State of the Climate in 2021

Blunden, Jessica; Boyer, Timothy P.

doi:10.1175/2022bamsstateoftheclimate.1

Cited by 32 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 367 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The most recent decade 2013–2022 has been 1.1°C warmer than 1961–1990 for the UK, compared to 0.8°C for global mean surface temperature. Globally, warming is greater across high latitudes compared to the equator, and over land compared to the ocean (Blunden & Boyer, 2022). (Section 2.7 shows that the warming has been slightly greater over UK land than UK near‐coastal waters).…”

Section: Temperaturementioning

confidence: 99%

State of the UK Climate 2022

Kendon

McCarthy

Jevrejeva

et al. 2023

Intl Journal of Climatology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Temperaturementioning

confidence: 99%

State of the UK Climate 2022

Kendon

McCarthy

Jevrejeva

et al. 2023

Intl Journal of Climatology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…All three major greenhouse gases -carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrious oxide -are at record highs (Blunden & Boyer, 2022). The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is currently around 418ppm, something last seen 3 million years ago in the mid-Pliocene warm period, where sea levels were 17 meters higher (Dumitru et al, 2019).…”

Section: Carbon Budgets and Net Zeromentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding and Preventing Climate Breakdown: A Guide for Social and Behavioral Scientists

Dablander¹

2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite decades of scientific warnings, there is insufficient action to prevent climate breakdown. This is true at the government and corporate level, where we see the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure, and at the individual level, where only a small proportion of the general public and the wider academic community engage in climate advocacy or activism. The latter is starting to change. Indeed, the enormous dangers ahead, coupled with the inadequacy of the political response, call for a reevaluation of the role of scientists and academics on a planet in crisis. In this paper, I (a) provide a concise assessment of our current predicament, (b) detail the ways in which both current as well as aspirational climate policy and mitigation pathways are insufficient to prevent climate breakdown, (c) sketch what climate policy commensurate with the scale of the challenge might look like, and (d) suggest ways in which scientists and academics in general, and social and behavioral scientists in particular, can get (more) involved to help secure a livable and sustainable future for all.

show abstract

“…EO will also be fundamental in helping countries assess loss and damage due to extreme climate events as well as their success in developing and implementing adaptation measures (Ahamed and Bolten, 2017;Chuvieco et al, 2019). In support of the GST, EO can provide aggregated information on the state of the climate (e.g., Blunden and Boyer, 2021;WMO, 2022) and thus the overall effectiveness of policy measures for mitigation and adaptation and their implementation. Such information informs governmental stakeholders and allows for evidence-based decision-making through expert assessments, the IPCC Assessment Reports, and, more generally, climate research as published in scientific articles.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, many of the required variables for attribution ultimately can only be inferred from combining modelling and EO in data assimilation systems, and the signal-to-noise ratio of attributed changes generally becomes smaller at finer spatial or temporal scales. Thus, to become more useful to climate assessments (e.g., Blunden and Boyer, 2021;IPCC, 2021) and the UNFCCC process, EO research needs a new focus on delivering climate data records from global down to local scales, with higher spatial and temporal resolution, and improved timeliness of data provision. A clear attribution of the observed changes in any case remains a great challenge, as expressed in the new lighthouse activity Explaining and Predicting Earth System Change of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP).…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Space-based Earth observation in support of the UNFCCC Paris Agreement

Hegglin

Bastos

Bovensmann

et al. 2022

Front. Environ. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Space-based Earth observation (EO), in the form of long-term climate data records, has been crucial in the monitoring and quantification of slow changes in the climate system—from accumulating greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere, increasing surface temperatures, and melting sea-ice, glaciers and ice sheets, to rising sea-level. In addition to documenting a changing climate, EO is needed for effective policy making, implementation and monitoring, and ultimately to measure progress and achievements towards the overarching goals of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement to combat climate change. The best approach for translating EO into actionable information for policymakers and other stakeholders is, however, far from clear. For example, climate change is now self-evident through increasingly intense and frequent extreme events—heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, and flooding—costing human lives and significant economic damage, even though single events do not constitute “climate”. EO can capture and visualize the impacts of such events in single images, and thus help quantify and ultimately manage them within the framework of the UNFCCC Paris Agreement, both at the national level (via the Enhanced Transparency Framework) and global level (via the Global Stocktake). We present a transdisciplinary perspective, across policy and science, and also theory and practice, that sheds light on the potential of EO to inform mitigation, including sinks and reservoirs of greenhouse gases, and adaptation, including loss and damage. Yet to be successful with this new mandate, EO science must undergo a radical overhaul: it must become more user-oriented, collaborative, and transdisciplinary; span the range from fiducial to contextual data; and embrace new technologies for data analysis (e.g., artificial intelligence). Only this will allow the creation of the knowledge base and actionable climate information needed to guide the UNFCCC Paris Agreement to a just and equitable success.

show abstract

State of the Climate in 2021

Abstract: Editors note: For easy download the posted pdf of the State of the Climate in 2021 is a low-resolution file. A high-resolution copy of the report is available by clicking here. Please be patient as it may take a few minutes for the high-resolution file to download.

Cited by 32 publications

References 367 publications

State of the UK Climate 2022

State of the UK Climate 2022

Understanding and Preventing Climate Breakdown: A Guide for Social and Behavioral Scientists

Space-based Earth observation in support of the UNFCCC Paris Agreement

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About