Atmospheric Oscillations do not Explain the Temperature-Industrialization Correlation
16 Pages Posted: 22 Jul 2008
Date Written: July 21, 2008
Abstract
Gridded surface climate data are used to measure global warming trends and to detect the role of greenhouse gases. Results from these studies may be inaccurate if significant warming patterns due to land surface changes and data inhomogeneities are not removed from the data. Some recent studies have found evidence of such effects, but IPCC (2007) claimed they were spurious and attributable to atmospheric circulation patterns. Two models are presented herein in which the effects on gridded climate trends of major oscillatory fields and the spatial patterns of socioeconomic activity are both controlled. The non-climatic factors are robust to the inclusion of oscillation indexes, opposite to the IPCC claim, indicating potential contamination of gridded surface climate data.
Keywords: Global warming, temperature data, industrialization, land use
JEL Classification: Q24, Q25
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation