"WASHINGTON -- A new massive federal study says the world in 2012 sweltered with continued signs of climate change. Rising sea levels, snow melt, heat buildup in the oceans, and melting Arctic sea ice and Greenland ice sheets, all broke or nearly broke records, but temperatures only sneaked into the top 10."
"The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Tuesday issued a peer-reviewed 260-page report, which agency chief Kathryn Sullivan calls its annual 'checking on the pulse of the planet.' The report, written by 384 scientists around the world, compiles data already released, but it puts them in context of what's been happening to Earth over decades.
'It's critically important to compile a big picture,' National Climatic Data Center director Tom Karl says. 'The signs that we see are of a warming world.'
Sullivan says what is noticeable 'are remarkable changes in key climate indicators,' mentioning dramatic spikes in ocean heat content, a record melt of Arctic sea ice in the summer, and whopping temporary melts of ice in most of Greenland last year. The data also shows a record-high sea level."
Seth Borenstein reports for the Associated Press August 6, 2013.
SEE ALSO:
"Signs of New Climate 'Normal' Apparent in Hot 2012: Report" (Reuters)
"2012: A Year of Broken Climate Records" (Mother Jones)
"Noaa Report Says Arctic Sea Ice Is Disappearing at Unprecedented Pace" (Guardian)
NOAA Summary of 2012 State of the Climate Report
Full Text of 2012 State of the Climate Report
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