2010 was also the wettest year on record

In 2010, global temperatures continued to rise. A new analysis from the Goddard Institute for Space Studies shows that 2010 tied with 2005 as the warmest year on record, and was part of the warmest decade on record. [The anomaly is versus the 1951 to 1980 baseline.]

UPDATE:  NASA has just released its analysis of the 2010 temperature data here, which finds:

Global surface temperatures in 2010 tied 2005 as the warmest on record….

To measure climate change, scientists look at long-term trends. The temperature trend, including data from 2010, shows the climate has warmed by approximately 0.36°F per decade since the late 1970s. “If the warming trend continues, as is expected, if greenhouse gases continue to increase, the 2010 record will not stand for long,” said James Hansen, the director of GISS.

The record temperature in 2010 is particularly noteworthy, because the last half of the year was marked by a transition to strong La Ni±a conditions, which bring cool sea surface temperatures to the eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.

These records are also especially impressive because we’ve been in “the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century.”  It’s just hard to stop the march of manmade global warming, other than by sharply reducing greenhouse gas emissions, that is.

Today, scientists at NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center also released their State of the Climate Global Analysis Annual 2010.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration news release is here, which reports:

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Some Pollyannas (climate ostriches?) claim we are moving towards a post-partisan Congress that might embrace massive increases in clean energy R&D.  The folks with real money and influence on Capitol Hill, however, know we are moving in the opposite direction.  As The Hill reported this week:

Karen Harbert, president of the Chamber’s Institute for 21st Century Energy, in a wide-ranging interview with The Hill late last month said members of Congress should rethink attempts to set aside large amounts of money for the research and development of nascent energy technologies like wind and solar at the expense of conventional forms of energy like oil.

The fact that the public overwhelmingly supports clean energy R&D means nothing to the pollutocrats who run the Chamber.  They strongly opposed the climate and clean energy jobs bill, even though the public strongly supported that too (see “Post BP Disaster: Support grows for comprehensive energy bill that makes carbon polluters pay” for a long list of polls”).

The Chamber, of course, ran an unprecedented $75 million campaign to unseat progressives from Congress, in defense of a big-oil agenda.  So no one should be totally surprised that they tout the most extremist anti-clean energy position imaginable:

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Yesterday, Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) said that the rapid warming of the Arctic because of oil pollution means that more Arctic drilling should commence. Begich was responding to the presidential oil spill commission’s report, which recommended new drilling around Alaska, subject to stronger standards. The Democratic senator from the state most changed by global warming pollution used the commission’s report to emphasize his desire for more “Arctic development“:

As many of us have been saying for years, more resources and research are needed for Arctic development as warming temperatures make far north resources more accessible.

“Producing the enormous energy resources available within our borders is vital for our economic and national security, but we must develop these resources in a safe and environmentally responsible manner,” Begich continued.

Like the rest of the nation, the future of Alaska is already unsafe because of global warming, as Begich himself has explained. “We are feeling its near-term effects far more than the residents of any other state,” wrote Begich in a March 2010 letter, “including retreating sea ice, rapidly eroding shorelines, thawing permafrost, ocean acidification, and changing fish and wildlife migration patterns.” Since then, the world has continued to rapidly heat up, making 2010 the warmest year on record. National security experts are worried about global warming pollution’s impact on everything from spread of disease to displaced people.

The now-melting Arctic permafrost contains over 1.5 trillion tons of frozen carbon, about twice as much carbon as now contained in the atmosphere. The warming Arctic Ocean similarly contains vast reserves of methane. If the thaw continues and creates a feedback loop of Arctic greenhouse emissions, unimaginable global catastrophe will ensue. Apparently without irony, Begich proposes to accelerate that process by further extracting fossil fuels that are buried below the ocean floor, in the name of “economic and national security.”

The Wonk Room contacted Begich’s office to ascertain what the senator believes is a “safe and environmentally responsible manner” to extract fossil fuels made available by global warming, but has not yet received a response.

Less effective, more costly, but politically preferred to cap-and-trade?

Robert Stavins is Director of the Harvard Environmental Economics Program.  This is reposted from his blog.

The new Congress is beginning to consider various alternative energy and climate policies in the wake of last year’s collapse in the U.S. Senate of consideration of a meaningful, economy-wide CO₂ cap-and-trade scheme. Among the options receiving attention are various types of renewable portfolio standards, also known as renewable electricity standards or clean energy standards, depending upon their specific design. These approaches, which focus exclusively on one sector of the economy, would be less effective than a comprehensive cap-and-trade approach, would be more costly per unit of what is achieved, and yet – ironically – appear to be much more attractive to some politicians who strenuously opposed cap-and-trade.

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Low-Carbon Energy Investment Hit a Record $243 Billion in 2010, Bloomberg New Energy Finance Says

Global investment in low-carbon energy surged to a record $243 billion last year, boosted by a 30 percent spending increase in China and a burst in small-scale solar-power installations.

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Scientists see climate change link to Australian floods

UPDATE:   “Climate change has likely intensified the monsoon rains that have triggered record floods in Australia’s Queensland state, scientists said on Wednesday, with several months of heavy rain and storms still to come.”

Flood-weary Queensland, Australia suffered a new flooding disaster yesterday when freak rains of six inches fell in just 30 minutes near Toowoomba. The resulting flash flood killed nine people and left 59 missing. The flood waters poured into the Brisbane River, causing it to overflow, and significant flooding of low-lying areas in Brisbane, Australia’s third largest city with some 2 million people, is expected on Thursday.

Here is a stunning video of the flooding:
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Daniel J. Weiss, in a CAP cross-post.

Big Oil continues to lust after huge profits at the expense of the health and welfare of the American people. This reckless money chase occurs even though the production, combustion, and reliance on oil pollutes the water and air, and forces the United States to rely on oil from some unfriendly regimes.

Case in point: The leader of the American Petroleum Institute rashly advocated a speedy return to expanded offshore oil drilling last week even though the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling (also known as the commission) yesterday issued its recommendations for additional safeguards for future offshore oil production.

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By Lee Fang, in a TP cross-post.

Last week, ThinkProgress conducted an impromptu interview with David Koch “” one of the richest men in America, co-owner of the conglomerate Koch Industries, and a top financier of right-wing front groups “” after we found him leaving the swearing-in ceremony for Speaker John Boehner (R-OH). In the first part of the interview, Koch said that he “admire[s]” the Tea Party movement, and that “the rank and file are just normal people like us.” In the second part, Koch denied the existence of climate change and shrugged when asked if carbon pollution causes global warming. Koch Industries, which owns a coal shipping company, several of the country’s largest oil refineries and pipeline networks, and several fertilizer plants and factories, is a major contributor to climate change and funds much of the climate change-denying propaganda machine.

Throughout the interview, Tim Phillips “” an “astroturf” lobbyist who is now president of Koch’s Americans for Prosperity front group “” tried to push ThinkProgress’ Scott Keyes away and yelled into the camera Keyes was holding. Phillips also continually yelled and tried to physically block us, even though Koch himself never objected to speaking with us.

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