Scientists have declared 2014 officially the hottest year on
record.
The temperature data was released Monday (05.01.15) by the
Japan Meteorological Association (JMA), one of the four major global
temperature record-keepers to do so. The other three are NASA and the NOAA in
the U.S., and the Hadley Center in the U.K.
JMA’s preliminary data indicate that 2014’s global average
surface temperature was the warmest since 1891, the start of the data.
Specifically, it was 0.27°C (0.5°F) greater than that of the period from 1981
to 2010. With 2014 in the lead, the second hottest year on record is now 1998.
Both 2013 and 2010 are tied for third, while 2005 is tied for fifth.
In 2014, several regions in the world smashed their heat
records. California hit record-high temperatures, inducing one of the worst
droughts in history. Australia also hit unprecedented high temperatures in
January — and the continent’s so hot this year, too, that people are already
frying eggs on sidewalks.
All 10 of the hottest years on record have come after 1998,
which many scientists attribute to global warming, according to Scientific
American.
What then is global warming?
According to Erik M. Conway, global warming became the
dominant popular term after June 1988, when NASA climate scientist James Hansen
used the term in a testimony to Congress when he said: "global warming has
reached a level such that we can ascribe with a high degree of confidence a
cause and effect relationship between the greenhouse effect and the observed
warming." Conway claims that this testimony was widely reported in the
media and subsequently global warming became the commonly used term by both the
press and in public discourse. However, he also points out that "global
climate change" is the more scientifically accurate term, because changes
in Earth systems are not limited to surface temperatures. Erik M. Conway (born
1965) is the historian at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California
Institute of Technology in Pasadena
Global warming and climate change both refer to the observed
century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth's climate system and
its related effects. Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate
system is warming. More than 90% of the additional energy stored in the climate
system since 1970 has gone into ocean warming; the remainder has melted ice,
and warmed the continents and atmosphere. The observed increases in global
average surface temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide have been much
faster in recent decades than the natural changes of previous millennia, and
levels are now higher than at any time for hundreds of thousands of years
prior.
Future climate change and associated impacts will vary from
region to region around the globe. The effects of an increase in global
temperature include a rise in sea levels and a change in the amount and pattern
of precipitation, as well as a probable expansion of subtropical deserts.
Warming is expected to be strongest in the Arctic, with the continuing retreat
of glaciers, permafrost and sea ice. Other likely effects of the warming
include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves, droughts,
heavy rainfall, and heavy snowfall; ocean acidification; and species
extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes. Effects significant to humans
include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the loss of
habitat from inundation.
Reference:
Jack Linshi @jacklinshi
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming
http://earthsky.org/earth/2014-warmest-year-on-earth-on-record
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