A new NASA report is showing that September was the hottest on record.
Global average surface temperatures last month made September 2014 the warmest in the records maintained by US space agency NASA.
NASA reported a temperature anomaly – or variance to the long term 1951-1980 average – of 0.77C for September 2014. This is the second record-breaking month in a row following the warmest August on NASA's records.
There's actually something more going on here that is becoming scientifically interesting.
According to satellite data released by the University of Alabama in Huntsville, September 2014 tied with September 2011 as the seventh warmest September on its records which dates back to December 1978.
US firm Remote Sensing Systems (RSS), which maintains a separate dataset of satellite temperatures for the lower troposphere reported an anomaly for September, ranked it as the 15th warmest September in the satellite era.
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Atmospheric temperature measurements depend on instruments known as microwave sounders that infer the temperature of the air in a column from the ground up to an altitude of around 8km over most of the globe.
So we have different reading from the ground stations and the Satellites. You can be sure the denialists will jump all over this and start claiming that the ground stations are wrong, or that the scientists can't agree on anything, or they'll come up with any number of propagandist techniques designed to confuse the public.
But the interesting thing about these conflicting readings is, they both are probably right.
The consistency between the three surface temperature series on the one hand and between the two atmospheric temperature series on the other both imply that error is unlikely to be the cause of the divergence. If this is the case then the assumption must be that both the atmospheric temperature data and the surface temperature data are correct. That is, that the atmospheric temperature and the surface temperature are behaving differently.
Christy's UAH colleague Roy Spencer has speculated on his blog that the August variation may be due to record low wind speeds. Global average ocean surface wind speeds have been decreasing, according to satellite data.
As our species continues its crazy experiment with changing the atmosphere and oceans our very lives depend on, we are continuously surprised at what is happening. So now it seems that surface temperatures are warming faster than the entire atmosphere, and it may be linked to a change of winds over the oceans. Planet earth is a fascinating and very interesting place. We are far from understanding the consequences of rapidly changing the oceans and atmosphere but we and our children are about to find out, whether we like it or not.
One of the greatest differences between Democrats and Republicans is the complete irrational and dangerous science denialism of almost ALL Republicans. If you were ever looking for a reason to get out and fight to get every registered Democrat to the voting booths, this is it.
GOTV! GOTV! GOTV!