Humans have been driving global warming for nearly two centuries,
finds a new study showing climate change isn't just a 20th century
phenomenon.
The study, published today in major journal Nature
and authored by an international team of 25 scientists, finds that
global warming began during the early stages of the industrial
revolution and is first detectable in the Arctic and tropical oceans
around the 1830s - much earlier than scientists had expected.
The
new insights have important implications for assessing the extent that
humans have caused the climate to move away from its pre-industrial
state, and will help scientists understand the future impact of
greenhouse gas emissions on the climate.
The study's lead author,
Associate Professor Nerilie Abram from The Australian National
University, said anthropogenic (man-made) climate change was generally
talked about as a 20th century phenomenon because direct measurements of
climate are rare before the 1900s.
However, the team studied detailed reconstructions of climate
spanning the past 500 years to identify when the current sustained
warming trend really beg
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11700064
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