The Financial Times reports:
A range of factors have been pinpointed for what has come to be called the “hiatus” or “pause” in warming, which the scientists said they expected to be temporary.
These include small airborne particles known as aerosols from volcanic eruptions that have a cooling effect as they reflect sunlight back into space; the impact of the regular cycle of solar activity; the sensitivity of the climate to greenhouse gases, and the way the oceans absorb heat.
“We don’t fully understand the relative importance of these different factors,” Professor Rowan Sutton of the University of Reading said at a briefing with Met Office scientists in London. [Emphasis added]
I prefer the cruder “No Sh*t!” in this case.
Phil Jones (yes THAT Phil Jones) said something similar a few months ago
http://tallbloke.wordpress.com/2012/10/17/phil-jones-we-dont-know-what-natural-variability-is-doing/
I suppose I’ve been around this man-made global warming scam long enough to know that whenever a piece of evidence surfaces that is inconsistent with the warmist hypothesis that man-made CO2 causes significant global warming, the warmists will immediately invent a new wiggle-factor to explain away their problem. What they never do, however, is examine their basic hypothesis, because – of course – if they did, they would have to abandon the grant-filled gravy train on which they ride.
They should seek the advice of those Australian warmistas that reckon their models have it all … yuk, yuk, yuk ! https://junkscience.com/2013/07/22/aussie-warmists-we-use-climate-models-because-no-time-travelling-climatologists/
When the Beeb and Financial Times are both reporting the standstill in temperatures, we should send copies or links to President Obama, who still believes that temperatures are rising at an accelerating rate. I’m sure he’d like to be part of the reality-based community.
Well….duh