Extreme weather conditions, including hurricanes, have increased with climate change
Modis Land quick response team, NASA GSFC
The American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) presents a briefing Summarizing the global climate each month – and in the first of these calls under the Trump administration, the researchers of the NOAA have avoided making a link between the overall record temperatures of January and the climate change caused by human greenhouse gas emissions.
“It's not great for science. It's not great for the truth, ”says David I have at the University of Hawaii in Manoa. He says that humans' greenhouse gas emissions have unequivocally played a role in the elevation of global average temperatures.
NOAA monthly briefs generally include information on average temperatures around the world and in the United States, as well as updates on changes in the ocean, drought and any unusual event.
The climate call for this month included information from which global temperatures in January was 1.33 ° C above the 20th century average. This makes it the The hottest in January recordedcoming in the heels of The hottest year ever recorded. Each of the Last 10 years is among the hottest 10 years ever recorded.
Government researchers also explained that these high temperatures in January came despite the Nina cooling influence Model in the Pacific Ocean, as well as unusually fresh temperatures through a large part of the United States. Other notable events mentioned included sea ice less than average in the Arctic and Antarctica.
However, the researchers have made no mention of global warming due to human greenhouse gas emissions and if this has played a role in these record temperatures, even in response to direct questions on this subject.
In response to a question of New scientist Regarding the main drivers of high global temperatures, Russell VoseThe head of the Centers for Environmental Information Surveillance and Evaluation Branch said: “We do not tend to explain why a specific month was increasingly hot than normal on a global scale.”
However, in previous climate update calls, NOAA researchers have freely discussed potential engine of unusual temperatures, including warming of the history of climate change caused by humans.
Vose has offered a potential explanation of the broader trend in high temperatures in recent years. “The heat we have seen last year and in recent years has probably been linked to air pollution reductions on the ocean,” he said. He also mentioned a reduction in cloud coverage like another driver.
Both Changes in air pollution and cloud cover were linked to a peak in the rhythm of warming seen since 2023, but Many reports have found The overall increase in temperatures can only be explained in addition to retaining from the bottom due to the increase in greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere.
When New scientist Explicitly asked if the climate change caused by man had played a role in record temperatures, the representative of the Noaa press suddenly put the appeal, saying: “I no longer see any questions about the media.” The Noaa press office did not respond to a comment request after the call.
The NOAA, as well as other American scientific agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the Environmental Protection Agency, were examined by the Trump administration for its role in the sharing of information on climate change. References to “global warming” and “climate change” were abolished from thousands of government Web pages following Trump's orders to make climate action back down. And noaa has would have We have received the order to review subsidies which include terms such as “climate”, “carbon” and “greenhouse gas”. The Trump administration is widely awaited To dismiss the agency employees.
In this context, HO is favorable to the reasons why climatologists may not want to mention climate change and choose to focus on something like air pollution. “This is a sure thing to mention because it has nothing to do with climate change,” he says. “Air pollution is not one of the keywords.”
“There is a lot of uncertainty, there is a lot of fear,” adds Ho. “And it shouldn't be so. Studying environmental sciences is studying our survival system. ”
