Warmest Decade on Record: 2000-2009

[Xnn]

Looks like the current decade (2000-2009) is going to set a record for warmth.
Of course, it’s not over yet since there are 3 more weeks of wintery weather to go.
However, some record keepers have already concluded that this is going to be
the warmest decade since instrumented records have been kept (1850).

I also checked the NCDC site. They have a different set of records that only go back to 1880. However the trend is still unmistakable and this decade will probably be the warmest after they get done checking.

The next warmest decade was the 1990’s and before that the 1980’s.
In fact, since the mid 70’s, the 10 rolling year warming trend has been interrupted
for no more than a single year at a time: Mount Pinatubo in 1993 and La Nina in 2008.

That is every year the previous 10 years has been progressively warmer except
for the 2 cited exceptions. 2008 was somewhat coincidental since it was exactly
10 years after the exceptional warm year of 1998.

So, it’s been a slow but pretty much steady warming for over 30 years now, but I’m not complaining.

Geneva, 8 December 2009 (WMO) – The year 2009 is likely to rank in the top 10 warmest on record since the beginning of instrumental climate records in 1850, according to data sources compiled by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The global combined sea surface and land surface air temperature for 2009 (January–October) is currently estimated at 0.44°C ± 0.11°C (0.79°F ± 0.20°F) above the 1961–1990 annual average of 14.00°C/57.2°F. The current nominal ranking of 2009, which does not account for uncertainties in the annual averages, places it as the fifth-warmest year. The decade of the 2000s (2000–2009) was warmer than the decade spanning the 1990s (1990–1999), which in turn was warmer than the 1980s (1980–1989). More complete data for the remainder of the year 2009 will be analysed at the beginning of 2010 to update the current assessment.

This year above-normal temperatures were recorded in most parts of the continents. Only North America (United States and Canada) experienced conditions that were cooler than average. Given the current figures, large parts of southern Asia and central Africa are likely to have the warmest year on record.

http://www.wmo.int/pages/mediacentre/press_releases/pr_869_en.html


NCDC Global temperature anomaly record:

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/anomalies/index.html

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I recently watched a documentary that examined the effect of global warming on the innuit societies near the arctic circle. One older gentleman was asked what he thought about global warming. "I like it" he responded. "Why?" asked the interviewer. "It's warmer!".

 

[Count Iblis]

We can verify directly that this is warmest decade since 1850. I'm wondering if given what we know about the past climate and short term fluctuations in it, this could also be the warmest decade since the previous interglacial 130,000 years ago.

 

[Xnn]

Not likely; temperatures 130,000 years ago were probably warmer as were temperatures around 10,000 years ago. This decade was globally only about 0.5C warmer than is considered "normal". Not sure exactly how much warmer the Arctic is or how soon in the future we can except to eclipse paleological records; but it's pretty much in the cards that we will.


http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VBC-4BRKMKW-2&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=a37edb8b52f3c9585db88f3f6e58b8e5

Paleoclimate inferences based on a wide variety of proxy indicators provide clear evidence for warmer-than-present conditions at 120 of these sites. At the 16 terrestrial sites where quantitative estimates have been obtained, local HTM temperatures (primarily summer estimates) were on average 1.6±0.8°C higher than present (approximate average of the 20th century), but the warming was time-transgressive across the western Arctic. As the precession-driven summer insolation anomaly peaked 12–10 ka (thousands of calendar years ago), warming was concentrated in northwest North America, while cool conditions lingered in the northeast. Alaska and northwest Canada experienced the HTM between ca 11 and 9 ka, about 4000 yr prior to the HTM in northeast Canada.