A new study finds human-caused global warming is significantly increasing the rate at which hot temperature records are being broken around the world.
Global annual temperature records show there were 17 record hot years from 1861 to 2005. The new study examines whether these temperature records are being broken more often and if so, whether human-caused global warming is to blame
The results show human influence has greatly increased the likelihood of record-breaking hot years occurring on a global scale. Without human-caused climate change, there should only have been an average of seven record hot years from 1861 to 2005, not 17. Further, human-caused climate change at least doubled the odds of having a record-breaking hot year from 1926 to 1945 and from 1967 onwards, according to the new study.
The study also projects that if greenhouse gas emissions remain high, the chance of seeing new global temperature records will continue to increase. By 2100, every other year will be a record breaker, on average, according to the new study accepted for publication in Earth’s Future, a journal of the American Geophysical Union.
The new findings show how climate change is visibly influencing Earth’s temperature, said Andrew King, a climate extremes research fellow at the University of Melbourne in Australia and lead author of the new study.
Continue reading at American Geophysical Union.
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