It’s official: The hottest decade on record
Lincoln National Park by Dave Sag, used with permission.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology has just announced, in its Annual Climate Statement 2009, that the previous decade, the ‘naughties’ as many call it, was indeed the hottest decade in recorded history. This puts paid to the lies and nonsense peddled by ranting climate deniers and their ill-informed ilk.
2009 ends Australia’s warmest decade on record, with a decadal mean temperature anomaly of +0.48°C (above the 1961-90 average). In Australia, each decade since the 1940s has been warmer than the preceding decade. In contrast, decadal temperature variations during the first few decades of Australia’s climate record do not display any specific trend. This suggests an apparent shift in Australia’s climate from one characterised by natural variability to one increasingly characterised by a trend to warmer temperatures.
In addition to this unequivocal observation, the BOM also highlighted the fact that, globally, 2009 was the 5th hottest year on record.
On 8 December 2009, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) stated that 2009 is expected to be the globe’s 5th warmest year on record (about 0.44°C above the 1961-90 average). A cooler-than-average global mean temperature has not been recorded since 1985, with the last decade also being the globe’s warmest on record. Increasing global mean temperatures derived from instrumental measurements are consistent with other independent indicators of climate change, such as reductions in sea-ice and snow cover, and record high global sea levels.
This chart makes the situation pretty clear:
Extreme heatwaves occurred across much of southern Australia during late January/early February resulting in a new Melbourne maximum temperature record of 46.4°C, new State maximum temperature records for Victoria (48.8°C at Hopetoun) and Tasmania (42.2°C at Scamander), and contributing to the Black Saturday bushfires. An unusual winter-time heatwave occurred during August over large parts of inland Australia and resulted in Australia’s warmest August on record. A third prolonged heatwave occurred during November across central and southeast Australia, leading to a record 8 consecutive days of maximum temperatures above 35°C in Adelaide, and numerous maximum temperature records across southern and eastern Australia, especially in South Australia and New South Wales. Based on the analysis of daily (maximum and minimum) temperature data above and below set thresholds, there are clear upward trends in the number of hot events and downward trends in the number of cold events (over the period 1960 to date), consistent with the background of global warming.
The chance of these extreme weather conditions not being directly linked to human induced global warming is infinitesimal. As I have maintained consistently for the last 6 or so years, we cannot afford to just sit and wait for governments to step in and save the day; they just won’t. We, individuals and the businesses we work within, must take charge of our own emissions first and foremost, and by doing so set the examples that the world needs.
As an individual you can start right now by offsetting your personal contribution to climate change. See Carbon Planet’s offsets for individuals and as a business you can engage Carbon Planet to help you measure, manage and minimise your carbon footprint. — DS