The Last Decade Was The Hottest in 125,000 Years
The temperature of planet Earth is now 0.91°C (1.64°F) above the 20th century average of 12.9°C (55.2°F) and 0.8 degrees C (1.4 degrees F) higher in comparison to the first decade of the twentieth century. The past decade is declared as the hottest of the past two millennia with 2019 as the third hottest year on record as the temperature is accelerating worldwide. Every decade is hotter than before since 1980 and the last decade (2010-2019) is ranked number 1.
“According to NASA and Copernicus Climate Change Service 2020 and 2016 are crowned as the hottest and second hottest years by a tiny margin”
It is evident from the paleoclimatic data collected from tree rings, sediments, and other examinations of planet Earth, that the last time a planet was this hot was around 125,000 years ago. According to climate scientist Gavin Schmidt, most of the temperature rise is observed in the last 35 years and 16 out of 17 years happened between the years 2001-2020. This gradual temperature rise is warming the planet to the temperature level of the last interglacial period. Back then this temperature rise allowed species to adapt and evolve but now it is causing extinction.
The past six years, from 2014 to 2019 were freakishly hot and caused multiple natural disasters observed in different parts of the world. Severe heatwaves in Europe, US, and India, Deadly wildfire eruptions in Australia, California, and Greece, and the Arctic with hotter degrees than ever.
Human beings have been influencing the planet since his first arrival on the planet. Overuse of fossil fuels for transportation, aerosols, and chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) is destroying the atmosphere by accelerating the gaseous level, absorbing more heat, these greenhouse gases end up funneled in the water bodies, increasing the water temperature. this warming trend sped up in the last few decades and is linked to the burning of gas, oil, and coal, the main reason for greenhouse gas production. This has increased the temperature that can’t be explained with any natural variability. Deforestation is also a major cause of impure atmosphere leading to rising in temperature. forests are important cooling agents of the Earth. Between 2015-2020, the deforestation rate was estimated at 10 million hectares per year,
“Humans started to influence the environment thousands of years ago by changing the vegetation cover of the Earth’s landscapes when we cleared forests for agriculture,”
Julia Pongratz
This is how forest degradation is contributing to global warming. A consensus among climate scientists believes that CO2 from tropical deforestation now adds up to 10 percent of global warming. CO2 levels in the air are rising rapidly.
Researchers believe that the last time when the temperature was this high was roughly 15 million years ago when the sea level was 25-40 meters (80-30) feet higher. The last time Carbon Dioxide caused this much temperature rise as today was about two millennia ago, in the Pliocene period, when the temperature was 3 to 4 degrees higher. the carbon dioxide level which is 400ppm now. During the Pliocene, it was around 350ppm greatly affecting sea levels.
Average Global Surface temperature is rising at an average rate of 0.17, every decade since 1901. This gradual rise in the temperature has put the world in Red zone. These human activities have a major climatic influence over Earth’s temperatures. Earth’s surface is significantly warming up over time. The past six years have been the warmest of all times. This rise in measure can bring about deadly consequences. Measures should be taken to save the world for our coming generation.
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