TS.3.4 Consistency Among Observations

In this section, variability and trends within and across different climate variables including the atmosphere, cryosphere and oceans are examined for consistency based upon conceptual understanding of physical relationships between the variables. For example, increases in temperature will enhance the moisture-holding capacity of the atmosphere. Changes in temperature and/or precipitation should be consistent with those evident in glaciers. Consistency between independent observations using different techniques and variables provides a key test of understanding, and hence enhances confidence. {3.9}

Changes in the atmosphere, cryosphere and ocean show unequivocally that the world is warming. {3.2, 3.9, 4.2, 4.4–4.8, 5.2, 5.5}

Both land surface air temperatures and SSTs show warming. In both hemispheres, land regions have warmed at a faster rate than the oceans in the past few decades, consistent with the much greater thermal inertia of the oceans. {3.2}

The warming of the climate is consistent with observed increases in the number of daily warm extremes, reductions in the number of daily cold extremes and reductions in the number of frost days at mid-latitudes. {3.2, 3.8}

Surface air temperature trends since 1979 are now consistent with those at higher altitudes. It is likely that there is slightly greater warming in the troposphere than at the surface, and a higher tropopause, consistent with expectations from basic physical processes and observed increases in greenhouse gases together with depletion of stratospheric ozone. {3.4, 9.4}

Changes in temperature are broadly consistent with the observed nearly worldwide shrinkage of the cryosphere. There have been widespread reductions in mountain glacier mass and extent. Changes in climate consistent with warming are also indicated by decreases in snow cover, snow depth, arctic sea ice extent, permafrost thickness and temperature, the extent of seasonally frozen ground and the length of the freeze season of river and lake ice. {3.2, 3.9, 4.2–4.5, 4.7}

Observations of sea level rise since 1993 are consistent with observed changes in ocean heat content and the cryosphere. Sea level rose by 3.1 ± 0.7 mm yr^–1 from 1993 to 2003, the period of availability of global altimetry measurements. During this time, a near balance was observed between observed total sea level rise and contributions from glacier, ice cap and ice sheet retreat together with increases in ocean heat content and associated ocean expansion. This balance gives increased confidence that the observed sea level rise is a strong indicator of warming. However, the sea level budget is not balanced for the longer period 1961 to 2003. {5.5, 3.9}

Observations are consistent with physical understanding regarding the expected linkage between water vapour and temperature, and with intensification of precipitation events in a warmer world. Column and upper-tropospheric water vapour have increased, providing important support for the hypothesis of simple physical models that specific humidity increases in a warming world and represents an important positive feedback to climate change. Consistent with rising amounts of water vapour in the atmosphere, there are widespread increases in the numbers of heavy precipitation events and increased likelihood of flooding events in many land regions, even those where there has been a reduction in total precipitation. Observations of changes in ocean salinity independently support the view that the Earth’s hydrologic cycle has changed, in a manner consistent with observations showing greater precipitation and river runoff outside the tropics and subtropics, and increased transfer of freshwater from the ocean to the atmosphere at lower latitudes. {3.3, 3.4, 3.9, 5.2}

Although precipitation has increased in many areas of the globe, the area under drought has also increased. Drought duration and intensity has also increased. While regional droughts have occurred in the past, the widespread spatial extent of current droughts is broadly consistent with expected changes in the hydrologic cycle under warming. Water vapour increases with increasing global temperature, due to increased evaporation where surface moisture is available, and this tends to increase precipitation. However, increased continental temperatures are expected to lead to greater evaporation and drying, which is particularly important in dry regions where surface moisture is limited. Changes in snowpack, snow cover and in atmospheric circulation patterns and storm tracks can also reduce available seasonal moisture, and contribute to droughts. Changes in SSTs and associated changes in the atmospheric circulation and precipitation have contributed to changes in drought, particularly at low latitudes. The result is that drought has become more common, especially in the tropics and subtropics, since the 1970s. In Australia and Europe, direct links to global warming have been inferred through the extremes in high temperatures and heat waves accompanying recent droughts. {3.3, 3.8, 9.5}