WMO statement on the status of the global climate in 2009 WMO-No. 1055 WMO-No. 1055 © World Meteorological Organization, 2010 The right of publication in print, electronic and any other form and in any language is reserved by WMO. Short extracts from WMO publications may be reproduced without authorization, provided that the complete source is clearly indicated. Editorial correspondence and requests to publish, reproduce or translate this publication in part or in whole should be addressed to: Chair, Publications Board World Meteorological Organization (WMO) 7 bis, avenue de la Paix Tel.: +41 (0) 22 730 84 03 P.O. Box 2300 Fax: +41 (0) 22 730 80 40 CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland E-mail: [email protected] ISBN 978-92-63-11055-8 WMO in collaboration with Members issues since 1993 annual statements on the status of the global climate. This publication was issued in collaboration with the Hadley Centre of the UK Meteorological Office and the Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; and the National Climatic Data Center, the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service, and the National Weather Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Goddard Institute for Space Studies operated by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the National Snow and Ice Data Center, United States of America. Other contributors are the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services of Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Japan, Morocco, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey and Uruguay. The WMO Regional Association VI (Europe) Regional Climate Centre on Climate Monitoring, the African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development (ACMAD, Niamey), the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), the International Research Centre on El Niño (CIIFEN, Guayaquil, Ecuador), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) Climate Prediction and Applications Centre (ICPAC, Nairobi), the Southern African Development Community Drought Monitoring Centre (SADC DMC, Gabarone) and the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) also contributed. Cover: The beauty and variety of the weather. Illustration by Felix Jegenberg, 8 years old, Sweden NOTE The designations employed in WMO publications and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of WMO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. Opinions expressed in WMO publications are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of WMO. The mention of specific companies or products does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by WMO in preference to others of a similar nature which are not mentioned or advertised. Foreword Since 1993, the World Meteorological and precipitation variations, tropical cyclones, Organization (WMO) has been issuing its drought and flooding, snow cover and sea annual “WMO Statement on the Status of ice, the ozone layer and many other critical the Global Climate”, which has become an weather, climate and water parameters moni- authoritative regular source of information, tored across the world over the year which eagerly sought by the scientific community has concluded. and the media. Equally outstanding were the continuing The present Statement is the latest addition to efforts of several climate centres to develop this successful series, and a key result is that the long-term homogeneous datasets required the period 2000–2009 was the warmest dec- to support the authoritative assessments that ade on record since the beginning of modern contributed to the work of WMO, the United instrumental measurements around 1850. Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Intergovernmental Panel on A number of extreme weather and climate Climate Change, the World Climate Research events were recorded in 2009, including in Programme and other key scientific activities particular heatwaves in China, India and south- across the world. ern Europe, as well as in Australia. Severe droughts, intense storms and flooding were I therefore wish to express the gratitude of also registered in different parts of the world, the World Meteorological Organization to all and the end of 2009 was notably cold in the contributors to the WMO Statement on the northern hemisphere, with heavy snowfall in Status of the Global Climate in 2009. Europe, North America and northern Asia. Furthermore, the year concluded with a moder- ate El Niño event, which is being continuously monitored. It is essential to underscore the vital role of the National Meteorological Services of the 189 Members of WMO and of many WMO partners for their key efforts to maintain the necessary observing infrastructure and the information systems, which permitted the (M. Jarraud) exchange of data and analyses of temperature Secretary-General 1 Global temperature during 2009 Note: There are three independent datasets used for the analysis of the global temperature anomaly. Based on two The year 2009 is nominally ranked as the fifth global datasets maintained independently by the Met Office warmest year on record since the beginning Hadley Centre and Climatic Research Unit, University of of instrumental climate records around 1850. East Anglia in the United Kingdom and the National Climatic On the decadal scale, the analysis shows that Data Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric the 2000s decade (2000–2009) was warmer Administration (NCDC–NOAA) in the United States, the than the 1990s (1990–1999), which in turn analysis of the global surface temperature for the year Figure 1. Global ranked were warmer than the 1980s (1980–1989) and 2009 shows anomalies of +0.44°C (+0.59°F) and +0.46°C surface temperatures earlier decades. (+0.63°F) in the two datasets, respectively, with reference for the warmest to the 1961–1990 long-term average of 14°C (57.2°F). A third 50 years. Inset shows Global temperature assessment is provided dataset, which is maintained by the Goddard Institute for global ranked surface with an uncertainty margin that affects the Space Studies operated by the National Aeronautics and temperatures from 1850. global surface temperature The size of the bars figures and consequently their indicates the 95 per cent ranking, mainly as a result of the confident limits associated with each existing gaps in data coverage. year. The source data The magnitude of the uncertainty are blended land surface in assessing the global surface temperature in 2009 is estimated air temperature and sea Rank surface temperature at 0.10°C. Therefore, the most from HadCRUT3 series likely value of the global surface (Brohan and others, temperature anomaly for 2009 is 2006). Values are simple between +0.34°C and +0.56°C. from 1961–1990 average area-weighted averages emperature difference (°C) T for the whole year. The southern hemisphere was (Source: Met Office Hadley particularly warmer than the Centre, UK, and Climatic long-term average, especially Research Unit, University of during the austral winter and East Anglia, UK) late spring. Rank of hottest years to coldest Figure 2. Annual global average temperature 0.6 anomalies (relative to 1961–1990) from 1850 HadCRUT3 0.4 to 2009 from HadCRUT3 NCDC (black line and grey area, representing mean and GISS 95 per cent uncertainty 0.2 range), the NOAA National Climatic Data Center (red) and the 0.0 NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (blue) (Source: Met Office Hadley – 0.2 Centre, UK, and Climatic Research Unit, University of East Anglia, UK) – 0.4 – 0.6 Anomaly (°C) relative to 1961–1990 – 0.8 1850 1900 1950 2000 2 Space Administration (NASA) in the United States, shows 2000–2009 14.42 Figure 3. Decadal global a global surface temperature anomaly of +0.50°C for 2009, 1990–1999 14.25 average combined 14.09 1980–1989 land–ocean surface which is in the same range as above. Information on source 1970–1979 13.93 and methodology for global surface temperature assessment 1960–1969 13.90 temperature (°C) 13.85 1950–1959 combining two global is provided on page 12. 1940–1949 13.94 1930–1939 13.87 temperature datasets 1920–1929 13.72 Decade (Sources: (a) Met Office 1910–1919 13.60 1900–1909 13.61 Hadley Centre, UK, and Regional temperature anomalies 13.68 1890–1899 Climatic Research Unit, 1880–1889 13.74 Average 1961–1990 1870–1879 13.77 University of East Anglia, According to the reports provided by the 13.63 1860–1869 UK; (b) National Climatic National Meteorological and Hydrological 1850–1859 13.61 Data Center, NOAA, United Services, above-normal annual temperatures 13.4 13.6 13.8 14.0 14.2 14.4 14.6 States. The only dataset were recorded in 2009 in most parts of the Global Temperature (°C) continents. However, parts of the United States with monthly mean temperature anomalies available for decades and Canada, and central Siberia experienced of more than +5°C in some places. The mean 1850–1859, 1860–1869 and cooler temperatures than average. During the April temperatures ranged between 10°C and 1970–1979 is (a)). year, extreme warm episodes were frequently 15°C compared to the long-term average values recorded in southern South America, Australia ranging between 5°C and 10°C. The summer and southern Asia. In the southern hemisphere, was also warmer than the long-term average, August and November set new temperature particularly over southern Europe. Spain had records. the third warmest summer after the very hot summers of 2003 and 2005. However, a very Europe cold October was reported in Scandinavia, with In Europe, warmer-than-average temperatures mean temperature anomalies ranging from were recorded during most of the year. In –2°C to –4°C.