much indicative of warming. "La Nina is part of what we call 'variability'. There has always been and there will always be cooler and warmer years, but what is important for climate change is that the trend is up; the climate on average is warming even if there is a temporary cooling because of La Nina."

Predictions are that in 2008 La Nina will cool the Earth slightly from recent years but when we observe this cooling we should remember that recent years have been exceptionally warm, containing the warmest years since accurate recording began:

http://uk.reuters.com/article/enviro...080103?sp=true
LONDON (Reuters) - 2008 will be slightly cooler than recent years globally but will still be among the top 10 warmest years on record since 1850 and should not be seen as a sign global warming was on the wane, British forecasters said.
The Met Office and experts at the University of East Anglia on Thursday said global average temperatures this year would be 0.37 of a degree Celsius above the long-term 1961-1990 average of 14 degrees and be the coolest since 2000.
They said the forecast took into account the annual Pacific Ocean La Nina weather phenomenon which was expected to be particularly strong this year and which would limit the warming trend.

"However mean temperature is still expected to be significantly warmer than in 2000, when a similar strength La Nina pegged temperatures to 0.24 degree C above the 1961-90 average. Sharply renewed warming is likely once La Nina declines," he added.
The current La Nina is now the strongest since 1999-2000. The lag between La Nina and the full global surface temperature response means that the cooling effect is expected to be a little greater in 2008 than it was during 2007.
The World Meteorological Organisation said last month there were indications that the 10 years from 1998 to 2007 were the hottest decade on record.
The Met Office Hadley Centre said the top 11 warmest years have all occurred in the last 13.