global warming – Page 49 – Desdemona Despair

At this pavement stall, a worker rests as temperatures in May 2022 crossed 45 degrees Celsius. Photo: Anjana Pasricha / VOA

May 29, 2022

India faces wider coal shortages, worsening power-outage risks – Projected annual coal shortage nearly three times earlier projection

By Sudarshan Varadhan 27 May 2022 NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India is expected to face a wider coal shortage during the quarter ending September 2022 over expectations of higher power demand, an internal power ministry presentation seen by Reuters showed, worsening risks of widespread power outages. The energy-hungry nation expects local coal supply to fall […]

Annual Greenhouse Gas Index (AGGI), 1700-2021. For 2021, the AGGI was a record high 1.49, representing an increase in total direct radiative forcing of 49 percent since 1990. The atmospheric abundance of CO2 has increased by an average of 1.88 ppm per year over the past 42 years (1979-2021). This increase in CO2 is accelerating — while it averaged about 1.6 ppm per year in the 1980s and 1.5 ppm per year in the 1990s, the growth rate increased to 2.4 ppm per year during the last decade (2011-2021). The annual CO2 increase from 1 January 2021 to 1 January 2022 was 2.60 ± 0.08 ppm. Graphic: Montzka, 2022 / NOAA

May 25, 2022

Greenhouse gas pollution trapped record 49 percent more heat in 2021 than in 1990 – Methane increase in 2021 largest since 1982 – “The primary gases responsible for climate change continue rising rapidly”

23 May 2022 (NOAA) – Greenhouse gas pollution caused by human activities trapped 49 percent more heat in the atmosphere in 2021 than they did in 1990, according to NOAA scientists. NOAA’s Annual Greenhouse Gas Index, known as the AGGI, tracks increases in the warming influence of human emissions of heat-trapping gases, including carbon dioxide, methane, […]

Map showing land surface temperature across most of India, 29 April 2022. In Spring 2022, India faced a prolonged heatwave, with temperatures exceeding 42°C in numerous cities across the country. This came just weeks after India recorded its hottest March since the country’s meteorological department began its records over 120 years ago. This image, produced using data from the Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission, shows the land surface temperature across most of the nation. According to the India Meteorological Department, maximum air temperatures reached 43-46°C over most parts of Rajasthan, Vidarbha, Madhya Pradesh and East Uttar Pradesh; in many parts over Gujarat, interior Odisha; and in some parts of Madhya Maharashtra on 28 April 2022. Graphic: ESA

May 23, 2022

A hot, deadly summer is coming in 2022 with frequent blackouts – “We really expect these problems to get worse in the next five years”

By Dan Murtaugh, Rajesh Kumar Singh, and Naureen S. Malik 22 May 2022 (Bloomberg) – Global power grids are about to face their biggest test in decades with electricity generation strangled in the world’s largest economies. War, drought, shortages, historically low inventories, and a pandemic backlash: energy markets across the planet have been put through […]

Global map showing the highest marine heatwave (MHW) category experienced at each pixel in 2021 (reference period 1982–2011). Light grey indicates that no MHW occurred in a pixel over the entire year. (b) Stacked bar plot showing the percentage of the surface of the ocean experiencing an MHW on any given day of the year. (c) Stacked bar plot showing the cumulative percentage of the surface of the ocean that experienced an MHW over the year. Note: These values are based on when in the year a pixel first experienced its highest MHW category, so no pixel is counted twice. Horizontal lines in this figure show the final percentages for each category of MHW. (d) Stacked bar plot showing the cumulative number of MHW days averaged over the surface of the ocean. Note: This average is calculated by dividing the cumulative sum of MHW days per pixel weighted by the surface area of those pixels. Data: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface Temperature (NOAA OISST). Graphic: Robert Schlegel

May 22, 2022

WMO: Four key climate change indicators broke records in 2021 – Past seven years have been the warmest seven years on record – “A dismal litany of humanity’s failure to tackle climate disruption”

GENEVA, 18 May 2022 (WMO) – Four key climate change indicators – greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rise, ocean heat and ocean acidification – set new records in 2021. This is yet another clear sign that human activities are causing planetary scale changes on land, in the ocean, and in the atmosphere, with harmful and […]

A worker rests on sacks of processed wheat at a wholesale grain market in New Delhi, India, 17 May 2022. Photo: Amarjeet Kumar Singh / ANADOLU AGENCY / GETTY

May 22, 2022

India hit with deadly flooding and heat waves at the same time – Wheat prices exceed record high – “This is a real climate emergency”

By Arshad R. Zargar 18 May 2022 NEW DELHI (CBS News) – While a huge swathe of India bakes under record-breaking heat, the vast country’s northeast is being devastated by floods. Heavy rains started lashing the Indian states of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh last week, triggering floods and mudslides that have washed away houses, fields of […]

Surface temperature map for Europe and North Africa on 20 May 2022. Morocco observed its hottest day in May on 20 May 2022, recording a temperature of 45.7°C (114°F). With some areas reaching a scorching 44ºC in Spain on 21 May 2022, this unprecedented heatwave could make May the hottest month of the century. Graphic: Scott Duncan

May 22, 2022

Spain endures record heatwave as May 2022 to become hottest month of the century – Morocco suffers hottest day in May on record

22 May 2022 (Euronews) – Spain is feeling the heat after temperatures soared this weekend, reaching up to 15 degrees above average for the season. With some areas reaching a scorching 44ºC on Saturday, this unprecedented heatwave could make May the hottest month of the century. At least 13 regions were on alert due to […]

A farmer pours water on himself while working at a wheat farm in the Ludhiana district of Punjab, India, on Sunday, 1 May 2022. Photo: T. Narayan / Bloomberg / Getty Images

May 15, 2022

India bans wheat exports as heat wave hurts crop and domestic prices soar – “The Indian ban will lift global wheat prices”

By Rajendra Jadhav, Mayank Bhardwaj, and Nigam Prusty 15 May 2022 MUMBAI (Reuters) – India banned wheat exports on Saturday days after saying it was targeting record shipments this year, as a scorching heat wave curtailed output and domestic prices hit a record high. The government said it would still allow exports backed by already […]

Earth energy imbalance, global net flux, 2001-2021. The 12-month EEI, Mar 2021-Feb 2022, set another record. The annual Earth’s Energy Imbalance was +1.52 W/m2, the energy equivalent to 1 million Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs every day. Data: NASA CERES. Graphic: Leon Simons

May 8, 2022

New NASA data show Earth heating at unprecedented rate – “Like 800,000 nuclear power plants of 1 GW capacity heating Earth 24/7, 365 days a year”

By Leon Simons 5 May 2022 (Twitter) – NASA data shows our Earth is heating at unprecedented speed: 1.64 W/m2. CERES radiative flux data for 2021 has come available. The annual Earth’s Energy Imbalance was +1.52 W/m2, the energy equivalent to 1 million Hiroshima sized atomic bombs every day. Another 12-month EEI record (from Mar […]

Global daily atmospheric CO2, 2012-2022. The figure shows daily averaged CO2 from four GML Atmospheric Baseline observatories; Barrow, Alaska (in blue), Mauna Loa, Hawaii (in red), American Samoa (in green), and South Pole, Antarctica (in yellow). The thick black lines represent the average of the smoothed seasonal curves and the smoothed, de-seasonalized curves for each of the records. These lines are a very good estimate of the global average levels of CO2. Data for 2022 are through 7 May 2022. Graphic: NOAA

May 8, 2022

Earth’s atmospheric CO2 hits highest recorded level in human history – Unprecedented level comes as greenhouse gas emissions continue around the world

By Ethan Freedman 6 May 2022 NEW YORK (The Independent) – Monthly average carbon dioxide (CO2) levels have reached above 420 parts per million (ppm) for the first time on record. The new data, from Hawaii’s Mauna Loa Observatory, were released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Atmospheric CO2, driven higher in large part […]

Maximum temperatures at various locations in India, 27 April 2022. Graphic: India Meteorological Department / India.com News

May 8, 2022

Heatwave breaks records in India and it’s not even summer yet – “Hottest summer ever” for at least five states

By Analiza Pathak 28 April 2022 NEW DELHI (India.com News) – Summer came early this year and severe heatwave has gripped most parts of India this time with record temperatures being reported in March itself. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has announced heat wave warning for at least five states as India witnesses its “hottest […]