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Global average temperatures are set to rise by 1°C above pre-industrial levels for the first time, as the world’s climate enters

admin2017-12-31  23
问题    Global average temperatures are set to rise by 1°C above pre-industrial levels for the first time, as the world’s climate enters "uncharted territory", scientists at the Met Office said. This year is also expected to be the hottest on record, with the temperatures so far in 2015 beating past records " by a country mile", the meteorologists said. The World Meteorological Organization further announced yesterday that 2016 would be the first year in which the average concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would be above 400 parts per million(ppm), because of the continued burning of fossil fuels.
   The three landmark indicators were announced three weeks before a crunch UN summit in Paris starting on 30 November where world leaders including Barack Obama, Xi Jinping and David Cameron will try to reach a legally binding and universal deal on cutting emissions. The Met Office’ s data from January to September 2015 already shows global average temperatures have risen by 1 °C compared to pre-industrial times, for the first time. The increase is due to the "unequivocal" influence of increasing carbon emissions combined with the El Nino climate phenomenon currently under way.
   The Met Office expects the full-year temperature for 2015 to remain above the 1 °C level. In contrast, it was below 0. 9C in 2014, marking a sharp increase in climate terms. "This is the first time we’re set to reach the 1 °C marker and it’s clear that it is human influence driving climate into uncharted territory," said Prof Stephen Belcher, "We have passed the halfway mark to the 2 °C target. " The announcement of symbolic milestones in the runup to the Paris summit will increase pressure on negotiators to deliver a strong deal to avert the catastrophic global warming expected beyond 2 °C of warming.
   "Mother Nature has been kind to the French, but it should not be that way," said Prof Myles Allen from Oxford, referring to the impetus the milestones should give to the Paris conference. "International negotiations on climate change should not be in hock to what happens ... in the preceding nine months." In any case, he said: "The last three months of 2015 would have to be really odd to change [projections of unprecedented warming for 2015] as we are beating the records by a country mile. " Amber Rudd, the UK’s energy and climate change secretary, said: "Climate change is one of the most serious threats we face to our economic prosperity, poverty eradication and global security. Pledges to reduce emissions made by countries [are] just the beginning. We need to ensure that as the costs of clean energy fall, countries can be more ambitious with their climate targets. "
   Climate change is clear in the Central England Temperature record, which is the longest in the world and stretches back to 1772, said Ed Hawkins, a climate scientist at the University of Reading. "We can see the fingerprint of global warming in our own backyard. Central England has warmed 20% more than the global average and we expect that to continue," he said. The impacts of climate change have been analysed in other research presented yesterday by the UK’s Avoid project. It found that, compared with unchecked global warming, keeping the temperature rise below 2 °C would reduce heatwaves by 89%, flooding by 76%, cropland decline by 41% and water stress by 26%.
   Joanna Haigh, professor of atmospheric physics said the last UN climate summit in Denmark in 2009 failed, making Paris crucial in preventing widespread damage: "Copenhagen was generally considered a complete disaster, so it is very important that countries get together at Paris. " Belcher said 4 °C of warming would be much more harmful than simply doubling the impacts expected with 2 °C. He said the European heatwave of 2003 with 70,000 deaths would be "a rather mild summer" in a 4 °C world.
   The Met Office report also showed that two-thirds of the world’s "carbon budget" —the maximum CO2 that can be emitted over time to keep below 2 °C—had been used up by the end of 2014. But only one-third of the sea-level rise expected from 2 °C of warming—60cm by 2100—has so far occurred, because of the time it takes for large ice sheets to melt. Prof Andrew Shepherd, at the University of Leeds, said a recent NASA study indicating that ice mass grew in Antarctica from 2003-2008 was contradicted by 57 other studies and had just a 5-10% chance of being a correct prediction.
Which of the following can serve as the title of the passage?
选项 A、Climate change: Threat to Prosperity, Poverty Eradication and Global Security
B、The last major UN climate summit in Denmark: a complete disaster
C、The significance of the Central England Temperature record
D、The Unpredictable Impacts of the Rising Global Average Temperature by 1 °C
答案D
解析
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