August 5th, 2015

Report: 2014 the hottest year on record - SSCI Environmental

It’s getting hot in here.

On July 16, the American Meteorological Society released the 25th annual State of the Climate report . That report says 2014 was the Earth’s warmest year on record based on four independent global datasets. And Climate Central reports that 2015 is even hotter.

According to the AMS report, new records were set by rising levels of land and ocean temperatures, rising sea levels and increasing accumulations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. As the El Niño–Southern Oscillation warmed up near the end of the year, so did several regional climates. That effect is expected to continue throughout 2015, Climate Central says.

The State of the Climate report was compiled by NOAA’s Center for Weather and Climate at the National Centers for Environmental Information and was based on contributions from 413 scientists from 58 countries.

Highlights

The report’s climate indicators show patterns, changes and trends of the global climate system. These include various types of greenhouse gases, temperatures throughout the atmosphere, ocean and land, cloud cover, sea level, ocean salinity, sea ice extent and snow cover.

Other highlights from the report:

  • Atmospheric CO2 concentrations increased by 1.9 ppm in 2014, reaching a global average of 397.2 ppm for the year. This compares with a global average of 354.0 in 1990.
  • Europe experienced its warmest year on record, with more than 20 countries exceeding their previous records. Africa had above-average temperatures across most of the continent, Australia saw its third warmest year on record, Mexico had its warmest year on record, and Argentina and Uruguay each had their second warmest year on record. Eastern North America was the only major region to experience below-average annual temperatures.
  • Global sea level was keeping pace with the 3.2 ± 0.4 mm per year trend observed over the past two decades.
  • The 91 tropical cyclones in 2014 was well above the 1981-2010 average of 82 storms. The 22 named storms in the eastern/central Pacific were the most to occur in the basin since 1991.