The world is threatened by increasing warming
Glaciers are melting quickly, creating new ice-free areas in the Arctic. There are severe droughts, followed by heavy rainfall and floods. Cyclones and heatwaves are happening more often worldwide.
Record fossil fuel production and combustion in 2023 is fueling this strange climate behavior. Researchers believe that the foundation of modern human civilization is going to be under threat due to increasing warming.
The American Meteorological Society (AMS) released their annual Global Climate Survey on August 30. The report paints a grim picture of a rapidly changing world. According to the report, the world is now rapidly moving towards a state that has never been seen in the history of mankind.
It said 2023 was the hottest year on record. Global average temperatures reached record highs every month from June to December.
Meanwhile, the average sea temperature for the year also reached a record high of 18.99 degrees Celsius. As a result, new disasters are emerging, ranging from cyclones to flash floods and droughts.
The North Atlantic has seen an above-normal hurricane season for the seventh year in a row. A new layer of destructive storms has emerged in the Pacific Ocean.
Pacific Tropical Cyclone Freddie was the longest-lasting tropical cyclone, lasting five weeks from February 6 to March 12. Strangely, the storm crossed the entire Indian Ocean during this time and made three separate landfalls in Mozambique and Madagascar.
Hurricane Otis went from Category 1 to Category 5 in just 9 hours, a record.
Such events are what Texas Tech University climate scientist Kathryn Hayhoe calls ‘global freaks’. It is a process where unexpected or extreme weather conditions arise.
Last year saw the lowest rainfall in the world. However, the daily maximum rainfall was higher than the average. For example, in August 2023, Beijing experienced a record 30 inches of rain in less than two days, resulting in 137 deaths.
A record 30 inches of rain fell in one day in Greece. At the same time, the largest fire in the history of the European Union has also been seen in the country. A supercell storm has hit northern Italy, dropping hail over seven inches in diameter, breaking the European hail record. Japan’s cherry blossoms are the earliest in a 125-year record.
Researchers say that such adverse weather behavior is human-made. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is currently at 420 parts per million, which is 50% higher than pre-industrial levels, as stated in a study by the AMS last year.
This rate of increase in carbon dioxide and warming is gradually accelerating. The increase in carbon dioxide during 2022-23 was 12 percent higher than in the previous decade. Which is five times more than the 1960s.
In a paper published in Oxford Open Climate Change in 2023, he argues that global average temperatures are increasing by about one-third to one-half degree Fahrenheit per decade.
According to Hansen’s team, if we consider this rate in addition to the warming caused by current fossil fuel use, the Paris Climate Agreement’s target warming limit would be 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.
The level at which scientists fear the most severe effects of climate warming will be reached by the end of this decade.
They also estimate that by 2050, Earth’s temperature will cross the red line of two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). The world will experience new and unusual weather patterns such as warmer seas, stronger storms, more droughts, and increased rainfall.
