1 in 10,000 Chance Human Induced Global Warming Not the Cause of Recent Hot Years

Considering the recent news that 2008 will be the coolest year since 2000 you may be tempted to think that all of the ‘warmest year’ records set recently were mere flukes, that climate change wasn’t involved. Too bad you’d be wrong to do so:

13 Hottest Years On Record Have Been In Past 17
According to statistical research highlighted by New Scientist the odds of having 13 of hottest years since 1880 occur in the past 17 is very tiny.

In fact, researcher Eduardo Zorita of the Institute for Coastal Research in Germany says that if you include natural feedback in the model (anomalously warm years tend to mean the next year will be warm as well) but exclude global warming the odds of this cluster occurring are 1 in 10,000.

Findings Consistent With Anthropogenic Cause of Global Warming
Zorita told New Scientist that his work can’t ascribe this anomaly to any specific factor, the “conclusions are consistent with those of the fourth IPCC report”—in other words, emissions from human activity are causing global warming.

via: New Scientist

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