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March 24, 2016
<br />By Tim Profeta, Duke University's Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions
<br />February's Record Heat Astounds Scientists
<br />Data released last week by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows that the
<br />string of monthly global heat records e1xdc nalc a;3 , p: �r; a;; a� ;a;a;gar,,,_EC11l�a;;;,a;a;�„: , when the average worldwide
<br />temperature was 2 i 8 deg � e s ]Fa�ha e nheid above, the 20dh � �,nqi y aiyc rage- The tenth straight record
<br />breaking month, February was the most above - normal month since meteorologists began tracking
<br />temperatures in 1880.
<br />The m� auly six um i s of a ��o �iee nlai�p�in by which it beat the old February record, set last year, had
<br />federal scientists describing temperatures as "staggering." That margin was confirmed by the National
<br />Aeronautical and Space Administration, which uses statistical techniques different than NOAA's, as well
<br />as a University of Alabama Huntsville team and the private Remote Sensing System team, which relies on
<br />measurements from satellites.
<br />"Yes, of course El Nino has a hand in the February and other monthly temperatures records we've been
<br />observing, but not the only hand, not even the winning hand," Jessica Blunden of NOAA's National
<br />Center for Environmental Information d.old Me.-ishe. -i ale. "During the last big El Nino event of 97/98
<br />. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
<br />temperatures departures from average were much lower compared with what we're seeing now with this
<br />comparable event, which shows us that general warming is occurring over time."
<br />Many scientists say climate change is contributing to the recent high temperatures.
<br />"We know that atmospheric CO2 (carbon dioxide) and other greenhouse gases are continuing to increase,
<br />so that's contributing to climate change and rising temperatures overall," said Heaffier Qraven a climate
<br />. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . .
<br />scientists at the Imperial College of London.
<br />Another clue that rising greenhouse gases are contributing to the recent high temperatures is the location
<br />of the warmest - compared -to- average temperatures —the far northern latitudes, which are relatively
<br />unaffected by El Nino and where Arctic sea ice set a new lowest - extent record for a February. In those
<br />latitudes, including Alaska, recorded temperatures were a� lea g 9 d giKe s,,,,lFaihienh f� h ,gh� i ��lxq!l
<br />ar,,v;c °;p;;;ggc— "above the upper bounds" of NOAA's February Global Land and Ocean Temperature
<br />Anomalies map.
<br />Study: Carbon Dioxide Release Occurring Faster Than At Any Other Time
<br />A nw study in the journal Nature Geoscience which comes on the heels of NOAA's record temperature
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<br />announcement, finds that humans are releasing climate- change- causing carbon dioxide 10 times faster
<br />than at any other time in the last .6 6...m11,I11(:2.m... cam.
<br />"I think to me it's completely clear we have entered a completely new era in terms of what humans can do
<br />on this planet," said .Rjc;h..a;g;;�;,,,,, c °,c °l�,c° study co- author with the University of Hawaii at Manoa. "... If you
<br />look at the past and if you study the geologic record, every time when there was massive carbon release
<br />there were major changes on the planet and there were significant, large changes in the climate."
<br />To determine how carbon dioxide levels have influenced temperatures, researchers examined warming
<br />millions of years ago in the Paleocene - Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) by comparing carbon and
<br />oxygen tracers, called isotopes, deep in the New Jersey sea floor. PETM is thought to be a gL)ssib1e sganaa.
<br />m for the potential impacts of carbon pollutions, as it refers to a period in history when the concentration
<br />of atmospheric carbon dioxide spiked. ;;;rhely, a" .j. jm j that 40.8 billion tons of carbon dioxide was released
<br />into the atmosphere in 2014 but that no more than 4.4 billion tons was released in the peak year during
<br />PETM.
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