Climate through the Ages - Recent Trends

  • since late 1800's, we've been in a warming trend
  • avg temp has increased by about 1°C
  • the eight hottest years of this century have occurred since 1979
  • the temperature record to the right may be contaminated....how????
  • corrected data suggest a warming trend of 0.3-0.6°C over the last 100 years.
  • So, is the recent warming due to anthroprogenic causes
    • enhanced greenhouse effect due to increasing CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere
  • Scientists are now quite certain that much of the recent warming is due to anthroprogenic causes, i.e., increased greenhouse gas emissions due to fossil fuel consumption and land use changes.
  • What are natural and anthroprogenic factors that affect climate?