The notion that global warming ceased after the climatic peak of 1998 has circulated for years among climate change deniers.

However, this myth has been thoroughly debunked by the scientific community, and the reality is that the planet continues to warm at an alarming rate.

In 1998, the world experienced an exceptional rise in temperatures due to an intense El Niño event. This naturally occurring climate pattern led to the spread of misinformation that global warming had halted.

However, the misrepresentation of data, focusing on short-term trends, fails to acknowledge the ongoing long-term warming trend.

The evidence is irrefutable; the years following 1998 have been markedly warmer.

For instance, “the top ten warmest years have all been since 2010,” with eight of those years occurring between 2015 and 2023. The myth of a warming pause has been further eroded by recent years’ record-breaking temperatures.

One must differentiate between weather, which is short-term and climate, the long-term accumulation of atmospheric data. The continuous elevation in global temperatures is indicative of climate change, not temporary weather patterns.

The 1998 spike was an anomaly superimposed on a persistent warming trend caused by human activities. This is further supported by the fact that more than 90% of global warming heat is absorbed by the oceans, which have shown a steady increase in temperature since well before 1998.

The Earth’s climate system has not been driven solely by CO2 levels; year-to-year variability often results from natural events like El Niño and La Niña.

These phenomena cause short-term impacts on global temperatures but do not alter the long-term warming trend. “Attributing these short-term peaks or lulls to a halt in global warming is nothing more than cherry-picking data,” a practice that ignores comprehensive trends.

Global land and ocean temperature records and satellite data all confirm that the climate continues to warm. The oceans, which absorb most of the heat trapped by greenhouse gases, have reached record temperatures, reinforcing the reality of ongoing global warming.

Furthermore, climate models have accurately simulated observed temperatures, dispelling notions that recent warmer or cooler years deviate from the expected range of variability. The Earth’s warming since the industrial revolution is a consequence of increased greenhouse gases and cannot be explained solely by natural variability.

Contrary to the misleading claims that temperatures have flatlined, the last eight years have been unusually warm, running 1.1C to 1.7C above pre-industrial levels. This stands as a testament to the continued effect of human emissions on the planet’s climate.

In conclusion, global warming has not paused since 1998. Instead, Earth’s climate system is experiencing a persistent rise in temperatures, a situation exacerbated by human-induced factors.

The myth of a warming hiatus is a stark reminder to critically assess the data and beware of selective statistics that ignore the broader context of climate science.

Relevant articles:
– What has global warming done since 1998?, Skeptical Science
– Global Warming Stopped in 1998, OSS Foundation
– Annual 1998 Global Climate Report, National Centers for Environmental Information (.gov)
– Factcheck: No, global warming has not ‘paused’ over the past eight years, Carbon Brief