Climate Change Index for week ending 24 Jan. 2010

Greenbang’s weekly Climate Change Index tracks research findings and events directly attributable to global warming. Our aim is to provide a numerical, week-to-week indicator of climate change developments.

Items that qualify for listing in each week’s index include new climate data published in peer-reviewed academic journals and extreme weather incidents or other natural events that are likely directly linked to the global warming trend.

The Climate Change Index for this week, ending 24 Jan. 2010 (details below): 4

23 January: Low nitrogen resources in most parts of the world means plants can absorb less carbon dioxide than previous climate models have estimated, according to new research published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

21 January: A powerful storm that struck California and several other western states “set all-time low pressure records over roughly 10 – 15 per cent of the US” and battered the region with heavy winds, tornadoes, hail, rain and snow.

21 January: The global ocean temperature this past December was the second warmest on record, behind 1997, according to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The combined global land and ocean surface temperature for the month was the eighth warmest on record, at 0.88 degree F above the 20th century average of 54.0 degrees F.

19 January: The Finnish Meteorological Institute reports that the nation’s winters are clearly growing warmer more quickly than its summers.