NOAA – July 2012

On July 10, 2012 NOAA released the 2011 State of the Climate Report - a peer reviewed paper compiled by 378 scientists from 48 countries around the world.  This report looks at the extreme weather events that occurred in 2011 and also analyzes global climate indicators and monitoring stations and instruments used on land, sea, ice, and sky.  The report states that 2011 was the coolest year on record since 2008, but it remained above the 30-year average (1981-2010).  La Nina, the cool phase of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation, was the major cooling factor globally in 2011.  At the same time, the influence of human-caused global warming on the climate system continues to grow.  The report identified "human fingerprints" in more than two dozen climate indicators examined by this international research team, from air temperatures to ocean acidity.  For more information and access to the full report, please click here.