Climate Change Trends
Climate change trends is increasing and is unequivocal and many of the changes observed recently are unprecedented for decades or even millennia. The decade has been the hottest on record since the start of the measures in 1850, the UN said on Wednesday in a press release. This constant rise in temperature, combined with other anthropogenic factors, should lead to the increase in extreme weather phenomena in the decades to come, warns the secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization.
An overall climate change trends by increasing trend of 3 °C to 5 °C (37-41 °F)
Almost every year, temperature records are broken all over the world. So much so that, according to a UN press release published on Wednesday, the past decade (2010-2019) has been the hottest ever, confirming the inexorable global warming of our blue planet.
“The average global temperature has increased by about 1.1 °C (33,98 °F) since the pre-industrial era and the heat content of the ocean is at an all time high,” said the secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Petteri Taalas. “On the current trajectory of carbon dioxide emissions, we are heading for a temperature rise of 3 to 5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.”
Lots of extreme weather events in 2020 and decades to come
– Petteri Taalas, Secretary General of WMO
However, the increase in temperature is only one aspect of the changes observed over the past decade. It was also characterized by massive melting of ice, a record rise in sea level, warming and acidification of the oceans and extreme weather conditions. “Unfortunately, we expect to see a lot of extreme weather events in 2020 and decades to come, fueled by record levels of greenhouse gases that trap heat in the atmosphere,” Petteri Taalas points out.
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A combination of data that makes it possible to accurately assess the temperature of the globe!
Modern temperature readings began in 1850. To do this, WMO uses data sets provided by the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, or the Met Office Hadley Center in the United Kingdom. It also uses data sets from the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and its Copernicus Climate Change Service, as well as those from the Japan Meteorological Agency.
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Combining millions of meteorological and marine observations, this method makes it possible to estimate temperatures at any time and anywhere in the world, even in areas where data is scarce, such as the polar regions.
Catastrophic consequences to come
This anthropogenic global warming has already increased the frequency and intensity of many extreme weather and climate phenomena. “They are five times more numerous than in the 1970s. And seven times more expensive”. We have had many examples of this in this year 2021.
With the disastrous consequences they have had on local populations – including in the most developed countries – and more generally, on human health. “But this is only the beginning of what awaits us if we do not immediately take the decisions that will lower our greenhouse gas emissions”, assures the Secretary General of the United Nations.
Sources: PinterPandai, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Climate, Reuters
Photo credit: lesserland / Pixabay
