Posted on 28 April 2018 by John Hartz

Editor's Pick

Global temperatures have dropped since 2016. Here’s why that’s normal. 

It was only two years ago that a new record-warm global temperature was set, but things have already cooled off significantly. Temperature anomalies hit record peaks in 2016 but have been sliding since then. Global temperatures are still much warmer than normal, but according to NASA, the first quarter of 2018 (January-March) was the fourth warmest, behind 2015, 2016, 2017 and tied with 2010.

This is normal, of course. The world has not seen the last of global warming. The long-term upward trend in temperatures is the result of  man-made fossil fuel emissions, but natural processes that affect global temperature — like El Niño — still play a role. Sometimes they make things warmer and sometimes they make things cooler.

The current cooling episode is mostly the result of a reversal of waters in the Tropical Pacific, which can modulate global temperature. Since the Pacific Ocean is our largest global body of water, what it does makes a big difference on global climate. A similar reversal followed the super El Niño in the late ’90s — 1998 was the hottest year on record at the time in part because of the warm El Niño water pushing global temperatures over the brink. Earth went from having one of the strongest El Niño events on record (very warm waters in the central Tropical Pacific) to a few years of cooler waters, thanks to a La Niña period. 

Global temperatures have dropped since 2016. Here’s why that’s normal. by Matt Rogers, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, Apr 26, 2018 

Links posted on Facebook

Sun Apr 22, 2018

• Nitrogen Cycle In Seawater Is Helping To Regulate Global Warming by Guest Post, ValueWalk, Apr 20, 2018
• Climate change could alter ocean food chains, leading to far fewer fish in the sea by Jefferson Keith Moore, The Conversation US, Apr 19, 2018
• US: SEIA reports 18 companies reducing solar deployment, workforce in 2018 by Christian Roselund, PV Magazine, Apr 17, 2018
• Explainer: How ‘Shared Socioeconomic Pathways’ explore future climate change by Zeke Hausfather, Carbon Brief, Apr 19, 2018
• Will rising carbon dioxide levels really boost plant growth? by Stuart Thompson, The Conversation UK, Apr 19, 2018
• 4 States Get Over 30 Percent of Power from Wind — and All Lean Republican by Nicholas Kusnetz, InsideClimate News, Apr 20, 2018
• Trudeau, Emmanuel Macron Agree To New Approach To Climate Change Amid Trump's Inaction by Lee Berthiaume, Canadian Press, HuffPost CA, Apr 16, 2018
• Oilsands thirst for natural gas hits record, environmentalists decry it as 'waste' by Dan Healing, Canadian Press, News 1130 (Vancouver, BC), Apr 19, 2018

Mon Apr 23, 2018

• Europe's biggest bank retreats from the oilsands by Elizabeth McSheffrey, National Observer, Apr 20, 2018
• Report finds offshore wind turbines not as dangerous for seabirds as thoght by Ilona Amos, The Scotsman, Apr 19, 2018
• Climate Change Is Already Depressing the Price of Flood-Prone Real Estate by David Z Morris, Fortune, Apr 21, 2018
• Do satellites hold the answer to reporting greenhouse gases?, Guest Post by Jane Burston, Carbon Brief, Apr 23, 2018
• California and climate change: Jerry Brown’s would-be successors make plans by Kurtis Alexander, San Fransisco Chronicle, Apr 22, 2018
• Will courts hold oil companies accountable for climate change disasters? by Jason Mark, Los Angeles Times, Apr 22, 2018
• Pruitt promised polluters EPA will value their profits over American lives by Dana Nuccitelli, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Environment, Guardian, Apr 23, 2018
• Republican AGs File Brief Opposing Climate Liability Suits by Jennifer Dorroh, Climate Liability News, Apr 23, 2018

Tue Apr 24, 2018

• Things are changing: "Wet gets wetter, dry gets drier" by Maryam Qarehgozlou, Tehran Times, Apr 23, 2018
• Climate change will make California's drought-flood cycle more volatile, study finds by Bettina Boxall, Los Angeles Times, Apr 23, 2018
• 9 questions about climate change you were too embarrassed to ask by Brad Plumer, Brian Resnick & Umair Irfan, Energy & Environment, Vox, Apr 22, 2018
• Court Strikes Down Trump Delay of Auto Efficiency Standards Penalty by Georgina Gustin, InsideClimate News, Apr 23, 2018
• Clear signs of global warming will hit poorer countries first by Quirin Schiermeie, News, Nature, Apr 20, 2018
• One of the most worrisome predictions about climate change may be coming true by Chris Mooney, Energy & Environment, Washington Post, Apr 23, 2018
• EPA Declares Biomass Plants Carbon Neutral, Amid Scientific Disagreement by Niina Heikkinen, E&E News/Scientific American, Apr 24, 2018
• Latest Climate Threat for Coastal Cities: More Rich People by Christopher Flavelle, Bloomberg News, Apr 23, 2018

Wed Apr 25, 2018

• The trillion-dollar coastal property bubble is ready to burst, per new study by Joe Romm, Think Progress, Apr 23, 2018
• Flooding Hot Spots: Why Seas Are Rising Faster on the U.S. East Coast by Jim Morrison, Yale Environment 360, Apr 24, 2018
• Which U.S. Industries Are Setting the Strongest Climate Goals? by Georgina Gustin, InsideClimate News, Apr 24, 2018
• Bloomberg Philanthropies Commits $4.5 Million To UN Climate Change Secretariat To Ensure US Honors Paris Commitment by Joshua S Hill, Clean Technica, Apr 23, 2018
• America's best scientists stood up to the Trump Administration by John Abraham, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Environment, Guardian, Apr 23, 2018
• Should Scientists Advocate on the Issue of Climate Change? by Ingfei Chen, UnDark, Apr 24, 2018
• Here's How Scientists Can Become More Politically Engaged, Opinion by William T Adler, Observations, Scientific American, Apr 25, 2018
• Seabirds Aren’t Keeping Pace With Climate Change, Scientists Warn by Danielle Beurteaux, Oceans Deeply, Apr 17, 2018
• French President Macron breaks with Trump on climate change: 'There's no Planet B' by Rebecca Shabad, NBC News, Apr 25, 2018

Thu Apr 26, 2018

• Climate Science Denial Explained: The Denial Personality by DPiepgrass, Skeptical Science, Apr 24, 2018
• Europe will see a doubling of drought areas if climate change isn’t addressed by Alexandru Micu, ZME Science, Apr 25, 2018
• Climate Change Will Leave Many Pacific Islands Uninhabitable by Mid-Century, Study Says by Nicholas Kusnetz, InsideClimate News, Apr 25, 2018
• Foreign Office climate staff cut by 25% under Boris Johnson by Damian Carrington, Environment, Guardian, Apr 25, 2018
• 'We're doomed': Mayer Hillman on the climate reality no one else will dare mention, Interview by Patrick Barkham, Environment, Gulardian, Apr 26, 2018
• Deforestation has driven up hottest day temperatures, study says by Daisy Dunne, Carbon Brief, Apr 23, 2018
• Speaking Science to Power, Opinion by Ben Santer, Charles Manski & Ray Weymann, Observations, Scientfic American, April 23, 2018
• E.P.A. Announces a New Rule. One Likely Effect: Less Science in Policymaking. by Lisa Friedman, Climate, New York Times, Apr 24, 2018

Fri Apr 27, 2018

• Change in ocean circulation bumped up CO2 levels in the atmosphere and helped end the last Ice Age by Tibi Pruiu, ZME Science, Apr 24, 2018
• The missing maths: the human cost of fossil fuels by Ploy Achakulwisut, Climate Consensus - the 97%, Environment, Guardian, Apr 23, 2018
• Landmark Air Pollution Studies Could Be Excluded by Proposed EPA Rule by Scott Waldman E&E News/Scientific American, Apr 26, 2018
• Disease threat forces SA (South Australia) Health to prioritise adapting to climate change by Matt Smith, Environment, news.com.au, Apr 26, 2018
• US government considers charging for popular Earth-observing data by Gabriel Popkin, Nature, April 24, 2018
• Melting Arctic sends a message: Climate change is here in a big way by Mark Serreze, The Conversation US, Apr 26, 2018

Sat Apr 28, 2018

• New research, April 16-22, 2018 by Ari Jokimäki, Skeptical Science, Apr 27, 2018
• Can Dirt Save the Earth? by Moises Velasquez-Manoff, New York Times Magazine, Apr 18, 2018
• Global temperatures have dropped since 2016. Here’s why that’s normal. by Matt Rogers, Capital Weather Gang, Washington Post, Apr 26, 2018
• Hiroshima, Kyoto, and the Bombs of Climate Change by Bill McKibben, The New Yorker, Apr 27, 2018
• Gulf Stream slowing down is bad news for Ireland by Paul Gillespie, Irish Times, Apr 28, 2018
• The Northeast US has a carbon-trading system. It is boosting, not hurting, state economies. by David Roberts, Eneergy & Environment, Vox, Apr 25, 2018
• The Dangerous Belief That Extreme Technology Will Fix Climate Change by Aleszu Bajak, Huff Post, Apr 27, 2018
• Desertification, land degradation, drought cost India 2.54% of its GDP: Study, PTI/Times of India, Apr 27, 2018