Wind patterns to blame for warmer Northwest, not humans

View of the skyline in the city of Seattle, Washington state on March 22, 2011. Seattle is the northernmost major city in the contiguous United States, and the largest city in the Pacific Northwest. The city is home to corporations such as Boeing, Starbucks and Microsoft. AFP PHOTO/Mark RALSTON (Photo credit should read MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images)

A recent study out this week suggests shifting wind patters are to blame for much of the warming on land and sea. A co-author of the study shares more.

Sea temperatures off the West Coast have changed in the last century and it has long been argued that humans are to blame for the variability.

But a recent study out this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests shifting wind patters are to blame for much of the warming on land and sea.

From the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's website:

What’s especially interesting and new about this work is that independently measured atmospheric sea level pressures over the past century show that circulation changes account for nearly all of the year to year, decade to decade, and century long surface temperature changes in the northeast Pacific Ocean and West Coast states since 1900.

Joining Take Two to explain more is co-author of the study Nate Mantua, research scientist with the NOAA Fisheries Service.