Study absolves models for missing the global warming slowdown

Researchers say that global warming slowdown does not mean inaccurate research, according to a recent press release by the Max-Planck Institute for Meteorology. Critics of climate change have used global warming’s apparent halt as a means to denounce the research behind it. However, scientists say their research is not flawed, but that naturally occurring fluctuations in Earth’s climate are responsible for discrepancies between predicted and actual climate outcomes.

To prove this, Max-Planck researchers completed a two step study. In the first step, they studied both predicted and actual temperature trends over a 15 year period from 1900 to 2012 using over 100 climate simulation models. The second step analyzed the reason for discrepancies between predictions and realized temperatures, while considering various factors. They concluded that there was no physical cause for dissonance between the predicted and actual outcomes.

Top image: Earth model shows mean temperature change from 1986-2005. (Credit: MPI for Meteorology / Deutsches Klimarechenzentrum)