2008 view by heating

2008 Coolest Year Since 2000,
But Global Temps Still Expected to Rise
January 14, 2009 2:22 PMagincourt-->
ABC's Clayton Sandell reports:
NASA climate scientists released a new analysis today showing 2008 was the coolest year on record since 2000, but warned a new high temperature record could be broken in the next couple of years.
“Eurasia, the Arctic and the Antarctic Peninsula were exceptionally warm, while much of the Pacific Ocean was cooler than the long-term average,” said the report from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies
The low temperatures in the Pacific were blamed on strong La Nina conditions that brought cooler waters to the ocean surface.
While the Pacific was cooler than average last year, a global map shows temperatures in the Arctic and parts of Antarctica were at least 2.7 to 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit above the 1951-1980 average (red and dark red areas.) Click on the map or chart to enlarge.

The report said 2008 was likely the ninth-warmest year on record, and noted that the ten warmest years have all occurred since 1997.
Scientists say they expect the Pacific to warm up again in 2009 or 2010, thanks to an El Nino cycle that churns up higher temperature waters.
“It still seems likely that a new global temperature record will be set within the next 1-2 years,” the authors said.
The NASA GISS report was authored by Maiko Sato, Reto Ruedy, Ken Lo, and James Hansen. Hansen recently penned a letter to President-elect Barack Obama and his wife Michelle calling for policies to address global warming, including a moratorium on coal-fired power plants and a tax on carbon dioxide emissions.
2008’s temperature analysis was delayed, the authors said, because of a new process of internally reviewing temperature reports before releasing them to the public. The procedure was put in place after flaws were found in some of the 2008 temperature data.