Three new papers in Science undercut one of the few remaining scientific doubts about the existence of global warming:
Scientists find errors in global warming data, By Dan Vergano, USA Today: Satellite and weather-balloon research released Friday removes a last bastion of scientific doubt about global warming, researchers say. Surface temperatures have shown small but steady increases since the 1970s, but the tropics had shown little atmospheric heating - and even some cooling. Now, after sleuthing reported in three papers released by the journal Science, revisions have been made to that atmospheric data. Climate expert Ben Santer of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, lead author of one of the papers, says that those fairly steady measurements in the tropics have been a key argument "among people asking, 'Why should I believe this global warming hocus-pocus?' " … "Our hats are off to (them). They found a real source of error," says atmospheric scientist John Christy of the University of Alabama at Huntsville, whose team produced the lower temperature estimates. …
The science is convincing, and those who are opposed to corrective action will often agree that global warming exists, but do not see it as very costly. For example, from the report above from USA Today:
Mark Herlong of the George C. Marshall Institute declined to comment. The group, financed by the petroleum industry, has used the data disparities to dispute the views of global-warming activists. In recent years, however, the institute has softened its public statements, acknowledging that the planet is indeed getting warmer but still maintaining that the change is happening so slowly that the impact is minimal.
Without reliable numbers on the costs and benefits, which are hard to obtain, this will be a difficult debate to settle. And even if the costs and benefits of abatement measures such as Kyoto can be calculted reliably, the calculations will need to be updated in light of the corrected temperature data. Perhaps one of the other commentators can follow up and summarize the empirical research concerning the costs and benefits of global warming reduction efforts.
