Four independent global data sets registered 2014 as the warmest year on record, the Weather Channel reported, citing an annual review by international scientists sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. The only major region of the world with below-average annual temperatures was Eastern North America.
The review compiled by NOAA's Center for Weather and Climate and based on contributions of more than 400 scientists found that atmospheric carbon dioxide levels reached a global average of 397.2 parts per million, a 1.9-ppm-increase in 2014; the global average was 354 ppm in 1990, the review's first year.
- Record highs for sea surface temperatures, particularly in the North Pacific Ocean, as well as for global upper ocean heat (oceans absorb more than 90 percent of Earth's excess heat), and global sea levels (oceans expand as they suck up heat);
- Continued Arctic warming and low sea ice extent;
- Highly variable temperature patterns and record-high sea ice extent in the Antarctic; and
- An above-average number of tropical cyclones.
"The changes that we see in the lower part of the atmosphere are driven by a change in the composition of the atmosphere," Arndt said. "If an external forcing--such as the sun or some orbital phenomenon--would be driving the warming, we would see a warming across the board in most of the atmosphere. And we don't."
Now it appears that 2015 is well on its way to topping 2014 as the warmest on record. A strengthening El Nino is transferring heat from the tropical Pacific around the globe, and the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) and the Japan Meteorological Agency have reported that the global warmth of June 2015 matched or exceeded any previous June in historical records.
Study: 2-Degree Target Unsafe
New research says keeping within 2 degrees Celsius of pre-industrial temperatures--the target scientists and global leaders agree represents a safe level of climate change--may be inadequate and "highly dangerous." Meeting the target, the study says, could lead to runaway ice melt that causes rising sea levels and ocean circulation changes far more serious than previous projections.
"We conclude that continued high emissions will make multi-meter sea level rise practically unavoidable and likely to occur this century," James Hansen--NASA's former lead climate scientist and 16 other co-authors write in the new, not-yet-peer-reviewed discussion paper due to be published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. "Social disruption and economic consequences of such large sea level rise could be devastating. It is not difficult to imagine that conflicts arising from forced migrations and economic collapse might make the planet ungovernable, threatening the fabric of civilization."
A better strategy, the authors say, is to return to an atmosphere with 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide--we've reached about 400 parts per million.
Pope, Mayors Urge Action on Climate Change
A month after the release of his encyclical on the environment, Pope Francis urged world leaders to take a "strong position" on climate change in advance of the United Nations climate talks in Paris later this year.
"I have great hopes for the Paris summit in December and hope a fundamental agreement is reached," said Francis at a two-day conference of mayors from nearly 60 cities around the world to discuss the issues of climate change and fighting forms of modern slavery. "The U.N. needs to take a strong position on this."
The mayors in attendance signed a pledge stating that "human-induced climate change is a scientific reality and its effective control is a moral imperative for humanity."
The meeting, the Globe and Mail reports, represents a fundamental shift in how the issue of climate change is framed.
The Climate Post offers a rundown of the week in climate and energy news. It is produced each Thursday by Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions.