Clear Signs Of Global Warming Present Since 1940s

Global warming has had effects all over the Earth, but it has not impacted every locale equally, researchers say in a recent phys.org release.

Whereas clear signs of global warming were occurring in tropical climates as early as the 1940s, some areas in the U.S., especially along the East Coast and central regions, have yet to show obvious signs of climate change. Parts of Africa, Southeast Asia and Australia were showing clear signs of global warming as early as the 1940s, with tropical climates showing unmistakable global warming indicators as early as the 1960s.

Researchers say that whether climate change was easy to see in a given locale was partly dependent on the type of location: Tropical areas, for example, typically experience narrower temperature ranges, so temperature shifts due to global warming were easier for research data analysts to detect.

Median time of anthropogenic emergence and zonally averaged signal and noise for climate means and extremes. (Credit: University of New South Wales)