365 Days of Climate Awareness 172 – 2019 State of the World Climate

2019 World Climate Data

• Global atmospheric CO₂ concentration: 410.07 ppm, +2.45 ppm from 2018
• Surface air temperature anomaly: +0.95°C/1.71°F, 3^rd 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 55.59 mm above 1993-2008 average, +7.07 mm from 2018
• Antarctic ozone hole: max. area 16.4 million km²; minimum O₃ 120 DU (Dobson Units)
• ENSO: Weak El Niño early, neutral the rest of the year
• NAO: Positive  (warmer in southeastern US and northern Europe; cooler in northeastern Canada and southern Europe)

Larger Version

Global Conditions

• Above-average temperatures:  The Caribbean; South America; eastern, central and southernAfrica; western Indian Ocean islands; Europe; the Middle East; Russia; Siberia; Mongolia; central China; Japan; Micronesia; Australia
• Below-average temperatures: Northwestern Africa
• Above-average precipitation: Peru; the Amazon Basin; central and eastern Africa; northwestern Russia; northwestern China; India; Pakistan; Iran; north central and northeastern Australia
• Below-average precipitation: The Caribbean; eastern and southern  South America; the Niger River delta region; southern Africa; western Indian Ocean islands; the Iberian Peninsula; the Middle East; southern Australia

Carbon occurs in permafrost in two main forms: methane (CH₄) and carbon dioxide (CO₂). Methane tends to occur as the result of the anoxic breakdown of organic material, while carbon dioxide occurs with the oxidation of organic materials. Those are two very different types of process but both have produced huge reserves of greenhouse gases now locked in the permafrost of the north. In the shallower soil zones, where oxygen reaches, both can reside but carbon dioxide fluxes are the main concern of researchers.

A recent estimate of the amount of carbon stored in the soil of the continents—not the Arctic Ocean floor—is 1460-1600  Pg (Petagram = 10¹⁵ grams = 1 million billion grams = 1 million metric tons). Of that, 50-75% is estimated to be within 3 m of the surface. (Soil in the top 3 m of the rest of the planet is estimated to store about 2050 Pg C.) Through NASA’s satellite monitoring program it has been estimated that the circumpolar permafrost region is now a net carbon source into the atmosphere, of 0.3 Pg C per year. Throughout recent geological history the Arctic has tended to be a carbon sink. According to NASA’s data, the threshold has been crossed in the Arctic, from sink to source.

Organic Carbon Reservoir, Top 3 m of Arctic Soil

Tomorrow: 2020 state of the climate, North America.

Be brave, and be well.