Climate crisis: 8 alarming records from the decade we have just lived through
Environment — di Andrea Barolini
Heat, extreme events, CO2 emissions, melting polar ice, wildfires. Climate change is our daily reality. 2019 closes a catastrophic decade.
Climate crisis: 8 alarming records from the decade we have just lived through
Heat, extreme events, CO2 emissions, melting polar ice, wildfires. Climate change is our daily reality. 2019 closes a catastrophic decade.
With 2019, a dramatic decade for the climate came to a close. A decade marked by exceptional heat waves, glaciers retreating across the world, record concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, rising sea levels and increasingly violent and frequent extreme weather events. The World Meteorological Organisation has collected and listed the most alarming data.
Starting with those relating to global mean temperature: "It is virtually certain that the last five years (2015–2019) will be the warmest on record." The global climate indicators reviewed by the WMO tell the story of the decade just ended and confront the world with data, numbers and figures that admit no interpretation. It is science speaking. And politics must begin to listen, following the failure of COP 25 in Madrid. Here are eight of the most worrying signals that the Earth is sending us.
Read also: COP 25 is over, leaders responded with a whisper to the young people's cry
1 2019 closes the hottest decade on record
With a temperature 1.1 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial era, 2019 will be remembered as the second or third hottest year on record. And this is no exception: since the 1980s, every decade that has ended has been warmer than the previous one. In particular, the WMO highlights how vast regions of the Arctic recorded exceptionally high temperatures in 2019.
2019 concludes a decade of exceptional global heat. Average temperatures for the five-year (2015-2019) and ten-year (2010-2019) periods are almost certain to be the highest on record. Since the 1980s each decade has been warmer than the previous one.
At the global level, moreover, the data for October 2019 exceeded by 0.69 degrees Celsius the average for the period between 1981 and 2010. If only just, it was the hottest October in the past four decades, with a minimal difference compared to the same months of 2015 (+0.01 degrees Celsius) and 2017 (+0.09 degrees), which rank second and third respectively.
2 Record concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
In 2018 (2019 data will be available at the end of 2020), concentrations of greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere reached new peaks. This applies to CO2 (at 407.8 parts per million), methane (1,869 parts per billion) and nitrous oxide (331.1 parts per billion). "We are talking about 147, 259 and 123 per cent respectively above pre-industrial levels," the World Meteorological Organisation notes. At the same time, global CO2 emissions continue to rise. And they will reach a new record in 2019. This is confirmed by the annual report of the Global Carbon Project, a consortium of dozens of scientists and international laboratories, published on Wednesday 4 December. Globally, the figure is expected to reach 36.8 billion tonnes, breaking the 2018 record.
3 Sea levels rising on a global scale
"Sea levels – the WMO notes – are continuously rising according to satellite altimetry measurements, but the rate of this rise has increased in recent years." And in October 2019, the global mean sea level reached its highest point since precision measurements began, namely in January 1993.
#COP event at #IPCC - #WMO pavilion on Side event on ocean regions and a changing climate, with @ThomsonFiji and WMO SG Taalas.
#Climatechange and rising sea levels are increasing coastal inundation and storm surge. This video for Pacific islands increases awareness of hazards.
#Climatechange and rising sea levels are increasing coastal inundation and storm surge. This video for Pacific islands increases awareness of hazards.
Added to this is the fact that what is known as "ocean heat content" – that is, the excess energy accumulated in the climate system due to the increase in greenhouse gases, which is absorbed by the oceans – remained throughout 2019 "at record or near-record levels".
4 Ocean acidification continues
In the decade 2009–2018, moreover, the ocean absorbed approximately 22 per cent of CO2 emissions, which contributed decisively to moderating climate change. However, the introduction into the seas of this (growing) quantity of carbon dioxide only alters their composition.
Observations have thus shown a decline in the pH (acidity level) of the ocean surface. This is gradually depleting the seas' capacity to provide that same – indispensable – absorption of climate-altering gases. But it also risks triggering changes in ecosystems, ocean currents and, once again, in global weather patterns.
5 The ice sheet in ever-greater retreat
The retreat of the Arctic ice sheet continued throughout 2019. The monthly mean extent for September (normally the lowest of the year) was among the three smallest ever recorded. In Greenland, in particular, between September 2018 and August 2019, a net loss of 329 billion tonnes was recorded, according to data from the Grace mission (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment).
from Greenland’s melting ice sheets to rising seal levels in Alaska and Louisiana, the forest fires in the Amazon and Indonesia, and the impact of forests and the Lobster fishery in Maine...
#ClimateEmergency
theguardian.com/environment/ga…
#ClimateEmergency
theguardian.com/environment/ga…
6 Extreme weather events on the increase in 2019
Torrential rainfall in the United States, Canada, Russia, Iran, East Africa and South Asia. Extreme drought in South-East Asia, in numerous inland areas of Australia. And in Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Chile.
Extreme heat waves in Europe: in France, the highest temperature ever recorded was reached, with 45.9 degrees in the town of Gallargues-le-Montueux; in Germany, 42.6 degrees was reached; in Helsinki the thermometer reached 33.2 degrees. In Australia, during the summer period, the absolute national record was surpassed by one degree. In Adelaide, 46.6 degrees was reached on 24 January.
At the end of the year, in Russia, the Christmas period was characterised by temperatures well above average: on 18 December in Moscow the thermometer did not drop below 5.4 degrees, against an average of -6. It had not happened since 1886, and for New Year's Eve the authorities decided to make up for the lack of snow with an artificial blanket, in order to give residents the atmosphere they are accustomed to.
In November, in Italy, Venice experienced a high-water event not seen since 1966, reaching 187 centimetres at some points in the city. An event that caused the sea to submerge more than 80 per cent of the city, compounded by the extremely strong scirocco winds that blew across the lagoon.
7 Wildfires in the Amazon, Indonesia, Australia and Africa
2019 was also marked by an enormous number of wildfires. From Siberia to Alaska, and even through some Arctic regions. In Indonesia and neighbouring countries, the blazes were particularly severe. In Latin America, the worst figures since 2010 were recorded, particularly in Bolivia and Venezuela.
The Amazon rainforest was similarly devastated by thousands of fires.
The same is true of the entire central belt of Africa, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean, at the level of Gabon and Angola. In Australia, meanwhile, fire has devastated hundreds of thousands of hectares of woodland, causing the emission of 250 million tonnes of CO2 and going so far as to threaten the city of Sydney.
8. Tropical cyclones from Mozambique to the Bahamas via Japan
In 2019, cyclonic activity was above average on a global scale. In the northern hemisphere, 66 tropical cyclones were recorded, compared with an average of 56.
One of the most dramatic episodes struck Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi in March. Cyclone Idai was one of the most violent on record, causing hundreds of deaths, more than 180,000 refugees and the destruction of almost 800,000 hectares of crops. In Central America, Hurricane Dorian struck in September, making landfall in the Bahamas at maximum intensity (category 5). It was particularly destructive owing to the exceptionally slow pace of its movement. Then in October, Japan was hit by severe flooding caused by Typhoon Hagibis.
