Written by sciencedaily.com Friday, 17 February 2012 15:39
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This supports the conclusion that extreme summertime temperatures are already occurring more frequently in parts of the lower 48 states. |
Extreme summer temperatures are already occurring more frequently in the United States, and will become normal by mid-century if the world continues on a business as usual schedule of emitting greenhouse gases.
By analyzing observations and results obtained from climate models, a study led by Phil Duffy of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory showed that previously rare high summertime (June, July and August) temperatures are already occurring more frequently in some regions of the 48 contiguous United States.
“The observed increase in the frequency of previously rare summertime-average temperatures is more consistent with the consequences of increasing greenhouse gas concentrations than with the effects of natural climate variability,” said Duffy, who is the lead author of a report in a recent edition of the journal, Climatic Change. “It is extremely unlikely that the observed increase has happened through chance alone.”
The geographical patterns of increases in extreme summer temperatures that appear in observations are consistent with those that are seen in climate model simulations of the 20th century, Duffy said.
Read more: Extreme Summer Temperatures Occur More Frequently in United States
