New Heat Record Registered in 2016 Serves as Compelling Evidence for Climate Change

Since reliable records began in the 19^th century, last year has been deemed as the hottest ever registered, according to a statement released on Thursday, January 5^th by the Copernicus Climate Change Service. In 2015, 200 nations agreed that climate change is a real issue that must be addressed and so the Paris Agreement came into being. The accord focused on limiting the global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times. However, data pulled in 2016 shows that Earth is still heating up, coming dangerously close to the limit specified in the Paris Agreement.

So far, there has been registered a 1.5 C increase in global warming above pre-industrial times. In order to prevent the global temperatures from rising even more, the world leaders who signed the Paris Agreement started to turn towards green energy, renouncing fossil fuels.

Nevertheless, the new numbers show that, if something, the situation is gradually getting worse. Even though the circumstances are dire, the news did not come as much of a shock for the scientific community since experts predicted an increase in global temperatures in 2016. Most worrying is that the Arctic region suffered the most, while other parts of the globe such as Asia and Africa also registered sharp rises in temperatures. At the same time, however, several regions in Antarctica and South America seemed to buck the trend.

According to the EU’s body official records, last year global surface temperatures rose to 58.64 degrees F (14.8 C), 2.3 degrees F (1.3 C) higher than experts have anticipated. The researchers link the steady increase in global temperatures to natural manifestations, such as the El Nino event in the Pacific Ocean, responsible for releasing incredible amounts of heat to the atmosphere. Another, more common cause for climate change was attributed to the greenhouse gasses build-up.

The study shows that in February alone, as of last year, there has been a 1.5 C increase in global temperatures registered. In spite of this, the President-elect, Donald J. Trump, has often called climate change a hoax. Even more, he also threatened to dissolve the Paris Agreement on several occasions. In light of the recent findings, however, he says that he keeps an open mind and sees a link between global warming and human activity.

Image Source: Pixabay