NASA Report on Global Average Temperatures

A beautiful press release from NASA just appeared which concisely and directly summarizes the analysis of global temperature since 1880 using three data sources. Find the article here: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/temp-analysis-2009.html. I particularly like that they make a clear distinction between short-term local effects (El Nino, La Nina), short-term cyclic effects (solar irradiance), and long term global trends (temperature increases). It’s those short-term local or cyclic effects that most global climate change deniers like to use to cheat the public out of an understanding of  the long-term effects. The NASA article quickly makes the distinction and nicely illustrates how those effects are accounted for.