Latest Prime Meridian newsletter covering weather and climate, globally and locally, for September 2014.
Latest Prime Meridian newsletter covering weather and climate, globally and locally, for September 2014.
This issue pays particular attention to the failure to keep global temperature rises below the 2oC limit.
There have been a succession of climate summits and assurances from politicians about curtailing CO2 emissions in order to keep the rise in global temperature below 2oC, which has been quoted widely as the threshold for dangerous climate change. In fact, CO2 emissions have continued to rise at an average of 2.5 % per decade.
The fact that surface temperature has not yet exceeded its 1998 peak is sometimes quoted by those arguing against man-made climate change as evidence that supposed global warming has ceased. Studies have confirmed, however, that warming has continued, but that it has been concentrated in the upper part of the oceans.
The apparent futility of this limit is not a new revelation. It has been the subject of concern in the scientific community for some years. “Pretending that they are chasing this unattainable goal has also allowed governments to ignore the need for massive adaptation to climate change.”
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