Spike in 2014-16 temperatures largest since 1900: Study

Between 2014 and 2016, researchers have found a tremendous rise in average global temperatures, by almost 25 per cent.

By: IANS | New York | Published: January 25, 2018 5:47 pm

Average global temperatures, climate change, global warming, University of Arizona, heat waves, droughts, floods, El Nino, polar ice cap melt, coral bleaching, Pacific Ocean

The spike in warming from 2014 to 2016 coincided with extreme weather events worldwide, including heat waves, droughts, floods, extensive melting of polar ice and global coral bleaching. (Image Source: NASA)

Global surface temperatures increased by a record amount from 2014 to 2016, boosting the total amount of warming since 1900 by more than 25 per cent in just three years, new research has found. “Our paper is the first one to quantify this jump and identify the fundamental reason for this jump,” said lead author Jianjun Yin, Associate Professor at University of Arizona in the US.

The Earth’s average surface temperature climbed about 0.9 degree Celsius from 1900 to 2013. But by the end of 2016, the global surface temperature had climbed an additional 0.24 degree Celsius, said the study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The spike in warming from 2014 to 2016 coincided with extreme weather events worldwide, including heat waves, droughts, floods, extensive melting of polar ice and global coral bleaching.