A perfect storm? Scientists ponder if climate has entered a new erratic era

Rising surface temperatures in the north Atlantic exacerbated by El Ni?o and a drop in Antarctic sea ice are prompting fears for ecosystems "Very unusual", "worrying", "terrifying", and "bonkers"; the reactions of veteran scientists to the sharp increase in north Atlantic surface temperatures over the past three months raises the question of whether the world's climate has entered into a more erratic and dangerous phase with the onset of an El Ni?o event on top of man-made global heating.Since April, the warming appears to have entered a new trajectory compared with the past. Meanwhile the area of global sea ice has dropped by more than a million square kilometers under the previous low. Continue reading...