ARL NewsGlobal warming – surface air is indeed warming faster than the free troposphereAugust 11, 2004 An intensive study of surface temperature data obtained at elevated sites and a comparison against free tropospheric data from reanalysis indicates that the surface atmosphere has indeed warmed faster than the free atmosphere in mountainous regions around the world, although there is a lot of variability according to the specific location. Nick Pepin, a National Research Council Associate from the University of Portsmouth (UK), has spent the last year working with ARL at Silver Spring on this problem. His results confirm conclusions drawn by other workers, but are much more spatially comprehensive. Papers based on this research have been submitted to the Journal of Climate and the Journal of Geophysical Research. Contact information: Bruce B. Hicks |