Indicators Of Climate Change

Rising global temperatures (an average of +0.9C since pre-industrial times) aren't the only clue to on-going climate change.

Here's a run-down of some of the others:

• As the atmosphere warms decade by decade, so do the oceans, at a slower rate, but it's still rising. 90% of the heat from global warming is actually being absorbed by the seas.
• Glaciers and icesheets all over the world are shrinking at an increasing rate. 
• Average Spring snow cover in the northern hemisphere has decreased by 1.6% a decade since the late sixties.
• Average sea-levels have risen by more than 18cm over the last century due to thermal expansion as the oceans warm up, plus glacier and icesheet loss.
• Permafrost is shrinking worldwide, releasing methane, a potent 'greenhouse gas' into the atmosphere.
• In the US (and the UK) Spring is coming earlier. Sounds nice for us, but not so good for plants and animals which are struggling to adapt.

All this with less than a 1 degree C rise in temperature. Makes you think.

More detail here.