A new study on climate-tracking satellites suggests our measurements have likely been underestimating the warming of the troposphere during the last four decades, which could indicate the global warming that has already happened may be substantially worse than we thought., shows the satellite data used by scientists to create climate models doesn't meet the basic physics equations that regulate the relationship between temperature and moisture in the air.
"It is currently difficult to determine which interpretation is more credible," Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory climate scientist and lead study author said in ."But our analysis reveals that several observational datasets — particularly those with the smallest values of ocean surface warming and tropospheric warming — appear to be at odds with other, independently measured complementary variables.
Researchers discovered that datasets that best matched the rules for water vapor and temperature ratios tended to be those showing the highest warming of the sea surface and troposphere,"Such comparisons across complementary measurements can shed light on the credibility of different datasets," says LLNL’s Stephen Po-Chedley, who contributed to this study.
It's not for sure if the satellite data underestimated global temperature rises; however, if that's the case, we will need to step up our efforts toBe the first to read our latest stories, analysis, and trend-spotting on tech from every corner on earth. Sign up for our weekly newsletter today.Stay on top of the latest engineering news just enter your email and we’ll take care of the rest.