Climate really changing, oceans reveal to researchers
Hey, did you know that the globe is warming? Really and for true! A new study by researchers at NASA, the U.S. Department of Energy, and Columbia University, published in the journal Science this week, concludes that global warming is real. Really. Lead scientist James Hansen calls the new data a “smoking gun” that confirms the earth’s “energy imbalance” — the difference between the amount of heat the earth absorbs and what it radiates into space. Seems the oceans are a key piece of the puzzle, acting as a repository for much of the heat trapped by the greenhouse effect. Using diving robots (ooh!), the team demonstrated a rise in temperature that matches the predictions of computer models. Meanwhile, the ocean is slowly releasing stored heat, in itself enough to raise the global temp yet another degree Fahrenheit over the next century. “There can no longer be substantial doubt that human-made gases are the cause of most observed warming,” Hansen said, demonstrating a rather hopeful view of human nature.
