University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee mathematicians Kyle L. Swanson and Anastasios Tsonis are predicting that global temperatures will change very little or even drop over the next decade – and possibly longer:
Tsonis and Swanson used mathematical analysis to look at the role of the Earth’s natural climate cycles and the long-term weather patterns that drive them. The Earth’s global mean temperature swings up and down over time. It fell before World War I, increased during the 1920s and 1930s, fell again during the 1940s until about 1976. Then, global temperatures rose from 1976 to 2001. But the trend in mean temperatures since 2001 has been flat, said Tsonis, and is beginning to fall.
Tsonis and Swanson found that the Earth is in the beginning of a long-term climate cycle where temperatures will level off or drop over the next few decades.The reason for the change is that, inevitably, climatic forces begin to work so closely together that a slight change creates instability and throws the climate into a new state.
They used cyclists riding in a group time-trial as an example: Their motion is synchronized and carefully planned to maximize the team’s overall speed. But if they were tied together with a rope, the slightest misstep would cause a crash.”
