Trying to Predict Future Weather

What do month-to-month temperature fluctuations have to do with century-to-century changes in temperature? At first it might seem like: not much. But in a report published in this week’s peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature, scientists from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have found some indications that seasonal fluctuations indicate what’s going on in the big picture, when it comes to climate change?even on the macro scale of hundreds of thousands of years.

Climatologist Peter Huybers says part of the problem is that, “Data from instruments from around the world are available for recent periods, but it is not so easy for earlier times. We have few instrumental records before the 19th century, so we have to use measurements in corals, ice cores, and sediment cores to estimate past temperatures.”

What climatologists are trying to do is to figure out what’s going to happen in the future, so they can make plans about such essential things as where to grow food and relocate people (if necessary). Huybers says, “Climate varies at all time scales, from months to millions of years and longer. These changes are often studied independently of one another, but we now have a clearer idea of how climate change is linked across time scales. These insights may help us to better understand past temperature changes, improve our models of the climate, and maybe even predict future climate change.”

Art credit: freeimages.co.uk

Remember: there are many important ways that YOU can help stop global warming. Where did Whitley and Art get the information that forms the basis for their groundbreaking book that was turned into the hit movie The Day After Tomorrow? Only those in the know have the Key to that secret. How often do you read about global warming in the mainstream media? YOU can fight climate change by supporting those of us who get the news out about what’s REALLY going on: subscribe today. But hurry: time is running out.

NOTE: This news story, previously published on our old site, will have any links removed.