World Meteorological Organisation: Climate change definitely our fault
Staff Writer |
A report by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has confirmed that 2016 was a year of record breaking climate change on several fronts.
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It further reduced any possible doubt that the changes we are witnessing are down to anything but human activity, thanks to advances in the science of climate attribution.
The State of the Global Climate report also shows that extreme weather and climate change conditions have continued into 2017.
Commenting on the report’s release, WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said, “This report confirms that the year 2016 was the warmest on record – a remarkable 1.1 °C above the pre-industrial period, which is 0.06 °C above the previous record set in 2015.
This increase in global temperature is consistent with other changes occurring in the climate system. Globally averaged sea surface temperatures were also the warmest on record, global sea levels continued to rise, and Arctic sea-ice extent was well below average for most of the year,” he said.
“With levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere consistently breaking new records, the influence of human activities on the climate system has become more and more evident.”
The report shows that the powerful 2015/2016 El Niño event boosted warming in 2016, on top of long-term climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions.
Temperatures in strong El Niño years, such as 1973, 1983 and 1998, are typically 0.1 °C to 0.2 °C warmer than background levels, and 2016 temperatures continued that pattern.
Attribution studies have also enabled scientists to uncover links between greenhouse gas emissions and individual extreme weather events - especially heatwaves.
The report will be presented to UN member states and climate experts at a high-level action event on Climate Change and the Sustainable Development Agenda in New York on Thursday. ■
Modified arctic air combined with a moisture-laden area of low pressure along the Gulf Coast will continue to allow for a broad area of winter weather impacts from the Lower Mississippi Valley to the Southeast today into early Saturday morning.