Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Friday 19 January 2018

Even without El Nino last year, Earth keeps on warming

BY SETH BORENSTEIN 2017 would go down as
AP Science Writer the hottest year on record,
WASHINGTON (AP) — Earth NASA chief climate scien-
last year wasn't quite as tist Gavin Schmidt said.
hot as 2016's record-shat- Carbon pollution is like put-
tering mark, but it ranked ting the Earth on an esca-
second or third, depend- lator of rising temperatures,
ing on who was counting. with natural variation such
Either way, scientists say it as El Nino or the cooling ef-
showed a clear signal of fect of volcanoes like hop-
man-made global warm- ping up or down a step or
ing because it was the two on that escalator, sci-
hottest year they've seen entists said.
without an El Nino boosting Not every year will be
temperatures naturally. warmer than the last be-
The National Oceanic cause of natural variations,
and Atmospheric Admin- but the trend over years
istration and the United will be rising temperatures,
Kingdom's meteorologi- they said.
cal office on Thursday an- The observed warming has
nounced that 2017 was been predicted within a
the third hottest year on few tenths of a degree in
record. At the same time, computer simulations go-
NASA and researchers In this Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2017 file photo, a man walks his dog across the snow-covered beach ing back to the 1970s and
from a nonprofit in Berke- while a cargo ship sits in the steaming fog of Lake Ontario in Toronto. 1980s, several scientists
ley, California, called it the Associated Press said.
second. split on 2017 being second ter much, said Princeton But 2017 finished with a It has been 33 years since
The agencies slightly dif- or third hottest. With four University climate scientist La Nina, the cousin of El the last month that the
fer because of how much teams calling it the sec- Gabriel Vecchi. What re- Nino that lowers tempera- globe was cooler than nor-
they count an overheat- ond hottest year and four ally matters is the clear tures. Had there been no mal, according to NOAA.
ing Arctic, where there are teams calling it third, the warming trend, he said. man-made warming, 2017 Northern Illinois Univer-
gaps in the data. United Nations' World Me- NOAA's five hottest years would have been average sity climate scientist Vic-
The global average tem- teorological Organization have been from 2010 on. or slightly cooler than nor- tor Gensini has never lived
perature in 2017 was 58.51 termed 2017 a tie for sec- During an El Nino year — mal, said National Center through a month or year
degrees (14.7 degrees Cel- ond with 2015. when a warming of the for Atmospheric Research that wasn't hotter than nor-
sius), which is 1.51 degrees "This is human-caused cli- central Pacific changes climate scientist Ben Sand- mal.
(0.84 Celsius) above the mate change in action," weather worldwide — the erson. "I look at pictures of the
20th century average and said Nobel Prize winning globe's annual tempera- On the other hand, NASA great winters of the late
just behind 2016 and 2015, chemist Mario Molina of ture can spike, naturally, calculated if the tem- '70s from my parents and
NOAA said. Other agen- the University of Califor- by a tenth or two of a de- perature contributions of wonder if I'll ever experi-
cies' figures were close but nia San Diego, who wasn't gree, scientists said. There El Nino and El Nina were ence anything like that in
not quite the same. part of any of the measur- was a strong El Nino during removed from the global my lifetime," said Gensini,
Earlier, European forecast- ing teams. "Climate is not 2015 and 2016. data through the years, who's 31.q
ers called 2017 the sec- weather, (which) can go
ond hottest year, while the to year. What counts is Drought-stricken Cape Town
up and down from year
Japanese Meteorological
Agency called it the third the longer-term change, tightens water restrictions
hottest. Two other scientific which is clearly upwards."
groups that use satellite, Which year is first, second
not ground, measurements or third doesn't really mat- JOHANNESBURG (AP) — the current limit and that assessed 200 water collec-
The South African city of the city will fine households tion points for residents as
Cape Town announced that use too much water. it prepares for the possible
new water restrictions Thurs- "We have reached a point April 21 cutoff.
day to combat drought, of no return," she said. Resi- Experts link the city's water
saying it was looking more dents must use no more shortages to factors includ-
likely that it will have to turn than 50 liters of water daily ing climate change and
off most taps on "Day Zero," beginning Feb. 1, down high population growth.
or April 21. from 87 liters currently. "We can no longer ask
Mayor Patricia de Lille said Cape Town, a major tour- people to stop wasting wa-
60 percent of residents are ist destination and a city ter. We must force them,"
"callously" using more than of 3.7 million people, has de Lille said.q