HIGHER EARTH TEMPERATURE

 

For: Preliminary & Mains

Topics covered: Rising global temperature

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News Flash

According to a study, global temperatures in the 20th century are higher than ever before in at least 2,000 years.

• Global warming now affecting the entire planet at the same time.
• 98 percent of Earth’s surface affected by the change in climate
• The speed of global warming has never been as high as it is today.

 

It was assumed that the “Little Ice Age”- from about 1300 to 1850 AD- and the similarly famous “Medieval Warm Period” were global phenomena. However, researchers at the University of Bern in Switzerland disagreed. Researchers said that there is no evidence that there were uniform warm and cold periods across the globe over the last 2,000 years. The peak periods of pre-industrial warm and cold periods occurred at different times in different places.

 

Findings

• Earth’s surface affected because of an impression that is defined by the climate history of Europe and North America.
• The researcher said that regional climates in pre-industrial times were primarily influenced by random fluctuations within the climate systems themselves.
• External factors such as volcanic eruptions or solar activity were not intense enough to cause markedly warm or cold temperatures across the whole world for decades.
• The researchers relied on a database that includes tree rings, data from ice cores, lake sediments and corals, from the international research consortium PAGES.
• PAGES provides a comprehensive overview of climate data from the last 2,000 years.
• The analysis of data reveals that the minimum and maximum temperatures were different in different areas.
• Thermal extremes across the world cannot be inferred from regional temperature phenomena like the “Medieval Warm Period” in Europe and North America.
• Both studies show that the warmest period of the last 2,000 years was most likely in the 20th century

 

Conclusion

This shows that modern climate change cannot be explained by random fluctuations, but by anthropogenic emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases.

 

Source: The Hindu Businessline