Source: ABC: AM program
URL: http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2015/s4172883.htm
Date: 03/02/2015
Event: WMO's Omar Baddour: "the temperature increase actually has accelerated"
Credit: ABC: AM program
People:
Michael Brissenden: It's hot and it's getting hotter. The World Meteorological Organization has already ranked 2014 as the hottest year on record. Scientists say 14 out of the 15 hottest years have occurred in the 21st century, which shows it's part of a continuing trend. And there's more evidence that oceans are warming up. New research out today says most of the heat is being absorbed in waters in the Southern Hemisphere. Bridget Brennan reports.
Bridget Brennan: For some time the World Meteorological Organization has been predicting a warmer future for the world. After analysing international data sets it says last year was the hottest since records began. Omar Baddour is the scientific coordinator of this year's report.
Omar Baddour: Two-thousand and fourteen actually is the hottest year of record. If you take 15 hot years, all of them, except one, occurred during the 21st century. Actually, this is very important information because this means that the temperature in the 21st century is still growing; it's still increasing.
Bridget Brennan: There's a minuscule difference in degrees separating the hottest years on record, but scientists argue that the long-term warming trend over three decades paints a clearer picture.
Omar Baddour: We need to look at the temperature increase based on more than one year. We have noted that the increase from 91/2000 to 2001/2010 was the highest increase comparing to the increase of the past decades. So this demonstrates that the temperature increase actually has accelerated.
Bridget Brennan: And the World Meteorological Organization is alarmed by the rising temperature of the world's oceans. It says global sea-surface temperatures were at a record high in 2014 and new research out today gives more insight into that than ever. Dr John Church is a CSIRO fellow and an author of a new research published in Nature Climate Change.
John Church: Well, it's a measure of the changing climate system because ocean warming has direct impacts on ocean ecosystems. If you look at the surface, from surface down to 500 metres, the rate of warming was about half a degree Celsius per century, so it's consistent with the rate of warming we've seen over the 20th century. But what's really important is the very large amount of heat being gained by the climate system and stored in the ocean.
Bridget Brennan: Data was collected from more than 3,500 buoys floating around the world. The scientists say the planet's oceans have heated up steadily since 2006. Most of the heat is being felt in the Southern Hemisphere, to the east and south-west of Australia.
John Church: For the first time we have almost global coverage. We can now estimate ocean heat content so accurately over such a small period of time, and the fact that the majority of the warming is in the Southern Hemisphere.
Michael Brissenden: Oceanographer Dr John Church ending Bridget Brennan's report.