365 Days of Climate Awareness 162 – 2014 State of the World Climate

2014 World Climate Data

• Global atmospheric CO₂ concentration: 397.34ppm, +1.94 ppm from 2013
• Surface air temperature anomaly: +0.74°C/1.33°F, 8^th all-time 1880-2021
• Precipitation 0.52 mm below 1961-1990 global average
• Global mean sea level 30.00 mm above 1993-2008 average, +3.65 mm from 2013
• Antarctic ozone hole: max. area 24.1 million km²; minimum O₃ 114 DU (Dobson Units)
• ENSO: Neutral, trending toward El Niño by year’s end
• NAO: Strongly positive (large pressure difference north to south: warmer in eastern US & northern Europe, cooler in southern Europe)

Larger Version

Global Conditions

• Above-average temperatures: northern , eastern, southern South America; northern, western  & southern Africa; Europe; the Middle East; Russia; continental east Asia; India; Micronesia; Australia
• Below-average temperatures: Bolivia
• Above-average precipitation: southeastern South America; western Africa and the Sahel; Iberian peninsula; southern Europe; Australia
• Below-average precipitation: central & northwestern South America; eastern Brazil; horn & southeastern Africa; the Middle East; India

2014 was another record-setting year for both global air and sea surface temperatures, and the first time since records were kept that the record was broken in a non-El Niño year. Large positive temperature anomalies in every ocean basin were the main cause.  Globally, cyclone activity was above normal, with 91 named storms worldwide . While the Atlantic was relatively quiet, the eastern Pacific was very active with 22.  

Elevated air, water and ground temperatures led to increased melt-off of alpine and continental glaciers, with one of the longest melt seasons in recorded history, and Greenland’s albedo sinking to a near-record low. Summer permafrost temperatures at 20 m depth across Alaska were the highest on record.

Antarctic amplification does not happen with global heat transport in nearly the same way as in the Arctic, where many data streams (ocean and air temperature, glacial extent, sea ice extent and thickness, permafrost to name just a few) show a strong historical warming trend. The most obvious trend in the Antarctic is overall ice mass, which shows a clear downward trend.

Antarctic Continental Ice Cover, 2003 - 2021

Antarctica can be split into two halves: the eastern upland (see post no. 61), and the western archipelago (which might rebound out of the sea when the ice cap is removed). In the eastern half, the continental glacier is gaining mass, possibly because rising temperatures are facilitating greater snowfall. In the west, where the crust is lower and glaciers are in greater contact with the ocean, ice loss is precipitous and more than makes up for mass gain in the east. It is from western Antarctica that the major ice shelves have calved giant bergs, and will continue to do so.

Antarctic Ice Shelf Mass Gain and Loss, 1994 - 2012

Tomorrow: 2015 State of the Climate, North America.

Be brave, and be well.