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The Earth has been growing warmer for the past 50 years, and the past decade was the warmest on record, according to a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) report.
State of the Climate in 2009, released July 28, draws on contributions from over 300 scientists from 160 research groups in 48 countries. The report examines 10 key climate indicators, which all point to a warming world.
Seven indicators are rising: air temperatures over land, sea-surface temperatures, air temperatures over oceans, sea levels, ocean heat contents, humidity, and temperatures in the troposphere, the active weather layer of the atmosphere that's closest to the Earth's surface. The three declining indicators are arctic sea ice, glaciers, and spring snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere.
Not only were the 2000s the hottest decade on record but each of the last three decades was much warmer than the previous decade. See the NOAA press release, the 2009 State of the Climate report Web site, and the NOAA Climate Services Web site. Meanwhile, a Stanford University report finds that heat waves and extremely high temperatures could be commonplace in the US within 30 years. The study drew on two dozen climate models to project what would happen in the US if increased CO2 emissions raised the Earth's temperature by another 1.8°F, to 3.6°F hotter than the pre-industrial era, a scenario considered likely by the International Panel on Climate Change.
The study projects that from 2030-2039, most areas of Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah could endure at least seven seasons equally intense as the hottest season recorded between 1951-1999. The climate modeling, which used unprecedented high-resolution simulations, found that an intense heat wave was likely to occur as often as five times between 2020-2029, and that the following decade would be even hotter. The study found persistent hot, drier conditions over most of the U.S. by the 2030s, posing serious risks to human health and agriculture and leading to more droughts and wildfires. DOE provided partial support for the study. See the Stanford University press release.
China has overtaken the US to become the largest energy consumer in the world, according to preliminary data from the International Energy Agency (IEA).
China used roughly 2.25 billion tons of oil last year compared to the 2.2 billion tons by the U.S. China rose to the top faster than expected because it was less affected by the global financial crisis than was the U.S. and its energy consumption would be even higher if the government hadn't made significant progress in reducing the energy intensity of the nation's economy (amount of energy used per unit of output).
The IEA notes that China has experienced "phenomenal" growth in energy demand in recent years, doubling its energy use since 2000. But despite this rapid growth in demand, China's energy consumption on a per capita basis is still only approximately one-third of the average among industrialized countries. Considering this low per-capita energy consumption and China's rank as the most populous nation on the planet, the IEA concludes, "prospects for further growth are very strong." The IEA will further explore these trends in its
World Energy Outlook 2010, due to be published on November 3. See the
IEA press release and the accompanying
chart.
