DOHA: The years 2001–2011 were all among the warmest on record, and, according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the first 10 months indicate that 2012 will most likely be no exception despite the cooling influence of La Niña early in the year.
WMO’s provisional annual statement on the state of the global climate also highlighted the unprecedented melt of the Arctic Sea ice and multiple weather and climate extremes which affected many parts of the world.
It was released yesterday to inform negotiators at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Doha, Qatar.
January-October 2012 has been the ninth warmest such period since records began in 1850. The global land and ocean surface temperature for the period was about 0.45°C above the corresponding 1961–1990 average of 14.2°C, according to the statement.
The year began with a weak-to-moderate strength La Niña, which had developed in October 2011. After the end of the La Niña in April 2012, the global land and ocean temperatures rose increasingly above the long-term average with each consecutive month. The six-month average of May–October 2012 was among the four warmest such periods on record.
“Naturally occurring climate variability due to phenomena such as El Niño and La Niña impact on temperatures and precipitation on a seasonal to annual scale. But they do not alter the underlying long-term trend of rising temperatures due to climate change as a result of human activities,” said WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud.
“The extent of Arctic sea ice reached a new record low. The alarming rate of its melt this year highlighted the far-reaching changes taking place on Earth’s oceans and biosphere. Climate change is taking place before our eyes and will continue to do so as a result of the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which have risen constantly and again reached new records,” added Jarraud. The Peninsula
