I saw July was 7.9 degrees hotter on avg. in the NE than last year. A shocking number when you consider that that's an avg. Now it's only one month, but if we ever had an 8 degree cooler month from one year to the next every Tom, Dick, and Harry would be on here trumpeting it. Here are some other sites of interest.

NOAA: Past Decade Warmest on Record According to Scientists in 48 Countries
http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010...imate.html

Global warming pushes 2010 temperatures to record highs
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/20...010-record

Global warming: NASA says it's the hottest year on record

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/07/27/98...z0vHNzW3DR


Phytoplankton in retreat

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Marine phytoplankton have a crucial role in Earth's biogeochemical cycles, and form the basis of marine ecosystems. Data from satellite remote sensing — available since 1979 — have provided evidence that phytoplankton biomass has fluctuated on the decadal scale, linked to climate forcing, but a few decades of data are insufficient to indicate long-term trends. Daniel Boyce and colleagues now put these results in a long-term context by estimating local, regional and global trends in phytoplankton biomass since 1899, based on a range of sources including measurements of ocean transparency with a device known as a Secchi disk, and shipboard analyses of various types. What emerges from the records is a century of decline of global phytoplankton biomass. The authors estimate that the decline of phytoplankton standing stock has been greatest at high latitudes, in equatorial regions, in oceanic areas and in more recent years. Trends in most areas are correlated significantly to increasing ocean warming, and leading climate indices.

News and Views
: Oceanography: Century of phytoplankton change
Phytoplankton biomass is a crucial measure of the health of ocean ecosystems. An impressive synthesis of the relevant data, stretching back to more than 100 years ago, provides a connection with climate change.

David A. Siegel & Bryan A. Franz

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v46...29-03.html