2021 among seven hottest years on record, says Copernicus

The year 2021 is among the seven hottest years on record by Copernicus.
The European Earth Monitoring Service, whose data, particularly satellite data, contribute to the monitoring of climate change, publishes on Monday a first assessment of last year.

Copernicus’ archives date back to 1950 but can be cross-checked with other datasets dating back to the mid-19th century. With a first observation: “these seven hottest years are the last seven, and quite clearly”, points out Copernicus, of which “the archives go back to 1950 but can be cross-checked with other sets of data which make it possible to go back to 1850s ”, specifies Freja Vamborg, scientist to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).

The temperature differences between the year 2021 and the average over the period 1991-2020. – C3S / ECWMF

A relatively cold start to 2021, but a particularly hot summer

In 2021, the temperature anomaly is 0.3 ° C higher than the average calculated over the 1991-2020 interval, and 1.1 ° C to 1.2 ° C higher than in the pre-industrial era ( 1850-1900), details Copernicus. However, of the past seven years, 2021 was among the coldest with 2015 and 2018. It was the start of the year that lowered the average. “The first five months were marked by relatively low temperatures compared to previous years,” says Copernicus. In contrast, from June to October, monthly temperatures were on several occasions the fourth warmest on record during this period, the service continues, recalling that Europe had in 2021 its hottest summer on record, exceeding by few summers 2010 and 2018. “June and July were both the second hottest on record in their respective months, explains Copernicus. August was near average overall, but marked by a stark contrast between above average temperatures in the south and below average in the north. “

The summer of 2021, in Europe, was also crossed by extreme weather and climate events with a large impact. In July, Western Europe suffered heavy rainfall which, combined with soils already saturated with water,
led to severe flooding. Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands were the most affected countries. At the same time, and overflowing in August, the Mediterranean rim had to face a heat wave causing intense and long fires, especially in Turkey, the most affected country. The maximum temperature record on the continent fell during this summer.
“48.8 ° C in Sicily [le 11 août], ie 0.8 ° C above the previous record ”, recalls the European Earth Monitoring Service, while specifying that this 48.8 ° C is still awaiting official confirmation by the World Meteorological Organization ( OMM).

Strong temperature anomalies in North America

Over the year as a whole, surface temperatures in Europe were 0.1 ° C above average over the 1991-2020 period, making 2021 among the ten hottest years on record. on the continent. These all occurred after 2000, the hottest seven even followed each other between 2014 and 2020.

The European continent is not the only one to have experienced temperature anomalies last year. In its report, Copernicus also focuses on North America. Northeastern Canada first, where average monthly temperatures have been unusually high, both early in the year and in the fall. There was also this exceptional heat wave that hit the west coast of North America, again with temperature records that fell for the region. “Several degrees Celsius”, reports Copernicus, which indicates that June 2021 “was the hottest month on record on the continent”. As on the Mediterranean rim, these heat and drought conditions favored extreme fires, throughout July and August. Most notable was the “Dixie Fire”, the mega fire that devastated California over wide areas – the second largest fire ever recorded in the region – and degraded the air quality of thousands of people.

And California was not the only one affected. “This was also the case, still in the western part, of several Canadian provinces and American states”, recalls Copernicus. As a result, summer 2021 also stands out sadly as the season in which the greatest amount of CO2 emissions – 83 megatonnes – and other fire-related pyrogens have been recorded in North America.

Continued increase in CO2 and methane concentrations

This is another point that Copernicus underlines in its first report for the year 2021. The concentrations of CO2 and methane – the two main greenhouse gases – continued to increase last year, according to the first analyzes drawn from its satellite data. “CO2 levels have reached an average annual world record of around 414 ppm (parts per million), and methane an average annual record of around 1,876 ppb”, specifies Copernicus. As a reminder, e, 2020, despite the slowdown in activity due to the pandemic, the WMO had measured this concentration at 413.2 ppm, or 149% higher than the pre-industrial level.

Coming back to forest fires, the carbon emissions associated with it amounted to 1,850 megatonnes globally last year, according to Copernicus. If the fires in North America and along the Mediterranean rim contributed in a not insignificant part, another front was also in Siberia, a region once again marked by large-scale fires. “1,850 megatons is slightly more than in 2020 (1,750 megatonnes)”, resumes the service. Which nevertheless signals that the trend in emissions linked to forest fires has been declining since 2003.

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