El Niño keeps temps warm

THE STRONG El Niño phenomenon is keeping the heat up six months after its onset as the amount of greenhouse gasses (GHG) in the atmosphere continues to reach record levels annually.

According to Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (Abom), the El Niño is expected to peak before the end of the year, then gradually weaken in the first quarter of 2016.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) also said in a new report that from 1990 to 2014, there was a 36 percent increase in the warming effect on global climate because of GHG.

In its latest fortnightly outlook, the Abom said oceanic and atmospheric indicators had been persistently strong over the past six months, comparable to 1997-98 and 1982-83.

The agency said sea surface temperatures in the central tropical Pacific were now around 2.4 degrees Celsius above average, so far the largest anomaly for the current occurrence of El Niño.

The Abom observed other indicators of a strong El Niño, including cloudiness near the international date line and trade winds being weaker and moving westerly instead of easterly.

“International climate models suggest the peak in El Niño sea surface temperatures is likely to occur before the end of the year, then gradually ease in the first quarter of 2016,” the ABOM said.

The WMO, which is part of the United Nations system, said in its latest Greenhouse Gas Bulletin that 2014 showed yet another record amount of GHG such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide from industrial, agricultural and domestic activities.

Such relentless rise in GHG amounts is fueling climate change and will make the planet more dangerous and inhospitable for future generations, WMO secretary general Michel Jarraud said in a statement.

“We will soon be living with globally averaged CO2 levels above 400 parts per million as a permanent reality,” Jarraud said.

He said this meant hotter global temperatures, more extreme weather events like heat waves and floods, melting ice, rising sea levels and increased acidity of the oceans.

“This is happening now and we are moving into unchartered territory at a frightening speed,” Jarraud said.