By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter

Seoul has seen its average temperature increase three times faster than that of the global average over the past century, according to a report by the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), Monday.

The administration said the pace is also 1.4 times faster than that of the Korean peninsula as a whole, citing fast urbanization as a major factor behind the warming. The KMA also found that Seoul's winters in recent years are a month shorter than a century ago.

Based on chronological analysis of climate changes in the country's major cities between 1908 and 2007, the report said the average temperature around Seoul has increased by 2.4 degrees Celsius during the period, while the global average stood at 0.74 degrees, and 1.4 degrees for the peninsula.

``On top of urbanization, the generally faster progress of global warming in northern areas resulted in faster gains in average weather in Seoul,'' the KMA said.

It said the number of tropical nights in the capital increased six-fold to 7.2 days a year, while the number of days with sub-zero temperatures dropped 33 percent to 86.2 days from 129.4 days.

``In the 1950s and before, the Han River, which bisects the capital, was frozen hard enough for people to stand on for nearly 80 days,'' it said. ``But it fell to 10 days in the 1990s and only a couple of days in recent years.''

The climate change has curtailed the city's winter to 103 days from 137 days a century ago, while summer has lengthened to 124 days from 92 days, it added.

Meanwhile, mayors of the world's largest cities and international climate experts gathered in Seoul Monday to map out strategies to fight the borderless crisis more effectively.

The C40 Large Cities Climate Summit Seoul 2009, hosted by Seoul Metropolitan Government, will continue until Thursday at the Shilla Hotel. Among key speakers are former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Anna Tibaijuka, the under-secretary-general and executive director of the United Nations Human Settlements Program.

pss@koreatimes.co.kr