New Scope/Sam Fahnrich/12:23/4-28-08

Between discussing rising temperatures and melting ice caps, I began covering ways to minimize our environmental impact. This week, I want to bring good news to the table. El Nino is what led to 1998's record breaking summer temperatures, but El Nina is currently keeping temperatures stable. The problem was, El Nino swept the warm waters off African coasts through the Atlantic and beyond. With the warming oceans, climatic temperatures rose dramatically. With El Nina, African surges are cool, keeping global temperatures lower than they would be otherwise. However, due to the Greenhouse effect, temperatures have stayed at levels near El Nino conditions. The prediction is, once El Nina leaves in the next couple of seasons, global gases will increase temperatures to a higher degree than El Ninos effect.

What makes me happy in the scientific world is controversy. NASA ranks 2005 as the warmest year, but UK's Hadley Centre labels it as second. However, declaring a winner for this category seems too trivial. The impact of earth's stability lies within averages and time frames. Earths temperatures have been rising for years, and with gases increasing temperature gains are continuing. Action must be taken immediately before tidal zones turn against us.

Repeating the obvious, El Nino warms the earth and La Nina cools it. So, since earth is currently under La Nina and our climate has remained fairly constant, what does this mean for our planet? Temperatures are on a steady rise, and if global warming isn't dealt with promptly our lifestyles will face change indefinitely.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7329799.stm