Newsletter Issue 10 (August 2021)

The Weather of July 2021 – An unusually hot July

Owing to the stronger than normal upper-air anticyclone over southern China, July 2021 was unusually hot in Hong Kong. The monthly mean minimun temperature, monthly mean maximum temperature and monthly mean temperature were respectively the second, third and fourth highest on record for July.

WMO Secretary-General remarks at IPCC Climate Change report launch

The key messages are still the same as in the first IPCC report which was published already in 1988… The report published today echoes the same messages with much higher urgency. Climate change is already more visible and the emissions have grown more rapidly than we ever expected in 1979.

IPCC 第六次評估報告第一工作組報告發佈

8月9日，在日內瓦發佈的IPCC最新評估報告指出，科學家們一直在觀測全球各個區域和整個氣候系統的變化，觀測到的許多變化為幾千年來甚至幾十萬年來前所未有，一些已經開始的變化（如持續的海平面上升）在數百到數千年內不可逆轉。大力和持續減少二氧化碳與其他溫室氣體排放將限制氣候變化。 (AR6 WG I的鏈結)

Climate change: IPCC report is ‘code red for humanity’
The landmark study warns of increasingly extreme heatwaves, droughts and flooding, and a key temperature limit being broken in just over a decade. The report “is a code red for humanity”, says the UN Secretary General António Guterres. Echoing the scientists’ findings, the UN chief said: “If we combine forces now, we can avert climate catastrophe. But, as today’s report makes clear, there is no time for delay and no room for excuses. I count on government leaders and all stakeholders to ensure COP26 is a success.”

Greece faces ‘disaster of unprecedented proportions’ as wildfires ravage the country

The Mediterranean nation is broiling under one of its worst heat waves in decades and firefighters continue to battle blazes across the country. Environmental authorities have warned that southern Europe, where droughts are becoming more frequent and severe, is at the greatest risk from the impacts of climate change on the continent.

Role of Amazon as carbon sink declines: Nature study

Amazonia hosts the Earth’s largest tropical forests and has been shown to be an important carbon sink. This carbon sink seems to be in decline, however, as a result of factors such as deforestation and climate change, according to a new paper published in Nature. (Link for the original paper)

The moon’s natural wobble alters Earth’s tides. With climate change, that’s bad news

The research, published last month in the journal Nature Climate Change, found that changes in the coming decades to the angle of the moon’s orbit and its alignment with the Earth and sun will amplify the effects of sea-level rise, leading to a sharp rise in high-tide flooding in coastal communities. (Link for the original paper)

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