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Human-induced climate change began 2 centuries ago: study

Xinhua, August 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

Humans have been causing change for almost two centuries, a Australian-led study has found, proving that human-induced climate change is not simply a recent phenomenon.

According to the study's lead researcher, Associate Professor Nerilie Abram from The Australian National University (ANU), global warming started in the early part of the industrial evolutions, when humans began using machines such as printing presses as well as steam or coal-powered ships and trains.

"It was an extraordinary finding," Abram said in a statement on Thursday.

"It was one of those moments where science really surprised us. But the results were clear. The climate warming we are witnessing today started about 180 years ago."

The study's co-researcher, Dr. Helen McGregor from the University of Wollongong's School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, said humans definitely caused small increases in the level of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere during the 1800s.

"But the early onset of warming detected in this study indicates the Earth's climate did respond in a rapid and measurable way to even the small increase in carbon emissions during the start of the Industrial Age," McGregor said.

Abram said previously, natural climate change was attributed for the spike in global temperatures at this time, but her team revealed that human-induced climate change, albeit on small levels, was to blame.

She said many previous studies did not take into account climate data from prior to 1900, as finding history of direct measurements of climate was rare in the 19th century.

However, the team studied detailed reconstructions of climate spanning the past 500 years to identify the breakthrough. Endit