2009 will be among the top 5 warmest years on record and its average global temperature is forecast to be more than 0.4 degrees Celsius above the long-term average...
 |
| Abnormal warming will damage farming. |
2009 will be among the top 5 warmest years on record and its average global temperature is forecast to be more than 0.4 degrees Celsius above the long-term average, according to British climate researchers.
The global warming will continue in spite of the cooling of huge areas of the Pacific Ocean caused by La Nina. 2009 is foreseen to be the warmest year since 2005 and the temperatures may be on the rise in the following years, said British scientists from the Met Office Hadley Center.
Currently the warmest year on record is 1998, which saw average temperatures of 14.52 degrees Celsius, well above 14 degrees Celsius of the 1961-1990 long-term average.
The climate that year was strongly influenced by El Nino with an abnormal warming of surface ocean waters in the eastern Pacific.
La Nina and its opposite El Nino ocean-atmosphere phenomenon have strong influences on global temperatures. La Nina reduces the sea surface temperature by around 0.5 degrees Celsius while El Nino has the opposite effect.
"Further warming to record levels is likely once a moderate El Nino develops," said Professor Chris Folland at the Met Office Hadley Center. "Phenomena such as El Nino and La Nina have a significant influence on global surface temperature."
Professor Phil Jones, director of the climate research center at the University of East Anglia considered that global warming had not ended despite the fact that 2009, like 2008, would not break the record of 1998. He also emphasized that the 2001-2007 average temperature was 14.44 degrees Celsius, 0.21 degrees Celsius warmer than that for 1991-2000.
T.T
