"This evidence implies that we are getting close to dangerous levels of human-made pollution," said Hansen. In recent decades, human-made greenhouse gases have become the largest climate change factor. Greenhouse gases trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere and warm the surface. Some greenhouse gases, which include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone, occur naturally, while others are due to human activities."
Contradictions that produce false claims: (a)"human-made greenhouse gases have become the largest climate change factor"; (b)"greenhouse gases which include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone, while others are due to human activities"; however (c)water vapor is the largest component of "greenhouse gases" responsible for climate change and (d)most atmospheric water vapor is not "human made" and humans have almost zero ability to control it. See: http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/greenhouse_data.html
"The study notes that the world's warming is greatest at high latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, and it is larger over land than over ocean areas. The enhanced warming at high latitudes is attributed to effects of ice and snow. As the Earth warms, snow and ice melt, uncovering darker surfaces that absorb more sunlight and increase warming, a process called a positive feedback. Warming is less over ocean than over land because of the great heat capacity of the deep-mixing ocean, which causes warming to occur more slowly there."
The above statement is not science or it is terribly bad communication. The atmosphere and the oceans circulate any and all earth warming or cooling. Yes, there are temperature differences, due to the specifics of a particular location such as latitude (closer to the poles or closer to the equator), altitude (elevation above sea level), path of prevailing jet-stream and trade wind patterns and other factors. But, the description in the preceding paragraph is a description of affects, not causes. The northern latitudes are not "warming" because the snow and ice are melting, exposing more land. The snow and ice are melting because it is warming there. The heat that is absorbed does contribute to warming ground temperatures, but it does not contribute immensely to warmer atmospheric temperatures and would cease to be a factor if (and when) atmospheric temperatures drop.
What has actually been observed in the northernmost latitudes is areas of snow and ice melt nearest the oceans (like Greenland and Antarctica) which has (a)reduced glaciers at the waters edge and melted snow nearest the oceans, and (b)produced greater local water vapor which when meeting the atmosphere has produced greater snow fall, which has produced much deeper and denser snow packs inland, which in affect is (c)building the makings of the next phase of glacial expansion when the warming cycle recedes again.
"The California researchers obtained a record of tropical ocean surface temperatures from the magnesium content in the shells of microscopic sea surface animals, as recorded in ocean sediments......One of the findings .........is that the Western Equatorial Pacific and Indian Oceans are now as warm as, or warmer than, at any prior time in the Holocene" - the Holocene is our current "relatively warm period that has existed for almost 12,000 years, since the end of the last major ice age. The Western Pacific and Indian Oceans are important because, as these researchers show, temperature change there is indicative of global temperature change."
Here where the science is slipping up. The oceans cover 2/3 of the earth. What happens in and under the oceans and between the oceans and the atmosphere is 2/3 of the climate story but probably less than 10% of the known data. Why? The earth, through its molten core, its magnetic field, its tectonic activity (shifting plates of land sliding around the earth) is a huge heat generator and dispenser. Most of that heat, from earthquakes, to volcanoes and millions of fissures, from tiny to immense, is dispensed under the oceans, absorbed by ocean water and transported to the atmosphere (and back) in the form of water vapor. Which, the link above has already told you is more dense lately, and the largest contributor to "global warming". And yet, that activity is not constant in its severity or its distribution. And, this part of the science is the weakest part in terms of data to represent this activity.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/07/060727180622.htm
http://www.mpg.de/english/illustrationsDocumentation/documentation/pressReleases/2003/pressRelease20030718/index.html
"According to Lea, 'The Western Pacific is important for another reason, too: it is a major source of heat for the world's oceans and for the global atmosphere." In contrast to the Western Pacific, the researchers find that the Eastern Pacific Ocean has not shown an equal magnitude of warming. They explain the lesser warming in the East Pacific Ocean, near South America, as being due to the fact this region is kept cool by upwelling, rising of deeper colder water to shallower depths. The deep ocean layers have not yet been affected much by human-made warming.
And yet that explanation should also hold true for the northeastern Pacific, but it does not, because it is warmer than the eastern Pacific in the south and warmer than the western Pacific. Since the water and atmospheric flows are generally west to east (caused by the earth's rotation), what is under the middle of the northern Pacific that makes it warmer, and thus increases the northern Pacific's contribution of water vapor - the largest green house gas?
Water vapour: feedback or forcing?
What happens in and under the oceans and between the oceans and the atmosphere is 2/3 of the climate story but probably less than 10% of the known data. Why? The earth, through its molten core, its magnetic field, its tectonic activity (shifting plates of land sliding around the earth) is a huge heat generator and dispenser. Most of that heat, from earthquakes, to volcanoes and millions of fissures, from tiny to immense, is dispensed under the oceans, absorbed by ocean water and transported to the atmosphere (and back) in the form of water vapor.
The temperature of the global water column (from 0-3,000 meters) has been measured at numerous points around the world. A compilation of this data (by Levitus) indicated a clear warming of the water column, with most of the warming at the surface and just a little penetrating to depth, as would be expected. Heat from volcanic sources is negligible as a contribution to warming or the water vapor "budget".
And yet that explanation should also hold true for the northeastern Pacific, but it does not, because it is warmer than the eastern Pacific in the south and warmer than the western Pacific. Since the water and atmospheric flows are generally west to east (caused by the earth's rotation), what is under the middle of the northern Pacific that makes it warmer, and thus increases the northern Pacific's contribution of water vapor - the largest green house gas?
There isn't a lot of upwelling in the northeastern Pacific. There's a little on the PacNW and California coast, but not nearly as much as the Peru Upwelling.