The 2009 State of the Climate Report

Released by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as "The 2009 State of the Climate Report," the new report draws on the work of 303 scientists from 48 countries, including data from last year. (From Reuters)

The 10 key planet-wide indicators of a warming climate identified by the report are:
-- Higher temperatures over land
-- Higher temperatures over oceans
-- Higher ocean heat content
-- Higher near-surface air temperatures (temperatures in the troposphere, where Earth's weather occurs)
-- Higher humidity
-- Higher sea surface temperatures
-- Higher sea levels
-- Less sea ice
-- Less snow cover
-- Shrinking glaciers

The seven indicators expected to rise in a warming world rose over the last decade, the report said; the three indicators expected to decline did so over that same period.

"These are indicators from the top of the atmosphere to the bottom of the ocean that we would expect to be changing in a warming world," Thorne said at a telephone briefing for reporters.
"Each indicator is changing as we would expect if the world truly were warming," he said. "Not a single analysis disagrees that the global climate is changing. The bottom line conclusion that the world's been warming is simply undeniable."