365 Days of Climate Awareness 154 – 2010 State of the World Climate

2010 World Climate Data

• Global atmospheric CO₂ concentration: 388.76 ppm, +2.26 ppm from 2009
• Surface air temperature anomaly: +0.72°C/1.3°F, 8^th all-time 1880-2021
• Precipitation 3.5 mm (0.3%) above 1961-1990 global average
• Global mean sea level 13.55  mm above 1993-2008 average, +0.99 mm from 2009
• Antarctic ozone hole: max. area 22.6 million km²; minimum O₃ 119 DU (Dobson Units)
• ENSO: Strong El Niño early in the year; La Niña by early summer through year’s end
• NAO: Strongly negative

Global Conditions

• Above-average temperatures: the Caribbean; western and southern South America; Africa; Iberian peninsula; eastern Europe; Russia; Mongolia, central China; Japan; India; Pakistan; Iran; Australia
• Below-average temperatures: UK; Western & central Europe; Scandinavia; northern & southern China
• Above-average precipitation: the Caribbean (due to cyclone activity); the Amazon Basin; North, West & East Africa; central Europe; the Balkans; Belarus; Ukraine; China; Australia
• Below-average precipitation: northern South America; western Europe; India (weak monsoon); Iran; Iraq

Larger Version

Continued warm air temperatures in the Arctic led to another record-setting year for Greenland ice sheet melt. Summer Arctic sea ice extent was among the lowest of the preceding 30 years. Changing vegetation patterns in northern Canada and Alaska indicate warming permafrost. By contrast, Antarctica experienced a somewhat colder year than average, with reduced (austral) summer melt and then-record sea ice extent.

Winter in Scandinavia and western Europe was severe, due in part to the very negative North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), with Scotland and Ireland logging their coldest winters since the 1960’s. Extreme cold penetrated into central Europe as well, including Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Snow cover was well above average for the winter, and after a warm 2009 fall and near-record low, Baltic sea ice recovered quickly to its normal extent. Snowfall across Germany, Scandinavia, and the British Isles was well above average. In January-Februay India experienced a stretch of cold weather which led to 600 deaths.

Several heat waves afflicted the planet in 2010, including India in April, then India and Pakistan in late May. Record heat occurred in Russia, Scandinavia and Europe in June and July, with 15,000 heat-related deaths reported in Russia. Record warm summers also occurred in China and Japan. In austral summer (Jan-Feb) a heat wave swept Brazil.

Tomorrow: 2011 State of the Climate, North America.

Be brave, and be well. We have not lost our democracy yet. It really does, right now, come down to the filibuster versus democracy. The intransigence of a few cannot, must not, defeat the will of the majority.