Rising heat shown in a new Australian climate report reflects warming seen globally.
The impacts of rising temperatures are being felt in Australia and around the world. : Matteo Fusco/Unsplash Unsplash licence
Rising heat shown in a new Australian climate report reflects warming seen globally.
Australia has warmed by more than 1.5 degrees Celsius since 1910, according to a new report released by Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO.
The State of the Climate 2024 reports that with global emissions continuing to rise, Australia and the world are hotter than ever.
Not every state is warming at exactly the same rate: Queensland, South Australia and Northern Territory are warming faster than the national average, while other states and territories are warming slower.
Australia’s warming is in line with that of other countries, which have collectively warmed an average of 1.52 degrees over the same time period.
Global temperature, referred to in the Paris Agreement to restrain global warming to 1.5 or 2 degrees, has warmed slightly less: oceans, comprising 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, warm more slowly than land.
Nevertheless, with temperatures in 2023 shooting up to more than 1.4 degrees above the average in pre-industrial times, and more warming committed by the carbon dioxide we have recently emitted, many scientists expect that the Paris Agreement’s more ambitious goal will be lost by the end of the decade.
This warming has impacts both locally and globally.
Australian ski field operators are grappling with snow seasons that are expected to shrink by more than half on average, even with current policies moving the world away from worst-case warming scenarios.
Heavier extreme rainfall events, more severe fire weather and less water in many rivers are all emerging impacts discussed in the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO’s new report.
Sea rise is also a problem for many countries.
In Malaysia, for example, sea levels have risen by 12cm in the last 31 years. This rise is on top of land subsistence in parts of the country.
Countries are due to meet in Baku, Azerbaijan in early November for the annual UN Climate Change Conference.
Originally published under Creative Commons by 360info™.
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