New Results on Global Surface Temperature Averages

Source: The Economist

Berkeley Earth provides a new analysis of the average temperature on the earth, which in the graph above is shown to agree closely with those provided by two U.S. Government agencies and a British group. The Berkeley Earth scientific papers explaining their methods and results are still under peer review, but the press report suggests that the initially skeptical scientists who did the study were very careful and exhaustive in their analysis.

The four results seem to clearly indicate a long term increase in global temperature and that there has been an acceleration over the past three decades. There are of course other correlates such as the rise of ocean levels and the melting of glaciers and ice caps that add to the evidence of global warming.

Of course, global warming may have causes other than man's contributions to greenhouse gases and changes in the albido of the land's surface.

Still, the precautionary principle suggests that we should take action now to reduce anthropogenic global warming.