The data has caused a United Nations panel to lower predictions of the pace of global temperature increases by 2100, according to draft documents obtained by Bloomberg ahead of publication due on Sept. 27.
The report identifies volcanic eruptions, a periodic decline in the sun’s warmth and natural variation in the weather as possible contributors to the lull in the overall pace of climate change, though computer models aren’t able to simulate the temperatures that have been observed.
“We don’t really know yet what the explanation is for the slowdown,” said Bob Ward, policy director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. “The most favored explanation at the moment is that more of the heat absorbed by the oceans is being sucked down into deeper waters than before.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-22/global-warming-slowdown-hinders-climate-treaty-effort.html
The report identifies volcanic eruptions, a periodic decline in the sun’s warmth and natural variation in the weather as possible contributors to the lull in the overall pace of climate change, though computer models aren’t able to simulate the temperatures that have been observed.
“We don’t really know yet what the explanation is for the slowdown,” said Bob Ward, policy director at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics. “The most favored explanation at the moment is that more of the heat absorbed by the oceans is being sucked down into deeper waters than before.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-09-22/global-warming-slowdown-hinders-climate-treaty-effort.html
