Download STATE OF WARMING OVER AFRICAN LAND MASSES IN 2016

Climate Services for
Disaster Risks
Reduction
in Africa
A project led & implemented by the
African Centre of Meteorological
Applications for Development
STATE OF WARMING
OVER AFRICAN LAND
MASSES IN 2016
FOR
POLICY MAKERS
October 2016
ACMAD-MESA
CLIMATE CHANGE ASSESSMENT SERVICE
“ This Brief for Policy and Decision Makers provides a synthesis based on the assessment
of warming over African land masses for the first nine months of each year
using temperature records since 1950 ”
HIGHLIGHTS:
The year 2016 was the warmest on record over the African land masses since 1950
(Figure 1).
The average temperature over the continent was 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than the
1961-1990 average, beating the year 2010, which was the previous warmest year in
Africa. With the pre-industrial era as reference period, the warming level during the last
9 months of 2016 over African land masses reached +2 degrees Celsius. The global
average warming for 2016 is less than +1 degree Celsius.
Therefore, Africa is warming faster with levels close to twice the global average. Well
known impacts include increase in frequency and intensity of heat waves, related
power shortages as well as heat related diseases.
There is a clear warming trend (above +3°C per century) over the last 25 years (see green
line in Figure 2) at the continental level.
Figure 1: Ranked temperature anomalies (°C) for Africa during the 1950-2016 period relative to 1961-1990.
Coloured bars indicate years that were influenced by El Niño (red), La Niña (blue) and years without strong
influence (grey). Data source: NOAA/NCEP/CPC/ CAMS. Temperature data is for January to September period for
each year.
Figure 2: Temperature anomalies (difference from 1961-1990 average) and trends for African land areas. Coloured
bars indicate years that were influenced by El Niño (red), La Niña (blue) and years without strong influence (grey).
Data source: NOAA/NCEP/CPC/ CAMS.
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Climate Services for
Disaster Risks
Reduction
in Africa
A project led & implemented by the
African Centre of Meteorological
Applications for Development
Imprint
Name
Position
Dr. Andre Kamga
Project Manager
Drafted by
Dr. Arlindo Meque
Dr. Clifford Chuwa
Short Term Expert Climate Change Assessment
Short Term Expert Climate Change Assessment
Cartography by
Bachir Ahamadou
GIS Expert
Reviewed by
Dr. Andre Kamga
Dr. Manfred Buch
Project Manager
MESA Technical Assistant
Title pictures by
courtesy of
Dr. Manfred Buch
Serge Bayala
MESA Technical Assistant
Communication Expert
Editor
THE CLIMATE
IN AFRICA 2016
is a Technical Report
prepared under the Continental Climate / AU THEMA services of ACMAD-MESA
and published as Climate Change Assessment Bulletin No 5, October 2016.
For more information kindly visit
www.acmad-au.org/ and www.acmad-au.org/products-services/climate-change-assessment/bulletins/ .
African Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development – ACMAD –
Climate Services for the African Union
Monsieur le Directeur General Adama Alhassane DIALLO
55, Avenue des Ministères, BP 13 184 Niamey – Niger
Telephone: +227 20 73 49 92 • eMail: [email protected]
Web: www.acmad-au.org • http://mesa.au.int/mesa/node/108
This publication has been produced with the financial
assistance of the European Union. The contents are
the sole responsibility of the MESA AU / Continental
Climate THEMA project and can under no
circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position
of the European Union.
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