Í kvöldfréttum útvarpsins (þriðjudaginn 10. ágúst) var sagt frá því að síðustu 12 mánuðir hafi verið þeir hlýjusta sem mælst hafa síðustu 130 ár, eða síðan mælingar hófust árið 1880 (ágúst 2009 – lok júlí 2010). Við höfum komið inn á þetta áður, sjá t.d. í frétt frá því í vor NASA | Heitasta 12 mánaða tímabilið, þannig að enn hefur hitastigið hækkað og einnig voru fyrstu 6 mánuðir þessa árs þeir heitustu fyrir það tímabil síðan mælingar hófust, sjá Hitastig | Júni 2010. Það kemur fram í frétt útvarpsins að færri hafa teljandi áhyggjur af þessu en áður og virðist fólk hugsa meira um fjármál heimsins og önnur atriði sem eru á dagsskrá í dag. Heyra má fréttina .
Í annarri frétt að þessu sinni í kvöldfréttum á Stöð 2 (einnig 10. ágúst), var sagt frá því að borgarísjaki hefði brotnað frá Petermann jöklinum. Óli Tynes fréttamaður Stöðvar 2, kaus að orða það svo að “vísindamenn eru ekki vissir um að þetta megi rekja til hlýnunar jarðar”. Það var tekið viðtal við vísindamann sem orðað þetta eitthvað á þann hátt að erfitt væri að tengja svona einstaka viðburði við núverandi hlýnun jarðar. Til að nálgast fréttina smellið hér.
Á vef Rúv má einnig nálgast frétt um borgarísjakann, sjá hér. Þarna er komið inn á hættuna sem getur stafað af borgarísjakanum og að hætta sé á, að hann rekist á olíuborpall olíufélagsins Cairn.
Tengdar færslur á loftslag.is:
- Hitastig | Júní 2010
- Hafís | Júli 2010
- NASA | Heitasta 12 mánaða tímabilið
- Hitastig árið 2009
- Tag – Hitastig
- Helstu sönnunargögn
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Think this summer is hot? Get used to it
By Doyle Rice, USA TODAY
This summer’s stifling, deadly heat along the Eastern Seaboard and Deep South could be a preview of summers to come over the next few decades, according to a report about global warming to be published Wednesday by the National Wildlife Federation and the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.
In fact, according to NWF climate scientist Amanda Staudt, the summer of 2010 might actually be considered mild compared with the typical summers in the future. “We all think this summer is miserable, but it’s nothing compared to what’s in store for us,” she says.
DEATH: Summer heat brings danger for seniors
NATIONAL EXTREMES: August 2010 temperatures
The East just sweltered through one of its hottest Julys on record, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Monday. Every state from Maine to Florida endured one its top-10 warmest Julys since records began in 1880. Two states, Delaware and Rhode Island, had their hottest July ever.
The report, a supplement to a 2009 report on heat waves, notes that more extremely hot summer days are projected for every part of the country by the year 2050: “Summers like the current one, or even worse, will become the norm by 2050 if global warming pollution continues to increase unabated.”
A federal report by the U.S. Global Change Research Program in 2009, which much of this report was based on, found that average temperatures in the USA have increased more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit in the past five decades, largely as the result of emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, which are produced by burning fossil fuels.
But can this summer’s heat be directly attributed to global warming?
Staudt concedes that it can’t, as does Chris Fenimore, a physical scientist at the National Climatic Data Center, who was not part of the study: “It’s not really possible to pin a single event on climate change.”
However, Fenimore notes that the frequency at which these extreme weather events are occurring — such as extreme heat or cold — are on the increase.
“Most locations have had about twice as many days with temperatures exceeding 90 degrees than they typically would by the end of July,” the NWF report states about this summer’s heat. “For example, Washington, D.C., had 39 days with temperatures in the 90s by July 31, compared to 18 days for an average year.”
Additional heat waves will be especially dangerous for vulnerable populations, Staudt says. “Air pollution in urban areas could get worse, bringing increased risk of heart attacks, strokes and asthma attacks. Children, the elderly, poor and people of color are especially vulnerable to these effects.”
The report states that global warming could increase asthma-triggering ground-level ozone by 10 parts per billion or more during heat waves by 2050 in the Midwest and Northeast. “For a city like Washington, D.C., that means about 42 excess deaths for each day that there is elevated ozone,” the report notes.
Now, about 4,000 to 5,000 Americans die each year because of asthma, says Mike Tringale of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.