EarthCharts

Reliable Information About Planet Earth

Climate Change: Observed Effects

1.1°C

Observed Global Warming

In 2016 average global temperatures reached 1.1°C above the pre-industrial average.

Data

Met Office.1 

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Average global temperatures have been on an upward trend since the beginning of the 20th century. 2016 was a record high, with average global temperatures reaching 1.1°C above the 1850-1900 average. 2019 was the second warmest year on record at 1.05°C above the 1850-1900 average. Every year since 2001 has been warmer than any year of the 20th century, apart from 1998.

Over the past 40 years, each decade has been warmer than the previous one, with temperatures increasing by about 0.2°C per decade.

Data

As previous chart.

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References

  1. Met Office, ‘HadCRUT4 Dataset: Global Annual Average near-Surface Temperature Anomalies’ (Met Office, 2020) <https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcrut4/data/current/time_series/HadCRUT.4.6.0.0.annual_ns_avg.txt> (accessed 16 January 2020). [↩]

408ppm

In 2018 average atmospheric CO2 concentrations reached 408ppm.

Data:

Average annual atmospheric C02 concentrations: NOAA1

In 1750 atmospheric CO2 concentrations were about 278ppm2. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations have been increasing since the Industrial Revolution. The last time atmospheric CO2 concentrations were similar to today was 3 million years ago, when the global average temperature was 3°C higher, and sea levels were around 25m higher 3.

Atmospheric CO2 concentrations are currently increasing by about 2ppm per year4.

  1. NOAA, ‘ESRL Global Monitoring Division: Global Greenhouse Gas Reference Network – Trends in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide’ (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, 2019) https://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/data.html [accessed 20 December 2019] [↩]
  2. Dlugokencky, E, ‘Atmospheric Composition: Long-Lived Greenhouse Gases’, State of the Climate in 2017 (Special Supplement): Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 99.8 (2018), S46-S49. Link [↩]
  3. Wuebbles, D. et al. ‘Our Globally Changing Climate’, in Climate Science Special Report: Fourth National Climate Assessment, Volume I, ed. by D Wuebbles et al. (Washington DC: US Global Change Research Program, 2017) p.53 https://doi.org/10.7930/J08S4N35 [↩]
  4. IPCC, Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (Geneva: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2014) p.44. Link. [↩]