New study rules out natural factors as source of climate change

MONTREAL, April 11 (UPI) -- New statistical analysis suggests -- with 99 percent certainty -- that the planet is not warming as a result of natural causes.

Instead of relying on complex mathematical models to predict the future effects of greenhouse gases, McGill University physics professor Shaun Lovejoy decided to test the plausibility of climate skeptics' contention that global warming is a natural process.

Using temperature data collected from 1500 onward, Lovejoy crunched the numbers, and the math all but rules out the possibility that modern global warming is simply the natural fluctuation in the earth’s climate.

“This study will be a blow to any remaining climate-change deniers,” Lovejoy said. “Their two most convincing arguments -- that the warming is natural in origin, and that the computer models are wrong -- are either directly contradicted by this analysis, or simply do not apply to it.”

Though Lovejoy's analytical techniques are different, his conclusions run concurrent with those of the recent report on global warming by International Panel on Climate Change. Lovejoy's study predicts that a doubling of carbon dioxide levels would result in a climate somewhere between 2.5 and 4.2 degrees Celsius warmer.

[McGill University]