Scientists’ annual physical of planet: ‘Earth’s fever rises’

El Nino is likely to have an even greater impact on global surface temperatures in 2016, setting the stage for another record-breaking warming year, the report said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a report nicknamed the planet’s annual physical, hundreds of scientists across the globe said the Earth’s fever got worse past year, breaking dozens of climate records.

This weighty tome for 2015 is out and it’s packed with records.

The State of the Climate report, published by the American Meteorological Society, followed a report by two USA government agencies which found 2015’s global average temperature was the hottest ever by the widest margin on record.

Not only that, but atmospheric greenhouse gases, sea surface temperatures and global sea levels all reached record highs, while Arctic sea ice continued to melt and tropical cyclones were well above average.

This “means that 2016 is easily going to surpass this milestone”, said climatologist Jessica Blunden, lead editor at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. Globally, upper ocean heat content exceeded the record set in 2014, reflecting the continuing accumulation of thermal energy in the upper layer of the oceans. The maximum Arctic sea ice extent reached in February 2015 was the smallest in the 37-year satellite record, while the minimum sea ice extent that September was the fourth lowest on record.

Oklahoma University meteorology professor Jason Furtado said in an email that the report, which he wasn’t part of, illustrates the combined power of nature and humans on Earth’s climate: “It was like injecting an already amped-up climate system with a dose of (natural) steroids”.

Every single direct indicator of temperature described in the report leaves no doubt that 2015’s global surface temperature towered over any year preceding it. Numerous other climate indicators related to temperature exhibited characteristics consistent with such historic warmth.

“El Nino certainly gave it a boost, so to speak, from the standpoint of global temperatures”.

· Global surface temperature was the highest on record.

From the perspective of how much temperatures have risen since preindustrial times, 2015 was more than 1°C (1.8°F) above temperatures from the mid- to late-19th century. In Maryland, historic rainfall killed multiple people this week; in Siberia, melting permafrost released long-dormant deadly anthrax into the air, sickening several people and killing thousands of reindeer; in the Middle East last week, scorching temperatures smashed historic heat records for the Eastern Hemisphere. The North Atlantic southeast of Greenland remained colder than average and was colder than 2014.

Ocean heat content highest on record. Oceans absorb over 90 percent of Earth’s excess heat from global warming.

Sea level rose to its highest point in history, averaging about 3.3 millimeters per year, landing in at around about 70 millimeters (about 2.75 inches) higher than the 1993 average this past year.

The Antarctic was colder than average, and the influence of El Nino on atmospheric circulation helped shift sea ice cover “from record high levels in May to record low levels in August”, it said.

El Nino did some unusual things to the water cycle.

More extreme weather was seen in 2015, too, with an above-normal rainy season prompting major floods in some parts of the world.

Meanwhile, areas in “severe” drought rose from 8 percent in 2014 to 14 percent in 2015 globally.