Global Warming Has Not Slowed In Recent Years, US Researchers Say

Researchers are doubtful about the idea that global warning "slowed" in recent years, according to new evidences. Researchers noted that the much talked about "pause" is just an illusion caused by inaccurate data.

Researchers reported that the warming rate over the past 15 years is "virtually identical" to the last century.

"We would hope that it would inform the general public that the temperature today really is continuing to warm," said Dr Thomas Karl of NOAA, who led the new analysis, to BBC.

"This suggests that the much-discussed recent slowdown in global temperatures is far less pronounced than previously thought," commented Dr Ed Hawkins, climate scientist at the University of Reading.

 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently reported that global average temperatures have increased by around 0.05C per decade in the period between 1998 and 2012.

This compares with an average of 0.12 per decade between 1951 and 2012.

The new analysis suggests a figure of 0.116 per decade for 2000-2014, compared with 0.113 for 1950-1999, BBC noted.

"The IPCC's statement of two years ago - that the global surface temperature 'has shown a much smaller increasing linear trend over the past 15 years than over the past 30 to 60 years' - is no longer valid," said Dr Karl added.

The findings were published in the journal Science.