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A28 SCIENCE
Thursday 16 January 2020
Fever chart: Earth had its hottest decade on record in 2010s

By SETH BORENSTEIN Parts of Europe, Asia, Aus-
AP Science Writer tralia, Africa and South
WASHINGTON (AP) — The America had record-high
decade that just ended temperatures in 2019, as
was by far the hottest did Alaska, New Zealand
ever measured on Earth, and New Mexico, NOAA
capped off by the second- said.
warmest year on record, Alaska was 6.2 degrees
two U.S. agencies reported warmer than average, at
Wednesday. And scientists 32.2 F.
said they see no end to the It was the first time in re-
way man-made climate corded history that Alaska's
change keeps shattering average annual tempera-
records. ture was above freezing.
"If you think you've heard The United States, which
this story before, you had only its 34th-warmest
haven't seen anything year, was nevertheless hit
yet," Gavin Schmidt, direc- by 14 weather disasters
tor of NASA's Goddard In- that caused $1 billion or
stitute for Space Studies, more in damage last year,
said at the close of a de- according to NOAA.
cade plagued by raging Globally the past five years
wildfires, melting ice and stand out as the hottest five
extreme weather that re- In this May 14, 2016, file photo, boys on their way to play cricket walk through a dried patch of on record, nearly 1.7 de-
searchers have repeatedly Chandola Lake in Ahmadabad, India. grees (0.9 C) warmer than
tied to human activity. Associated Press the 20th century average.
Schmidt said Earth as a The last year Earth was
whole is probably the hot- NASA and NOAA also cal- climate start, and I fear extra heat from the sun, cooler than the 20th cen-
test it has been during culated that 2019 was the what the rest of the year more reflection of sunlight tury average was 1976, be-
the Holocene — the past second-hottest year in the will bring to our doorsteps." because of volcanic par- fore Democratic presiden-
11,500 years or so — mean- 140 years of record-keep- NASA's Schmidt said that ticles in atmosphere, and tial candidate Pete Butti-
ing this could be the warm- ing. overall, Earth is now about just random climate varia- gieg, French President Em-
est period since the dawn Five other global teams 1.2 degrees C (nearly 2.2 tions — "are all much too manuel Macron and Don-
of civilization. of monitoring scientists F) hotter since the begin- small to explain the long- ald Trump Jr. were born.
But scientists' estimates of agreed, based on tem- ning of the industrial age, term trend," Princeton Uni- If you want to know what
ancient global tempera- perature readings taken a number that is important versity climate scientist Mi- this means for people
tures, based on tree rings, on Earth's surface, while because in 2015 global chael Oppenheimer said. and the world, just look at
ice cores and other tell- various satellite-based leaders adopted a goal of Scientists said the the de- wildfire-stricken Australia,
tale signs, are not precise measurements said it was preventing 1.5 C (2.7 F) of cade-long data is more Schmidt and others said.
enough to say that with anywhere from the hottest warming since the rise of telling than the year-to- Global warming is already
certainty. year on record to the third- big industry in the mid- to year measurements, where being seen in heat waves,
The 2010s averaged 58.4 hottest. late 1800s. natural variations such as ice sheet melt, more wild-
degrees Fahrenheit (14.7 Several scientists said the He said that shows the glob- El Nino, the periodic warm- fires, stronger storms, flood-
degrees Celsius) world- coming years will be even al goal can't be achieved. ing of the Pacific Ocean, inducing downpours and
wide, or 1.4 degrees (0.8 C) hotter, knocking these (NOAA and the World Me- come into play. accelerating sea level rise,
higher than the 20th centu- years out of the record teorological Organization "Human-caused climate said Hans-Otto Portner,
ry average and more than books. put the warming since the change is responsible for who heads the U.N. Inter-
one-third of a degree (one- "This is going to be part of dawn of industry slightly the long-term warming — governmental Panel on
fifth of a degree C) warmer what we see every year un- lower.) it's responsible for why the Climate Change team that
than the previous decade, til we stabilize greenhouse "We have strong human- 2010s were warmer than looks at the impact of cli-
which had been the hot- gases" from the burning of induced global warming," 2000s, which were warmer mate change.
test on record, according coal, oil and gas, Schmidt said Friederike Otto, a cli- than the 1990s, etc.," Texas Sea ice both in the Arctic
to the National Oceanic said. mate scientist at the Univer- A&M University climate sci- and Antarctic reached
and Atmospheric Adminis- "It's sobering to think that sity of Oxford. "What we ob- entist Andrew Dessler said their second-lowest levels
tration. we might be breaking serve here is exactly what in an email. in 40 years of monitoring,
The decade had eight of global temperature re- our physical understanding "But humans are not re- NOAA reported.
the 10 hottest years on re- cords in quick succession," tells us to expect and there sponsible for why 2016 was Dr. Renee Salas, a Boston
cord. The only other years said Georgia Tech climate is no other explanation." warmer than 2015 or why emergency room physi-
in the top 10 were 2005 scientist Kim Cobb. Other explanations that 2019 was warmer than cian and Harvard profes-
and 1998. "2020 is off to a horrifying rely on natural causes — 2018." sor who studies climate
NOAA said the average change's effects on health,
global temperature in 2019 said "these temperatures
was 58.7 degrees (14.85 C), are not just statistics but
or just a few hundredths have names and stories,"
of a degree behind 2016, mentioning a construction
when the world got extra worker and an elderly man
heat from El Nino. with no air conditioning
That's 1.71 degrees (0.95 C) who were her patients this
higher than the 20th cen- summer.
tury average and 2.08 de- "The planet has a fever,"
grees (1.16 C) warmer than Salas said, "and that's its
the late 19th century. symptom."q