“Since 1998 was so much hotter than usual, with the strong El Niño, comparisons to it are cherry-picking.”
After 2000, the global temperature curve flattened out at a level significantly lower than the freak year 1998. The global-warming thesis is that as CO2 levels in the atmosphere continue to rise, so too should global temperatures. Even though atmospheric CO2 has continued to rise to levels not seen since the distant geological past, temperatures have not been following suit.
“Even though atmospheric CO2 has continued to rise to levels not seen since the distant geological past .... “
Actually, this is apparently not the case. According to Dr. Zbigniew Jaworowski’s paper, CO2: The Greatest Scientific Scandal of our Time, actual air readings over the past two centuries showed significantly higher CO2 readings than now, up to about 550 ppm. However, the IPCC chose to completely ignore these (I wonder why) and rely solely on their ice core calculations.
http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/Articles%202007/20_1-2_CO2_Scandal.pdf