Walking back talk of the end of warming Previous analyses of global temperature trends during the first decade of the 21st century seemed to indicate that warming had stalled. This allowed critics of the idea of global warming to claim that concern about climate change was misplaced. Karl et al. now show that temperatures did not plateau as thought and that the supposed warming “hiatus” is just an artifact of earlier analyses. Warming has continued at a pace similar to that of the last half of the 20th century, and the slowdown was just an illusion. Science , this issue p. 1469

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released the 1981–2010 U.S. Climate Normals in July 2011, representing the latest decadal installment of this long-standing product line. Climatic averages (and other statistics) of temperature, precipitation, snowfall, and numerous derived quantities were calculated for ~9,800 stations operated by the U.S. National Weather Service (NWS). They include estimated normals, or “quasi normals,” for approximately 2,000 active short-record stations such as those in the U.S. Climate Reference Network. The 1981–2010 installment features several new products and methodological enhancements: 1) state-of-the-art temperature homogenization at the monthly scale, 2) extensive utilization of quality-controlled daily climate data, 3) new statistical approaches for calculating daily temperature normals and heating and cooling degree days, and 4) a comprehensive suite of precipitation, snowfall, and snow depth statistics. This paper provides a general overview of this new suite of climate normals products.

No Abstract available.

Air temperature anomalies over eastern North America and Europe are analysed during the extreme phases of the two leading low-frequency modes of North Atlantic sea surface temperature (SST) during the 1906-2005 period. The leading mode of SST is a multi-decadal signal -commonly referred to as the Atlantic multi-decadal oscillation -with uniform polarity over the North Atlantic. Air temperature anomalies over the eastern United States and Northern Europe during extreme phases of this mode are of the same sign as the corresponding SST anomalies. The most intense air temperature impacts occur in summer months. The second mode exhibits considerable spectral energy in the quasi-decadal (∼12 year) range. The spatial signature and associated air temperature anomalies of mode 2 are strongly correlated with both SST and land temperature impacts of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO).

Using satellite measurements of Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR) and Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA) reanalysis, the Madden‐Julian Oscillation (MJO) influence on Sea Surface Salinity (SSS) across the Indian Ocean is examined. The SSS pattern during different stages of the MJO propagation across the Indian Ocean are analyzed conditioned on season and phase of the El Niño – Southern Oscillation. The processes through which the SSS patterns develop depend upon anomalous atmospheric conditions and oceanic processes during the different stages of the MJO. The combinations of anomalous conditions during each stage of the MJO with seasonal and long‐term climate variations create different responses in SSS. The SSS variability during the MJO may produce numerous indirect feedbacks, which are the result of SSS altering the depth of the Barrier Layer (BL) and mixed layer. Satellite salinity measurements will enhance our knowledge of the SSS variability during different stages of the MJO propagation.