Sept 18, 2012: Scientists at a British universtity and two American universities believe global warming is to blame for the recent extreme summer weather in the UK.
Scientists at the University of Sheffield agree with colleagues in the US that the extreme weather is caused by plumes of cold air from melting ice. The cold air is then forced south as global warming causes ice over the Arctic Ocean to disappear. As a result, extreme weather patterns are created in the northern hemisphere, from the US to Britain and Russia. Professor Jennifer Francis, a climate scientist at Rutgers University in New Jersey, said the sea ice was melting at a greater rate this year than in any previous year. The chairman of the Environment Agency, Lord Chris Smith, is clear that climate change is to blame – and he says Britain will suffer more erratic weather unless measures are put in place to mitigate it.
