October was the hottest in the history of measurements – the entire year, perhaps the hottest in 100,000 years

The limit of 1.5 degrees defined at the Paris Climate Conference is close to being broken.

The October that ended was worldwide the hottest October in the entire recorded weather history, says the EU’s weather service Copernicus.

Large areas of the world suffered from severe heat and drought at the same time that in many other regions exceptional rains and storms caused floods.

Meteorologists are already practically certain that the current year as a whole will be the warmest in the history of measurements. The climate has now warmed 1.43 degrees compared to pre-industrial times.

The surface temperatures of sea waters were also the highest in the history of measurements worldwide. The average sea surface temperature in October was 20.79 degrees, excluding polar regions.

The heat is the result of both human-caused greenhouse gas emissions and this year’s El Niño weather phenomenon, which warms the surface waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean. The previous hottest year in the measurement history was in 2016, which was also an El Niño year.

– Most El Niño years are now record years because the extra warming caused by El Niño increases the steady increase in human-caused warming, says a University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann.

Climatologists have also investigated the climate of prehistoric times from, for example, ice samples and tree rings. Based on this, it is possible that the current year will be warmer than the earth has been for up to 100,000 years.

The goals of the Paris climate meeting are getting out of hand

Professor at the University of Oregon William Ripple said that he considers it likely that the average annual temperature will increase by more than 1.5 degrees, i.e. more than the goal defined in the Paris climate agreement. Ripple was one of the key authors of the State of the Climate report published last month.

– When temperatures rise, the risk of climate tipping points, such as the melting of the ice sheet and the thinning of forests, also increases. These tipping points could change the climate in a way that may be difficult or impossible to stop, Ripple said.

World leaders are scheduled to gather in November-December in the United Arab Emirates for the Dubai Climate Summit. Difficult things lie ahead at the meeting, as the goals of the Paris climate meeting are getting out of hand.

Climate scientists believe that if temperatures rise above 1.5 degrees, it will have catastrophic consequences for land fires.

For example, carbon dioxide emissions, the majority of which originate from the use of fossil fuels, continue to grow, even though they should be halved within this decade.

Sources: AFP, Reuters, STT