THE world is warming a third faster than previously thought, according to a
new analysis. The study filters out short-term cooling from volcanic eruptions
and warming from El Niño to calculate the underlying trend of
temperatures over the past century. It reveals that “the recent warming trend
increases to 0.25 °C per decade”. The previous estimate was 0.18 °C,
says Tom Wigley from the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder,
Colorado (Geophysical Review Letters, vol 27, p 4101). The findings
show that the warming over the past 30 years is stronger than previously thought
and almost certainly due to human activity.
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