Man-made global warming continues unchecked and the controversial warming "hiatus" revealed in 2013 didn't exist at all but was caused by skewed data.
Using better data and improved analysis, scientists at the U.S. National Oceanographic and Oceanic Administration (NOAA) found no slowdown in the relentless rise in global temperatures.
NOAA said fresh analysis of temperature data along with more data and better methods for analyzing historical trends confirms the validity long-term trends showing the unabated rise in temperatures. It said better analysis methods have eliminated any evidence of a pause in global warming.
The new NOAA analysis shows the rate of global warming between 1998 and 2012 is almost double that reported in the controversial assessment report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that was used by climate deniers to bash the validity of climate change.
The rate of global warming again increases if data for 2013 and 2014 is added. The new NOAA analysis reveals the pace of warming between 2000 and 2014 -- 0.209 degrees Fahrenheit every decade -- is nearly the same as that seen in the latter half of the 20th century, said the Smithsonian.
"Science is a cumulative and continuous process, and this is reflected in our continued improvements to the land and ocean surface temperature datasets", according to study co-author, Huai-Min Zhang.
"The notion of a warming hiatus in the most recent decades, as defined by the (IPCC report), is no longer valid. The global warming rate has been just as fast over the last 15 years as over the previous 50 years."
The flap over an apparent pause in global warming was triggered in 2013 by the IPCC report that revealed what seemed to be a pause in the pace of warming since referred to as a hiatus. This admission was used by climate change deniers, especially those in the Republican Party in the U.S. and their allies, to bolster their claims climate change is a scientific scam.
The controversial portion of the IPCC assessment report said the rate at which surface temperatures rose between 1998 and 2012 was only about a third to a half that seen between 1951 and 2012.
A report by NOAA and NASA earlier this year saying 2014 was the warmest year since 1880 was inconsistent with the IPCC report and led to a reassessment of the data to find out what happened to the missing heat.
NOAA scientists focused on how the data used in the IPCC report was collected.
"We know that the raw temperature records contain various inconsistencies over the long time history," said study co-author Boyin Huang.
"Stations may have been moved, sensors are replaced and improved, observation techniques change, and so on."
The study was published online by Science