Global warming will step up after 2009: scientists - Reuters

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Global warming will step up after 2009: scientists
Thu Aug 9, 2007 2:13PM EDT

By Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Global warming is forecast to set
in with a vengeance after 2009, with at least half of the
five following years expected to be hotter than 1998, the
warmest year on record, scientists reported on Thursday.

Climate experts have long predicted a general warming trend
over the 21st century spurred by the greenhouse effect, but
this new study gets more specific about what is likely to
happen in the decade that started in 2005.

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In research published in the journal Science, Smith and his
colleagues predicted that the next three or four years would
show little warming despite an overall forecast that saw
warming over the decade.

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The real heat will start after 2009, they said.

Until then, the natural forces will offset the expected
warming caused by human activities, such as the burning of
fossil fuels, which releases the greenhouse gas carbon
dioxide.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUSN0837368420070809

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Source: BBC News

Last Updated: Thursday, 9 August 2007, 20:12 GMT 21:12 UK

Ten-year climate model unveiled

Scientists say they have developed a model to predict how ocean
currents, as well as human activities, will affect temperatures
over the next decade.

By including short-term natural events, such as El Nino, a UK
team says it is able to offer 10-year projections.

Models have previously focused on how the globe will warm over
a century.

Writing in Science, Met Office researchers project that at least
half of the years between 2009 and 2014 are likely to exceed
existing records.

-snip-

Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6939347.stm