2014 UK's warmest year since records began

[ALEO Admin]

According to research published on 1 May 2015 in Environmental Research Letters, 2014 was central England's warmest year since 1659, when records began. The research indicates that man-made climate change has boosted the chances of record hot years in the region by a factor of at least 13.

In January, the Met Office also confirmed that 2014 had been the warmest year for the rest of the UK, since records began in 1910.

The Central England Temperature (CET) series is the longest instrumental record of temperature in the world and includes readings from various sites stretching from Bristol to Lancashire. The CET series shows that 2014 was roughly 0.06°C warmer than the previous record in 2006.

Computer models have been used to separate the effects of natural and man-made forcings. These models suggested that anthropogenic climate change had boosted the changes of warm years in the CET region by at least 13-fold. The researchers also carried out a direct analysis of the temperature observations, which suggested a 22-fold increase.

Andrew King of the University of Melbourne commenting on the research told environmentalresearchweb that, "A broader implication of this study is that it adds to the already substantial evidence that human-induced climate change is having a significant warming effect on the UK. As a consequence, stakeholders will need to account for this warming in their decision-making processes."

For more information, visit:
http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/10/5/054002
http://environmentalresearchweb.org/cws ... news/61073
and http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-32534488