Reading the headlines about climate change is just downright depressing, isn't it? That's not only because we're seeing our Earth crumble right before our eyes but also because we know that we're the main cause of it.
But apparently, that's not always the case. The news is still depressing, but humans may actually not be responsible for the Earth's rising temperatures everywhere.
The West Coast has been experiencing rising temperatures for some time now, but global warming apparently has very little to do with that, according to a new study published Sept. 22 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Naturally occurring changes in winds are actually responsible for most of the temperature increase on land and in the sea during the last century.
The study looked at the cause of about a one degree Fahrenheit increase in temperature in the northeast Pacific Ocean between 1900 and 2012 by analyzing ocean and air temperatures over that time. The researchers, who are from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Washington, found that the increase in temperature can actually be attributed to changes in atmospheric circulation. They didn't find any evidence that the West Coast warming is due to greenhouse-gas emissions, as many had previously thought.
"We do not see a human hand in the warming of the West Coast," co-author Nate Mantua told The Seattle Times. "That is taking people by surprise, and may generate some blowback."
The study found that natural variations in wind caused the vast majority of temperature increases along the West Coast. Wind is responsible for 80 percent of the warming from northern California to the Northwest. Winds caused about 60 percent of the warming in southern California.
How can wind have such a profound effect on regional temperatures? When coastal winds weaken, they tend to cause less evaporation on the sea surface and lower pressure that can cause sea currents to change and increase temperatures.
The researchers actually found that most of the warming along the West Coast occurred before 1940 when there were weaker winds and less concentration of greenhouse gases. Winds have become more powerful since 1980, cooling the coastal ocean even amid increasing carbon emissions.
However, the results of this study only apply to the West Coast and can't be extrapolated to the entire world. The study's authors note that their findings in no way propose that global warming isn't happening or that humans aren't the cause of it, according to The Seattle Times.
There is some criticism of the study that it relied too heavily on data from the early 20th century, when records were not kept as accurately as they are today. Some scientists have also found that human actions are the leading cause of climate change in the Northwest.
Still, the study could help researchers realize that the cause of rising temperatures isn't always global warming and the usefulness of looking at rising temperatures regionally rather than worldwide.
If the findings of this study are actually true, they're even more depressing than climate change news usually is. What's worse than knowing that you caused something is the fact that it's happening without you doing anything at all.
