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Each week we provide you with the most vital global climate change data as graphics, which right now is the most vital of all information. The most vital of all is the current atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.

In the spring and summer we also provide  maps showing maximum world temperatures (actual temperatures not anomalies) and world drought.

In the summer we will provide images of Arctic sea ice area and thickness, as this affects weather and climate of the Northern  hemisphere.

We provide all this in simple, readily understandable, at a glance graphics.

There is actually very little data we need, to understand we are in all in a state of planetary emergency (James Hansen 2008), and that the situation is rapidly deteriorating.

In fact all we need is the atmospheric concentrations of the greenhouse gases, that we are constantly emitting, and still at an increasing rate.

The reason is that the amount of extra heat in the lower atmosphere directly correlates with the GHG concentrations, as shown in the IPCC graphic. 

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)  provides monthly atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations.

These directly reflect the increase in the radiative forcing (heat energy content) of the atmosphere.

The most accurate measure of global warming is the total radiative forcing of all the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere – rather than only the global surface temperature increase.

A large part of the heat that has added to the atmosphere by accumulating greenhouse gases is being stored in the vast oceans and will not be registering as a global average surface temperature for 30 to 50 years.

This is the ‘ocean heat lag’ – the delay from a GHG emission to the heat being transferred to the Earth surface and registering as a global average surface temperature increase.

The full eventual global average warming due to the ocean heat lag is about double today’s surface temperature increase.

We provide more information about the temperature increase, that results from the increased atmospheric GHG concentrations, on the Global temperature increase page of the Climate Emergency Institute.

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