14 DAY TRIAL // Despite scientific evidence regarding global warming, there were still some scientists who said that this is just a hoax.
Their key argument was that satellite measurements showed no increase of the atmosphere's temperature in the tropics; there were even signs of cooling in those areas.
But they were wrong, and according to the Science journal, it seems that the only reason why the satellites reported a cooling in the tropics was because they had drifted in orbit.
After examining the satellite data, collected since 1979 by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather satellites, Carl Mears and Frank Wentz of Remote Sensing Systems in Santa Rosa, Calif., found that the satellites had drifted in orbit, throwing off the timing of temperature measures. Essentially, the satellites were increasingly reporting nighttime temperatures as daytime ones, leading to a false cooling trend. The team also found a math error in the calculations.
Now, after the data has been corrected, the conclusions are obvious: the temperature of the planet has increased.
The measurements show an increase of 1 degree Fahrenheit (0.56 degrees Celsius) over the past 30 years, and the pace is expected to increase in the next century.