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Record June ocean temps “consistent” with global warming
July 17th, 2009, 11:29 am · 35 Comments · posted by Pat Brennan, science, environment editor
The world’s ocean surface was the warmest ever recorded for June, and the combined average temperature for land and sea was the second warmest for that month, according to a monthly snapshot from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. 
While broad conclusions about climate cannot be drawn from measurements over a single month, the pattern is “consistent with what you would expect on a warming planet,” said Deke Arndt, chief of the agency’s climate monitoring branch.
“The fact is, this was the 33rd consecutive June above the 20th century average temperature,” Arndt said. “That might speak more toward the larger-scale climate change than any one June in that sequence.”
The average ocean temperature was 62.56 Fahrenheit last month, topping the 20th century average of 61.5 degrees. That beat the previous record set in 2005.
Land and sea combined was 61.02, the second warmest after 2005 and 1.12 degrees above the 20th century average of 59.9.
Average land surface temperature alone was 57.16 for June, 1.26 degrees higher than the 20th century average of 55.9, according to the NOAA report — the sixth warmest on record. The reports are made each month by the agency’s National Climatic Data Center.
Some of the ocean surface warming could be attributed to the return of El Niño, a tropical Pacific ocean phenomenon that has been strengthening; temperatures in the region around El Niño were more than 0.9 degrees above average.
The most notable warming on land was in Africa, the report says, with “considerable” warming also in Siberia and the land around the Black and Mediterranean seas. But it was cooler than average in the U.S. northern plains, the Canadian prairie provinces and central Asia.
Measurements of sea ice also differed in polar regions. Arctic sea ice covered 4.4 million square miles in June, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center — 5.6 percent below its average extent from 1979-2000. The 2007 record for the least extent of Arctic sea ice was 5.5 percent below average.
But Antarctic sea-ice extent in June was 3.9 percent above the 1979-2000 average.
“Planetary temperatures have been exhibiting a general climb in recent decades,” Arndt said. “When you add the El Niño phenomenon onto that, basically those two things together are responsible for the dramatic numbers we saw in June.”
(Reference chart from NOAA report.)
Related posts:
- El Nino is back — but will it bring rain to O.C.?
- April was 5th warmest ever recorded — a sign of global warming?
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THIS IS B.S.!!!!!
I have lived around and fished / swam in these waters for over 40 years. this year and last year were the COLDEST in 8 years. We are STILL waiting for the water to heat up so the yellowtail will come in.
The water should have been warm enough OVER 6 weeks ago.
Don’t believe ……for a minute……what these so called “experts” are trying to shove down OUR throats!
Got to learn how to read technical language, like
“global mean surface temperature”. What does that have to do with OC local waters? Hint: nothing at all.
U.S. Temperature Highlights
Above-normal temperatures in the South, Southeast, and parts of the Northwest U.S. were countered with below-average temperatures in the Northeast and areas in the Southwest and North Central regions. These broad differences offset to create a nationally-averaged temperature that was near normal.
Florida experienced its fourth-warmest June of the 115 on record. On the cooler side were Massachusetts and Rhode Island, which experienced their ninth- and tenth-coolest June, respectively.
Halfway through 2009, the year-to-date (January-June) contiguous U.S. ranked 25th warmest of 115 such periods on record. New Mexico and Texas observed their eighth- and tenth-warmest such periods. For the second consecutive month, North Dakota was the only state to report a year-to-date average temperature substantially below normal.
Hmmmm….NOAA scientists vs a guy who swims and fishes in the local waters…No question, the anecdotal findings of the fish guy win!
What does UHA and RSS have to say about this?
How much influence on NCDC/NOAA and GISS does the current administration have politically and legally regarding this issue.
I hear the data has been gerrymandered to show the results they want disregarding ethical science.
the earth goes through phases of cooling and warming. Greenland used to be all green! Now it is ice, and now it is thawing again.
Nature happens. Al Gore can be quiet please.
Also consistent with having come out of a small ice age and having an El Niño effect. This is also what has happened throughout the earth’s history.
Well temperature fluctuations have happened a lot over the last billion years. And it is not accurate to compare temperatures with those of the 1800′s…a lot of the 1800′s was much colder than average historically on the earth. I have heard scientists say the 1800′s were some of the coldest times in thousands of years.
Northern and northeastern areas of the U.S. as well as coastal areas of S. California have been colder this year than usual – both land and sea temperatures – until quite recently.
If it weren’t for the occasional heat wave to drive up temperatures, few would dare to talk about global warming.
This article, at least, admits that the onset of El Nino was a contributing factor to warming sea temperatures. Fine. Then, would sea temperatures have been considered due to global warming IF there is no El Nino?
And, why is it assumed that man-made global warming is a grave problem when significant parts of this country have been colder than usual? Where is the evidence of further global warming since 1998?
Yaaaaaaaawwwwwwwn! Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
More BS I do not swallow.
The data seems to begin before 1880. How many measuring stations were there, what instruments did they use to measure temperature and how reliable were those early data records?
To believe such ancient data one would have to believe that a mercury
thermometer thrown overboard by a curious sea captain and recorded in his log book is the equal of a modern electronic temperature gauge with radio links to NOAA computers or a NASA thermal imaging satellite. The comparison is ludicrous!
Thank you. Great point! .
who collects this data? it sounds like a bunch of hot air, pardon the pun.
How did I know this crap would start once the El Nino pattern came back.
Looks like people are waking up realizing this is all hype. Our planet goes through changes and humans have little impact on major events like the sun. 2009 is already on record to have a colder average global temperature then last year.
This is all a scam to pass the Cap and Trade carbon tax bill so we can all be taxed for breathing. Meanwhile Al Gore will be laughing all the way to the bank as a major share holder of CCX a company who specializes in trading Carbon Credits.
HAHAHA!!!! You can’t make this stuff up folks.
http://www.infowars.com
Denial is a river.
Is that river warm?
“Denial is a river’ huh Dina.
Well answer me this? How in the world could a 19th century ship’s captain, even if dedicated and commissioned for the task , produce usable temperature data for 21st century scientists. Lets take if further. Lets include 20th century data up to the switch to GPS.
You are sailing, often literally, along in 1880. You determine your position by the use of sextant, compass and chronometer. If they are the finest instruments available and you have the most skilled navigator you might be able to accurately determine your position within a few miles in the middle of the ocean. How deep was thermometer when the reading was taken. Two meters below mean
sea level or 3? If we are talking about temperature variations of less
than 1/10 of one degree its going to matter.
You actually believe that modern scientists, who have split the atom, taken us to the moon, and eliminated polio, cannot figure this out?
sangell3, I think those are excellent questions and I am not sure the scientists are answering them. Believe them on blind faith because they are so much smarter than we are. Like HBgeek worships their holiness and dedication to Truth.
How do they measure a global aveage? With how many data points. Who is compiling the data? A trustworthy source? Everyone believes the Oil Companies are behind the “deniers campaign”, but there is a lot more money to be made if they can convince the Public the Globe is warming and we are headed for disaster unless we set up “Cap and Trade”.
Information can be bought, scientists need money to live and even if they would like to be honest, will sell out of money.
How pompous to think that humans can affect global weather for better or worse. Are you kidding me? Like if we don’t use hairspray or Styrofoam, we are somehow going to save the planet?
Who cares about saving the planet while we are taxing future generations into 3rd world poverty?
I’m not a fan of pollution, but taxing methane emmissions from cattle farts is not going to make any difference in the world ocean temps, ya hear? We had nothing to do with the changes in the planetary weather, it is simple. The whole basis of the global warming argument is a complete sham at it’s core.
Please stop trying to spread fear! This is getting so ridiculous. When did we resort to treating the worst case scenario out of a whole multitude of more likely scenarios like it is an imminent conclusion? Has all logic gone out the window? With the treating of swine flu (211 deaths compared to 12,000 deaths so far from other influenza) like it’s reason to worry and bogus terrorist threats (how many people have died from terrorism this year?), people are on edge for absolutely no reason. Don’t let your emotional brain overpower your rational brain! You even admit in this article that the stats from one month are insignificant yet you still treat it like a newsworthy story about global warming. When will it end?
“The thing I fear most is fear” -Michel de Montaigne
Don’t waste time on science with the common orange county moron OCR. Half of the posters above probably believe the Earth is 10,000 years old and that jesus rode dinosaurs.
Yeah, I agree look at the science. Currently there isn’t any creditable evidence that shows are planet is warming to a critical point, in fact the existing evidence, studies, data, and models show that the earth is experiencing a cooling trend to coincide with the overwhelming lack of Solar activity.
I hate the term ‘global warming’. It is a misnomer. The correct term climate change and it is happening. We can argue about the causes, natural vs man made, but to argue its not happening is no different than the fools who deny evolution.
(I tried to post links but the spam blockers won’t let me for some reason)
The solution is simple. Just buy some of my carbon credits and the oceans will cool down. See how easy it is to combat global warming (or global cooling, or if you can’t prove or don’t know just call it climate change).
This is PROPAGANDA. This is about fear to make you accept taxes and global government period. Go actually read the data, it SNOWED in Baghdad, the UK had it’s COLDEST in decades, the ice cap grew the size of Germany, not to mention here in the US.
Come on people actually research what these people are telling you instead of blindly accepting as fact. In the 70′s they were saying that an Ice Age was going to kill us off.
We are carbon based life forms, when plants get more CO2 they thrive and grow and release more Oxygen. We learned that in 2nd grade.
Al Gore just told an audience that Global Warming will help bring in ‘Global Governance’. Penn and Teller did a great show regarding global warming and the scam behind “carbon credits” that can be watched on youtube.
I agree it is pretty arrogant to believe that we are effecting the planet that much
“I agree it is pretty arrogant to believe that we are effecting the planet that much”
Oh you mean like the ozone layer that has now repaired itself since we have virtually eliminated fluerocarbons?
Yes, but that was proven that fluorocarbons not fluerocarbons were doing damage with an overwhelming majority of scientists agreeing. Global Warming, Climate change whatever you call it is not proven by a long shot.
Even NASA,Columbia and Duke to name a few say in a reports that the Sun is a more likely cause. Hey, I agree with you that we should be cleaner but think it is a joke when they say we are still “researching” alternative energy and fuels, go research the first model T Ford and what it was made of and ran off, HEMP and was stronger than most cars today, here is a video of him driving and hitting with an axe http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rgDyEO_8cI. We have had the tech. for a long time, we just choose not to use it for some reason.
If CO2 is so dangerous, then plant some trees instead of taxing the people to breathe. I am more worried about the smog and what they dump in the water from industry, etc.
Over the past year, anecdotal evidence for a cooling planet has exploded. China has its coldest winter in 100 years. Baghdad sees its first snow in all recorded history. North America has the most snowcover in 50 years, with places like Wisconsin the highest since record-keeping began. Record levels of Antarctic sea ice, record cold in Minnesota, Texas, Florida, Mexico, Australia, Iran, Greece, South Africa, Greenland, Argentina, Chile — the list goes on and on.No more than anecdotal evidence, to be sure. But now, that evidence has been supplanted by hard scientific fact. All four major global temperature tracking outlets (Hadley, NASA’s GISS, UAH, RSS) have released updated data. All show that over the past year, global temperatures have dropped precipitously.A compiled list of all the sources can be seen by simple search. The total amount of cooling ranges from 0.65C up to 0.75C — a value large enough to wipe out nearly all the warming recorded over the past 100 years. All in one year’s time. For all four sources, it’s the single fastest temperature change ever recorded, either up or down.
If they are lying about this then why is it so hard to believe they are lying about a lot more? I can remember a year ago people calling others “conspiracy theorists” if they stated climate change was false without even doing 5 minutes of research BUT he/she heard it on the news or from Al Gore so it must be true. Have you not figured out that both parties are the same, it is a false paradigm. The faster you figure that out, the faster you will understand what the real issues in this country are and how much we have been lied to and then maybe we can change this country back to the way it is supposed to be. Why not just follow the Constitution?
SOMEONE PLEASE SPEAK UP
IM GETTING OLD AND TIRED AND I JUST HAVE PHOTOGRAPHIC
AND PERSONAL MEMORY AND EXPERIENCE
PLEASE PASS THE TORCH—
EARTH IS DEPENDING ON YOU
ALL THE ORGANISMS THAT ARE HERE ARE DYING
DONT MAKE US BE THE NEW MILLENIUM DINO’S
LIFE WILL GO ON– with or without us
MC2=E
Madow’s con game hit movie actors and millionairs big time for 100′s of millions. So he is going to jail, rightly so.
Al Gore is running the biggest PONZI scheme ever with his carbon credits-global warming scare and Obam’s Cap and Trade legislation. Gore’s con game is costing all of us little tax payers billions and maybe trillions before we finally wake up, if ever.
Easy as parking your car a few days a week ride a bike instead.
Easy as $35 programmable thermostat that hooks to the same wires as the old on/off thermostat.
Use a sailboat for recreation instead of a 0.5-2 mpg powerboat.
etc. etc. etc…
Solutions are available, not like this HAS to continue happening.
Why is that mostly males do not believe in the damage to the environment caused by humans?
Dina,
It is because we are smart!!!!