365 Days of Climate Awareness 166 – 2016 State of the World Climate

2016 World Climate Data

• Global atmospheric CO₂ concentration: 403.06 ppm, +3.71 ppm from 2015
• Surface air temperature anomaly: +0.99°C/1.78°F, 1^st all-time 1880-2021
• Precipitation 22.5 (0.4 in) mm below 1961-1990 global average 1033 mm (40.7 in)
• Global mean sea level 43.15 mm above 1993-2008 average, +2.16 mm from 2015
• Antarctic ozone hole: max. area 23.0 million km²; minimum O₃ 114 DU (Dobson Units)
• ENSO: El Niño early in the year, neutral through summer, weak La Niña later
• NAO: Alternating positive and negative

Larger Version

Global Conditions

• Above-average temperatures:  The Caribbean; northern and eastern South America; Africa; Indian Ocean islands; Europe; the Middle East; Russia; Mongolia; China; Japan; southeast Asia; India; Iran; Micronesia; Australia
• Below-average temperatures: southern South America
• Above-average precipitation: Northern & southern  South America; northern Africa; eastern and southern Europe; Russia; Mongolia; China; Japan; Australia
• Below-average precipitation: Amazon Basin and eastern South America; sub-Saharan and southern Africa; Micronesia

2016, the warmest year on record through December 2021, was also the first full year in which global atmospheric CO₂ averaged more than 400 ppm. During the past 800,000 years as recorded in bubbles in Antarctic ice, global CO₂ concentration has never exceeded 300 ppm until recently.  

Over that time global mean temperature has fluctuated between -8°C and +2°C (-14°F/+4°F) of the 20^th-century mean in and out of Milankovitch Cycle-correlated ice ages. According to geological records, the last time atmospheric CO₂ exceeded 400 ppm was 25 million years ago, as the planet cooled from the Cretaceous, when CO₂ concentrations exceeded 1500 ppm and the Western Interior Seaway covered much of Canada and the United States.

Paleoclimatic Records (Temperature, CO₂ content, dust concentration) from the Vostok ice core (Antarctica)

Global sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly was a record high again at +0.378°C (0.684°F), edging out 2015’s +0.365°C/0.657°F, despite ENSO reverting to neutral and then La Niña conditions. In the early part of the 21^st century, the rate of SST increase has been significantly higher than in the 20^th century: 1.62°C/2.92°F (2000-2016) vs. 1.0°C/1.8°F (1900-1999).

Paleoclimatic Reconstruction of Atmospheric CO₂ Content (21^st century projections to right).

While winds and atmospheric fluxes lead to varying patterns of warm and cold sea surface anomalies around the world, its overall heat content is steadily increasing. Different laboratories have estimated surface-to-floor overall ocean heating, from 1993 – 2016 at between 0.65 – 0.80 W/m², which is a little less than the global radiative forcing of carbon dioxide ( 1.0 W/m²). That equates to roughly 350 TW (terawatts = 10¹² = a million millions), more than 23 times humans’ consumption of energy (~15 TW).

Tomorrow: 2017 state of the climate, North America.

Be brave, and be well.