Earth sets new climate records in 2015 – Xinhua

The temperature exceeds 40 degrees C Grandos Shanghai. (Xinhua / Peixin)

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) – The year 2015 was the warmest on Earth since at least the mid-nineteenth century, a new report confirmed today <. / p>

in addition, multiple indicators such as the temperature in the ocean and land surface, sea level and greenhouse gas broke records recorded just last year, the report said.

the 300-page document called “State of the Climate in 2015″ was prepared by over 450 scientists from 62 countries around the world and was published in the Bulletin of the Meteorological Society of the United States.

the report confirmed what was widely reported in January: in 2015, the annual global surface temperature reached record highs for the second consecutive year after easily exceed the record set in 2014 by more than 0.1 degrees Celsius

This was the first time the temperature exceeded by more than one degree celsius the average of the second half of the nineteenth century, commonly regarded as representative pre-industrial levels.

in general, temperatures close were reported to record “in most of the inhabited continents,” said the report conducted by the National Centers for Environmental Information National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA, for its acronym in English).

the report added that 12 countries, including Russia and China, reported record annual temperatures.

the temperature of the sea surface also reached its highest levels. The average sea surface global temperature stood at between 0.33 and 0.39 degrees Celsius above average, which surpassed the previous mark set in 2014.

The report found that the level global sea level also reached a new record in 2015, increasing about 70 millimeters from the average of 1993, year in which he started recording with satellite altimeter.

in the last two decades, sea ​​level rose by an average of 3.3 millimeters per year and the highest growth rates were observed in the Pacific and Indian oceans, he added.

the report also found that concentrations of the main greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide, rose to new highs during 2015.

the average annual concentration of CO2 at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, the place in the world where have made for longer direct measurements of CO2, was 400.8 parts per million, which exceeded 400 parts per million for the first time.

in 2015 most extreme events they were also observed, with a season more intense rainfall than normal leading to severe flooding in many parts of the world.

on the other hand, areas with “severe” drought worldwide increased from eight percent in 2014 to 14 percent in 2015.

the report attributes the record heat to the combined influence of global warming long term, “one of the phenomena of El Niño strongest ever recorded on the planet at least since 1950 “and concluded that 2015 continued to reflect the trends of global warming.

” This ‘annual review’ of the climate system of the Earth showed us that the climate of 2015 was modeled both by the change in length term as the phenomenon of El Niño, “said Thomas Karl, director of the National Centers for Environmental Information NOAA.

” El Niño last year was a stark reminder of how which short-term events can amplify the influence and relative derivatives effects of global warming trends longer term. ”