2020 to be hottest year in history of measurements in Europe
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2020 was the warmest year in Europe, reports Copernicus, the EU's satellite Earth observation system. The record from 2019 was improved by 0.4° C. 2020 was also the sixth hottest year in a row in the history of measurements for Europe. The hottest year in world history so far has been 2016, when temperatures in Europe were very similar to 2020. But it was the year of El Niño, a weather phenomenon that warms the oceans that makes climates naturally warmer.
“We live in an era of record temperatures. This is no longer groundbreaking news, but simply a permanent crisis,” Dr. Marshall Shepherd, professor of atmospheric science and geography at Georgia Athletic Association, said.
Analysis of global temperatures is regularly done by scientific institutions such as NASA and Berkeley Earth. Due to the slight discrepancy between them, it is possible that 2020 was not hotter than 2016, but it confirms the overall trend.
While the restrictions related to the coronavirus pandemic have reduced greenhouse gas emissions, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere continues to rise, increasing at a rate of around 2.3 ppm/year (1 ppm is one particle per million others) in 2020.
“While carbon dioxide levels have risen slightly less in 2020 than last year, this is nothing to be complacent about. As long as global net emissions do not drop to zero, CO2 will continue to accumulate in the atmosphere and consequently accelerate climate change,” Vincent-Henri Peuch, director of the atmosphere monitoring program at Copernicus, said.
The trend highlights the urgent need to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are a major contributor to man-made global warming.
