Climate scientist Axel Timmermann has recently stated that “this summer has seen the highest global mean sea surface temperatures ever recorded since their systematic measuring started. Temperatures even exceed those of the record-breaking 1998 El Niño year.” Timmermann has been studying the global climate system and according to his studies, the “Global Warming Hiatus” came to an end in April 2014.
He says that the North Pacific has been the cause of most of the global ocean warming, whose temperature has risen far above any recorded temperatures, has shifted hurricane tracks, and has changed trade winds. There has even been coral bleaching in the waters surrounding the Hawaiian Islands. Apparently, this began in January 2014 when the sea-surface temperatures suddenly began to rise at an unusual rate. Then in April and May, the warm waters of the western Pacific spread to the eastern Pacific, releasing large amounts of heat into the atmosphere. This heat hadn’t been in the atmosphere for nearly a decade.
(Sea Surface Temperatures 2003-2011)
Timmermann says that “record-breaking greenhouse gas concentrations and anomalously weak North Pacific summer trade winds, which usually cool the ocean surface, have contributed further to the rise in sea surface temperatures.” These warm temperatures have been spreading all the way to the Gulf of Alaska.
As this 14-year break in the ocean warming comes to an end, more questions come to the surface: What can we do? What other effects will this have on other environments? Will there be another hiatus?
Certainly this is just another piece in the puzzle of the larger global warming issue, and if it isn’t reversible, how can we stop other similar issues?
gigabytes
You are touching upon a very important issue. What will our world look like as temperatures continue to rise? What other changes will we continue to see in our daily lives due to global climate change? I recently read an article that added a new consequence of our failing environmental consciousness; the article stated that lighting storms are predicted to rise about 12% per each Celsius degree rise in global temperature. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/lightning-may-increase-with-global-warming/ This poses a whole new set of threats to our population that will continue to increase so long as we neglect our footprint on nature.