Satellite Data Shows Jan 2008 Global Temperatures Below Normal

It isn't often that this happens but I'd like to thank a member of my website for posting this information. January 2008 ended with global temperatures below normal. This is based on satellite data combining land and see temperatures. Global temperatures have declined significantly over the last 12 months.

Post by MattN
www.climatepatrol.com...

Refers to
ftp.ssmi.com...

It really shows how volatile global temperatures are. The below normal global temperature anomaly is the first such since January of 2000.

Edit: Correct Title

[edit on 2/5/2008 by Indy]

You mean january 2008?

Bit early to be saying 2008 temps below normal, we have 11 months to go yet...

But I don't get why this is a big thing, you mention it in the other thread as if it means something to the notion of global warming. There's a decent La Nina knocking around, we would expect such stuff really. Just like we would expect decent El Nino years to be warm.

Thanks for the heads up on the thread title. I corrected it.

I know la nina and el nino are killers when it comes to global temperatures but it really should tell people that there is something bigger driving the global climate than a single gas. It shows that our plate was able to rid itself of all that warmth in a matter of a few months. This isn't a regional thing where one area is having a bad winter and others aren't. This is a global release of heat. The problem when you have the oceans driving the climate is that things can change rapidly from month to month and year to year.

So what happens next? How do the oceans react? Is this part of a long term trend or is this an anomaly that corrects itself in a few months? In the past we've mistaken 20 year climate cycles as climate change (aka global cooling followed by global warming). It looks like we've recently ended a PDO warm phase so lets what happens next.

Originally posted by Indy
Thanks for the heads up on the thread title. I corrected it.

No worries.

I know la nina and el nino are killers when it comes to global temperatures but it really should tell people that there is something bigger driving the global climate than a single gas.

If you mean that climate is not a single factor phenomena, certainly. Doesn't negate the effect of GHGs, of course. We've been having La Nina/El Nino cycles for years - periods relatively cool and then warm. But the upwards trend still shines through.

It looks like we've recently ended a PDO warm phase so lets what happens next

Most predictions are for La Nina conditions into spring, summer and, perhaps, autumn. So don't be surprised if temps are relatively cool this year c.f. 2007.

I'm sure about 10 threads will be made on it though, heh.

[edit on 5-2-2008 by melatonin]

Originally posted by melatonin
I'm sure about 10 threads will be made on it though, heh.

I'm not sure many people are too concerned about the climate enough to start 10 threads on it. I think the hot topic (no pun intended) is Bush and the economy. We have to suffer through that for another year still.

Claiming that one below average month is significant is no different to claiming that one above average month is significant.

Climate is all about long term trends and we all know that natural variability can buck trends now and then.

Still, if the trend continues for another 60 months .....

I know one month alone doesn't mean anything. Global temperatures have declined five consecutive months. That still is nothing in the long term. But it does make me wonder where all the warm air went. Was this caused by a prolonged period of solar inactivity in respect to sun spots? Was this la nina so big that it dropped global temperatures by 0.45 degrees in 6 months?

Originally posted by Indy
Was this la nina so big that it dropped global temperatures by 0.45 degrees in 6 months?

Quite possibly. 1998 saw a similar rise during an El Nino. You should remember that year, you cherrypick it enough

The el nino of 1998 was a record setter. And it happened during a PDO warm phase or as some people call it... Global Warming. This la nina happened at the end of the PDO warm phase or as people now call it... climate change. From April of 1998 to January of 2008 global temperatures have swung an entire degree. Amazingly enough the world didn't end. January of 2008 is .63 degrees cooler than January of 2007.

The reality is our oceans drive our climate. They can give us decade or two long cooling trends and then turn around and give us a decade or two long warming trend. They can also warm us .7 degrees in 5 months like they did from 1997 to 1998 or they can cool us by .63 degrees like they've done over the last 12 months.

We could tomorrow be trapped in a la nina that lasts for years and global temperatures could plummet. Or we could transition into an el nino that lasts for years and our temperatures could soar. And there is nothing we can do to change that. We can't control the PDO. We can't control el nino and la nina.

Originally posted by Indy
From April of 1998 to January of 2008 global temperatures have swung an entire degree. Amazingly enough the world didn't end.

I'm not sure anyone predicted it would...

And there is nothing we can do to change that. We can't control the PDO. We can't control el nino and la nina.

But we can control our behaviour.

I guess oceans are the new solar.

Originally posted by melatonin
I guess oceans are the new solar.

If you really understood the climate you'd understand the impact the oceans have. Without the sun you have nothing obviously. The top few feet of ocean water contains more energy than the entire atmosphere. You see evidence of this with every el nino and la nina. One moderate la nina and you have completely offset everything that was supposedly "Global Warming". It would take a moderate el nino to completely wipe out the efforts of massive carbon reductions. The oceans have the ability to store and release a great deal of energy. Think of it as a solar powered battery.

When it comes to climate change CO2 doesn't matter. The oceans are what matters.

Originally posted by Indy
If you really understood the climate you'd understand the impact the oceans have. Without the sun you have nothing obviously.

And without the greenhouse effect we'd be living on a snowball.

Cheers.

We had a quite warm january here. 2 years ago we did have a cold one.