Graphic courtesy of CICERO

Road traffic is the number one contributor of atmospheric greenhouse gases in the transportation sector and has led to two-thirds of the warming caused by all transportation emissions, while aviation placed second, according to a report from the Environmental News Network.

Researchers from CICERO (Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo) calculated each sub-sectors contribution to global warming by looking at the radiative forcing (RF) caused by transportation emissions. RF is the warming effect in the unit watt per square meter (w/m2). 15% of RF caused by man-made emissions come from the transportation sector, while transportation can be blamed for a 30% contribution of tropospheric ozone (O3).

According to the report, shipping (which placed fourth) has a short-term cooling effect on the climate since it emits large portions of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide, which have cooling effects, but in the long run shipping will have a slight warming effect since sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide do not live as long in the atmosphere compared to carbon dioxide.

By the way, rail transportation placed third with a very small warming effect.

Surprise! A new NOAA study based on observations, instead of computer models, has found that warming global sea-surface temperatures is associated with a sustained, long-term increase in vertical wind shear in the main development region for Atlantic hurricanes, which may be reducing the number of hurricanes that landfall in the U.S.. In general, vertical wind shear hinders the development of tropical cyclones by removing thunderstorms from the center of circulation and disrupting the overall circulation of the storm in the mid and upper levels of the atmosphere.

"Using data extending back to the middle nineteenth century, we found a gentle decrease in the trend of U.S. landfalling hurricanes when the global ocean is warmed up. This trend coincides with an increase in vertical wind shear over the tropical North Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico, which could result in fewer U.S. landfalling hurricanes," said Chunzai Wang, a physical oceanographer with NOAA. Observations from 1854-2006 show a warming of sea-surface temperature occurring almost everywhere over the global ocean, according to the study.

Where the global warming occurs is important for determining the vertical wind shear in the Atlantic huricane main development region between 10 and 20 degrees north latitude from west Africa to Central America. Warmer waters in the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans increased vertical wind shear in the Atlantic hurricane main development region, while warming in the North Atlantic decreased vertical wind shear. Overall, the warming of the tropical Pacific and Indian Oceans had a much greater impact than the North Atlantic.

What do you make of this study? You can't blame the computer models on this one.

UPDATE............

Dr. Wang responds to critics who said his study was based on poor data.