Tag: warming

Record-shattering heatwaves caused by pace of warming: study

Heatwaves that obliterate temperature records as in western Canada last month and Siberia last year are caused by the rapid pace, rather than the amount, of global warming, researchers said Monday. The findings, reported in Nature Climate Change, suggest that humanity is likely to see a lot more deadly scorchers in the coming decades. “Because we are in a period of very rapid warming, we need to prepare for more heat events that shatter previous […]

Climate change biggest threat to natural World Heritage sites

by Nina LARSON Agence France-Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Climate change has become the biggest threat to UN-listed natural world heritage sites like glaciers and wetlands, and has pushed Australia’s Great Barrier Reef into “critical” condition, conservationists said Wednesday. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) revealed in a new report that shifts due to the changing climate now imperil a full third of the 252 UNESCO-listed natural sites around the globe. Overall, 94 […]

Bering Sea ice at lowest levels in 5,500 years: study

WASHINGTON D.C., United States (AFP) — Winter ice in the Bering Sea, in the northern Pacific Ocean between Alaska and Russia, is at its lowest levels for 5,500 years, according to a study released Wednesday. Researchers analyzed vegetation that accumulated on the uninhabited island of St Matthew over the last five millennia. They looked at variations in peat layers of oxygen atoms called isotopes 16 and 18, whose proportions over time correlate with atmospheric and oceanic […]

La Nina likely, but temperatures set to remain high: UN

by Nina LARSON GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — Global temperatures boosted by climate change will still be higher than usual despite the cooling effect of a La Nina weather phenomenon expected to develop in the coming months, the UN said Thursday. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said there was a 60 percent chance of a La Nina event between September and November. But WMO chief Petteri Taalas warned in a statement that “even if a La […]

UK ‘increasingly likely’ to see +40C temperatures

by Kelly MACNAMARA Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Temperatures in Britain could exceed 40 degrees Celsius every three or four years by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated, research published Tuesday has found, as climate change increases the likelihood of scorching heat waves. The modelling study by Britain’s Meteorological Office found that emissions are dramatically increasing the likelihood of extremely warm days in the UK, particularly in the southeast. Without climate change, a […]

South Pole warming three times faster than rest of Earth: study

by Patrick GALEY PARIS, France (AFP) — The South Pole has warmed three times faster than the rest of the planet in the last 30 years due to warmer tropical ocean temperatures, new research showed Monday. Antarctica’s temperature varies widely according to season and region, and for years it had been thought that the South Pole had stayed cool even as the continent heated up. Researchers in New Zealand, Britain and the United States analysed […]

Eurasian ice sheet collapse raised seas eight meters: study

by Patrick GALEY Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — The melting of the Eurasian ice sheet around 14,000 years ago lifted global sea levels by about eight meters, according to new research published Monday that highlights the risks of today’s rapid ice cap melt. Earth’s last Glacial Maximum period began around 33,000 years ago, when vast ice sheets covered much of the Northern Hemisphere. At the time, the Eurasian ice sheet — which covered […]

Oceans were hottest on record in 2019

by Patrick GALEY PARIS, France (AFP) — The world’s oceans were the hottest in recorded history in 2019, scientists said on Tuesday, as manmade emissions warmed seas at an ever-increasing rate with potentially disastrous impacts on Earth’s climate. Oceans absorb more than 90 percent of excess heat created by greenhouse gas emissions and quantifying how much they have warmed up in recent years gives scientists an accurate read on the rate of global warming. A […]

July hottest month measured, 2019 set to be among warmest years

by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) — July was the hottest month across the globe ever measured, and 2019 is on track to be one of the warmest years, according to data released Monday by the European Union’s Earth observation network. Searing heatwaves saw records tumble across Europe last month, with unusually high temperatures around the Arctic Circle as well. Wildfires unprecedented in scope and intensity burned in Siberia and Alaska, releasing more than 100 […]

New UN Global Climate report ‘another strong wake-up call’ over global warming: Guterres

The increasing number of natural disasters and dangers linked to climate change, highlighted in a major UN report released on Thursday, represents “another strong wake-up call” to the world, which must be countered by finding sustainable solutions quickly, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said. Speaking at the launch of the State of the Global Climate report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Mr. Guterres reiterated his call for action, underlining that the alarming conclusion that […]

Humanity faces simultaneous climate disasters: study

by Marlowe HOOD Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — By century’s end, many parts of the world may have to cope with up to six climate catastrophes at once, ranging from heat waves and wildfires to diluvian rains and deadly storm surges, researchers warned Monday. “Human society will be faced with the devastating combined impacts of multiple interacting climate hazards,” said co-author Erik Franklin, a researcher at the University of Hawaii’s Institute of Marine […]

Even moderate warming could melt Antarctic ice sheet: study

by Patrick GALEY Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Moderate global temperature rises of just two degrees Celsius could still be enough to melt parts of the largest ice sheet on Earth and raise sea levels by several metres, experts warned on Wednesday. As the pace of climate change rapidly outstrips mankind’s attempts to rein it in, scientists delved into the distant past of glaciers in eastern Antarctica to predict what lay in store […]