Tag: temperature

Global temperature rises could be double those predicted by climate modelling

This article discusses the possibility that climate models are underestimating the temperature increases and sea level rising that our planet is facing.

Researchers say sea levels could also rise by six metres or more even if 2 degree target of Paris accord met.

Temperature rises as a result of global warming could eventually be double what has been projected by climate models, according to an international team of researchers from 17 countries.

Sea levels could also rise by six metres or more even if the world does meet the 2 degree target of the Paris accord.

The findings, published last week in Nature Geoscience, were based on observations of evidence from three warm periods in the past 3.5m years in which global temperatures were 0.5-2 degrees above the pre-industrial temperatures of the 19th century.

The researchers say they increase the urgency with which countries need to address their emissions.

The scientists used a range of measurements to piece together the impacts of past climatic changes to examine how a warmer earth would appear once the climate has stabilised.

They found sustained warming of one to two degrees had been accompanied by substantial reductions of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and sea level rises of at least six metres – several metres higher than what current climate models predict could occur by 2100.

New Normal: Temperatures Are Trending Up Across U.S.

This article discusses how temperatures are rising across the US.

Normal temperatures, generally defined to be the 30-year average at a location, are trending up across most of the U.S. Since 1980, the average continental U.S. temperature has risen 1.4°F.  In Climate Central’s analysis of normal temperatures in 244 cities across the country, 94 percent have risen, providing more evidence of the long-term warming trend on our planet.

The warming signals a new normal not just for our temperatures, but for the composition of our oceans and our atmosphere. In a recurring theme, Arctic sea ice is again at an exceptionally low level for this time of the year, with the lowest April level in the satellite era in the Bering Sea, just west of Alaska.  There was enough open water over the winter to allow heavy surf to flood coastal homes in Alaska, where an ice-covered sea is normally in place to protect the shore.

The warming is fueled by the ongoing increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere — primarily from the burning of fossil fuels. In April, CO2 passed another milestone when the monthly average concentration reached 410 parts per million for the first time in the pristine air at the top of Mauna Loa in Hawaii, where scientists conduct measurements. Concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide has now climbed more than 30 percent in the 60 years of observations there.

 

Missing 1.5 °C climate goal could double number of people at risk

This article discusses the impact that various temperature increases will have on people, animals, plants, and the planet as a whole.

The number of people facing multiple climate change risks could double if global temperature rises by 2 °C rather than 1.5 °C. That’s according to a team from Austria, the US and the UK.

For a global average temperature rise of 1.5 °C, 16% of the world’s population in 2050 – 1.5 billion people – will have moderate-to-high levels of risk in two or more of the water, energy, and food and environment sectors. At 2 °C this figure nearly doubles to 29% of global population, whilst at 3 °C of warming it rises to half the population, or 4.6 billion people.

“Few studies have consistently investigated so many overlapping climate and development challenges,” said Edward Byers of the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), Austria, in a press release. “The research considers both different global mean temperature rises, such as the differences between 1.5 °C and 2.0 °C, and uses new socioeconomic datasets of income levels and inequality, to identify where and to what extent the most vulnerable in society are exposed to these climate-development challenges.”

Extreme 2016 Arctic heat wave stoked by climate change and low sea ice

This article describes the arctic heat wave of 2016 being caused by global warming.

Just days before Christmas in 2016, the North Pole was 50 degrees above its usual winter temperature. The top of the world was just above freezing.
Unusually warm air had smothered the Arctic throughout that year, and now a recently published report, led by government scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), found that it’s nearly impossible to explain the intensity of this warmth simply by normal fluctuations in weather.

Climate change ruining California’s environment, report warns

This article describes the devastating impact that climate change is having on California.

The report, called Indicators of Climate Change in California , shows a dramatic increase in temperatures since 1895, especially since the early 1980s. The warmest year in California history was 2014, followed closely by 2015, 2017 and 2016. Most alarming of all, though, are night temperatures, which have increased 2.3 degrees over the past century, the report notes.

Ticks are making Lyme disease the first epidemic of climate change

This article discusses the impact that global warming is having on bugs, focusing on ticks because they are carriers of Lyme Disease.

The article should be put in the absolutely gross category, as it describes how a Maine moose herd is being decimated by ticks. A few years ago, a dead carcass would have 1,000-2,000 blood-sucking ticks on it, but these past few years, those numbers have increased to upwards of 100,000 (yes, 100,000) ticks on each moose. Imagine 100,000 ticks sucking your blood until you die!

Scientists examine threats to food security if we meet the Paris climate targets

This article discusses how food production will be affected

Even with aggressive climate policies to limit global warming, food security in some areas will be threatened

We have delayed action for so long on handling climate change, we now can no longer can “will it happen?” Rather we have to ask “how bad will it be?” and “what can be done about it?” As our society thinks about what we should do to reduce our carbon pollution and the consequences of electing science-denying politicians, scientists are actively studying the pros and cons of various emission reductions.

Readers of this column have certainly heard about temperature targets such as 1.5°C or 2°C. These targets refer to allowable temperature increases over pre-industrial temperatures. If humans take action to hit a 1.5°C target, it means we are committed to keeping the human-caused global temperature rise to 1.5°C. Similarly for a 2°C target.

The lower the target, the smaller the climate change. The smaller the climate change, the better. But is it worth the effort to set lower targets? I mean, if 2°C is good enough, why take the trouble to keep temperatures within 1.5°C?

Fortunately, a new paper just out in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A asks this question. Specifically, they ask “How much larger are the impacts at 2°C compared to 1.5°C?” A follow-on question asked by the authors relates to what conditions occur at a particular level of warming, such as 2°C. This is a really important question because policymakers need to know what it will take to adapt to a 1.5°C world or a 2°C world.

Stark Differences in Climate Impacts Between 1.5 and 2 Degrees of Warming

This article discusses the differences between 1.5 and 2.0 degree Celsius increase in temperature. It is not good. A difference of just half a degree of global warming, from 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius, would mean that an additional 5 million people worldwide will have the land where their homes are located be permanently submerged underwater, according to a new study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

The research, led by scientists at Princeton University, analyzed the global impacts on sea levels of 1.5 degrees C of warming, the current target of the Paris Agreement, compared to 2 and 2.5 degrees. It looked at data from tide gauges across the globe and created local sea level rise projections. The scientists examined what would happen to everyday sea levels, but also to extreme sea-level events, such as storm surges.

22 National Science Academies Urge Government Action on Climate Change

The scientists, from the UK, Canada, Australia and other Commonwealth countries, warn that stronger measures are needed to keep global warming under 2 degrees.

As some of the world’s biggest polluters resist efforts to address climate change—most glaringly, the United States—thousands of scientists from countries that make up the Commonwealth of Nations say their governments need to take bolder steps to lower greenhouse gas emissions.

On Monday, the national science academies of 22 Commonwealth countries, including from the UK, Canada, India and Australia, issued a “Consensus Statement on Climate Change,” declaring that the “Commonwealth has the potential, and the responsibility, to help drive meaningful global efforts and outcomes that protect ourselves, our children and our planet.”

Spring is ocurring earlier in polar regions than across the rest of earth

This article discusses how temperatures are warming much quicker in the polar regions than elsewhere on Earth. That is bad news for all of us.

How much earlier is Spring arriving? The answer depends where on Earth you find yourself, according to a study led by the University of California, Davis.

The study, published in Nature’s online journal Scientific Reports, found that for every 10 degrees north from the equator you move, spring arrives about four days earlier than it did a decade ago.