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While the so-called more reputable press has been merely reporting the record high temperatures throughout the Midwest and East Coast this summer, TheRealTruth has learned that in a secret report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has reported to the United Nations that “an increasing body of observations gives a collective picture of global warming and other changes in the world climate."

They point out that global mean surface temperatures have increased 1.0°F since the end of the 19th century, and that the 20th century's 10 warmest years all occurred in the last 15 years of the century. The IPCC also reports that the snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere and floating ice in the Arctic Ocean have both decreased and that globally sea level has risen 6 to 8 inches over the past century.

While carefully skirting the issues of industrial emissions and atmospheric pollution, the IPCC does not say this is due to the green house effect. What the IPCC does say is that “global warming can now be considered an established fact.” A copy of the still unpublished report was given to TheRealTruth by sources inside the IPCC who must remain anonymous for obvious reasons.

To support its conclusion, the IPCC presents an impressive array from around the globe of observations of heat waves, periods of unusually warm weather, ocean warming, sea-level rise, glaciers melting, and studies on Arctic and Antarctic warming. All of these, the IPCC claims, are caused by global warming. A few excerpts from the IPCC report follow:

Heat waves and periods of unusually warm weather:

Eastern USA – More than 250 people died as a result of a heat wave that gripped much of the eastern two-thirds of the country this summer. Heat indices of over 100°F were common across the southern and central plains, reaching a record 119° in Chicago.

Southeast Europe and Middle East – There were widespread heat waves, with temperatures reaching as high as 111°F in locations across Turkey, Greece, Romania, Italy, and Bulgaria. In Bulgaria, 100-year records for daily maximum temperature were broken at more than 75% of the observing stations. For Armenia, this was the hottest summer of the last century. Jordan reported the longest stretch of summer heat in its 77-year record.

Denmark and Germany - This was the warmest summer on record. In Germany temperatures were as much as 7°F above average. The record-breaking temperatures are part of a warming trend of 1.4°F over continental Europe during the past century.

Central England – This was also the warmest summer on record in England. Over the 20th century Central England’s temperature has warmed by about 1°F, and four of the five warmest years in its 343-year record occurred in the last decade.

Tropical Andes (Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and Chile) – The Andes experienced another increase in average annual temperatures. Average annual temperatures have increased by about 0.2°F per decade since 1939. The rate of warming has doubled in the last 40 years, and more than tripled in the last 25 years, to about 0.6°F per decade.

Southern India – India experienced another year of heat waves. In the state of Andhra Pradesh temperatures rose to 120°F, resulting in the highest one-week death toll on record. This heat wave is part of a long-term warming trend in Asia in general. India, including southern India, has experienced a warming trend at a rate of 1°F per century.

Ocean warming and sea-level rise:

Arctic Ocean – The Arctic Ocean is experiencing decreasing ice thickness. Ice thickness at 29 stations, as measured by submarine sonar, has decreased by an average of more than 4 feet compared to 20 to 40 years ago, representing a 40% reduction in ice volume. From 1966 to 1995, annual temperatures in the Arctic increased by as much as 1.8°F per decade, and spring temperatures increased by as much as 3.6°F per decade. Temperature reconstructions from tree rings, ice cores, and other long-term records indicate that the 20th century was the warmest century in the Arctic since 1600 BC.

Antarctic Peninsula -- Warming on the Antarctic Penisula is 5 times the global average. Since 1945, the Antarctic Peninsula has experienced a warming of about 4.5°F. The annual melt season has increased by 2 to 3 weeks in just the past 20 years.

Southern Ocean – The southern oceans have also experienced a strong warming trend. Measurements from data recorders in the southern ocean waters around Antarctica show a 0.3°F rise in ocean temperatures between the 1950s and the 1980s.

Fiji – A significant sea-level rise has been observed on Fiji. Reports from local inhabitants at 16 sites indicate that the island's average shoreline has been receding half a foot per year over at least the past 90 years.

American and Western Samoa – Western Samoa has experienced shore recession of about 1.5 feet per year for at least the past 90 years.

Bermuda -- Dying mangroves are the reports from Bermuda. Rising sea level is leading to saltwater inundation of coastal mangrove forests.

Glaciers melting:

Alaska – There has been an increasing rate of glacial retreat in Alaska. A study of 67 glaciers shows that between the mid-1950s and mid-1990s the glaciers thinned by an average of about 1.6 feet per year. Repeat measurements on 28 of those glaciers show that from the mid-1990s to 2000-2001 the rate of thinning had increased to nearly 6 feet per year. Alaska has experienced a rapid warming since the 1960s. Annual average temperatures have warmed up to 1.8°F per decade over the last three decades, and winter warming has been as high as 3°F per decade.

Kenya -- Mt. Kenya's largest glacier is disappearing. 92 percent of the Lewis Glacier has melted in the past 100 years.

Austria -- Record glacial retreat has been observed in Austria. Emergence of a frozen Stone Age mummy from a melting glacier in the Oetztal Alps indicates that glacial ice is more reduced today than at any time during the past 5,000 years.

Venezuela - Disappearing glaciers are reported in Venezuela. Of six glaciers in the Venezuelan Andes in 1972, only 2 remain, and scientists predict that these will be gone within the next 10 years. Glaciers in the mountains of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru show similar rapid rates of retreat. Temperature records in other regions of the Andes show a significant warming of about 0.6° F per decade since the mid-1970s.

Andes Mountains, Peru -- Glacial retreat has accelerated seven-fold in the Andes of Peru. The edge of the Qori Kalis glacier had been retreating 13 feet annually between 1963 and 1978. By 1995, the rate had increased to 99 feet per year.

Mt. Everest – A retreating glacier is also reported at Mt. Everest. The Khumbu Glacier, popular climbing route to the summit of Mt. Everest, has retreated over 3 miles since 1953. The Himalayan region overall has warmed by about 1.8°F since the 1970s.

Arctic and Antarctic warming:

Arctic Ocean -- Shrinking sea ice is reported in the Arctic Ocean. The area covered by sea ice reportedly declined by about 6 percent from 1978 to 1995. A recent three-year international study indicated that ice around the North Pole had shrunk by 7.4 percent in the past 25 years with a record small summer coverage in September 2002.

Bering Sea -- Reduced sea ice is also reported in the Bering Sea. Sea-ice extent has shrunk by about 5 percent over the past 40 years.

Antarctic Peninsula – An entire ice-shelf collapsed in January-February 2002. The northern section of the Larsen B ice shelf, an area of 1,250 square miles, disintegrated in a period of 35 days. This was the largest collapse event of the last 30 years, bringing the total loss of ice extent from seven ice shelves to 6,760 square miles since 1974. The ice retreat is attributed to the region’s strong warming trend - 4.5°F in the last 50 years.

This is THE REAL TRUTH !