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Global Climate Change Digest
A Guide to Information on Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Depletion
Published July 1988 through June 1999

FROM VOLUME 10, NUMBER 8, AUGUST 1997

PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS...
GLOBAL WARMING DETECTION

Item #d97aug6

"Darwin Sea Level Pressure, 1876-1996: Evidence for Climate Change?" D.E. Harrison (Pacific Marine Environ. Lab., NOAA, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle WA 98115; e-mail: harrison@pmel.noaa.gov), N.K. Larkin,Geophys. Res. Lett., 24(14), 1779-1782, July 15, 1997.

Trenberth and Hoar (1996) have argued that the period of prolonged ENSO conditions between 1990 and 1995 is highly unlikely to be due to natural variation, suggesting it may be related to increasing greenhouse gases. This paper uses a different method to examine the same record of Darwin sea level pressure anomaly used by Trenberth and Hoar, concluding instead that the 1990-1995 activity may be an aspect of natural variability.

Item #d97aug7

"Evidence for Human Influence on Climate from Hemispheric Temperature Relations," R.K. Kaufmann, D.I. Stern, Nature, 388(6637), 39-44, July 3, 1997. (See Global Climate Change Digest, Prof. Pubs./Of Gen. Interest, July 1997.)

Item #d97aug8

"Clouds, Precipitation and Temperature Change," A. Dai (Clim Analysis Sect., NCAR, POB 3000, Boulder CO 80307; e-mail: adai@ucar.edu), A.D. Del Genio, I.Y. Fung, Nature, 386(6626), 665-666, Apr. 17, 1997.

Suggests that greenhouse gas-induced increases in thick precipitating clouds and precipitation, rather than increasing aerosol concentrations, are better candidates to explain the observed decrease in daily temperature range.

Item #d97aug9

"Recent Abnormal Changes in Wintertime Atmospheric Response to Tropical SST Forcing," R. Kawamura (Natl. Res. Inst. for Earth Sci. & Disaster Prevention, 3-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305, Japan; e-mail: kawamura@ess.bosai.go.jp),Geophys. Res. Lett., 24(7), 783-786, Apr. 1, 1997.

Examines an ensemble of global model integrations over the period 1939-1993 forced by the same set of observed sea surface temperatures (SSTs), which have been rising in some regions over the past few decades. Results exhibit a change in the wintertime response of the extratropical atmosphere to elevated SSTs over the past decade, which could be viewed as a significant signature of global warming.

Item #d97aug10

"Low-Frequency Oscillations in Temperature-Proxy Records and Implications for Recent Climate Change," N. Mahasenan (Dept. Eng. & Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh PA 15213; e-mail: maha@cmu.edu), R.G. Watts, H. Dowlatabadi,Geophys. Res. Lett., 24(5), 563-566, Mar. 1, 1997.

Singular spectral analysis of several long-term proxy records of temperature indicates significant variability on the century time scale, even when the portion of records after 1900 are excluded to remove any major anthropogenic influence. Findings suggest that attribution of anthropogenic climate change may be more difficult than currently believed.

Item #d97aug11

"Integrated Assessment of Global Warming," K.O. Ott (Sch. Nuclear Eng., Purdue Univ. W. Lafayette IN 47907),World Resource Review, 9(1), 69-85, Mar. 1997.

Combines information on global warming from several historical data records to draw conclusions that could not be obtained from the analysis of the individual records alone. Based on sea surface temperatures observed since the 1850s, on borehole temperatures, and on the retreat of mountain glaciers, concludes that the warming trend following the Little Ice Age was initially a natural fluctuation, but more recent warming is best explained by the effect of greenhouse gases. The primary evidence for this interpretation is the dominance of retreating over advancing glaciers in this century.

Item #d97aug12

"The Suitability of Montane Ecotones as Indicators of Global Climatic Change," J.A. Kupfer, D.M. Cairns,Prog. Phys. Geog., 20(3), 253-272, Sep. 1996. (See Global Climate Change Digest, Prof. Pubs./mpacts/Forests & Ecosystems, May 1997.)