State of the Climate in 2012
(2013) In Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 94(8). p.1-238- Abstract
- For the first time in serveral years, the El Nino-Southern Oscillation did not dominate regional climate conditions around the globe. A weak La Ni a dissipated to ENSOneutral conditions by spring, and while El Nino appeared to be emerging during summer, this phase never fully developed as sea surface temperatures in the eastern conditions. Nevertheless, other large-scale climate patterns and extreme weather events impacted various regions during the year. A negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation from mid-January to early February contributed to frigid conditions in parts of northern Africa, eastern Europe, and western Asia. A lack of rain during the 2012 wet season led to the worst drought in at least the past three decades for... (More)
- For the first time in serveral years, the El Nino-Southern Oscillation did not dominate regional climate conditions around the globe. A weak La Ni a dissipated to ENSOneutral conditions by spring, and while El Nino appeared to be emerging during summer, this phase never fully developed as sea surface temperatures in the eastern conditions. Nevertheless, other large-scale climate patterns and extreme weather events impacted various regions during the year. A negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation from mid-January to early February contributed to frigid conditions in parts of northern Africa, eastern Europe, and western Asia. A lack of rain during the 2012 wet season led to the worst drought in at least the past three decades for northeastern Brazil. Central North America also experienced one of its most severe droughts on record. The Caribbean observed a very wet dry season and it was the Sahel's wettest rainy season in 50 years. Overall, the 2012 average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces ranked among the 10 warmest years on record. The global land surface temperature alone was also among the 10 warmest on record. In the upper atmosphere, the average stratospheric temperature was record or near-record cold, depending on the dataset. After a 30-year warming trend from 1970 to 1999 for global sea surface temperatures, the period 2000-12 had little further trend. This may be linked to the prevalence of La Ni a-like conditions during the 21st century. Heat content in the upper 700 m of the ocean remained near record high levels in 2012. Net increases from 2011 to 2012 were observed at 700-m to 2000-m depth and even in the abyssal ocean below. Following sharp decreases in to the effects of La Ni a, sea levels rebounded to reach records highs in 2012. The increased hydrological cycle seen in recent years continued, with more evaporation in drier locations and more precipitation in rainy areas. In a pattern that has held since 2004, salty areas of the ocean surfaces and subsurfaces were anomalously salty on average, while fresher areas were anomalously fresh. Global tropical cyclone activity during 2012 was near average, with a total of 84 storms compared with the 1981-2010 average of 89. Similar to 2010 and 2011, the North Atlantic was the only hurricane basin that experienced above-normal activity. In this basin, Sandy brought devastation to Cuba and parts of the eastern North American seaboard. All other basins experienced either near-or below-normal tropical cyclone activity. Only three tropical cyclones reached Category 5 intensity-all in Bopha became the only storm in the historical record to produce winds greater than 130 kt south of 7 N. It was also the costliest storm to affect the Philippines and killed more than 1000 residents. Minimum Arctic sea ice extent in September and Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent in June both reached new record lows. June snow cover extent is now declining at a faster rate (-17.6% per decade) than September sea ice extent (-13.0% per decade). Permafrost temperatures reached record high values in northernmost Alaska. A new melt extent record occurred on 11-12 July on the Greenland ice sheet; 97% of the ice sheet showed some form of melt, four times greater than the average melt for this time of year. The climate in Antarctica was relatively stable overall. The largest maximum sea ice extent since records begain in 1978 was observed in September 2012. In the stratosphere, warm air led to the second smallest ozone hole in the past two decades. Even so, the springtime ozone layer above Antarctica likely will not return to its early 1980s state until about 2060. Following a slight decline associated with the global 2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production reached a record 9.5 +/- 0.5 Pg C in 2011 and a new record of 9.7 +/- 0.5 Pg C is estimated for 2012. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations increased by 2.1 ppm in 2012, to 392.6 ppm. In spring 2012, 2 concentration exceeded 400 ppm at 7 of the 13 Arctic observation sites. Globally, other greenhouse gases including methane and nitrous oxide also continued to rise in concentration and the combined effect now represents a 32% increase in radiative forcing over a 1990 baseline. Concentrations of most ozone depleting substances continued to fall. (Less)
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- 2013
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- published
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- in
- Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
- volume
- 94
- issue
- 8
- pages
- 1 - 238
- publisher
- American Meteorological Society
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- scopus:84883271925
- ISSN
- 0003-0007
- DOI
- 10.1175/2013BAMSStateoftheClimate.1
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- d150d96b-3aef-4abd-90de-8fa5bcea9550 (old id 4863429)
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@article{d150d96b-3aef-4abd-90de-8fa5bcea9550,
abstract = {{For the first time in serveral years, the El Nino-Southern Oscillation did not dominate regional climate conditions around the globe. A weak La Ni a dissipated to ENSOneutral conditions by spring, and while El Nino appeared to be emerging during summer, this phase never fully developed as sea surface temperatures in the eastern conditions. Nevertheless, other large-scale climate patterns and extreme weather events impacted various regions during the year. A negative phase of the Arctic Oscillation from mid-January to early February contributed to frigid conditions in parts of northern Africa, eastern Europe, and western Asia. A lack of rain during the 2012 wet season led to the worst drought in at least the past three decades for northeastern Brazil. Central North America also experienced one of its most severe droughts on record. The Caribbean observed a very wet dry season and it was the Sahel's wettest rainy season in 50 years. Overall, the 2012 average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces ranked among the 10 warmest years on record. The global land surface temperature alone was also among the 10 warmest on record. In the upper atmosphere, the average stratospheric temperature was record or near-record cold, depending on the dataset. After a 30-year warming trend from 1970 to 1999 for global sea surface temperatures, the period 2000-12 had little further trend. This may be linked to the prevalence of La Ni a-like conditions during the 21st century. Heat content in the upper 700 m of the ocean remained near record high levels in 2012. Net increases from 2011 to 2012 were observed at 700-m to 2000-m depth and even in the abyssal ocean below. Following sharp decreases in to the effects of La Ni a, sea levels rebounded to reach records highs in 2012. The increased hydrological cycle seen in recent years continued, with more evaporation in drier locations and more precipitation in rainy areas. In a pattern that has held since 2004, salty areas of the ocean surfaces and subsurfaces were anomalously salty on average, while fresher areas were anomalously fresh. Global tropical cyclone activity during 2012 was near average, with a total of 84 storms compared with the 1981-2010 average of 89. Similar to 2010 and 2011, the North Atlantic was the only hurricane basin that experienced above-normal activity. In this basin, Sandy brought devastation to Cuba and parts of the eastern North American seaboard. All other basins experienced either near-or below-normal tropical cyclone activity. Only three tropical cyclones reached Category 5 intensity-all in Bopha became the only storm in the historical record to produce winds greater than 130 kt south of 7 N. It was also the costliest storm to affect the Philippines and killed more than 1000 residents. Minimum Arctic sea ice extent in September and Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent in June both reached new record lows. June snow cover extent is now declining at a faster rate (-17.6% per decade) than September sea ice extent (-13.0% per decade). Permafrost temperatures reached record high values in northernmost Alaska. A new melt extent record occurred on 11-12 July on the Greenland ice sheet; 97% of the ice sheet showed some form of melt, four times greater than the average melt for this time of year. The climate in Antarctica was relatively stable overall. The largest maximum sea ice extent since records begain in 1978 was observed in September 2012. In the stratosphere, warm air led to the second smallest ozone hole in the past two decades. Even so, the springtime ozone layer above Antarctica likely will not return to its early 1980s state until about 2060. Following a slight decline associated with the global 2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion and cement production reached a record 9.5 +/- 0.5 Pg C in 2011 and a new record of 9.7 +/- 0.5 Pg C is estimated for 2012. Atmospheric CO2 concentrations increased by 2.1 ppm in 2012, to 392.6 ppm. In spring 2012, 2 concentration exceeded 400 ppm at 7 of the 13 Arctic observation sites. Globally, other greenhouse gases including methane and nitrous oxide also continued to rise in concentration and the combined effect now represents a 32% increase in radiative forcing over a 1990 baseline. Concentrations of most ozone depleting substances continued to fall.}},
author = {{Blunden, Jessica and Arndt, Derek S. and Achberger, Christine and Ackerman, Stephen A. and Albanil, Adelina and Alexander, P. and Alfaro, Eric J. and Allan, Rob and Alves, Lincoln M. and Amador, Jorge A. and Ambenje, Peter and Andrianjafinirina, Solonomenjanahary and Antonov, John and Aravequia, Jose A. and Arendt, A. and Arevalo, Juan and Ashik, I. and Atheru, Zachary and Banzon, Viva and Baringer, Molly O. and Barreira, Sandra and Barriopedro, David E. and Beard, Grant and Becker, Andreas and Behrenfeld, Michael J. and Bell, Gerald D. and Benedetti, Angela and Bernhard, Germar and Berrisford, Paul and Berry, David I. and Bhatt, U. and Bidegain, Mario and Bindoff, Nathan and Bissolli, Peter and Blake, Eric S. and Booneeady, Raj and Bosilovich, Michael and Box, J. E. and Boyer, Tim and Braathen, Geir O. and Bromwich, David H. and Brown, R. and Brown, L. and Bruhwiler, Lori and Bulygina, Olga N. and Burgess, D. and Burrows, John and Calderon, Blanca and Camargo, Suzana J. and Campbell, Jayaka and Cao, Y. and Cappelen, J. and Carrasco, Gualberto and Chambers, Don P. and Chang'a, L. and Chappell, Petra and Chehade, Wissam and Cheliah, Muthuvel and Christiansen, Hanne H. and Christy, John R. and Ciais, Phillipe and Coelho, Caio A. S. and Cogley, J. G. and Colwell, Steve and Cross, J. N. and Crouch, Jake and Cunningham, Stuart A. and Dacic, Milan and De Jeu, Richard A. M. and Dekaa, Francis S. and Demircan, Mesut and Derksen, C. and Diamond, Howard J. and Dlugokencky, Ed J. and Dohan, Kathleen and Dolman, A. Johannes and Domingues, Catia M. and Dong, Shenfu and Dorigo, Wouter A. and Drozdov, D. S. and Duguay, Claude R. and Dunn, Robert J. H. and Duran-Quesada, Ana M. and Dutton, Geoff S. and Ehmann, Christian and Elkins, James W. and Euscategui, Christian and Famiglietti, James S. and Fang, Fan and Fauchereau, Nicolas and Feely, Richard A. and Fekete, Balazs M. and Fenimore, Chris and Fioletov, Vitali E. and Fogarty, Chris T. and Fogt, Ryan L. and Folland, Chris K. and Foster, Michael J. and Frajka-Williams, Eleanor and Franz, Bryan A. and Frith, Stacey H. and Frolov, I. and Ganter, Catherine and Garzoli, Silvia and Geai, M.-L. and Gerland, S. and Gitau, Wilson and Gleason, Karin L. and Gobron, Nadine and Goldenberg, Stanley B. and Goni, Gustavo and Good, Simon A. and Gottschalck, Jonathan and Gregg, Margarita C. and Griffiths, Georgina and Grooss, Jens-Uwe and Guard, Charles 'Chip' and Gupta, Shashi K. and Hall, Bradley D. and Halpert, Michael S. and Harada, Yayoi and Hauri, C. and Heidinger, Andrew K. and Heikkila, Anu and Heim, Richard R. Jr. and Heimbach, Patrick and Hidalgo, Hugo G. and Hilburn, Kyle and Ho, Shu-peng (Ben) and Hobbs, Will R. and Holgate, Simon and Hovsepyan, Anahit and Hu, Zeng-Zhen and Hughes, P. and Hurst, Dale F. and Ingvaldsen, R. and Inness, Antje and Jaimes, Ena and Jakobsson, Martin and James, Adamu I. and Jeffries, Martin O. and Johns, William E. and Johnsen, Bjorn and Johnson, Gregory C. and Johnson, Bryan and Jones, Luke T. and Jumaux, Guillaume and Kabidi, Khadija and Kaiser, Johannes W. and Kamga, Andre and Kang, Kyun-Kuk and Kanzow, Torsten O. and Kao, Hsun-Ying and Keller, Linda M. and Kennedy, John J. and Key, J. and Khatiwala, Samar and Pour, H. Kheyrollah and Kholodov, A. L. and Khoshkam, Mahbobeh and Kijazi, Agnes and Kikuchi, T. and Kim, B.-M. and Kim, S.-J. and Kimberlain, Todd B. and Knaff, John A. and Korshunova, Natalia N. and Koskela, T. and Kousky, Vernon E. and Kramarova, Natalya and Kratz, David P. and Krishfield, R. and Kruger, Andries and Kruk, Michael C. and Kumar, Arun and Lagerloef, Gary S. E. and Lakkala, K. and Lander, Mark A. and Landsea, Chris W. and Lankhorst, Matthias and Laurila, T. and Lazzara, Matthew A. and Lee, Craig and Leuliette, Eric and Levitus, Sydney and L'Heureux, Michelle and Lieser, Jan and Lin, I-I and Liu, Y. Y. and Liu, Y. and Liu, Hongxing and Liu, Yanju and Lobato-Sanchez, Rene and Locarnini, Ricardo and Loeb, Norman G. and Loeng, H. and Long, Craig S. and Lorrey, Andrew M. and Luhunga, P. and Lumpkin, Rick and Luo, Jing-Jia and Lyman, John M. and Macdonald, Alison M. and Maddux, Brent C. and Malekela, C. and Manney, Gloria and Marchenko, S. S. and Marengo, Jose A. and Marotzke, Jochem and Marra, John J. and Martinez-Gueingla, Rodney and Massom, Robert A. and Mathis, Jeremy T. and McBride, Charlotte and McCarthy, Gerard and McVicar, Tim R. and Mears, Carl and Meier, W. and Meinen, Christopher S. and Menendez, Melisa and Merrifield, Mark A. and Mitchard, Edward and Mitchum, Gary T. and Montzka, Stephen A. and Morcrette, Jean-Jacques and Mote, Thomas and Muehle, Jens and Muehr, Bernhard and Mullan, A. Brett and Mueller, Rolf and Nash, Eric R. and Nerem, R. Steven and Newlin, Michele L. and Newman, Paul A. and Ng'ongolo, H. and Nieto, Juan Jose and Nishino, S. and Nitsche, Helga and Noetzli, Jeannette and Oberman, N. G. and Obregon, Andre' and Ogallo, Laban A. and Oludhe, Christopher S. and Omar, Mohamed I and Overland, James and Oyunjargal, Lamjav and Parinussa, Robert M. and Park, Geun-Ha and Park, E-Hyung and Parker, David and Pasch, Richard J. and Pascual-Ramirez, Reynaldo and Pelto, Mauri S. and Penalba, Olga and Peng, L. and Perovich, Don K. and Pezza, Alexandre B. and Phillips, David and Pickart, R. and Pinty, Bernard and Pitts, Michael C. and Purkey, Sarah G. and Quegan, Shaun and Quintana, Juan and Rabe, B. and Rahimzadeh, Fatemeh and Raholijao, Nirivololona and Raiva, I. and Rajeevan, Madhavan and Ramiandrisoa, Voahanginirina and Ramos, Alexandre and Ranivoarissoa, Sahondra and Rayner, Nick A. and Rayner, Darren and Razuveav, Vyacheslav N. and Reagan, James and Reid, Phillip and Renwick, James and Revedekar, Jayashree and Richter-Menge, Jacqueline and Rivera, Ingrid L. and Robinson, David A. and Rodell, Matthew and Romanovsky, Vladimir E. and Ronchail, Josyane and Rosenlof, Karen H. and Sabine, Christopher L. and Salvador, Mozar A. and Sanchez-Lugo, Ahira and Santee, Michelle L. and Sasgen, I. and Sawaengphokhai, P. and Sayouri, Amal and Scambos, Ted A. and Schauer, U. and Schemm, Jae and Schlosser, P. and Schmid, Claudia and Schreck, Carl and Semiletov, Igor and Send, Uwe and Sensoy, Serhat and Setzer, Alberto and Severinghaus, Jeffrey and Shakhova, Natalia and Sharp, M. and Shiklomanov, Nicolai I. and Siegel, David A. and Silva, Viviane B. S. and Silva, Frabricio D. S. and Sima, Fatou and Simeonov, Petio and Simmonds, I. and Simmons, Adrian and Skansi, Maria and Smeed, David A. and Smethie, W. M. and Smith, Adam B. and Smith, Cathy and Smith, Sharon L. and Smith, Thomas M. and Sokolov, V. and Srivastava, A. K. and Stackhouse, Paul W. Jr. and Stammerjohn, Sharon and Steele, M. and Steffen, Konrad and Steinbrecht, Wolfgang and Stephenson, Tannecia and Su, J. and Svendby, T. and Sweet, William and Takahashi, Taro and Tanabe, Raymond M. and Taylor, Michael A. and Tedesco, Marco and Teng, William L. and Thepaut, Jean-Noel and Thiaw, Wassila M. and Thoman, R. and Thompson, Philip and Thorne, Peter W. and Timmermans, M.-L. and Tobin, Skie and Toole, J. and Trewin, Blair C. and Trigo, Ricardo M. and Trotman, Adrian and Tschudi, M. and van de Wal, Roderik S. W. and Van der Werf, Guido R. and Vautard, Robert and Vazquez, J. L. and Vieira, Goncalo and Vincent, Lucie and Vose, Russ S. and Wagner, Wolfgang W. and Wahr, John and Walsh, J. and Wang, Junhong and Wang, Chunzai and Wang, M. and Wang, Sheng-Hung and Wang, Lei and Wanninkhof, Rik and Weaver, Scott and Weber, Mark and Werdell, P. Jeremy and Whitewood, Robert and Wijffels, Susan and Wilber, Anne C. and Wild, J. D. and Willett, Kate M. and Williams, W. and Willis, Joshua K. and Wolken, G. and Wong, Takmeng and Woodgate, R. and Worthy, D. and Wouters, B. and Wovrosh, Alex J. and Xue, Yan and Yamada, Ryuji and Yin, Zungang and Yu, Lisan and Zhang, Liangying and Zhang, Peiqun and Zhao, Lin and Zhao, J. and Zhong, W. and Ziemke, Jerry and Zimmermann, S.}},
issn = {{0003-0007}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{8}},
pages = {{1--238}},
publisher = {{American Meteorological Society}},
series = {{Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society}},
title = {{State of the Climate in 2012}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/2013BAMSStateoftheClimate.1}},
doi = {{10.1175/2013BAMSStateoftheClimate.1}},
volume = {{94}},
year = {{2013}},
}