Global: 2017 third-warmest year ever
Source: Asia Insurance Review | Sep 2018
Global Nat CAT Risk Management
2017 was the third-warmest year on record for the globe, behind 2016 (first) and 2015, according to the 28th State of the Climate report released recently.
The report, an annual check-up led by the US-based National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information and published by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, also found that the planet experienced record-high greenhouse gas concentrations, as well as rises in sea level last year.
Other findings from the international report include:
- Levels of greenhouse gases were the highest on record. Major greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere – including carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide – reached new record highs. The 2017 average global CO2 concentration was 405 parts per million, the highest measured in the modern 38-year global climate record and records created from ice-core samples dating back as far as 800,000 years.
- Sea level rise hit a new high – about 7.7cm higher than the 1993 average. Global sea level is rising at an average rate of 3.1cm per decade.
- Heat in the upper ocean hit a record high, reflecting the continued accumulation of thermal energy in the uppermost 701m of the world’s oceans.
- Global land and ocean combined surface temperature reached a near-record high. Average global surface temperatures were 0.38-0.48 degrees Celsius above the 1981-2010 average. This marks 2017 as having the second or third warmest annual global temperature since records began in the mid- to late 1800s.The total number of tropical cyclones were slightly above average overall. There were 85 named tropical cyclones in 2017, slightly above the 1981-2010 average of 82 storms.
- Arctic and Antarctic maximum sea ice coverage fell to a record low.
- Unprecedented multiyear coral reef bleaching continued.
The report is based on contributions from more than 500 scientists in 65 countries and offers insight on global climate indicators, extreme weather events and other valuable environmental data. A