Reply To: Global warming is well underway

[Martin W]

Associated Press report, on another change that’s evidently underway, and faster than computer models had predicted:

Quote:

Earth’s tropical belt seems to have expanded a couple hundred miles over the past quarter century, which could mean more arid weather for some already dry subtropical regions, new climate research shows. … The newest study, published Sunday in the new scientific journal Nature Geoscience, shows that by using the weather definition, the tropics are expanding toward Earth’s poles more than predicted. And that means more dry weather is moving to the edges of the tropics in places like the U.S. Southwest. …

Climate scientists have long predicted a growing tropical belt toward the end of the 21st century because of man-made global warming. But what has happened in the past quarter century is larger and more puzzling than initially predicted, said Dian Seidel, a research meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration lab in Silver Spring, Md. She is the author of the newest study. "They are big changes," she said. "It’s a little puzzling." …

climate scientists Andrew Weaver of the University of Victoria and Richard Somerville of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography said Seidel’s work makes sense and that computer models have consistently been underestimating the ill effects of global warming. "Every time you look at what the world is doing it’s always far more dramatic than what climate models predict," Weaver said.

Earth’s Tropics Belt Expands