Reflections from Paris COP – day 2
The Paris COP21 continues. The atmosphere today was far more relaxed after the excitement of the speeches from world leaders yesterday. Negotiations have started more seriously with discussions over...
View ArticleMaking sense of the early-2000s warming slowdown
It has been claimed that the early-2000s global warming ‘slowdown’ or ‘hiatus’, characterized by a reduced rate of global surface warming, has been overstated, lacks sound scientific basis, or is...
View ArticleObserving long-term climatic changes with unusual sources
We are all familiar with the usual metrics used to highlight that the climate is changing: surface air temperatures, sea level, sea surface temperatures and ocean heat content all rising, glaciers...
View ArticleSlowdown discussion
The temporary slowdown in global temperatures in the early-2000s is still prompting significant scientific discussion. A recent Commentary on the topic by Fyfe et al. was summarised in an earlier post....
View ArticleNoise and signal in Antarctica
A new study in Nature has highlighted that parts of the Antarctic Peninsula have showed a cooling trend over the past couple of decades. Should we be surprised? Turner et al. produce a ‘stacked’...
View ArticleLancashire temperatures, visualised
This visualisation of temperatures in Lancashire (UK) shows annual mean data from 1754-2015. The long-term warming trend is clear, with variability from year to year, and some temporary cooler periods...
View ArticleLinking global temperature and Arctic sea ice changes
As the annual September sea ice minimum in the Arctic approaches, the usual questions arise about whether this year will set a new record for the extent or volume of ice left at the end of the summer....
View ArticleFrom the familiar to the unknown
Changes in climate are often analysed in terms of trends or differences over time. However, for many impacts requiring adaptation, it is the amplitude of the change (the ‘signal’) relative to the local...
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