The World Meteorology Organization (WMO) is responsible for the United Nation’s monitoring of climate change. In its latest report WMO states that globally 2008 has been the coldest year of this millennium. However, it is also the year with the lowest cover of ice in the Arctic.
– Changes in the Arctic are main indicators of global warming, and the overall tendency is indisputable. The global temperature is rising, says Michel Jarraud in WMO according to Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet.
The WMO report is based on registrations in 188 countries all over the world. The cover of ice was a bit larger in 2008 than in 2007, which still is the lowest ice covere ever registered. However, the 2008 ice cover was far thinner then the 2007 ice. Therefore the total amount of ice in the North Pole area is less this year.
The decade we are in now is 0.2 degrees warmer then the previous one. Climate researcher Peter Stott emphasises that we can not look at climate change by studying one year at the time. We have to study entire decades. Therefore the temperature drop in 2008 is not important if the tendency does not persist.
One consequence of global warming is more extreme weather, which there have been several examples of in 2008. We have seen floods, draught, heat waves and extreme cold, and almost every time there have been many casualties.
