The Met Office has determined that 2022 could be listed as one of the hottest years experienced on Earth when compared to data from the pre-industrial period of 1850.
Earth’s global temperature has been forecast to come higher than the 1850 – 1900 period by somewhere in-between 0.97°C and 1.21°C. This will mark the 8th year in a row where the global average temperature has risen above 1.0°C, these began in 2015 and are believed to be a result of pollution and greenhouse gases causing the earth to heat up.
The changes to the average temperature are likely a result of global climate change, with places such as the arctic warming by several degrees. Average temperatures are determined by finding the middle ground of results across the globe, in 2014 the average was 0.96 while in 2021 it was 1.11 and is believed to continue following the pattern.
Certain events that occurred unexpectedly across the globe have caused the temperature to cool and be supressed in 2021, such as the influence of La Niña in the tropical Pacific where sea surface temperatures are below average, however without these interferences it is likely that the natural temperature will continue to rise according to the data acquired.
Prof. Adam Scaife, Head of Long Range Prediction at the Met Office, added:
“These forecasts for the coming year illustrate that the rise of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere is now warming the globe at such a rate as to make the El Nino years at the end of the 1990s cooler than the La Niña years two decades later.”