365 Days of Climate Awareness 146 – 2006 State of the World Climate

2006 World Climate Data

• Global atmospheric CO₂ concentration: 381.15 ppm, +2.17 ppm from 2005
• Surface air temperature anomaly: +0.64°C/1.15°F, 12^th all-time 1880-2021
• Precipitation 34.0 (3%) mm above 1961-1990 global average
• Global mean sea level: 4.53  mm above 1993-2008 average, +1.43 mm from 2005
• Antarctic ozone hole: max. area 29.6 million km²; minimum O₃ 84 DU (Dobson Units)
• ENSO: Weak La Niña through April, neutral through August, El Niño through year’s end

Global Conditions

• Above-average temperatures: Scandinavia; China; Africa; southern South America
• Below-average temperatures: Central Russia
• Below-average precipitation: Australia
• Extreme precipitation: Amazon Basin; India; Philippines; Thailand; East Africa

Larger version

Minimum and maximum extremes for sea ice extent occurred in the Antarctic, while in the Arctic the second-lowest sea ice minimum in the historical record occurred. The ozone hole in Antarctica reached is greatest extent and lowest O₃ values yet measured. Northern Hemisphere snow cover was once again below average.

Globally, recent years have shown a trend—in both northern and southern hemispheres—toward dryness early in the year (January-April) and wetness later in the year (September-December). Longer-term, global precipitation has increased 0.19% per decade since 1900, and 0.59% per decade since the 70’s.

With the transition from La Niña to El Niño conditions, during the middle (boreal summer/austral winter) of the year, the equatorial Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) was active across the Pacific, bringing waves of rain to northern South America. Outside of the Amazon Basin rainfall was highly variable there, though later in the year the Caribbean was drier than normal due to the onset of El Niño.

The global ocean continued to absorb CO₂ at a roughly consistent rate of 2.2 Pg/year (Pg = Petagrams = 10¹⁵ g = one million billion grams), with an annual variability of ± 0.2 Pg, continuing the acidification of the ocean. The Atlantic has generallyl tended to absorb more CO₂ than the Pacific.

Tomorrow: 2007 State of the Climate, North America and Europe.

Be brave, and be well.