Scientists of the UGR warn that the last five years have been the warmest of the period between 1901 and 2005

According to the data of different international organizations provided and analysed by professors Yolanda Castro Díez and María Jesús Esteban Parra, of the department of Applied Physics of the University of Granada, the average rise in global temperature in the 20th century was 0.6 ºC, a figure that amount to 0.65 ºC when we analyse the period between 1901 and 2005. Five hundredth in five years, which could seem insignificant but we can easily understand its value if we compare it to this other data: in the passing from a glacial to an interglacial period (which could amount to 10,000 years), the rise in temperature is in the region of 0.1 ºC per century.

According to the experts, in studies on climate variability of the UGR, the years which experienced a higher global warming were between 1910 y 1945 (in the ratio of 0.14 ºC per decade) and between 1979 and 2005 (0.17 ºC / decade). Besides, the warmer years were those between 2005 and 1998, and between 2001 and 2005 the planet experienced five of the six warmest years of the last century.

The data provided by the experts of the UGR reveal very interesting aspects, such as that from 1979 the global temperature has risen approximately twice as much than in oceans: 0.25 ºC per decade against 0.13. In addition, the average sea level rose almost 2 millimetres per year in the last 40 years, an amount that goes beyond the 3 millimetres per year if we analyse the last decade.

“Likewise, the data point out the appearance of a series of extremely heavy rain, which will probably be more noticeable in the next years due to global warming”, point out the researchers. Regarding the Arctic ice extension, the data obtained by the satellite since 1978 show this extension has decreased by 2.7 % each decade (annual average), a figure increasing up to 7.4 % each decade in summer months.

Professors Castro and Esteban have developed several research projects connected with the study of variability and climate change financed by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science.