Last month, the BBC raised the question “What happended to global warming?” And, yesterday Der Spiegel, published an article noting more climatologists are acknowledging that that average global temperatures have not risen over the last 10 years.

“Even though the temperature standstill probably has no effect on the long-term warming trend, it does raise doubts about the predictive value of climate models, and it is also a political issue. For months, climate change skeptics have been gloating over the findings on their Internet forums. This has prompted many a climatologist to treat the temperature data in public with a sense of shame, thereby damaging their own credibility,” Gerald Traufetter writes in Der Spiegel.

The problem for the non-scientifc world is this: “The controversy sends confusing and mixed messages to the lay public. Why is there such a vigorous debate over climate change, even though it isn’t getting warmer at the moment? And how can it be that scientists cannot even arrive at a consensus on changes in temperatures, even though temperatures are constantly being measured?”
Read the entire Der Spiegel article here: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,662092,00.html

Photo:  http://www.nasaimages.org/

KJC