England Average Temps Up 1C Since 1960 - Met Office - Independent

[hatrack]

England has become a full degree Celsius warmer since the Beatles started playing - and human activity is the cause, according to research released yesterday.

Since 1960, when John, Paul and George formed their legendary band - Ringo came later - the average temperature in England has undergone a remarkably steep rise, according to the research, released by the UK Met Office. Yet scientists are convinced that the new warmth, which is allowing red wine to be made in Surrey and olives to be grown in Devon, is not part of the climate's natural variability. Instead, it is part of the global warming being caused by emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide from industry and transport.

Furthermore, the warming of England is proceeding much more rapidly than the warming of the Earth as a whole, which has warmed by about 0.6C over the last century. England's average temperature has increased by nearly double that rate, in less than half the time. This is because the land is warming more quickly than the sea, and land at high latitudes - nearer the Poles - is warming more quickly than at low ones.

The new findings, which represent the first time that man-made climate change has ever been identified at such a local level, were unveiled yesterday at the Climate Clinic at the Liberal Democrat party conference in Brighton.

EDIT

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article1619213.ece