International report confirms: 2014 was Earth’s warmest year on record.
Adam Rifkin stashed this in Science!
Stashed in: Awesome, The World, Weather!, Climate Change, Climate Change!
To save this post, select a stash from drop-down menu or type in a new one:
Top Reddit comment:
- Greenhouse gases continued to climb
- Record temperatures observed near the Earth’s surface
- Tropical Pacific Ocean moves towards El Niño–Southern Oscillation conditions (this is actually is a big deal).
- Sea surface temperatures were record high
- Global upper ocean heat content was record high
- Global sea level was record high
In addition:
- The 2015 Pacific cyclone season is breaking numerous records
- The Gulf Stream is slowing faster than expected
- The Totten Glacier, a keystone glacier in east Antarctica, is losing a startling amount of water
- Canada and Alaska are on pace to break yearly records for forest fires.
How far back the records go:
"Warmer-than-average conditions were present across much of the world’s land and ocean surfaces during 2014. These contributed to a global average temperature that was the highest or joint highest since records began in the mid-to-late 1800s,"
Also relevant:
Furthermore, it is very likely (94% probability) that the 15 warmest years all occurred since 1997, and virtually certain (>99% probability) that the 5 warmest and 10 warmest years all occurred since 1997. Thus, while we cannot conclusively claim that 2014 was the warmest year in the real world when uncertainty is factored in, the 48% probability does not imply that 2014 was anything other than a very warm year, and it certainly does not cast doubt on the unprecedented warmth over the last 20 years.
And now July 2015 is the warmest month on record.
http://pandawhale.com/post/66791/july-2015-was-warmest-month-ever-recorded-for-the-globe
12:51 AM Aug 16 2015