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Scientists warn that the temperature data coming from the first months is threatening to make 2016 the warmest year in the last six decades. The statistics confirm the climate change theories that state that the Earth is entering a hot period with extreme events.
2016, Warmest Year So Far
The researchers broke the temperature data collected in the last 60 years and grouped it in 20-year clusters. Since 1956, the average temperature increased from 0 degrees to 2 degrees and then up to almost 6 degrees in 2015.
Moreover, while the percentage of low temperatures was over one of the high temperatures in the first 40 years, starting with 1996 the rapport got reversed, and higher temperatures began to dominate.
Scientists concluded that the climate of the 20th century is starting to fade away, and the future generations will live in an entirely different medium than we were accustomed to.
The new weather pattern, warmer and having more severe events, can be a major risk to wildlife and people.
Patterns of Change
Global warming does not show a yearly progression, where each year is hotter than the last one. The big picture can be seen only when looking at 20-year periods, as the differences between consecutive years are hard to grasp and show modifications in many directions at once.
The climate experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration explain that the important fact is not the difference from month to month and from year to year, but the most general pattern of data that shows a whole new trend and weather characteristics that were usual in the 20th century.
The last year where the average temperature was below 0 degrees Celsius was 1976. Since then, the weather became warmer and warmer. Throughout the years, the temperatures consistently raised over 0 degrees, with this year’s average temperature reaching 1.05 degrees Celsius.
Limits to Climate Change
The researchers say that El Nino could make up for the warm temperature at the end of 2015 and the beginning of 2016. However, the trend over decades shows that the weather gets hotter on a constant basis.
While Earth’s climate is never static, the experts say that the warming pattern is unprecedented in our planet’s history.
The primary cause of this phenomenon is greenhouse gas emissions which are produced by volcanic eruptions and burning fossil fuels.
During 2015 and 2016, the annual temperatures raised 1 degree or more over the average of the last two decades.
In December 2015, the Agreement on Climate Change decided to limit the global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
The scientists fear that the rate of the global warming may surpass the ability of the international community to react and create a real environmental change.
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