In its Sixth Assessment Report (AR6), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) informed that the rise in average surface temperature beyond 1.5 or 2°C will be breached much earlier leading to extreme weather events.
Released on 9th August, 2021, the report raised a lot of red flags.
It says that average global temperatures will continue to rise. Temperatures could increase by 5.7°C by the end of the 21st century, as compared to 1850-1900.
The report also predicts more intense and frequent heatwaves, extreme rainfall increasing, rise in sea-levels, droughts, and melting of glaciers.
Rise in temperature will be calamitous
A rise of an additional 0.5°C in temperature amplifies the intensity and frequency of heatwaves, rainfall, and droughts.
The surface of the land will continue to warm, more than the surface of the ocean.
According to the report, as global temperatures rise the temperature on the coldest days will increase by three times in the Arctic.
As a result, the frequency of marine heatwaves will continue to increase in the tropical ocean and the Arctic. This will amplify thawing of the ice and loss of seasonal snow cover of land and sea ice.
In a shocking revelation, the report said that the Arctic is likely to be practically sea ice-free at least once before 2050.
Coastal cities under threat
The warming of the deep ocean and the melting of the ice sheets will drive sea level rise for centuries and millennia.
The report says that many coastal cities across the world are under the threat of being flooded.
A warmer climate will intensify very wet and very dry weather and climate events and seasons leading to flooding or drought.
Land and ocean’s capacity to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) will decrease. The CO2 emitted will remain in the atmosphere.
The ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctic will continuously lose ice over the 21st century. This ice loss from the Greenland ice sheet will increase with cumulative emissions.
