They can't seem to make up their minds, Global Warming, Climate Change, Glaobal Climate Change, or Global Cooling. How about we call it what it is "Global Scam".| They don't have to make up their minds. Oceania has always been at war. |
The prediction - which follows a bitterly cold winter in China and the Arctic - is prompting some sceptics to question the theory of
The REAL inconvenient truth: Zealotry over
Now there' a new wrinkle "Global Climate Change".
In fact, this year's temperatures could still be way above the average - and it is possible that 2008 will exceed the record year of 1998 because of global warming induced by greenhouse gases.
La Nina typically lasts for 12 months. In recent months it caused one of the coldest winters in memory in China, and brought torrential rains to Australia. While La Nina can affect weather around the world, it is usually less of an influence than El Nino. In an El Nino year, the Pacific warms up.
Michel Jarraud, the World Meteorological Organisation's secretary general, said La Nina was expected to continue into the summer, depressing global temperatures by a fraction of a degree.
But he said temperatures in 2008 would still be well above average for the last 100 years. The Met Office predicts that 2008 will be around 0.4C warmer than the average for 1961-1990.
It said temperatures are influenced by a range of variables - including changes in the sun's output, pollution and weather cycles such as La Nina. But most scientists argue that the long-term temperature rises since 1880 can only be explained by carbon dioxide from human activity.