Global warming continues unabated

The year 2016 was the warmest on record in all major global surface temperature datasets, although, in some, the difference between 2016 and the second warmest year, 2015, was within the margin of uncertainty. In the three dataset used by WMO, 2016 was 0.83 °C +/− 0.1 0°C warmer than the average for the 1961–1990 reference period (0.52 °C above the 1981–2010 average), 0.06 °C above the previous highest value set in 2015. This is also about 1.1 °C above the pre-industrial period. The ERA-Interim reanalysis dataset3 was even warmer, with global mean temperatures 0.62 °C above the 1981–2010 average and 0.18 °C warmer than those of 2015. The concentration of green house gases have also multiplied manifold in the last couple of decades. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) 2016 in its Statement on the State of the Global Climate states that the latest analysis of observations from the WMO Global Atmosphere Watch Programme shows that globally averaged surface mole fractions for CO2, methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) reached new highs in 2015, with CO2 at 400.0 ± 0.1 ppm, CH4 at 1 845 ± 2 parts per billion (ppb) and N2O at 328.0 ± 0.1 ppb. These values constitute, respectively, 144%, 256% and 121% of pre-industrial (before 1750) levels. Comprehensive global greenhouse data for 2016 will not be available until later in 2017. The increase of CO2 from 2014 to 2015 was larger than that observed from 2013 to 2014. The green house gases have direct correlations with the rise in temperature. The temperature is rising to the level where it hurts the ecosystem most. The roof of the world that is what Tibet has long been known as is also heating up. The rain-maker: the Tibetan plateau influences the timing and intensity of monsoons in the region’ particularly India. The plateau’s temperature has increased by 1.3C (34.4F), three times the global average. Arctic and Antarctic regions have been warmed to a point of no return. Temperatures increased on average by almost one and a quarter (1.22) degrees Celsius (C) per decade over sea ice in the Arctic summer. Varied temperatures across different regions within and near the Arctic Circle have been observed. Average temperature trends increased by one-third of 1 degree C per decade over sea ice, and they also rose half a degree C per decade over the lands of Eurasia. Over the past 50 years, the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula has been one of the most rapidly warming parts of the planet. This warming is not only restricted to the land but can also be noted in the Southern Ocean. Upper ocean temperatures to the west of the Antarctic Peninsula have increased over 1°C since 1955. Deforestation is also a serious issue and carbon sink is being lost in the process of development. Over the past 25 years the world’s forest area has declined from 4.1 billion ha to just under 4 billion ha, a decrease of 3.1 percent. The green house gases already present in the atmosphere are good enough to keep earth being warmed for hundred years to come even if their emission is brought to zero level today.