A view from space of Typhoon Halong in 2014. Such extreme weather events are expected to proliferate during the historic El Nino event this year.
(Photo: NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center/cc/flickr)
Sep 14, 2015
Human-induced climate change has pushed the Earth to the brink of a major shift as scientists predict rapidly rising global temperatures within the next two years.
A study, titled Big Changes Underway in the Climate System? (pdf) and published by the British Meteorological Office, notes that heightened greenhouse gas emissions will exacerbate the naturally-occurring phenomenon known as El Nino to push global temperatures to record highs.
This temporary warming of surface waters in the Pacific, known as El Nino, drives dramatic shifts in rainfall, temperature, and wind patterns worldwide, and can last for months or even years.
In the short term, this means that the Southern Hemisphere can expect record heatwaves during its 2015-2016 summer season, coupled with the extreme weather events, such as typhoons, typically associated with an El Nino.
"It looks very likely that globally 2014, 2015 and 2016 will all be amongst the very warmest years ever recorded," said scientist Rowan Sutton, who peer-reviewed the study.
"This is not a fluke," Sutton, who works for the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, continued. "We are seeing the effects of energy steadily accumulating in the Earth's oceans and atmosphere, caused by greenhouse gas emissions."
In the most recent El Nino update released last Thursday, the National Weather Service also noted the planet is currently experiencing the upswing of one of the strongest El Nino events, and quite possibly the strongest, of the past 65 years of recordkeeping.
More broadly, researchers say that the Earth may be seeing the end of a global slowdown in surface temperature increases--known by some as the global warming "pause"--and can expect to enter a period of higher temperature increases, returning to the heightened rate seen before the downtrend began.
"It is now likely that decadal warming rates will reach late 20th century levels in the next couple of years," said the study's lead researcher, professor Adam Scaife, of the Met Office Hadley Centre.
The study comes as international delegates are preparing for the COP21 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Paris from November 30 to December 11, during which they are expected to cement climate policies with the aim of keeping global warming below 2degC.
Scaife notes that the combination of both natural and man-made factors has brought us to a "turning point" in the Earth's climate trajectory.
"We believe we are at an important point in the time series of the Earth's climate and we'll look back on this period as an important turning point," he said. "That's why we're emphasizing it because we're seeing so many big changes at once."
Scaife notes that El Ninos and atmospheric oscillations in the Atlantic are "natural." However, he adds, "they are now occurring on top of the influence coming from man's activity, so when they occur, when an El Nino comes and raises the global temperature, that is the icing on the cake, that is the extra bit that creates a record."
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Lauren McCauley
Lauren McCauley is a former senior editor for Common Dreams covering national and international politics and progressive news. She is now the Editor of Maine Morning Star. Lauren also helped produce a number of documentary films, including the award-winning Soundtrack for a Revolution and The Hollywood Complex, as well as one currently in production about civil rights icon James Meredith. Her writing has been featured on Newsweek, BillMoyers.com, TruthDig, Truthout, In These Times, and Extra! the newsletter of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. She currently lives in Kennebunk, Maine with her husband, two children, a dog, and several chickens.
Human-induced climate change has pushed the Earth to the brink of a major shift as scientists predict rapidly rising global temperatures within the next two years.
A study, titled Big Changes Underway in the Climate System? (pdf) and published by the British Meteorological Office, notes that heightened greenhouse gas emissions will exacerbate the naturally-occurring phenomenon known as El Nino to push global temperatures to record highs.
This temporary warming of surface waters in the Pacific, known as El Nino, drives dramatic shifts in rainfall, temperature, and wind patterns worldwide, and can last for months or even years.
In the short term, this means that the Southern Hemisphere can expect record heatwaves during its 2015-2016 summer season, coupled with the extreme weather events, such as typhoons, typically associated with an El Nino.
"It looks very likely that globally 2014, 2015 and 2016 will all be amongst the very warmest years ever recorded," said scientist Rowan Sutton, who peer-reviewed the study.
"This is not a fluke," Sutton, who works for the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, continued. "We are seeing the effects of energy steadily accumulating in the Earth's oceans and atmosphere, caused by greenhouse gas emissions."
In the most recent El Nino update released last Thursday, the National Weather Service also noted the planet is currently experiencing the upswing of one of the strongest El Nino events, and quite possibly the strongest, of the past 65 years of recordkeeping.
More broadly, researchers say that the Earth may be seeing the end of a global slowdown in surface temperature increases--known by some as the global warming "pause"--and can expect to enter a period of higher temperature increases, returning to the heightened rate seen before the downtrend began.
"It is now likely that decadal warming rates will reach late 20th century levels in the next couple of years," said the study's lead researcher, professor Adam Scaife, of the Met Office Hadley Centre.
The study comes as international delegates are preparing for the COP21 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Paris from November 30 to December 11, during which they are expected to cement climate policies with the aim of keeping global warming below 2degC.
Scaife notes that the combination of both natural and man-made factors has brought us to a "turning point" in the Earth's climate trajectory.
"We believe we are at an important point in the time series of the Earth's climate and we'll look back on this period as an important turning point," he said. "That's why we're emphasizing it because we're seeing so many big changes at once."
Scaife notes that El Ninos and atmospheric oscillations in the Atlantic are "natural." However, he adds, "they are now occurring on top of the influence coming from man's activity, so when they occur, when an El Nino comes and raises the global temperature, that is the icing on the cake, that is the extra bit that creates a record."
Lauren McCauley
Lauren McCauley is a former senior editor for Common Dreams covering national and international politics and progressive news. She is now the Editor of Maine Morning Star. Lauren also helped produce a number of documentary films, including the award-winning Soundtrack for a Revolution and The Hollywood Complex, as well as one currently in production about civil rights icon James Meredith. Her writing has been featured on Newsweek, BillMoyers.com, TruthDig, Truthout, In These Times, and Extra! the newsletter of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. She currently lives in Kennebunk, Maine with her husband, two children, a dog, and several chickens.
Human-induced climate change has pushed the Earth to the brink of a major shift as scientists predict rapidly rising global temperatures within the next two years.
A study, titled Big Changes Underway in the Climate System? (pdf) and published by the British Meteorological Office, notes that heightened greenhouse gas emissions will exacerbate the naturally-occurring phenomenon known as El Nino to push global temperatures to record highs.
This temporary warming of surface waters in the Pacific, known as El Nino, drives dramatic shifts in rainfall, temperature, and wind patterns worldwide, and can last for months or even years.
In the short term, this means that the Southern Hemisphere can expect record heatwaves during its 2015-2016 summer season, coupled with the extreme weather events, such as typhoons, typically associated with an El Nino.
"It looks very likely that globally 2014, 2015 and 2016 will all be amongst the very warmest years ever recorded," said scientist Rowan Sutton, who peer-reviewed the study.
"This is not a fluke," Sutton, who works for the National Centre for Atmospheric Science, continued. "We are seeing the effects of energy steadily accumulating in the Earth's oceans and atmosphere, caused by greenhouse gas emissions."
In the most recent El Nino update released last Thursday, the National Weather Service also noted the planet is currently experiencing the upswing of one of the strongest El Nino events, and quite possibly the strongest, of the past 65 years of recordkeeping.
More broadly, researchers say that the Earth may be seeing the end of a global slowdown in surface temperature increases--known by some as the global warming "pause"--and can expect to enter a period of higher temperature increases, returning to the heightened rate seen before the downtrend began.
"It is now likely that decadal warming rates will reach late 20th century levels in the next couple of years," said the study's lead researcher, professor Adam Scaife, of the Met Office Hadley Centre.
The study comes as international delegates are preparing for the COP21 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change meeting in Paris from November 30 to December 11, during which they are expected to cement climate policies with the aim of keeping global warming below 2degC.
Scaife notes that the combination of both natural and man-made factors has brought us to a "turning point" in the Earth's climate trajectory.
"We believe we are at an important point in the time series of the Earth's climate and we'll look back on this period as an important turning point," he said. "That's why we're emphasizing it because we're seeing so many big changes at once."
Scaife notes that El Ninos and atmospheric oscillations in the Atlantic are "natural." However, he adds, "they are now occurring on top of the influence coming from man's activity, so when they occur, when an El Nino comes and raises the global temperature, that is the icing on the cake, that is the extra bit that creates a record."
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