Almost all regions of Russia are experiencing abnormally hot weather, with temperatures breaking records. This has raised concerns about what to expect from the planet’s climate in the future.
Roman Vilfand, the scientific director of the Russian Hydrometeorological Center, stated in an interview with RIA Novosti that air temperatures will continue to rise until the end of this century, regardless of the scenario. The main cause of warming is not the natural El Niño phenomenon, which is often cited, but human activity.
Even in a hypothetical situation where carbon dioxide emissions completely ceased, the greenhouse gases accumulated from human activity would take at least 30 years to reduce by half, Vilfand explained.
As a result, warming will continue over the coming decades. Humanity cannot alter this trajectory immediately. The question is how quickly the warming will progress.
Regarding the El Niño phenomenon, it has now entered a neutral phase, but its influence on air temperature will still be felt. El Niño involves a significant increase in water temperature in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, transferring heat to the atmosphere. The opposite process occurs during La Niña, where heat from the atmosphere is absorbed by the ocean.
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