(Andrew King, University of Melbourne)
Global Warming Research: The world is very hot right now. We are not only seeing record temperatures, but records are being broken by huge margins. Take, for example, the early September global-average temperature anomaly of 1.7 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. This is an incredible 0.5°C higher than the previous record. So why is the world so incredibly hot right now? And what does this mean for maintaining our Paris Agreement goals?
Here are six contributing factors –
Climate change is the main reason for temperatures becoming so high.
1. El Nino
One reason for the extraordinary heat is that we are in a significant El Niño that is still strengthening. During El Niño we see surface ocean warming across much of the tropical Pacific Ocean. This summer and the impact of El Nino in other parts of the world the global average temperature is expected to rise by about 0.1 to 0.2 degrees Celsius. Taking into account the fact that we have just come out of a triple La Niña, which has brought the global average temperature up by about 0.1 to 0.2 degrees Celsius. A little less, and the fact that this is the first major El Niño in eight years, it’s not too surprising that we’re seeing unusually high temperatures at the moment. Still, El Nino alone is not enough to explain the extreme temperatures the world is experiencing.