Has Global Warming Stopped or Slowed?
Recent lulls in global air temperature warming has led people to ask if temperatures have stopped rising. In this video by Earth Vision Trust, Jerry Meehl, from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, explains why global temperature is increasing. The Short Film Showcase spotlights exceptional short videos created by filmmakers from around the web and selected by National Geographic editors. The filmmakers created the content presented, and the opinions expressed are their own, not those of National Geographic Partners.
Although global temperatures have been rising over the past century, a slowdown in the rate of warming in the past few years has left some scratching their heads over a seeming "global warming pause."
The suggestion that global warming has stopped is "nonsense," climatologist Richard Alley of Penn State University said last fall. The fact that the year 2012 was no warmer than 2002, he said, ignores the long-term trend of warming.
But scientists say that trend has been partially obscured by the ocean, which is likely absorbing the excess heat.
A paper published in the journal Nature in August 2013 by staff of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, suggests the extra heat has been
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