2016 set to be hottest year so far
UNITED NATIONS: This year is likely to be the hottest ever recorded and the third year in a row to break the global temperature record, according to a UN report.
Parts of the Arctic were 7C warmer than average and local records were broken in many places, with the temperature reaching 54C in Kuwait and Iraq and 51C in northern India.
The global average temperature for the first ten months of the year was 1.2C above pre-industrial levels, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said. This is more than halfway to the 2C limit which all countries have pledged not to breach to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.
The warmest ten years since records began in 1850 have occurred since 1997.
The provisional assessment by the WMO was released to inform the latest round of UN climate talks in Morocco. This is focusing on implementing the Paris agreement on climate change, which came into force this month.
The cyclical weather phenomenon known as El Nino contributed to the high average temperature this year but scientists said that most of the increase was due to greenhouse gas emissions.
Last year’s record is expected to be broken by a significant margin, according to Met Office data that compares the present year with the average temperature between 1961 and 1990.
This year has so far been 0.84C above that 30-year period, compared with 0.75C last year and 0.57C in 2014.
Peter Stott, head of climate monitoring at the Met Office, said: ‘‘As El Nino wanes, we don’t anticipate that 2017 will be another record-breaking year.’’ It was likely, however, to be hotter than any year before the past two decades because of the extent of warming caused by an increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
The only large land area with below-average temperatures this year has been part of South America, including northern and central Argentina.
The ocean temperature was above normal in most areas, prompting mass bleaching of many coral reefs.
Arctic sea ice covered the smallest area ever recorded in winter and in summer it melted to the second lowest level after 2012.
The autumn freeze in the Arctic has been slower than normal and the sea ice extent at the end of last month was the lowest on record for the time of year.
The WMO said that man-made climate change was contributing to an increase in extreme weather.
Last month Hurricane Matthew killed 550 people in Haiti and in May more than 200 died in flooding and landslides in Sri Lanka.
The year started with an extreme heatwave in southern Africa that exacerbated the drought, which has left 17 million people relying on aid to avoid starvation. In May a heatwave in Canada contributed to the most damaging wildfire in the country’s history.
Another report released yesterday delivered some positive news on climate change, showing that global carbon dioxide emissions had levelled out in the past three years. - The Times