This year may prove to be the hottest one on record
NO MATTER how often we hit one, a global temperature record never gets less shocking. Nineteen of the 20 hottest years on record have occurred in this century – which is only 20 years old. The last six years have been the hottest in the 140-year record. This year will extend that run to seven and may even top the list, according to a recent analysis by CarbonBrief.org.
Extra trapped heat is working its way through oceanic and land ecosystems, setting records almost everywhere. Arctic sea ice fell to its second-smallest area ever at the end of the northern summer. The smallest 14 sea-ice extents have come in the last 14 years. August, September and October saw the biggest California wildfires in modern times; they were the hottest months in the state’s recorded history. The number of autumn days with extreme fire weather has doubled since the early 1980s. On the wet side, this year’s hurricane season saw an unprecedented 30 named Atlantic storms, with as many as 12 making landfall in the US – the highest number ever.
A historical analysis found that hurricanes don’t slow down as much as they used to upon hitting land. Super Typhoon Goni hit the Philippines in late October with a one-minute sustained wind speed of 315km/h, making it the strongest known cyclone to strike land. Climate change doesn’t cause hurricanes, but warmer water and moister air are giving them added fuel. Scientists have long recognised ocean acidification as global warming’s evil twin. Turns out, there’s a triplet! Biodiversity loss is both a symptom and a cause of not only climate change, but also pandemics. Animal populations have fallen 68% since 1970, and a comprehensive assessment this year added further evidence to the conclusion that “the underlying causes of pandemics are the same global environmental changes that drive biodiversity loss and climate change”.
Finance has an enormous, untapped role to play in fixing these problems. Former US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s think tank and two research partners produced a 250-page report outlining the global funding shortfall for protecting biodiversity, plus nine financial tools and policies to close it.
Not every restored ecosystem packs the same healing power. A high-resolution study of the entire planet shows that focusing on the ecosystems most productive for biodiversity could make restoration efforts 13 times more cost-effective. Some of the most exciting science continues to occur in the world’s most extreme places. Ten research teams – 34 scientists in all – spent two months last year on Mount Everest.
Many of their findings add nuance to our understanding of ice retreat, plastic pollution, and other familiar climate trends.