THERE WILL BE HEAT

Study: Half of warming heat missing; 'Will come back to haunt us,' researcher says
Deborah Zabarenko, April 15, 2010 (Reuters via MSNBC)

"The rise in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere means far more energy is coming into Earth's climate system than is going out, but half of that energy is missing and could eventually reappear as another sign of climate change…

"In stable climate times, the amount of heat coming into Earth's system is equal to the amount leaving it, but these are not stable times, said John Fasullo of the U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research…The gap between what's entering the climate system and what's leaving is about 37 times the heat energy produced by all human activities, from driving cars and running power plants to burning wood."

Image from Discovery News. (click to enlarge)

"Half of that gap is unaccounted for, Fasullo and his co-author Kevin Trenberth reported. It hasn't left the climate system but it hasn't been detected with satellites, ocean sensors or other technology…It might lurk in deep ocean waters in areas sensors don't reach. Some of it could be the result of imprecise measurement or processing of satellite or sensor data. But the greenhouse-caused heat gap is definitely there…

"By pumping greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, humans have caused this imbalance…Much of the heat gap is evident in warming ocean waters, melting polar ice and other signs of climate change, but half of it is nowhere to be found…That doesn't mean it's gone. It could show itself as an abrupt El Nino pattern, where tropical Pacific waters warm up and influence weather in North and South America…[or other potential impacts of climate change like] increased droughts, floods and wildfires, rising sea levels and more severe storms…"

Global Weirding is about to get weirder. Image via A Green Living.(click to enlarge)

"Last year was one of the five warmest on record, and the decade from 2000-2009 was the warmest decade on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization, but Trenberth said there has recently been some stagnation in global surface temperatures…due to natural variability, while at the same time, sea levels have continued rising at the same rates…and the melting of glacial and Arctic sea ice has picked up."

[Kevin Trenberth, climate scientist/report co-author, U.S. National Center for Atmospheric Research:] "The heat will come back to haunt us sooner or later…It is critical to track the build up of energy in our climate system so we can understand what is happening and predict our future climate."