AVERAGE GLOBAL TEMPERATURE EXCEEDED 2°C ABOVE PRE-INDUSTRIAL LEVELS
For the first time in history, the average global temperature has exceeded 2 degrees Celcium above the highest seasonal average temperature, based on the warming limit adopted in Paris. The Paris agreement, signed in 2015 after the UN Climate Change Conference – COP21 – aims to hold global average temperature increase “well below 2°C above preindustrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels”.
As mentioned in a report issued in 2018 by The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC), a UN-body, climate experts define warming as an increase “in a 30-year timespan global average” using “the reference period 1850-1900” to represent pre-industrial temperatures that is, before humans started burning fossil fuels on a large scale and changing the Earth’s natural climate.
According to data obtained on November 17, global temperature was for the first time 2.06 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 benchmark (Samantha Burgess, the Climate Change Service, Copernicus).
The threshold was only temporarily crossed and it does not signify a permanent increase above 2 degrees Calcium, yet the fact implies that global temperature is steadily increasing leading to a long-term situation and, in some cases, irreversible climate crisis.
It is estimated that the Earth is now warmer by about 1.2 degrees Celsius compared to the 1850-1900 levels. The reported record temperatures translate into droughts, devastating wildfires or strengthened hurricanes, scientists warn.
Big picture: Dark red colored areas are expected to be severely affected by global warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius, while the light red colored ones would be affected by a warming of 2 degrees Celsius. Other colors indicate there will be no significant change unless global warming exceeds 2 degrees Celsius / Source: climate.nasa.gov/
Small photo: A herd of cattle at the Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Station in southeastern Montana. According to an IPCC specialists report 7 -10 % of rangeland livestock will be lost in the event of a global warming of about 2 degrees Celsius / USDA
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