What’s Causing the Recent Spike in Global Temperatures?

In the scientific argument over global warming, the truth seems to be mostly on one side: the greenhouse effect almost certainly exists and will be exacerbated by manmade CO2 emissions. This is very likely to make the planet warmer. The impacts of this are uncertain, but are weighted toward unfavorable outcomes.

The Earth’s natural warming is controlled by trace gases whose concentration is not affected by the ambient temperature—that is, they do not condense and precipitate as temperatures decline. But the relatively small warming they cause increases evaporation and raises atmospheric water concentrations, and this feedback results in additional warming.

“As a geologist, I think about timescales,” he went on. “The timescale of the climate system is centuries to tens of thousands of years. If we stop CO2 emissions tomorrow, which, of course, is impossible, it’s still going to warm at least for centuries, because the ocean hasn’t equilibrated. That’s just basic physics. We’re not sure how much additi

In terms of the global average, the five warmest years in the past 140 years have happened since 2015, and 9 of the 10 warmest years have been experienced since 2005.