The NOAA/UK Met Office State of the Climate report for 2009 was released recently. There's good coverage of the report by the Science Media Centre .
NZAS President James Renwick was quoted on the SMC site as saying -
“This report, which takes a comprehensive look at the global climate system, and is made up of contributions from authors all around the world (including New Zealand), puts the facts on the table very clearly. All the key indicators show that the world is warming, and has been for decades. The trend is particularly clear in measures such as sea-level, which has been rising steadily for well over a century.
“There is a persistent myth in some quarters that “global warming stopped in 1998″. This report puts paid to such fallacies. The first half of 2010 shows record global warmth, and 2010 is set to be another very warm year overall.
“Given the quantity of carbon dioxide humankind has already emitted into the atmosphere, we are already committed to more warming and climate change. The time is now to make a real commitment to serious emissions reductions around the world, if we are to reduce the risk of very damaging levels of climate change this century.
“All the investigations into “climategate” and the research of high-profile climate scientists such as Phil Jones and Michael Mann have totally vindicated the science around climate change. That whole story was a fabrication, timed to interfere with the Copenhagen negotiations. Sadly, it worked, and we are now faced with an even harder job to reach a global consensus on action.”
