EarthScience Wire

State of the climate 2014: Record warmth

For State of the Climate in 2014 maps, images and highlights, visit Climate.gov. Image credit: NOAA
For State of the Climate in 2014 maps, images and highlights, visit Climate.gov. Image via NOAA

In 2014, the most essential indicators of Earth’s changing climate continued to reflect trends of a warming planet, with several markers, such as rising land and ocean temperature, sea levels and greenhouse gases setting new records. These key findings and others can be found in the State of the Climate in 2014 report, released online on July 16 by the American Meteorological Society (AMS). Read the full report here.

The report is based on contributions from 413 scientists from 58 countries around the world. It provides a detailed update on global climate indicators, notable weather events, and other data collected by environmental monitoring stations and instruments located on land, water, ice, and in space. The report was compiled by NOAA’s Center for Weather and Climate at the National Centers for Environmental Information.

The report’s climate indicators show patterns, changes and trends of the global climate system. Examples of the indicators include various types of greenhouse gases; temperatures throughout the atmosphere, ocean, and land; cloud cover; sea level; ocean salinity; sea ice extent; and snow cover. The indicators often reflect many thousands of measurements from multiple independent datasets.

Highlights from the report include:

Greenhouse gases continued to climb:
Major greenhouse gas concentrations, including carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, continued to rise during 2014, once again reaching historic high values. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations increased by 1.9 ppm in 2014, reaching a global average of 397.2 ppm for the year. This compares with a global average of 354.0 in 1990 when this report was first published just 25 years ago.

Record temperatures observed near the Earth’s surface:
Four independent global datasets showed that 2014 was the warmest year on record. The warmth was widespread across land areas. Europe experienced its warmest year on record, with more than 20 countries exceeding their previous records. Africa had above-average temperatures across most of the continent throughout 2014, Australia saw its third warmest year on record, Mexico had its warmest year on record, and Argentina and Uruguay each had their second warmest year on record. Eastern North America was the only major region to experience below-average annual temperatures.

Sea surface temperatures were record high:
The globally averaged sea surface temperature was the highest on record. The warmth was particularly notable in the North Pacific Ocean, where temperatures are in part likely driven by a transition of the Pacific decadal oscillation – a recurring pattern of ocean-atmosphere climate variability centered in the region.

Global sea level was record high:
Global average sea level rose to a record high in 2014. This keeps pace with the 3.2 ± 0.4 mm per year trend in sea level growth observed over the past two decades.

Global upper ocean heat content was record high:
Globally, upper ocean heat content reached a record high for the year, reflecting the continuing accumulation of thermal energy in the upper layer of the oceans. Oceans absorb over 90 percent of Earth’s excess heat from greenhouse gas forcing.

The Arctic continued to warm; sea ice extent remained low:
The Arctic experienced its fourth warmest year since records began in the early 20th century. Arctic snow melt occurred 20–30 days earlier than the 1998–2010 average. On the North Slope of Alaska, record high temperatures at 20-meter depth were measured at four of five permafrost observatories. The Arctic minimum sea ice extent reached 1.94 million square miles on September 17, the sixth lowest since satellite observations began in 1979. The eight lowest minimum sea ice extents during this period have occurred in the last eight years.

The Antarctic showed highly variable temperature patterns; sea ice extent reached record high:
Temperature patterns across the Antarctic showed strong seasonal and regional patterns of warmer-than-normal and cooler-than-normal conditions, resulting in near-average conditions for the year for the continent as a whole. The Antarctic maximum sea ice extent reached a record high of 7.78 million square miles on September 20. This is 220,000 square miles more than the previous record of 7.56 million square miles that occurred in 2013. This was the third consecutive year of record maximum sea ice extent.

The State of the Climate in 2014 is the 25th edition in a peer-reviewed series published annually as a special supplement to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. The journal makes the full report openly available online. Read it here.

Bottom line: The American Meteorological Society (AMS) released the State of the Climate in 2014 report on July 16, 2014. According to the report, in 2014, the most essential indicators of Earth’s changing climate continued to reflect trends of a warming planet, with several markers, such as rising land and ocean temperature, sea levels and greenhouse gases setting new records.

Read more from NOAA

Posted 
July 20, 2015
 in 
Earth

Like what you read?
Subscribe and receive daily news delivered to your inbox.

Your email address will only be used for EarthSky content. Privacy Policy
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

More from 

Editors of EarthSky

View All