No 'cooking the books': New study confirms global warming hiatus didn't happen

Climate change has showed little sign of
 a slowdown, contrary to debate about
 a warming hiatus.

Evidence the earth experienced a slowdown in global warming over the past couple of decades has been further eroded with a new US study confirming climate change continues unabated.

Eighteen months ago, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric  Administration (NOAA) sparked wide-ranging debate with its report finding recent ocean warming had been underestimated because of a cooling bias contained in the way data was collected, particularly from ships.

Correcting for this bias – largely from the use of less accurate ship-based estimates – NOAA found the oceans had warmed at the rate of 0.12 degrees per decade since 2000, or nearly twice the previous estimate.

The correction brought the period into line with warming over the previous 30 years and undermined claims, particularly from groups sceptical that humans are driving climate change, of a "warming hiatus" despite rising carbon emissions.

Read Peter Hannam’s story in The Sydney Morning Herald - “No 'cooking the books': New study confirms global warming hiatus didn't happen.”